Campus Session

At last I was able to attend a campus session! It was really good to meet everyone in real life and get to take part in the discussions and tasks on the day. Rosemary asked one person from each group to blog about the session, sorry I am only now getting around to it but I’ve been away all week and only now sitting down at a computer again!

The main theme of the day was Ethics. I found these descriptions of what ethics means at dictionary.reference.com:

1.( used with a singular or plural verb ) a system of moral principles: the ethics of a culture.

2.the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, etc.: medical ethics; Christian ethics.

3. moral principles, as of an individual: His ethics forbade betrayal of a confidence.

4.( usually used with a singular verb ) that branch of philosophy dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions.

At the session we talked about ethics being fair and just ways of working and the way you conduct yourself. Some of the words used to describe ethics were; Morals, Rules, Right and Wrong, Core Values, Good and Bad, Protection.

We were then asked to list some of our personal values, I wrote:

Polite and Courteous

Showing kindness to others

Loving to family and friends

And then some professional ones:

Committed

Hardworking

Ambitious

I think most people saw a distinct difference between their personal and professional values, professional ones being more driven and hardened. Some people had values that they used in both lists for example; loyalty.  But then when discussed further it became apparent that whilst you would always want to be loyal to friends or family you would perhaps only keep your loyalty in a business sense if it was good from the business and you were getting something out of it

We discussed the three types of Ethics

•   Consequential.   The end justifies the means (eg. You would kill 1 person to save 100). Minimise the harm to maximise the good

•  Deontologist. It totally rational. There’s no debate and lying is always wrong

•  Virtue. Character of the person is honest.

In groups we came up with a Code of Ethics for our different practices. My group were the Professional Teachers so we discussed and came up with our code of conduct for teaching. We made quite a long list but then when it came to showing it at the end I think we realised that some of the things we had listed were skills rather than ethics. I have had a rethink and cut down our list so it still includes everything we talked about but now one teaching ethic may cover a number of skills.

  

1. A teacher must be professional at all times.

(Manner in which you speak, look presentable, good time keeping, be reliable)

2. A teacher must be aware of the health and safety of their students

(Be aware of dangers in the workplace, children’s safeguarding)

3. A teacher must stay competent and up to date within their industry.

(Keep up to date with modern technology, fresh ideas, changes to syllabus)

4. A teacher must use suitable material for the students they are teaching

(Suitable music, moves, games, costumes)

5. A teacher must be fair and provide equal opportunities for all.

(Cultures, abilities, disabilities, ages)

6. A teacher should be encouraging and compassionate towards their students

Community Dance Project

I have just started a new community dance project that has got me thinking about new questions within my practice.

I will be working with 3 different age groups, a youth group, adults group and elders group, within our local community (mainly people with little or dance experience). All groups will work separately for the first 6 weeks and then we will come together and work as one big group for 6 weeks to produce a performance piece by the end of the project. It is an issue based project and out theme is Age/ Ageism – positive and negative experiences.

I think it will be a really interesting journey working with these different groups and their different views and experiences around the theme, and then watching how they all come together and develop new relationships that will maybe change or challenge some of their views and ideas about age.

I have some experience within community dance but his project will be a good challenge for me and it may prove to be an area that I would like to work more in in the future. With all this in mind I started to think about questions I would like to research within this area of dance.

I came across this website http://www.communitydance.org.uk, where their “vision is for a world where dance is a part of everyone's life, our mission to make participation in dance important to individuals, communities and society”

Linking back to some of my other inquiry questions, one was about the benefits of dance, so I could look at this more specifically as the benefits of dance within a community?

These are just my initial thoughts on this topic, i need to do some further research and have some face to face talks with some of the dance artists i work with who have more experience in this field.

Interesting question

I have been catching up on what went on at the last campus session and when I watched the BAPP u tube video one of the questions posed in a task you were doing really got me thinking…

I am very sorry but I am not sure whose question it was but the question asked:  “Why do most dancers make the transition and become dance teachers?”, and when prompted to give reasons for the questions it was said “…because I don’t think all dancers can be dance teachers”

As someone who has made the transition between dancer and dance teacher I began to wonder if I would agree or disagree with this statement.

There are many reasons why dancers make this transition, for me it felt like a natural progression. Having said that I never set out to be a dancer teacher. As a dancer we possess many of the specialized skills needed to teach dance (eg. knowledge of dance technique, different styles of dance) and as most dancers have been dancing since their early years for a lot of people dance is what they know best.

The experiences and knowledge i gained as a dancer have been very useful for when it comes to teaching also….performance experience, choreography, partner work, variety of styles music, theatre etiquette, discipline.

These are all skills that have helped me but do not necessarily make me a good teacher. Since starting to teach I have been constantly learning new things, adapting to new circumstances and changing the way I do things to suit different people and abilities. I don’t think I could have been taught a lot of the things I now know; I have just had to learn them through experience and through trial and error.

What works for one group of students may not work for another and so you have to constantly be ready to adapt and try new things. It is not just about having the skills and dance knowledge, it’s about being able to work with other people in a way to get the best out of them.

You could be the most wonderful dancer but if you have got good communication skills then you will not be able to pass your knowledge on.

Can these kinds of skills be taught?

Going back to my thoughts on dance in education I discovered there could be a link between these two questions

Dance is in the curriculum and so should be taught in every school, some schools do get dance practitioners in to deliver these lessons but a lot of schools don’t have this privilege. Therefor it is left up to the academic teachers there to deliver dance lessons…are they up to the job? Are these children getting a good dance experience?

Professional Inquiry – Emerging questions

Dance Benefits:

What are the benefits of encouraging artistic stimulation and creativity through dance and movement from a young age?

Can dance benefit a child’s education?

How can dance benefit you at any age?  (social skills, self-expression, enhance rhythm and timing, improve co-ordination, balance, and flexibility, develops memory.)

Life after performing: 

What can be done to help the transition between being a dancer and your next career step? 

As performers what transferrable skills do we have that would make this transition easier, and what factors would hinder our progress?

New Term!

I couldnt make the first campus session so have just been looking over some of the things that you all did to start establishing inquiry lines on Rosemarys blog.

My first task is to identifying my own professional practice:

Although I have not stopped performing completely (I was involved in a touring show before Christmas which I really enjoyed), my main practice has now become dance teaching.

I currently deliver sessions in the following areas to children aged between 3 and 16; creative dance, ISTD syllabus work in ballet and tap, jazz dance, show choreography, primary and secondary school sessions. I also teach adult dance and mixed ability community classes.

When I found myself making the transition between performer and dance teacher I wanted to do this course in order to help me discover what area of my practice I would like to progress in and focus on for the future.

What I need to know to be a professional practitioner?

• Knowledge of dance technique in ballet, jazz, tap, contemporary

•  Ability to teach a wide variety of styles in dance

• Chorographical skills

• How to work with children (ages 3-18) – encourage, motivate, be sympathetic to their different needs and abilities

• Theatre/Backstage knowledge

• Work to deadlines and schedules

• Work creatively with groups, taking on board their ideas and working together through movement

• Monitor children’s progress in class

• Manage money, paper work – reports, evaluations, registers, planning.

• Work alongside singing, music and drama teachers

• Safety in class and injury prevention