One thing

This post is about exchanging one thing - one idea.

My one idea is: I have just been thinking about dance that comes from islands and how the influence of water impacts the movement and conception of the dancing body. My context is very land-based I feel a connection with the land when I dance: it is how I conceptualise pull-up. I wonder how this would be affected by the islands/ocean.

What one thing are you thinking about - can you comment with:
One AOL you are thinking about
or
One question to inquire about
or
One surprise or thought as you start to inquiry

What are you thinking about?
Adesola

Skype session on Sunday

Hi everyone

This Sunday March 1^st is our skype group chats. We have am and pm sessions as follows:

AM session 11am (time in London)

PM session 5:30pm (time in London)

Looking forward to chatting with everyone. Please comment on this post to let me know which session you would like to join. If the session time comes around and I have not called:

1. 1)   Check you are on-line!!
2. 2)   Then skype me and I can add you to the conversation.

If you have not skyped with me before you will need to send me a skype request before Sunday so we can connect

Looking forward to comments

Adesola

Great community of learners

I have felt so overwhelmed with marking this year but the content of the work I am looking is so inspiring it becomes a pleasure. I feel really inspired to keep questioning and developing my own teaching (especially of dance technique) having read the inspirational AOLs , project plans and inquiries everyone has been engaging in this past term. Well done. Keep up the great work as we start the next term.

Adesola

PM session Group Skype chat

The afternoon skype session went well.

We talked about the difference between looking for a research ‘topic’ and designing a research inquiry. Whereas the topic is important it is not the topic itself that makes a ‘good’ research project. As always it is what you do (with it) that makes something what it is. So although the topic is important allowing yourself to create something/design something as the process of Module Two is where the activity/learning/growth is involved.

We talked about ideas for research topics and people shared things they had been thinking about

We talked about where to look for literature – again remembering it is not about accumulating literature but it is about what you do with the literature. Books are not answers but go to inform you and help you construct your ideas.

We talked about the worth of Module One and why it is a good idea not to rush it. The AOLs are important as a way of gathering yourself and remembering who you are and what you’ve achieved as well as being important as the foundation for the next two modules.

Maria R. is going to post on the discussion about research inquiry and how it is not necessarily about asking a question and looking for an answer but  about asking a question and get to understand the question better or becoming able to ask a better question.

http://mariaranden.blogspot.no

Ainsley and Sarah S. will post further on the planning an inquiry conversation we had.

http://ainsleymsudds.blogspot.ca

http://sarahsulemanji.blogspot.co.uk

Tamzin will post on keeping going on Module One and taking one AOL at a time!

http://tamzinhoward.blogspot.co.uk

What do you think of these points
Adesola

Am Skype conversation - dance as an approach to the lived experience

This morning’s skype session was great. We have 7 people in the conversation. We talked about a number of things, which included:

• Research project ideas in general
• At what point a research project emerges (It is better not to have an idea from the beginning and stick to it regardless of the course!! Rather the course is designed for ideas to emerge and maybe re-shaped by the activity of each module)
• We heard about Cathie’s research project ideas and this led us to conversation about what it means to be professional in the dance field (is everyone in dance trying to be a paid performer? Could we see dance as a field of practice with many roles, or even could we see dance as an approach to the lived experience).
• Where do we trace our learning from and what impact does that have on how we try to ignite learning in our students. Is learning about dance primarily in the practical professional experiences we have rather than in our training (which could be seen as something where we were taught by rote, or taught to copy / reproduce our teachers)

People who were a part of the conversation are posting on different aspects of the conversation:

Rose will be posting about observation http://rosepaye3012.blogspot.co.uk

Zsuzanne will be posting on reflections on research project ideas www.zsurcy.wordpress.com

Cathy will be posting on her approach to finding a research idea and a little about what she has been thinking about thus far. http://cathieingram.wordpress.com

Michael will be posting on historical reflection on ones own learning mcmastan.blogspot.co.uk

Amanda will be posting on the journal writing experience. (Amanda can you put your blog address in the comments below)

What do you all think?

People in conversation have I captured it!! People not in conversation what do you think of these topics?

Adesola

Starting back… SKYPE

Hi our first SKYPE for the new term is on Sunday February 1st. We will be having two sessions to accommodate people in different time zones and the activity of your Sunday!!
The first session will be at 11am (in London)
The second will be at 7pm (in London)

The Skype sessions are a great way to touch base with the learning community of MAPP in 'real time'. I'm looking forward to speaking to you all.

Please leave a comment on this post, to let me know which session you will be joining. If you planned to join a session and I do not get a call from me at the time, please feel free to Skype me and say 'I wanted to join this one now'.

Obviously you need to have sent me a SKYPE request prior to the session so we are connected and can call each other.

Adesola :)

Something I wrote for BAPP but thought might be useful to read here to…

Thinking about feedback….

I am getting lots of drafts and so busy working my way through things. I don’t read fast so it takes time because I don’t skim read; I need to read each word in order to really understand and analyze what is being said, because I want my comments to be meaningful and helpful.

But feedback is not sending a draft for my approval. The approval has to come from you – you making something (writing something) you feel ‘proud’ of or at lease feel you’ve tried your best at. Its about being honest with yourself on one hand and not leaving bits untouched because you don’t want to shake your own story by fixing them at this point. It is also about being diligent finding out the procedure for writing in this way, noticing the books you have read how things lay out and how they are presenting such as how people have used citations and then thinking about why it is done in that way and what it says about what you are trying to make.

Feedback you ask for from me is to get another eye looking at the work you are doing. If you send something and feel you cannot move forward before I get back to you

1)   Then feedback in that form does not seem the best form for the purpose you have. I would say you need to book a quick Skype call in order to discuss the specific points you feel you need input into before you can go on.

2)   Or your use of my feedback is not really ‘feedback’ it is ‘passing the buck’ asking me to edit your work for you!!! So you can use me to decide what should be in or out of your final piece _ I can’t do this for you!! You know what you want to create.

So please feel free to contact me in different forms according to what you need from your feedback. If it’s a quick block you need to talk out – email or skype (set up a time via email or call if you see me on-line). Then also have specific questions – ask what you want to know. Be direct about what you want me to look at that is because I am another eye so you can direct where I look.

I think it is really important in the performing arts to be clear and to have thought about the role of feedback. A few years ago I realised that when I choreographed something I would ask for feedback from a dance agency for instance. Then I realised I would get quite down when it wasn’t ‘can we book this piece’!!! what they would say was things to ‘improve’ the choreography or general comments. But that response is not feedback. I realised what I wanted was to bring my work to their attention NOT feedback and that by asking fro feedback I was putting my work in the light of something that was unfinished or something I was unsure about. That made me think that you have to  be really careful, direct and really want to hear the response when engaging with feedback. It is not there to reassure you, you are o.k.!!

What do you think?

Adesola