Campus Session M3- 16/03/2015

For the first time I was able to make a Campus session carried out by Paula. This session gave me the opportunity to reflect on everything I had done (picture)¨as well as making a checklist of what the next inquiry stages should be.

Only Ruth and I could make it. However it worked out well as we could really focus on and discuss our topics together in detail through the different stages of writing up the inquiry process.

Step 1

We first started by our journey and experiences in our work practice whilst starting the BAPP course, which brought up ideas for our professional inquiry. We then explained what our project is about, whilst the other wrote notes on our plan and intentions. This brought up ideas on what to add into the introduction of the critical review. For example:

·      My experiences of rejection, tough times, disappointments etc. in my career lead me to the topic of my inquiry in investigating how to keep emotionally resilient though the adversities in the professional ballet industry. These events lead me to dancing with Cape Town City Ballet and currently Vienna Festival Ballet, which shows that the saying “when one door closes another one opens” is true.

·      The fact that I didn’t give up when disappointed showed some sort of resilience, and so I was curious to see where the thought of this ‘inner drive’ and sensation would take me.

This exercise was a good time to self-reflect, thinking back on how to put things right and change things for the better. I was able to conclude one of the main intentions of my inquiry, which is for my readers and audience to be able to relate to it and to the personal experiences of the dancers and of my own.

Two main questions in this section to consider:

What are you doing?

Why are you doing it?

Step 2

Look at the questions you want to find out in your inquiry. Identify your subtopics and/or themes that go with what you have researched. See what sources relate to your inquiry.

E.g. from explaining my intentions and questions, Ruth picked up key themes:

Perfectionism, motivation, control and resilience, positivity, confidence, diet, rejection, injury, relationships

We discussed how to relate these questions and themes to some of the sources I have researched into. For instance, I read one article on the benefit of meditation for dancers where it sets a calmer, more positive and clear mindset to be in control of your thoughts and emotions which will in turn help in a challenge.

Step 3

How will you carry out your investigation? Look into what inquiry tools you will use and know why they are beneficial. Then start interviewing/surveying/discussing/observing.

Step 4

We discussed about the stage of analyzing the work. One thing that would help is to always relate back to the main themes of your inquiry, especially if gathering qualitive data. Here is a visual method of showing how to link the concepts of your topic and findings, to then be able relate them to the evidence you have.

                                                                             Data

                           Literature                                                                        Experience

Step 5

Think more in depth of the intentions for your professional artefact. Consider who your audience is, the benefits of it and how you are going to portray it. Discussing this with Ruth and Paula first clarified who my audience is: younger professional ballet dancers wanting to fulfill their experience and journey as an artist, having the same intentions of giving inspiration and producing ideas/knowledge that the dancers can relate to. They made me aware that I needed to give more thought into how I am going to collaborate the audio and the visual dance footage together to produce some sort of meaning. 

The discussions also brought up ideas for Ruth on how to approach her professional artefact, where it felt great and inspiring to be able to contribute ideas for one another.

Here are some other points picked up from the campus session that will help in the development of the inquiry process:

·      Communicate your writing and explain your journey to your readers- almost in a reporting style

·      Pretend you are reading your work (when editing) like it was someone else

·      Citations- cite them right

·      Sample analysis- what does it mean? What have you found out?

·      The concepts can be shown and followed if you feed it- back up your topic

·      Actively edit and keep work concise

·      Start bibliography early

·      Have journal discussions to get other opinions.