Isn't it funny when ideas can hit you at the strangest of times.....having just come home from a pretty average evening teaching, admiring the sheer passion of the principle of the school which without fail she interprets across to her pupils week on week, I was browsing the BAPP homepage and reading the latest blogs. I have come across one from Stephanie Thomas, she is a wear I am particularly interested in looking at the role of Dance in society and has encouraged me look at an article about a company 'Freedom Theatre'. Again, what the article is representing is more evidence as to how the Arts still remain strong in their role in society, even through heartache and times of despair.
Linking to this, as it stands my initial enquiry question is:
Whatt is the sociological role on engagement in dance?
Wanting desperately to narrow this down further, coupled with my determination and passion to promote community dance groups and the ways of making dance available and accessible to all, I have realised one of the huge factor that affects my practise is my location. Living in the Lake District in the North, as beautiful as it is, why do I always find myself trekking off to London for audition after audition. London has a marked location named the 'Theatre District', seemly accepted by society that that is the place in which artistic performance takes place, and performers and spectators alike gather to enjoy the pleasure it brings. This got me thinking why is there a lack of dance opportunity elsewhere in England, surely it can't be down to the fact that London is our capital city and obviously more densely populated? Pretty sure it isn't down to lack of enthusiasm/knowledge/standard of teaching here either.
Perhaps my enquiry could revolve about looking at how Dance's role in society differs depending on location? I already understand specific cultures can influence the role dance may play in a certain country, but cultures from one end of England to the other do not vary that greatly, so why is there less opportunity in the north? I know Sonal experiences this too living in Manchester, and Mina is interested in how the meaning of dance may be determined from the attitudes of a countries society. This way I would hope to incorporate researching my interests in encouraging organisations and affiliations such as the one I am currently freelancing for (Ludus Dance in Lancaster) to promote ways to highlight the benefits of Dance to society.
Does anyone have any thoughts, is this a progression to specifying my enquiry? Would others find this useful, perhaps Northerners such as Sonal and myself would, but how about those people who live in or around London? Although I am a wear there is much literature on the subject of the social role of engagement in performing arts, would I be able to find readings on the subject of this engagement with dance and how it may be affected according to ones location?!
2 comments:
Well, I think your getting there on finding your passion. You need to be really interested in what you are doing next module because it is a lot of work. But I think you are trying to solve problems rather than ask questions. The problem with solving problems is that you need to understand the problem to solve them. That is why we ask questions (!) I think you should try to understand what you perceive to be the context of your question before you look at solving it. In other words what do you mean by society? What do you mean by dance?
Maybe you could simplify your ideas by looking at
"what dance means to users of Ludus Dance" See if what you are calling social issues are part of the what people say, is location a part of what people say.
I shouldn't wonder about London it an age old question I would say the age old answer is people gather around money. You can bet if you were offering contracts for £70,000 holding auditions at the North pole people would make it there (even though Santa is really busy at the moment!!!)
Well remember you are just starting you inquiry start by making sure you understand things by finding out more about your own assumptions.
Adesola
Thanks for your comments here Adesola. I think you are right, I think I had jumped ahead a bit almost trying to answer the question before looking deeper into what the actual question means to me. I do know where my passion in Dance lie, and like you have said, I intend to base en enquiry on these areas – they are personal to me as an individual and involve intent that provokes my interest which I understand to be very important. The amount of work I am envisaging the actually enquiry itself will entail will mean choosing a topic that I find stimulated so I can keep motivated with its progress.
I think I will keep the question more simple for now, I know I want to involve Ludus and have realized it is OK to do so so long as I am a wear of my pre assumptions as an insider. I also know I am intrigued as to what engagement in dance means to both professionals and amateurs, by using a template question such as ‘What dance means to the users of Ludus dance’ I hope to explore more opinions in society view of dance, perhaps factors such as a dancers location may or may not affect their employment for example will end up being touched upon too.
Thanks very much for pointing me in the right direction!
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