Posts

Am I overthinking or is this actually a moral issue?

 So, as I have mentioned in my previous blog post, my upcoming contract has been postponed therefore I am unable to carry out the observations research.  I discussed with my supervisor whether I needed to find an alternative method or if I could just concentrate on my interviews - potentially interviewing other people in my industry such as a casting director. He asked me what the purpose of me doing the observations in the first place was. I said it was because the interviews only provide one side of the story whereas observing interactions between the Dance Captain and cast members would provide a greater understanding of how to manage the whole event. In a effort to gain similar data my supervisor suggested an anonymous survey could be useful to hear from dancers their opinions on Dance Captain's. I agreed that this was a good idea, but I am really struggling with what questions to ask. Naturally I want to ask things like: 'what do you expect from a dance captain?' '

The Final Lap!

 As I enter into Module 3, it's time to update the blog! As acknowledged in my Mod 2 feedback, my blog last term started off strong and then it fizzled out a little. I find that once I start writing my essays, I tend to focus my time mostly on them and struggle to prioritise the blogs. But, again, we start as we mean to go on! We're on week 2 of this term and there's been both positives and negatives. Positives: Reflecting back on this time last year in Module 1, I feel so much more confident with my work and ready for the term ahead. I've created a clear week by week schedule, of what work I'm aiming to complete; plus discussion calls and deadlines. I was really pleased with my feedback from Module 2; there were areas of my work that proved stronger than I anticipated, so that has given me confidence in my work going forward. I have started doing some interviews for my inquiry and I've honestly really enjoyed it. I've been surprised at some of the answers t

Self Indulgent Reflective post

 So although I should be catching up on reading right now I thought I'd take a few minutes to reflect on how I'm managing this module.  I started out on this module a lot more confident than I anticipated; the nerves I felt earlier this year in module one weren't the same entering the introductory zoom call as a module 2. I was really proud of the work I accomplished in module 1, it was definitely a rollercoaster of emotions getting there but if I can do that I have every confidence in myself going forward. Reading the module 2 hand book gave me confidence as it seemed like there was a more straight forward path to follow.  Then one day an inquiry idea sprung to mind after a rehearsal and I thought, 'This is it! For the 5 years it's taken me to muster up the courage to do this course I've been worrying what I would research into and all of a sudden, something I'm passionate about has come to me!' As I started to research it however, that confidence start

Inquiry idea update

 So the initial questions I used in my previous blogs to shape my inquiry have proven really useful and I'd recommend it to others to help identify why you want to research your topic and to continually revert back to as you research to see if you're staying on topic or not. I have also found writing out practice questions as if I was going to interview someone useful as it's highlighted to me what I am actually interested in finding out and how much there is to actually talk about that topic. So far I have decided to switch to my Inquiry Idea 2 about Dance Captain's rather than Idea 1 about Reacting to feedback. I just found that as I was researching about feedback the information I was finding about the management role was more interesting and relevant to my practice. When I wrote out practice questions for both inquiry ideas I found I had more questions to ask about the dance captain role than the feedback inquiry; therefore in the long run, I think I will have a gre

Inquiry Idea Two

What do you want to find out about? Investigating the responsibilities of the dance captain and their transdiciplinary leadership skills.  What it takes to be a good dance captain and company manager, (possibly concentrating on the cruise environment as that’s my practice) and how the leadership skills acquired can be used in other practises. Why do you want to research this topic? Progressing to a management role, whether it be as a dancer or in other fields is a goal of mine so having an insight in how to be successful in this position will be very beneficial.  Through my years on cruise ships I have encountered various dance captain’s all with very different management styles and I am intrigued to investigate other people’s experiences. Because we have both working and social relationships in the cruise environment, I am interested to see if they have ever found it challenging to maintain their professionalism around friends or struggled to disassociate their work to

Struggling with the Lit Review

So I thought I’d chosen a topic which has been widely looked into and as the handbook suggests, if you’ve thought of this inquiry idea it’s highly likely someone else has too- however I am seriously struggling to find that person. I have entered every combination of professional/ dancers/ theatre/ criticism/ critiques/ correction/note giving/ feedback/ etiquette/ athletes/ artists/ dance captains/ response/ react etc online to source case studies and researchers; yet my results commonly result in how teachers give feedback to students or if it’s in the professional setting it’s how directors give actors notes. I am sure there are parallels in all cases however I’m interested in how dancers react to note giving and corrections in a professional setting. The lack of this research I am unable to find resurfaces the question of ‘is there only one way we should be reacting to notes?’ And that’s why there’s been few/ no studies on it? My interpretation of theatre etiquette is that people sh

Inquiry Idea One

What do you want to find out about? How do Dancers process and react to criticism in a professional environment? Do they care too much, too little and if so why? Is there one singular way that is considered the norm/ desired/ how we should be reacting? Why do you want to research this topic? On board these cruise ships, we do a technical run of the show before every evening performance; this is a chance for the Dance Captain to oversee the show and correct any mistakes or inconsistencies. Over the past few years I feel personally I have changed the way I respond to these critiques; at first as I was one of the most inexperienced of the troupe, I was quite accepting if I was in the wrong. As I became more experienced it frustrated me when mistakes around me weren’t picked up on by the dance captain or if someone else was adamant they were doing it correct. Then I basically, ‘got over’ my ego and told myself it really didn’t matter if I was doing it correctly or someone else;