Journal writing experience- Task 2b

Journal Writing Experience

We often talk about reflection- thinking about your day and what happened, puzzling through some tricky times and issues to resolve, looking back at your own life. But how far and how deep can someone actually go? That is a question I am still resolving and working through whilst continuing the ‘journal journey.’

I respond well to writing down, anything really, whether it is studying, writing down corrections, memorizing something. Therefore writing a journal has really helped me (as I have mentioned in a previous blog) to puzzle through some of ups and downs and clarify a path for my thoughts. I was however surprised how much time you need to set aside in order to be able to reflect well. Time management is key to this, which is something I still need to work on especially during performance time and irregular rehearsal hours.

Experimenting with the different ways to reflect in a journal has been an interesting task, where I used the guidance from the handbook and then interpreted ways to fit my style of writing and thoughts:

Description

Ever since I was a little kid, describing my day (especially secrets) was to me the whole idea about writing a diary. I had never thought about how it would aid to deepen your thoughts in order to reflect until this task. Therefore I naturally tried out this way when I first started. It did help me to remember what had happened that day to be able to progress into the deeper meanings behind an event. But then I found I needed to expand my way of writing than just describing, and that is when this task of using the different frameworks really helped.

List

I basically incorporated this method in the trial of every other way, so that is definitely a pattern that kept popping back, and every time! Even though I don’t have the neatest writing, I guess I like to see structure instead of just paragraphs of sentences. First categorizing, and then putting it into bullet form or any form of list I found organizes my writing a lot better. A few examples:

Morning

·      Short Class- still warm in this weather

·      A lot of rehearsals:

¨    ION: looking great

¨    Equation: getting better, still work on arms!

¨    Nikiya variation- hard! But will look good!

Corrections:

1.    Full ronde de jambe of leg

2.    When lunge, fall into it and take a risk

3.    Turn before courru

4.    Head up in arabesque, straighter legs too

5.    1^st kneel up, 2^nd down, 3^rd up +down!

6.    Take time in acting

7.    Don’t push off back foot in pirouette- use momentum from pivot

Lunch

………

Evening

…….

2) Feel more relieved posting more for my blog/ course work, Such a good feeling when your work is done J I wonder how others feel about time pressure?

This method worked especially well for dance corrections, which has really helped me progress in a lot of choreography within my work practice.

Initial Reflection

This method really made me think! I found I could really go more into depth with reflecting, and explore my feelings to discover why I felt them. It is a great way to think back on my initial thoughts from an event/day, to afterwards expand from just the description of an event.

It made me more aware on my initial emotions, and then being able to justify it’s outcome. I also like how much you realize what you can learn from being surprised about anything unexpected that happens. This in turn happened a fare amount.

Evaluation

Again I sub-headed this section with the question ‘what went well,’ ‘what worked’ and ‘what did you learn’ then bulleted the main points from each topic. I also added ‘what did not work’ next to be able to compare the positives to the negatives. However the key aspect to aid in deeper reflection was to later be able to elaborate in writing down what I had learnt on how to fix what did not work- thus learning and reflecting from an experience!

This method to me works well with an eventful day with lots to write down, which lately has happened quite a lot. I find it especially helped to classify and structure class/rehearsal corrections by seeing what worked and what did not.

Graphs/Diagrams

To be honest I struggled to find a way to reflect on an event or day using a diagram so I was always putting it aside. Now that I am looking back on my journal entries, a lot of trends have fallen into place that in a way relate to diagrams. First thing is a first- colours! I have made sure to use colour so it is all easier to read and categorize. I then noticed I had often split the page (with colour) into parts, for e.g. when evaluating what went well and not so well. One day I just wrote about the highlights and lowlights of the day, sectioning it into a table.

Another example is when I taught class and when writing down the adage exercise, it came out to be Benesh Notation diagrams (choreography/ movement notation):

What if?

I loved this framework of writing! And I chose the right day to use this method too, as the main learning curve I gained from this was that it is a great positive-mood enhancer!

To me it is a great way to reflect from a tricky situation or from a rough day where certain feelings need to be expressed, and optimism is in need. For me it was ‘one of those days.’

By first writing what had happened helped me get everything off my chest, something that everyone benefits form once in a while.

Then the fun part came- imagining! To think of what you would like to happen helps to direct thoughts and focus. Once comparing the ‘fantasies’ with what you would not liked to have happen, they are not comparable anymore as the positives are seen stronger. In a way it is a type of reflection where you can set your goals, which helps to set yourself back on track. And the best part about it is that you can really go big with your imagination, give it a bit of a breather and free your mind.

One of mine was ‘ to get an acceptance email to experience class with Hong Kong ballet’, and after a week it came true! As they say ‘Seeing is Believing.’

Another View

It was really hard to think of someone/something else’s view of the same day as mine, even if I spent the whole day with them. We are sometimes so enclosed in our own thoughts that at times we forget about our surroundings. This is something I notice often as a dancer, because it is a very personal profession in a sense that you are constantly aiming for perfection and always working on the aesthetics of what you yourself look like.

It made me realize how I can be unobservant at times. At the end of this entry I even wrote ‘Try perhaps be more observant of others and situations around you.’

A journal is a great tool to have – through this journey, I have realized how much reflection is part of our lives, whether we are aware of it or not. It’s a really nice way to express your inner feelings where you don't actually feel shy or prohibited. There are some methods I will utilize in my journal, and some not so much. I like the idea of adding freedom to your own way of writing, but looking back on it all there is probably going to be a mixture of all the frameworks combined. Whatever that comes to mind that day, whatever I will feel, I will write it however suits me best…because isn’t that the whole process of personal reflection?