Sitting in front of my (still) empty screen, wondering where and how to start my first blog, makes me think of a concept, that is used in architecture or drawing, called “white space”. Its the space inbetween or the empty space.
While I often use this concept in class, when working on “port de bras” and arm movements, trying to direct the focus of the students away from the shape they are making with their arms to the space that it creates around them, embarking on the MAPP journey the "white space" for me also stands for new beginnings, or the state of mind, that new beginnings tend to put you in: where on one hand you are anxious, slightly uncomfortable and nervous about what lies ahead, but on the other hand you feel excited, curious and full of questions.
There is a certain freedom, vulnerability and openness, to those moments just before embarking onto something new, that I love..
Its like an empty sheet of paper that lies in front of you... its full of possibilities. Once you put down that first line or decide which way you are headed, your focus tends to shift to that line and away from the space around it.
While of course focusing and engaging with something specific is important and necessary for any learning and growing to happen, I hope, that further down this MAPP journey (when I'm lost in details of word counts and essay writing) I will be able to take a step back from time to time and shift my focus again away from the details, to the space around them and to that open state of mind, you are in when you start something new.
As I said Im very curious and excited, where this will take me to and what I will discover on the way!
What an interesting post, thank you! I am working a lot with the inner sensations in my contemporary dance classes so the students focus less on the outer shape they make. I have never really heard about this concept of "white space". I was so focused looking what happens in the body that I might have lost the space around me a bit and I am glad you reminded me of that. Creating a space around you as well as inside of you is fascinating in dance but I like the idea of looking at your research in a similar way. I am at the moment (in module 3) gathering stories from people. Those stories come from within, they allow me to have a look into the participants experiences. In a few weeks I will start to create a space with those stories, rather than just writing a linear text.
AntwortenLöschenI will definetly look into this concept of "white space", thank you!