Finding Balance- Chapter 6

Finding Balance- what does it take to succeed in dance? ( Chapter 6, page 195)

*Dancers must enjoy the challenges dance poses

-In order to keep a dancer’s career going, they need to enjoy the whole process and be able to still feel joy, regardless of the obstacles.

The key to dealing with various challenges, “…gain cognitive control by focusing on what you can control such as your attitude and good health habits as opposed to factors actually outside one’s control.” (Berardi, G. 2005, p. 197)

This states that a dancer cannot always be in control, which is reassuring to know there are always ways to work around a situation. Therefore treating an adversity as looking at new possibilities, which would make sense to promote positivity and motivation, creating a healthier and more positive emotional state.

Finding Balance

Finding Balance is a book full of information on fitness, training and health for a lifetime in dance, and written by Gigi Berardi. It holds advice in all the important areas of dance health on the mental approaches in coping with the challenges dances poses – the demands, injury and treatment, technique and training, keeping fit and conditioned, nutrition, weight management and diet, and finding balance in order to succeed. Berardi, has sourced information from her own experiences and the research of many other physicians in a similar field including professional dancers themselves. Mental and emotional health seems to be a huge contributing factor towards finding this balance for a lifetime in dance.

Franklin Method- workshop

9 August 2014

Today I took part in a ‘Franklin Workshop,’ where we learnt the basic principles of Franklin’s methods of the execution of movement in relation to our physiological mind-body connection.

His methods are all about imagery and understanding the biochemical process of our body when moving. The instructor (Morten Dithmer) made it clear that being aware of your body helps so much in performing movement the right way, which is in turn necessary for us dancers to live a good successful dance career.

When you execute a movement right that is what is key for improvement. But what was also mentioned, and is vital, is that the body responds to and recognizes change, and in order to improve you need to be aware of that change. Observing how your body reacts to any form of change will help tremendously, and more you can recognize even the slightest shift in the right direction, the faster the improvement. Often though, in class or rehearsal, there are other distractions that keep us from fully focusing on the present, either thinking of the past, or the future. Sometimes it might be on stage when nerves set in too much, or because of stage freight.

But, it is proven that if we are able to focus on the present more, and are more aware of our body in that space and time, it will contribute to us being able to dance better over all!

*More focused and on what your body is going to do, more aware of what your body feels and your emotions etc.

Caring relationships

The benefit of caring relationships

According to Kelsey, caring with love in a relationship creates a far more beneficial and in-depth understanding between each other- therefore enabling support for one another. She describes it as "a love that involves a complex of emotions, attitudes, movements of will and actions in which we reach out to others in a caring, concerned manner…”

Relationships can work as two paradoxes- two realities that appear contradictory but in truth are mutually influential.  One type of caring relationship integrates autonomy and community, and the other paradox centers on contemplation and action.

In summary, it is imperative in knowing who you are.

Enhancing Resilience in the Workplace

Enhancing Resilience in the Workplace through caring relationships 

“Resilience "lies at the heart of human evolution" (Flach, 1988, p. xi); it plays a critical role in the change process, for it helps us successfully adapt to situations in spite of adversity.”

Resilience can be enhanced and nurtured within a workplace with the help of caring relationships. It first describes that resilience plays a role in any change process- change is needed in times of adversity and pulling through. It is important in any work place, as the change process that comes along with it is “more likely to occur in healthy ways for individuals who are resilient to change.”

“The one thing that has not changed is how individuals psychologically respond to change.” Through any challenge, or change, what is even more challenging is the transition phase. Another way to express this transition is deep change which means “surrendering control" as well as “letting go of old beliefs, assumptions, and behaviors…”.

Emotional and Motivated Brain

Your brain doesn’t just focus on a task at present, but also whether you would like to do the task (motivational state) and your mood while doing it (emotional state.). Thus with a challenge, performing tasks in order to solve it, the willingness to do the task and your specific mood needs to be taken into account.

1.Specific brain structures generate specific motivations when stimulated, when area damaged it takes the capacity away.

2.Brain structures have receptors sites on them that endow them with the potential to be stimulated; bio-chemicals that stimulate these receptors are neurotransmitters (the communication messengers of the nervous system) and hormones (communication messengers of the endocrine system).

3.While knowledge of how the brain works helps us understand motivation and emotion we still need to link the events in our lives to brain activation, how day-to-day events stir neurotransmitters and hormones and hence brain structures into action.

Motivation and Emotions

Emotions and motivation

From a detailed analyzation of “Understanding Motivation and Emotion” (Reeve, J.M.), emotion is shown to be a big factor towards stimulating motivation. Motivation acts as the stimulus to get through a challenge, which is fired up fom a emotion felt, where action is then taken place.

There are two fundamental questions:

What causes behavior?

 

Why does behavior vary in its intensity? (why is desire strong at one time yet weak at another, why does the same person show strong and persistent motivation at one time yet weak and unenthusiastic motivation at another time?)

Any motivation, which partly comes from emotions as one of the stimuli, has energy and direction- has a strength and purpose towards a goal/outcome.

Relationships, Compassion and Empathy

In general, the more quality social support you can draw upon from family and friends, the more flexible and resilient you can be in stressful situations. Having a support system helps in confidence in one’s abilities and allows a more positive approach to life. Maintaining one’s friendships and love appears to be important not only for resiliency but for physical and emotional health. Relationships however require ongoing cultivation and attention if

a healthy support system is to remain. In order to maintain these healthy relationships, it is vital to know:

• how they work and what is expected of you as a partner in a relationship,
• to not take them for granted, and
• to make commitments and put in the time necessary to keep them in good shape.

Any relationship can be just as important as the other- "In fact, every time you communicate any sort of information to anyone else, you are forming a real, if transient relationship with that person."

Emotional Resilience- Communication

To be assertive means to communicate respect for yourself and for whom you are communicating with at the same time. An assertive person communicates freely, but in a respectful, non-threatening manner. Assertiveness is a balancing act, requiring thoughtfulness and social awareness.

Essential to emotional well-being as it breeds positive thoughts and mindset.- sense of clarity and certainty.There are two ways tend to produce stress and prolong unnecessary conflicts:

·      Aggressive approach to others- makes accusations and threats that intimidate certain responses. Shows lack of respect for those who feel threatened.

·      Passive approach-accepting threats and accusations without challenge or confrontation. Shows a lack of respect.

Assertiveness however helps you to communicate more effectively, minimizing stressful situations to develop. It acts like aggressive communication except that person is defensive rather than offensive. Instead of degrading themselves (like passive) they are able to defend themselves against degradation and stand up for themselves, showing self-respect. Shows confidence.

Tips:

Make an explicit request.

Let people know how you are feeling, in order to communicate what to do to help. People tend to be good at expressing their emotions, but not as good at the request part of confrontation of a situation.

Emotional Resilience- Hardiness

Hardiness

Challenge. Stress-hardy people view stress as a challenge that they can potentially overcome if only they can understand it properly. Their habit of looking at stress as a challenge to be overcome motivates them to address the causes of their stress in positive ways. This active approach to stress may be contrasted with the more common approach, where stress is viewed as an unfortunate, overwhelming or even paralyzing force that overwhelms rather than motivates.

For a dancer, instead of letting an adversity to seem overwhelming and stressful, would help to look at it as a challenge to overcome once they know how to approach it fully. E.g injuries- knowing how to recover, knowing to be assertive and diligent to rest properly, rehabilitate properly and stay strong minded, focused and positive. This mind set helps with the healing process.

Emotional Resilience- Mindfulness and Flow

Mindfulness and Flow

“Your schedule may become so busy that you don’t have time to stop and truly pay attention to what you're doing. Being this busy creates stress.”

*Professional ballet dancers train on average 6 hours a day, and performances can last for 3 hours! So yes it is true in just an average life that you may not pay as much attention to yourself. But with ballet dancers they have to work their bodies to the utmost extreme, and often neglect/don’t feel they have the time for a little downtime to themselves. Or for looking after.

The body is a dancer’s instrument. I find that as a dancer, not looking after myself, mentally as well as physically, it will be a lot harder to improve and work towards performing. (Distractions, injuries, malnutrition, and STRESS!)

Taking the time to learn how to become more attentive, conscious and mindful as you go about your daily activities can increase your enjoyment of those activities, and also help you to maintain a resilient attitude in the face of pressure and stress.

Emotional Resilience- Control

Motivates helpful coping in any given situation. To feel like you can make the decisions according to your beliefs helps motivate you towards the goal/ overcoming an obstacle.

Two main components in identifying how to control a situation: 

Primary Control- ability to change a situation

Secondary Control-ability to be able to approach a certain situation. It involves finding the most positive way to approach a challenge you cannot fully change.

Secondary control is the control that you have over your attitude, regardless of the situation. Lance Armstrong's battle against cancer and hopelessness is an example of how maintaining a positive attitude through a difficult situation can make the difference.

Difficulty is recognizing when an obstacle/situation can be changed or accepted- find the “wisdom to know the difference.” It is not all that easy, sometimes you have to make difficult decisions and sacrifices in order to become ‘unstuck’ from a tricky situation.

Emotional Resilience- Happiness

If needs are met, any other extra possessions won’t officially make you happy in the long run. Once you possess something, eventually you feel the need for more.

‘As a result of these types of findings, researchers now consider happiness to depend less on people's actual circumstances and more on how people choose to respond to their circumstances.’ Or, perhaps how to react to their emotions… ‘how happy you are depends on how you approach your life and the people around you. True satisfaction is not about getting what you want but rather is about wanting what you have. Learning to be content with what you have is the true path to happiness.’

Emotional Resilience- Positivity

Positivity

More research shows that being positive is key to succeeding and keeping motivated, and is  the base the building up or maintaining a good emotional well-being. It is the fundamental emotion to be able to kick start other good moods and an effective mindset.

*Another advantage- linked to the health of your immune system, which will either make you feel good or not. Happiness and contentment aid in maintaining a strong immune system. However negative emotions contribute to a weaker immune system, higher stress levels with the production of cortisol, and therefore not feeling so good. Thus weakening the opportunity to strengthen or maintain emotional health. If you can learn to cope better with stress so as to avoid becoming depressed, and to lessen the time you spend feeling negative you can have a positive impact on your emotional and physical health.

In dancing I find it helps so much to feel happy and positive, because automatically you will dance better, improve and progress, reach closer to your goals and thus feel better overall!

Emotional Resilience- Mind Over Matter

Before, scientists thought that the ‘limbic system’, which is “a set of brain structures occurring above the brain stem but below the wrinkled, walnut-shaped cortex”, was solely responsible for the production and management of emotions. Recent studies have shown that although the source of emotional impulses comes from this region of the brain, our expression of a certain emotion is however linked to the processes of the prefrontal cortex. This is the “cortical brain structure located just behind the forehead which is associated with judgment and decision making” Therefore feeling an emotion automatically connects to/links up with how we react to them, all thanks the magical structure of the brain.

*How I understand it: emotional impulse is the source of your actions

Emotional Resilience

This literature source has helped develop ideas and open up other topics and sources to aid in the development of my literature review. Mainly because emotional resilience is the essence, the foundation of maintaining a good emotional health. 

From a dancer's perspective, working towards a performance requires dedication, motivation, practice, skill and hard work. As ballet dancers are always working towards some sort of goal and reward, and constantly trying to be better, the performance can be seen as the next ultimate goal to be better at. Challenges along the way are always part of the package. Physically they need to overcome these challenges, but what is as important is to be mentally strong. The core ingredient to providing this strength is resilience. And the foundation of this feeling of resilience comes from your emotions and feelings, as they are what drive you to act a certain way, and react to certain situations. This drive sparks up motivation and inspiration, positivity and a healthy positive mind-set towards work and life in general.

Therefore in all stages of the build up to any performance, it would seem understandable that keeping that resilience (emotionally) going is vital in order to solve the various challenges that will in turn create a dancer to improve in every aspect of their work and life. From the experience, and knowledge, they will learn how to cope better. 

Overcoming Challenges

“History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heart-breaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeats.” – B. C. Forbes

Taken from a a blog post of Tony Fahkry's, a leading health and self-empowering expert, here he discusses the art in dealing with challenges. “Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition.” – Fahkry, T.

Fahkry mentions that identifying the purpose of a challenge will help in overcoming the obstacle. It helps you move through it rather than it taking over your life. This relates back to the idea of the broaden and build theory- once focusing on the positives, it opens up opportunities rather than focusing on the negatives which close your mind in.

It is sometimes needed to abandon endeavors that do not benefit the person. Often people don’t like to consider redirecting their attention when all their attempts are exhausted. In other words, not allowing in change. Again a connection is made where change will help a person to cope with an adversity, and develop other more positive aspects that are contributing factors towards maintaining a good emotional resilience -helps in building good relationships within the workplace, builds up more opportunities to come in (emotional resilience), helps maintain positivity.

Literature source- Positivity

Science of Positive Thinking

Positive thinking is more than being happy or upbeat. It actually creates real value in your life and helps build skills that last. What is important is to look at the impact of positivity on your work, health and life (Barbara Fredrickson)

Impact of negative emotions:

Negativity narrows your mind and focuses your thoughts to one issue. The impulse you have is to act single mindedly without considering other options. In this article they use an example when a tiger jumps in front of you and you instinctively run. Other options “…seem irrelevant when a tiger is standing right in front of you.”

“…your brain is still programmed to respond to negative emotions in the same way…by shutting off the outside world and limiting the options you see around you.”

Instinct is part of a human being’s nature, and is useful in a ‘fight or flight’ situation. However in modern day society, these circumstances are very seldom met. The environment, studio space and theatre in the professional ballet workplace are generally very safe too.

Emotions like: fear, stress and anger

“Brain closes off from the outside world and focuses on negative emotions.”

Qualities of Emotional Resilience

Emotional Resilience means to be able to spring back emotionally after dealing with an adversity. There are certain qualities that emotional resilient people have to help them keep this strength. 

I have taken my experience of my long term injury as one of my biggest adversities in life and related it to these qualities, realising that through this experience I have learnt to become more resilient.

Set realistic Goals
Generally, there was a gradual positive development with my recovery, but it was quite a roller caster experience  Reflecting back, the main reason why it ended up taking 7 months was because I was unaware of how serious the injury was. I was setting unrealistic goals, wanting to audition 6 weeks after my diagnosed fracture (late-diagnoses). Thinking I was being pressured by others to get back quick, the pressure was actually all from me. Although listening to instructions there was not official date/time of the healing process in combination with various opinions, a rare injury and the daunting knowledge of not dancing. This really confused me into one scrambled mess of thoughts and emotions. Therefore I wasn’t fully focusing on what was REALLY best on how to heal, jumping too far ahead, skipping stages needed in the resting and healing process. For e.g.- was told I was able to walk but was in a strap, but had to take it easy. To a dancer, in general, taking it easy means not dancing. However resting fully sends the right messages to the body to heal.
Looking back, maybe it is also because I didn’t know anything else what was better, how I needed to heal. I had guidance, and the best I could attain, perhaps sometime the right information and approach known later on. I learnt more through the experience of it all… by the end, I realized how important it is for us dancers to look after our body as it is our instrument for our career. Feet are our tools. In learning this, I was able to stay strong while having to ask for permission as a brand new member with the company in Cape Town, to stop half way through the season. I had to take it easy, even though I was stepping in for another role, which accounted for a possibility to stay onwards with the company. I feel I gained more emotional strength, became smarter with my choices, thus learning the importance of setting realistic goals.

*One article I read ‘ now is not forever’ helped set this frame of mind where
*“The opportunity to get it right in the build-up phase is advantageous than getting it wrong when it matters!” 

Task 7A

Title: The mindful performer- not sure yet?

Question:

What requires professional ballet dancers to cope emotionally and maintain emotional resilience to face the various challenges of working towards performing?

Following my thoughts and new discoveries on emotional health in dancers (more info in this blog post), I first had the idea of looking specifically into the different challenges within the stages of working towards performances- technical upkeep, castings and auditions, rehearsal process, pre-performance and performance time.

I started by sending out a survey, via survey monkey, to various colleagues and friends who are professional ballet dancers. I chose them as my participants as I know them, and they are all working in the same or very similar work environment as me (professional ballet company) This way It would be easier to relate my experiences to the other participants.

I gained a perspective of what others felt were obstacles that came with the profession.
Reviewing the survey results, as well as observing my workplace,  it became clear that the
challenges within the whole process overlap into one another. Thus I was able to identify
some major ones:
·      Idea of perfectionism

·      Injuries

·      Body Image

·      Motivation and Inspiration

·      Rejection

·      Proving to others

·      Communication issues

These issues cover all aspects of working towards a performance, and are the main adversities I will focus on. It will thus be easier to investigate the main challenges and coping strategies. I feel like having set ‘issues’ to focus on will provide some sort of direction to guide me through the inquiry process.

Besides continuing with reading, researching and working on my literature review, I plan to soon interview fellow ballet dancers of Cape Town City Ballet as well as other professionals around the globe (via email). Therefore I will still need to consider some ethical implications such as:

·      Create proposals that are ethical, and legal

·      Respect all people I will interview, treat them well

·      Stick to the topics of my inquiry when interviewing, finding out information, surveying

·      Inform participants what my inquiry is about

·      Provide feedback

·      Get informed knowledge/permission to use certain info, video footage, recordings, names etc, from dancers and directors

·      Store data safely-in 1 folder +back-up, not to post online, keep all references

·      Manage time and finances efficiently- e.g. don’t go over time, respect each other’s space

·      Report project related problems to appropriate person- student and teacher

·      No plagiarism- use own words, references well, produce bibliography

·      All ‘personal’ quotes to remain anonymous from interviews as well as results from my survey

I have gotten verbal consent from most dancers and the Artistic director so far, and will soon get written consent forms organised.

Literature reviews

Finding Balance:

·      Analysed all interviews of dancers in the book that are relevant to coping emotionally

·      Has a section of body image (a challenge)¨

·      Has a section on injuries and coping mechanisms/mental approaches

Breaking Pointe

This is a documentary on Ballet West in Salt Lake City. So far I have analysed the first series, which is a whole lead up to a performance of theirs. Inside it shows an insight into the sidelines of a ballet dancer’s life, and touches a lot on the emotions of the dancers.

Emotional Resilience

·      …’to be able to spring back into shape after being deformed.’

‘to be able to spring back emotionally after suffering through difficult and stressful times.’ (Mills, H. Dombeck M. 2005)·  
From reading a fare amount of articles on emotional health, I discovered that the base of coping through any challenge emotionally, you need emotional resilience.

·      Identified a few aspects considered to be ‘main’ ingredients to maintain resilience and cope with a tough situation

Mind-Body connection

To stay healthy in the body, your mind needs to be right too. You need to have what is called good ‘emotional health.’

People who have good emotional health are aware of their thoughts, feelings and behaviors. They have learned healthy ways to cope with the stress and problems that are a normal part of life. They feel good about themselves and have healthy relationships. (familydoctor.org editorial staff)

Articles on emotions:

-       http://www.belongto.org/resource.aspx?contentid=4574

-       http://psychology.about.com/od/psychologytopics/a/theories-of-emotion.htm

-       Blog Post- http://www.help-yourself-stress-relief.com/what-is-emotional-health.html

Short journal entry about article:

Talks about achieving an emotional balance- something dancers are constantly trying to figure out is balance. You can’t over train, but practice makes perfect. You can’t eat too much, but also too little. You can’t dance or as much when injured yet you are paid to dance. You work and train a lot harder than so many jobs and athletes out there, yet get paid way less. Physically you have to be flexible and strong. Finding a balance in these challenges is part of being a professional ballet dancer, but do we pay as much attention on how it affects our emotions? Do they need to find balance in this area too to help us become better and achieve our goals and successes?

The article states that if we are able to master this balance, you are able to enjoy life (enjoy dancing too?) cope with stress (obstacles as a dancer) and focus on our priorities (value of our emotions?)

Motivations and emotions

·      Discovering that motivation is a necessity in order to overcome any challenge, I decided to look more into the topic and came across a scholar analysation of the book Understanding Motivation and Emotion (Reeve, Johnmarshall. Understanding Motivation and Emotion. 5th ed. John Wiley & Sons, 2008.)

·      I like how it links back to the initial thoughts of starting this inquiry.

Science of positive thinking

·      ‘creates real value in your life and helps build skills to last’ (J.Clear 2013)- what is needed in order to maintain emotional resilience

·      Talks about the impact of negative emotions vs. positive emotions

·      Scientific information of how positivity affects the brain

·      Negativity is explained to block other thought processes- sparked up an idea of how dancers often get mental blocks, which are hugely stressful and act as obstacles.

·      Mentions the connection of happiness and success- how both help work towards a goal

Previous Literature reviews and their connections:

·      Motivation- a core ingredient

·      Music- can be an inspiration

·      Initial idea of why dancers dance- this is the ultimate goal, the end product. It comes from all the challenges they go through to perform and have that one moment that no one else can take away from, something a dancer will understand and feel.

·      Idea of this stimulation - how it drives us to keep going, which enables a dancer to keep emotionally ‘healthy’ and resilient. (Going back a step almost)

 I have learned a substantial amount already on the importance of this topic whilst observing and trying to relate these ‘theories’ to my experiences so far.  From reviewing literature so far, I have picked up some main aspects and ‘approaches’ towards maintaining emotional resilience:

·      Positivity

·      Awareness- focus, concentration and attention to an activity to benefit fully

·      Motivation and Inspiration

·      Persistence and determination

·      Being assertive and communicating

·      Having social support

·      Do what a person loves (dance for dancers) for himself or herself

·      Confidence

Over time my ideas have changed, focusing more on one aspect of a dancer’s well-being. Originally investigating in the reasoning behind why dancers dance, after discovering more I feel like I have almost taken a step back. Going past what motivates a dancer, to looking into the cause and surrounding issues of the ethereal idea of inspiration. However it does connect in a sense that the right emotions lead to the correct approaches to a situation, which in turn supports motivation and inspiration for a dancer to move forward. Initially going back to where I started.

Discoveries on emotional health

Having decided on focusing on the emotional well-being of dancers, through more reading and researching, a new and improved investigation has been formulated:

How do professional ballet dancers cope emotionally and maintain emotional resilience to face the challenges within the various stages of working towards performances.

The mental and emotional side of a dancer’s practice is lesser explored (refer to fonding balance), and is an attribute that is necessary to have in order to solve any adversity the professional ballet industry poses on a dancer. (link theory of emotional resilience- bouncing back) Emotionally healthy people approach challenges and stress with a better more positive mindset, and are able to cope and solve a problem effectively.

In the midst of rehearsals leading up towards our next big production ‘Spring and Fall’ (triple bill of John Neumeier), I have noticed there are quite a number challenges that come with the whole process.

Working towards a performance requires dedication, motivation, practice, skill and hard work. As ballet dancers are always working towards some sort of goal and reward, and constantly trying to be better, the performance can be seen as the next ultimate goal to be better at. Challenges along the way are always part of the package. Physically they need to overcome these challenges, but what is as important is to be mentally strong. Thanks to this detailed source, http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=5799&cn=298

 it has helped create a foundation and starting point for my investigation on this lesser-known topic.

I have discovered that the core ingredient to providing this strength is resilience. And the foundation of this feeling of resilience comes from your emotions and feelings, as they are what drive you to act a certain way, and react to certain situations. This drive sparks up motivation and inspiration, positvity and a healthy positive mind-set towards work and life in general. Therefore in all stages of the build up to any performance, keeping that resilience (emotionally) going is vital in order to solve the various challenges that will in turn create a dancer to improve in every aspect of their work and life. From experience, knowledge and awareness they will learn how to cope better.

It has also been very interesting to apply these theories to my experiences so far with the ballet company and our rehearsal process. I have really noticed and tried to identify the different challenges that fall into the different stages.

I have observed frustration (in myself and others) in everyday class, with castings and rehearslas when having to mainatain technique and an ideal body shape even though some of the younger dancers may not be used in much. There have been motivation issues, a few injuries and dancers down. Fatigue and stress with some of soloists and pronciples who are doing everything. All of these obstacles have affected on our emotions and feelings. By being more aware of having to be more more assertive and aware myself, stay positive and try approach certain situations has been eye opening. There is so much behind maintaining a good emotional resilience. It shows how important it is to have in one’s life, and for sure would be beneficial in a ballet dancer’s life to upkeep.

“…Nurturing positive emotional states is one of the most important things a person can do to benefit themselves.” (H.Mills, M.Dombeck)