Today I went to a number of
panels. I went to one about teaching dance in higher education. One paper was
about teaching ballet from a feminist paradigm. We talked about how as a
teacher you negotiate how the expected way to teach a technique might contradict
your own principles. The question set by Gretchen Alterowitz was about teaching
ballet without adhering to the power structures often associated with ballet,
such as the teacher being the only voice in the room, assumptions about what
beauty is and genderise movements. In order to teach in formed by a pedagogy
that involves notions raised by feminist writers she draws on democratising
techniques such as having students self assess, work in pairs, collaborate in
meaning making, comment in class and link their experience in the ballet room
with outside experiences. I thought about how rigours I am with my principles
of teaching on BAPP and MAPP and how I do not fight half as hard to adhere to
those principles in my practical teaching. I am planning to re-think many of my
technique classes to see where I tacitly accept the rhetoric of the dance studio
at the expense of my moral / ethical beliefs.
Another discussion was about
assessment (particularly in choreography classes). Most of the room agreed that
it was not so much the choreographic aesthetic that was assessed but the
students transformative journey within the learning experience. This is how we
assess BAPP and MAPP too. It is about the student articulating the learning
they gain through the process of the course. I talked about how we had
introduced the Professional Artefact at Middlesex in order to allow students to
create a comment on their learning process within their own terms (and the
terms of their profession).
I then went to a workshop
run by a MFA student I had when I was guest teaching in USA last summer. She
shared her whole process and really constructed a whole approach to
contemporary dance informed by her ethnographic experiences of being
Korean born, having trained in “traditional’
dance and western forms of ballet and contemporary (Graham). It was really interesting and inspiring.
After lunch I went to a
roundtable talk about Jazz dance. What Jazz is? How it is taught again we had
some deep conversations about the ontology of dance itself. The panel talked
about how Jazz ‘takes you there’ and
you can’t be afraid to go. You are one with the music feeling the beat in your
body. Jazz is also its history linked to roots in Africa and yet at the same
time defined by it experimentation with the ‘here and now’. I thought about how
one teaches a style of dance (any style) where that is what it is to you a ‘style’. And you know that for someone
else it is away of life – away to connect with the world. Do you say sorry I am
not passionate enough about that to be a good teacher in it or do you turn to
the codified version of it (and teach it as a process of accomplishing steps)?
The conference has really
encouraged me to feel we are not alone at Middlesex in an insistence in deep
reflective practices and links to ‘other subjects’ as part of the process of
being a dancer. Particularly for me not to compromise my interests because
things I am most passionate about (interested in) give me an energy to explore with
rigour and brings deeper meaning to the work. Funny because its what I am
constantly telling Module two and three students!!!!!
I am going to the
performance tonight – looking forward to that.
Great to read these blogs Adesola.. really interesting..and thanks for giving us all an insight into the conference while you're there!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more re-the comments of how we view what we teach, be it as 'styles' or as a way of life. Teaching release-based work in HE for the past 6 years, I have really been on that journey of questioning what the learning is within this 'style'. Rejecting it as a 'technique' myself, as I have always firmly viewed it as an approach to movement in it's broadest sense, and one which recognises the individual and our understanding of and processing of the world around us at the heart of the practice, and yet for students in HE, release, sits alongside the codified techniques of Graham, Cunningham, Humphrey, Limon and ballet. It is very difficult with students new to release-based work, often coming from more traditional backgrounds of training, to guide them through an alternative way of thinking, not only about the body (and mind) but about styles of dance also. I know, in different ways, this is something those engaged in MAPP module one are discovering this week also. Looking at why they do what they do, how they teach certain styles or techniques in dance, what the moral and ethical considerations are within these processes of teaching and learning, for both themselves and their students. I strongly believe also that a practice rooted in deep reflection is a healthy, fluid practice of both teaching and learning, and allows dance to evolve, to continue to grow, to move forwards with us and we move within it.
As you say, great to hear we are not alone in this, and that discussions of the nature you are sharing with us from overseas are also prominent and valid.
I hope those on the BAPP and MAPP programmes are also taking confidence from this, and inspiration to continue with their reflective journeys...
Hi there Adesola and also Helen
ReplyDeleteI wanted to respond quickly to the post but for the last few days have let it 'sit' with me and see what was/is coming up. I loved both of your comments and dialogue about this posting which really fired my thought process around the subject of teaching a style of dance and whether it is a way of life or by teaching it as a codified form that was formative in my own training - whether it is a series of steps to acomplish movement in a particular style/form. The are a rumble of thoughts in my mind which I will reflect on in my journal. As you both know I love teaching Horton and as a codified technique it offers (for me certainly) opportunities and challenges now to look at it as a way of life (and the many influences picked up along the way) and also within the nature of it being codified draw some deeper meaning for myself as I approach it with a different set of eyes and experiences. I am really energised by this but at the moment am putting my attention into drafting the Aols currently. However I understand where you are coming from Helen where the challenges lie for more formally trained students understanding the processes of release technique and where it stis along side their training. I can honestly say that it was not until I concluded my more formal training and entered the realms of performing professionally that I begun to have more of an appreciation and understanding of release - it wasn't always comfortable as there were some days where I was at ease with it but others not so much - however I attributed it to my comfort zone but I was open to it. I suppose the exploration of this form was dependant of the types of choreographers I worked with and an understanding of their approaches which were so diverse. And now that I am at this stage in my personal inquiry many years later I can use this approach in my learning as it sits alongside my experiences - I hope this makes some sense.