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.