I don't want to be noticed!

First of all to my fellow MAPPers please accept my apologies in advance for Sunday as unfortunately I will not be at the Skype meeting. I will be attending a course all day. THis course came up which I really wanted to do but at the same time wanted to engage with you via dialogue and sharing. This morning when I dropped off my little ones at school I got chatting to one of the parents about usual stuff as you do. She knew that I teach part contemporary dance part-time and proceeded to tell me about a friend of her's whose daughter dances contemporary in an after school club setting locally - it turned out to be one of my students. Apparently this student is a lovely dancer who loves to move and wants to dance but there is a conunndrum she faces because she is very academic and as a result is being steered into choosing academic subjects for the start of her GCSE studies next year. Nevertheless she loves to dance and as a solution attends dance classes after school which is great as I feel that dance can only add and enhance more to her studies and will make good use of her mind in movement and the complexities and creative challenges dance will bring enhancing her studies. This reminds me of a friend of mine who did ballet all her life from a young age and never gave it up despite doing all academic subjects at school and at university where she studied chemistry and pharmacology and in her spare moments did class both in the local town where she found a class and when she came back home during holidays to London went to all of the usual places to keep up her ballet classes. Upon finishing and graduating from University went on to dance with a degree in her hand !! It was heartening hearing from my parent friend that this student really loves dance - however one of the things I noticed with her along with others in my class is that along with her colleagues they all sometimes appeared closed off and shy when in class and it was hard to read body language at times especially when during exercises and tasks when I ask for feedback. The reaction sometimes is the folding of the arms indicating that they are guarding and protecting their bodies, being afraid of some of the material which was out of their comfort zone - but in some of the movement tasks they lit up. Another time when I showed them a DVD clip of a Horton Technique warm-up series there was stunned silence and a ripple of nervous laughter covering their faces with their hands to shield their embarrassment. I had thought "Oh my... I've really put them off now!.." My friend commented that she like her own teenage daughter does that in order not to be noticed and is at that stage where they feel so uncomfortable about their bodies- which struck me because I got a sense from some of the students in my class despite the myriad of challenges and excuses even getting them to class is that they love to dance because it makes them feel... So.... my reflective question is that despite not wanting to be noticed and stick out from the crowd as different and blend into the status quo of other teenagers at school does the space I hold for them in the studio and during my session allow for them to 'feel' and in so doing not be noticed? or different? Does the space allow for that to happen? Does what I teach them despite being quite strange and new allow for them to explore movement that is different inviting them to be themselves or find themselves or their own language and interpretation in the movement? I find myself saying quite often that it is okay to get the movement wrong, that is how you learn and the space is safe for them not to feel the pressure of getting it right. For me the studio is a space where a process happens whatever the outcome and not worry about being watched, judged or seen to be different or noticed differently. I suppose for this student and for others not wishing to be seen in their initial response in class is a mask to their real desire to feel and my job therefore is to hold that space solely for them to feel and embody themselves through movement. It was strange but then I suppose I went through a similar phase of not wishing to be noticed but then I managed to get myself noticed on stage because it was there that I begun to 'feel'.....! Have a great Skype meeting everyone. Hopal

Pressing the re-set button

Apologies to for all not being able to Skype with you all last Sunday. I had to attend some training that fits around my freelance teaching work, and therefore it was necessary to go. There was some really useful stuff to learn and also things to notice as a tutor which I attribute to where I am placed at this stage of my learning and research project. Its interesting to see how much my noticing called upon the styles and practices especially around engaging young people and their learning practice through the medium of dance. My research in a nutshell is going to look at how a modern dance training and practice that I had experience as a young person and dancer (which became the catalyst for my subsequent career in dance to date) is relevant to the life choices, experiences and aspirations of young people today. Is what I teach young people fit for purpose? It was good to experience and absorb the type of learning on offer as it flagged up some questions about my own practice as a teacher and how I engage with my students when teaching. Whilst in the training session my thoughts turned towards fellow MAPPers pondering and reflecting on their journeys so far and how you all including myself begin to approach and start the next phase of our modules after concluding the previous ones with some much needed time to breath. For me I had to hit the re-start button. My journey stalled during the third module and I had to live with the impact of a decision to pause which, on reflection was a good move to refocus and galvanise, re-assess, re-read and in some cases not read at all to allow the flow of my thoughts to guide me to where I needed to be. It was a choppy and uncomfortable process admittedly and for a long while wondered whether I had the confidence and strength to re-boot and resume from the place where I stalled and overcome the notion of being left behind. I begun to question my learning and revisit some areas of my AOLs back in Module 1 plus vulnerable moments that triggered old fears and patterns . Pausing was in hindsight a great idea. I noticed that my reading had changed too and that what I had planned in my critical review to support my research project no longer had currency and didn't feel right for what it is I want to find out. As is my pattern in most things when the going gets tough I have to walk away and come back to it with a new, different and open perspective. This happened recently with one piece of critical review which looked at my research from an Africanist standpoint especially around the area of philosophy particularly reflecting on the writings of the late Esiaba Irobi (2006)where he talked about the " philosophy of the body as a site of transendant discourses, and used to regulate thought and feeling and ideas of identity within their cultures.." Cultures in this context Irobi reffered to include cultures that traversed from the diaspora of Africa across to Brazil, Latin America, the caribbean, the USA and United Kingdom. Attending and being present at the oral presentations in January of my cohort was a great way for me to re-set my thinking and feeling about my research project. It was a great opportunity for me to get to know and experience my fellow Mappers research and learn how they arrived at and tease out what it is they discovered. It was fascinating as links and references which they highlighted connected with me and gave me the much needed courage to re-set and revive. I finish this post with a quote yet again from Esiaba Irobi which encapsulates my thoughts, feelings about my philosophical stance and much needed pause to refresh my thinking as I embark on Module 3: "...I will highlight how the body itself, in African and African diasporic cultures, functions as a somatogenic instrument as well as a site of multiple discourses which absorbs and replays, like music recorded on vinyl, epistemologies of faith and power grooved into it by history. An Igbo proverb states that when we dance we express who we were, who we are, and who want to be. Time is compressed and telescoped telelogically to contain and express the past, the present and the future in one fluid kinaesthetic moment." Irobi, Esiaba (2006) Philosophy of the Sea

Pedagogy

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=dance+technique+pedagogy&docid=4566809884690923&mid=F5DF73572FCF59EB8C24F5DF73572FCF59EB8C24&view=detail&FORM=VIRE4#

I came across this really interesting discussion on Youtube about dance technique in a pedagogy which I wanted to share.  In it it revealed some really interesting observations and thoughts that I have a lot in my head about the impact of pedagogy from a teaching context and given that I teach mainly young people the post raised some questions and observations about how as dancers some of us but not all find it difficult to ask questions and learn by watching only or if there is a conundrum when learning a phrase or movement, the reluctance to ask questions in order to understand the process.  I have often found this as the case when teaching particularly contemporary technique to my students and on a few occasions I always make sure that I ask the students or design a phraseso that they  feel relaxed and comfortable to ask or comment   and not feel limited by what they say or observe for themselves in their own bodies and that any question yields an answer - it doesn't matter if it is right or wrong. By observing  I get an insight through their questioning about how they learn and absorb movement.  There have been times when this approach works, but not always and I wonder if this is dependent upon how a student is feeling at that moment and how present they are.

From a pedagogical standpoint I was interested and still am as I re-learn, rediscover the move away from the 'how to do it and hope that I've got it ' in favour of the 'why? consider? feel? a body dialogue I guess.

I thought this would be a good discussion to share! and welcome your comments.  It might be familiar to most but I thought it interesting to open up a conversation and draw it from my mind.   In the clip I liked the split between a dance performer and what they bring to class as an artist vs a dancer who just wishes to take class maintaining the physicality and technique of their bodies - both approaches in some ways different and relevant to the purpose of what they hope to achieve from the class.

Enjoy!

Those were the days....!!!

A friend recently sent me a positing of the Teacher and choreographer Milton Myers teaching a Horton Class.  Milton is head of the contemporary dance programme at Jacobs Pillow and also is one of the lead teachers at the Ailey School where I trained.  He also was the former director of the Joyce Trisler Company and it was through his encouragement  at the time nurtured my curiosity to try out for the company and learn the repertoire whilst still studying.   It was one of a number of formative experiences. The experience of learning repertory with the company only served to add to my portfolio of experiences and also explore my movement language to try out something that was different, exhilarating and of course challenging! The vocabulary and language of the form was quite different to that of the school  (after all the school was a training house for emerging dancers) but in a company environment I could understand the Horton principles which went beyond the technique itself through its engagement with  space, environment, and other influences that had movement be it a piece of art or sculpture, music and other soundscapes.  I was hungry for it back then. As a teacher he is really inspiring and when in class, you could feel him breathing with you when he taught the many combinations, and fortification studies of this style.  I felt a nurturing, growing feeling/sensation and when he spoke to make corrections/comments/feedback my whole body listened.  The feeling was incredible and still is as I watched when he taught. 

Looking at the postings brought back so many memories when I was a scholarship student at the Ailey School (the longing and yearning to perform but importantly find out who I was as a person and dancer – for me whilst the experience was life changing it acted as a road map and tool to explore other things which helps me to define myself as a performer and why it is/ was I wanted to move.  This posting also reminded me of my earlier AOLs in the first unit of the MA programme and it was amazing to see the distance travelled from A) training at the school as a young dancer and pedagogy of experience and B) how this experience formed a number of matrixes for me on my journey in dance and the wider performing arts.   It also reaffirmed my love and desire to contribute back to the sector who saw in me  potential and gave me opportunities to move.  I suppose I never really stood still, just changed directions and routes.   

Reflecting back on the video and of my past tapped into something quite deep and emotional and even now that I don’t perform still feel a hunger.  My love for the Horton Technique and my desire to use it as a tool to transgress in teaching is a way I hope to continue to   shape my practice.  There are different perspectives and opinions to teaching this style of moving and the challenge for me is to be open to the views and experiences of young people when  teaching - for it is they that I am most in touch with from a teaching context – their term of reference and engagement is so different to mine, particularly when this style is not widely taught and unfamiliar to their lived experiences.  However, this is where exploring this subject is exciting form me to journey on a different paradigm shift as far as pedagogy is concerned.

If interested check out the link  -  this is how it was for me back then but whilst it is not to everyone’s taste engaging in a modern codified technique. It was a tool and framework for me in which to emerge and transgress as a person, artist, teacher.  It was and still is a language I love to speak freely with my body.

 http://www.impulstanz.com/videogallery/aid1210/ Milton Myers 

http://dancemedia.com/v/2139 Horton Pedagogy workshop at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Centre, New york

Have a lovely weekend!

Dewey on the buses

In the past I have always mentioned and continue to value bus journeys.  They always seem to flag up interesting conversations, observations, and quite unexpected encounters.  Plus also it is a great time for me particularly if I have a long journey a time to read and reflect relatively uninterrupted.  It is with this reflection or reading in mind that a book I am reading on Dewey was a segue into a conversation I had with a fellow passenger.

On my way to work I pulled out a copy of Dewey and the Lessons of Art with the intention of reading a couple of pages when a woman opposite who noticed the front cover me asked if that was a Dewey book I was reading. I replied yes and she commented that she had just studied Dewey as part of a PhD she was currently doing which involved young children, education and the arts.  She had a real interest in early years and her research was focused on children in the early years and I suppose when they finally make the transition into the education system. Her interest was in music. The conversation that unfolded between us revealed  her passion for education and her belief that  not enough reference and recognition was made as to the power of the arts to transform  children's lives in school and especially  at an early age.  She said how important it was to start young with children and engage them in the arts in someway  and contribute to their overall education and how much they appeared more engaged.  I thought as she spoke about  how Dewey talks about the value and experience of the arts to transform lives.  I did ponder the question though particularly about engaging children very young and experiences - what of a person who does not engage with the arts until at a much older age when they go through life experiences, puberty twists and turns without  engagement in the arts until much later does it mean that they miss out? I appreciate the value in engaging children at a young age because they are fresh, curious 100% creative and resourceful but as they grow up that creativity could be under threat of being diminished as they got older and fully involved in their environment, reasoning, multiple-layered and complex experiences.  There are a raft of experiences that a young person goes through that require some form of expression and articulation and if it is not in the arts at an early stage then it might appear through another avenue of engagement or experience.

The lady encountered on the bus is a parent and also a governor at a local primary school and was able to give an example where she complained that the school was so  tightly focused on education devoid of the impact of the arts that  any attempt to introduce/promote  the arts was not met with enthusiasm until.... some funding was made available for a  programme of arts activities and THEN a transformation happen Children were more engaged, more alert and curious, enjoyed learning!

In that encounter I reflected on my journey and couldn't help recalling my early experiences of the arts in school namely dance.  I enjoyed all of the other forms of art i.e. drama, visual art, singing and for me they were not separate but formed a whole picture of my engagement with the world and my immediate environment around me.  Its interesting how our experiences lead to decisions and choices and the legacy of which for me my journey unfolded into encounters with dance and music education and here I am now.  I was very lucky at both primary and secondary school to have those experiences because without them who knows where I would be now!  

John Dewey also made another appearance  at a meeting the previous week when I attended a meeting of Community Adult Learning providers.  It turns out that one of the providers studied English at university and came across Dewey whom she loved.  It was evident that Dewey had an impact on her lived experiences and choices and she said that his writings had an influential and positive effect on her life in education and learning - she wished she had more time from within her job to re-read his books.

 Back to the bus as we continued to share our experiences of what the arts meant for us and our lived experiences  it caused me to pause... and feel... what was this experience all about? The physicality of that experience happened but it was the space in between that experience which caused the pause for thought... what was the essence? I began to reflect on our shared enthusiasm, common purposes and directly  how my journey led me to this bus journey experience.  What came to mind much later was when finally managing to  pick up the book and read Philip W. Jackson says:

           " The distinction between experiences connected with the arts and those connected with life in                  general is by no means absolute. This too is a crucial part of Dewey's message.  The arts, he                  insists are not the sole source of aesthetic pleasure. They are not the only repository of the                      holistic and the unified.  Nor are they the only place to go when we are looking for  a sense of                satisfaction and fulfilment.  Any job well done yields rewards akin to those associated with the              production or appreciation of art.  Instead of being unique in experiential terms, what the arts                  offer are but refinements of qualities to be found in ordinary experience...." (LW10,  52-52) ,                  p.6

I love bus journeys!!

Ref:
Jackson, Philip W, (1998) John Dewey and the Lessons of Art

Thoughts on Observations

I had a really interesting and surprisingly productive day at one of my other roles as a freelance Education Development Manager for an organization called Independance.  Part of the remit of the job was to look after and run the community adult learning provision as part of   a contractual agreement to deliver adult learning in Lambeth. At Independence we deliver an inclusive  adult disability programme for adults with learning difficulties (b.diverse), a fitness programme  (Freez) designed for adults to engage in a dance programme to increase their skills and flexibility in a fun and accessible way through the medium of Street Dance, and finally a Lindy Hop programme, more of a social dance programme purely for fun, meeting people developing confidence and generally having a good time whilst learning how to do the ‘Fall-off-the Log” or Shorty George!.  

Independence is also a part of a cohort of other providers who deliver adult learning across the borough and are all very different in profile, content delivery, to Independence who is the only arts deliverer in this case.  As a provider of this service there is a requirement to attend various training workshops, of which this one today was relevant.   The training was entitled “Observation of Teaching, Learning and Assessment” and as a member of the providers network there are termly observations of teaching, learning practice focusing on the learners who are the end users essentially. It was aimed at helping us to improve how we observe and what to look for and identify what good teaching is/was.  A comment was made that when observing it was down to a matter of personal  interpretation and it was therefore important to standardize observations in terms of the types of language used to make rational judgements.  One thing particularly Lambeth Learning noticed was that the observation reports were almost always descriptive and didn’t always provide enough evidence to make an assessment against what was being observed.  For instance instead of saying that something was ‘good’ then why?  I admit that as a dance teacher I often get really nervous when anybody watches how I teach. I almost always fear the worst.  I usually clam up and notice the pitch and tone of my voice changes due to nerves and in the commentary that goes on in the back of my mind I ask  whether I am doing good, or ‘I’m  bad teacher and will be found out and judged harshly!!!’ or people who observe me couldn’t have come at a more worst time for me as I am feeling so off today! All sorts of thoughts racing in my mind.

That aside what was interesting  in the workshop today was the learning outcomes for me to become more confident when completing observations as a co-provider observing practice of other adult learning providers in the borough; to be able to make clear judgments against a common inspection framework which Adult Learning has to adhere to satisfy Skills Funding Agency criteria; and to understand for myself what the procedures are for observations and how this leads to improvements in practice.  This was the flip side and role change for me from that as a dance tutor to now learn how to become an observer of teaching and learning practice – work based learning at its most practical and hands on.  So I was scared on both fronts as teacher and observer and felt like I had a split personality and I begun to understand how it was for anyone sitting in and observing a lesson and the procedure you have to go through to observe a lesson. This was such a departure from me because before when I used to observe classes as part of my professional development as a teacher I usually had a template to work from in terms of what to look for in a class but it was usually quite informal and intuitive which is still the case. However for me the learning was in how to make judgments based on a criteria for gathering evidence of teaching and learner engagement and what was (in a later open discussion) hard to always quantify and evidence as examples of good practice – what makes a good teacher? In other words the intangible stuff and qualities of what makes an inspirational teacher, an encouraging teacher, a dynamic teacher, an engaging teacher? How do you evidence this?  As I find in adult education and I suppose in education in general is the acronym JEDI  (Judgement, Evidence,Development, Impact) I am guessing this term comes  from OFSTED where when an observer asks when observing a teacher/session leader what is the judgment made against the criteria being observed that shows the evidence and development (progression) that has an impact on the learner? So for me in my dance teacher role what judgment defines how well, effective  teacher I am with my learning methods that draw out the training and engagement of learners, what is the evidence (is it through the setting of differentiated tasks, is it the way I promote, encourage and embraces an inclusive ethos in the room, is it the way I situate my learners in the space) how is this progressed and developed and did my learners achieve something did it have an impact?  I know its not new to me as I think about it all the time but it was in the delivery of the session today that had a completely different context and perspective from which I had not experienced of looked at before.  It also made me reflect and think back to my earlier teachers particularly at school when I engaged in contemporary dance and how as teachers they inspired and motivated me to keep on going, encouraging, noticing, believing, coaching me to learn new steps, charge me with choreography they knew I could do and throw down the gauntlet technically to improve my learning and development physically.  I suppose for my module 3 research these are the qualities I hope to notice, hone and improve for myself and at the heart of the research observe and notice how I teach and make judgments  by constantly reflecting, reviewing and questioning improving the quality of my teaching and ultimately evolve good practice as I see it from my perspective.

Students taking the lead with me at the centre?

I do a lot of thinking on the bus which is the only place where thoughts musings, observations of people and life take place and unfold.  I often wonder what a passengers journey or story is as to why they take a particular bus towards their destination.  On this occasion I noticed about 4 students get on the bus in school uniform.  It was a mid-morning. I imagined that they were probably year 10 students.  After walking past me to get their seats in the back I noticed they were not all wearing the same uniform so assumed that for a couple of them they attended different schools and on this occasion got together for an event which was evident   in visitor lanyards they were wearing around their necks.

 From the body language they all knew each other.  They begun a conversation which pricked my ears.  In a nutshell they were talking about running for candidacy at their schools for relevant school bodies/societies/councils I guess. They were talking about the formalities of  articulating  their ideas, procedures for electing to be a candidate and time commitment to take on the responsibility and  seriousness  the job entailed   representing the views of their fellow students.   They were very articulate and it was refreshing hearing what they had to say.  I pondered the question: were they naturally gifted communicators and listeners? what was their motivation and interest in becoming active citizens and reps for their schools? did they like politics? were they coached and guided in public speaking and expressing their views? who were their teachers and particularly those teachers/tutors who, identifying their gift/talent to 'run for office'  might have suggested they embark on this path? were there incentives for doing this? will one or two of them go into politics one day and might I see them on telly? which political party I wonder?  One particular student stood out who spoke assertively and confidently about cultural diversity and how government policies that influence his life living in a culturally diverse society are in his opinion sometimes dictated by a middle class who has no understanding or relationship to his own experiences as a young person....it was profound!   He also talked  about his relationship with different types of students at schools and his preferences for older students particularly 6th formers (years 12s and 13s) because he felt that he could have a better debate about issues that really mattered and concerned young people.  He talked about perceptions people had of him by the way he spoke and looked which went against people's (well within his student community) a stereotype of a  young black male.  His comment was "I can't change the way I speak- people were entitled to their opinion but this is who I am" As for the younger years, he felt that they didn't engage or take things seriously and were in his opinion not clued up to things except when it mattered to them to get or have 'things'.   This point was interesting because it brought into mind my classes when I teach particularly for the younger year 7s and 8s who are given dance incentives which are very generous but says their teacher they have to attend my class after school - interesting as attendance has been low but there is an expectation that their teacher will continue to give them 'things' and further incentives.    Back to this young person.  He said that a lot of these younger groups asked him to change and fix them.  His response was that it was not his job to change them - he couldn't do it.  If a student wanted to change then they would have to do it themselves, he can help them but not change them. I was completely blown away!  What also intensified my listening was when he talked about his school and how lucky he was to be there because it was a top performing school with outstanding ofsted ratings, high exam pass rates  but he  identified a flaw in the system in which he felt the reason why students got competitively top academic grades were due to the fact that students were expected to learn the facts by rote in order  to pass the exams. Some students, he continued did not have the understanding of what to do with the facts or apply them.  Learning for him was about knowing what to do with the information/knowledge you have gained and not just learn the facts.  In other words learning is not just about acquiring facts but how to relate it to real life situations, how to make it relevant in their lives as a skill or something that can translate into other areas of their lives.  I was so blown away and to add to this light- headed experience I had to get off the next stop and go on  towards my destination.Why have I posted this? well it made me really think about me and my role as a teacher and how what I teach is not just a series of steps and sequences.  The learning is to observe and ask them to apply and find different methods and ways of expression that is fit for their purpose in this 21st century and making what I do  bespoke to their needs and embrace another way of learning - taking the facts and detail away from the mind and applying it to their dancing bodies. Also what/where will they go with this in their educational career?  Will this physical experience engender  a different pathway a different way of knowing?

From an ethnographic  method of research and also from the non-positivist stance in me  sharpens my focus even more when I am out in the field gathering data as to the knowledge and understanding of young people's dance experiences through movement.  Its not about the learning of the steps (even though it is very relevant in terms of sequencing knowledge and understanding) but its also about learning and understanding not always found books and on Youtube.  As the research gets under way it raises more and more questions.  I am beginning to wonder whether I will ever arrive at a conclusion but thats okay! The student as a dancing body sharing a lived experience - discuss????.