New beginnings...

Hello,

Today I joined in on this mornings discussion group set up by Adesola. We initially discussed our ideas on critical thinking. From this, themes of reflection and the idea of looking in-depth were initially spoken about. This suggests looking at our practise on more than just a day to day approach, then coming up with an idea, sticking with it and questioning its relevance to our practise. I feel that I can use this approach not only within my job but also throughout this course to question my own learning and how it holds relevance to myself as an artist.

This lead on to a conversation based on the way dance is taught to individuals with disabilities as some people involved in the conversation have specialities within this area. I found it interesting to hear how syllabuses have to be adapted and changed in order to be appropriate for the participants in the  class, specifically here, children with special needs. I then brought up the idea of how sometimes ‘arts’ can be taught in special schools by teachers who have no professional dance qualifications as the likelihood of these children pursuing this as a career is small. They learn qualities such as coordination, freedom of movement and teamwork though the art of dance which ideally is what the teacher is teaching as opposed to a specific technique. This leads us to question wether or not it should be a professional artist teaching the children but more importantly what qualifications this professional should hold. Is it not the fact they work with the special needs children on a daily basis or is it that they have formal dance and teacher training that is more important? We then went onto discuss how theatre normalises that those with a disability often aren’t performers possibly due to their lack of concentration and ability to remember choreography or a script. All agreed on the fact that this should be more accessible and that those who want to perform are able to do so despite their disabilities.

Having done some further research into the teaching of dance within special education, dance examination boards, in particular the IDTA have suggestions on how to spot a disability and possible ways of dealing with it. However, these are only given for mild forms of conditions such as autism, OCD and dyslexia. Although this is helpful, these individuals in most cases are still able to take examinations whereas many children with severe forms of disabilities cannot. I then went on to research a study conducted by Kiepe et al (2012) that looked at individuals with varying physical and mental illnesses and the effect dance and ballroom classes had on them. Despite the upsetting condition these patients were in, it was found that when they danced they had an improved sense of self-esteem and as well as seeking the physical improvements from doing more exercise. It was concluded that overall the individuals had an improved quality of life. This links to our discussion as it states that just putting movement to music, no matter about the technique behind the steps, this alone can build a persons confidence and surely that is one of the main reasons behind teaching children to dance in the first place.

To conclude our discussion, we looked at the meaning behind new beginnings considering a lot of Module One students attended. We found that it can be both a literal, a start date for example, or a more abstract term meaning a new thought or idea that is yet to be explored. Some of us have found that our careers have been ‘mapped out’ and there are very clear stages through our training and working lives, meaning the end of one school or job indicates the beginning of another. This is more of a literal view on the idea but it could also be perceived in a way that suggests each step learnt or mastered is a start to achieve a small part of becoming proficient in a technique.

On this note, I am beginning my studies towards Module One and found that this discussion has sparked some ideas I can contribute to my first essay.

Thanks to all involved, please feel free to comment with any views or opinions.