open mind

The Skype discussion this afternoon touched many interesting topics, (there was problem with my Skype, so I was only able to listen).

We've talked about sharing and exchanging information, and how sometimes other practitioners are reluctant to share their experience and information or answer questions regarding their practice and become defensive. And what reasons keep them, from opening up and participating in an exchange.

In one of the dance studios I teach, we are all encouraged to watch each others classes. This is something I really like, as I feel as a teacher you can very easily get lost in your little bubble and it is also always very interesting to see your students in another class setting. 
But it still makes me feel nervous some times, when somebody actually comes to watch my class and after the Skype discussion today I tried to think about why exactly that is. 

As dancers and dance students we are used to people watching us and are usually open and happy to receive feed back, as we know that constructive feed back will help us grow.
Why is this situation then so different being a teacher? Why do I feel more insecure about being judged as a teacher, than as a dancer? Is it because in a traditional class setting the teacher is supposed to have all the answers (and therefore cant't be "wrong") and the student is the one expected to do all the learning and evolving. 
But the teacher is (hopefully!) also constantly growing, searching and therefore in a life long learning process.
Is it the mind set then, that is different and makes us perceive feed back differently as a student or as a teacher (feeling judged vs. expecting to receive feed back)? How can we change that mind set? As a teacher I find, that trust is very important, in order to create an environment where learning can take place, the students have to feel, that they are allowed to make mistakes and take risks, without being judged. Maybe we as teachers should also try to work on that trust in our teacher community.

I sometimes find myself wanting to apologise or explain things that didn't go as well, as I wanted them to, in class, when somebody is watching. A couple of weeks ago I watched Liz Lermans lecture on youtube and she said something very interesting, that resonated strongly with me, about turning your apologies into questions. Instead of apologising for things that are not perfect or up to where you would like them to be, for example teaching in a community dance project, instead of saying: "sorry the class was really loud and I can't keep them focussed", you can turn that apology into a question: "how could I try to keep the class more focussed?". This way we allow ourselves also as teachers to ask questions, exchange ideas and enter in dialogue with each other. And can give ourselves space to grow and learn. 

The other topic, that was raised today, was about how to narrow down questions and how to find, what is relevant and essential, without getting lost in a sea of information. It made me think of a quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery, that I really like:

"Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away"

moving

This past week has felt like quite a journey, I feel like every day I wake up with certain ideas and thoughts and when I go to bed they have transformed and taken new unexpected turns. This is quite unsettling and overwhelming at times. There is so much movement, so much to take in, digest and make sense of, that right now my brain feels like when you are moving: there are old things to get rid of, things that appear you didn't even know were there and how they got there in the first place, other old things, that you know are not useful anymore, but you just can't seem to let go of them and then there are all the NEW things, which are great and inspiring, but they are still standing around in the middle of your living room, and you have no idea, where to put them yet, even though you spend the whole day moving and shifting them around....

Just now I have come across a citation in the "reflective Practice book", that gave me a new perspective and approach, to look at that process, that seems to unsettle my mind at the moment: "Reflective practice helps us to meet this in the spirit of discovery rather than defensively" (Schön 1987). 

And some of those "new things" are really inspiring already and I would like to take the time to explore them further in my practice in the next couple of weeks. Especially one paragraph of the "reflective Practitioner" resonates quite strongly with me:

"We learn by doing, through the very struggle to make our own judgements, not by being told where, when and how to turn, who to trust, and what is the correct path. The  reflective  educative  process  is  one  of  each  individual  constantly  asking why of everything.."

I was reflecting on my own practice, asking myself if I give my students the freedom and the space for this kind of learning? And in which moments of my own learning journey was I allowed to learn in this way? What is needed to create and support a learning environment, an atmosphere where you allow learning to happen? How can you accompany your students, so they can feel empowered and trust in their own learning experience? This are just some questions Im writing down, there is so much more to explore.

My aim in the next couple of weeks is, to be more aware and question and look at my current teaching practice from this perspective, and observe which moments in class allow for this process to happen and feed this kind of learning and why (or why not!) (and actually also at home with my kids) and search how I can find ways to encourage such learning. 

Very curious to hear your thoughts and experiences!

talking about dance

Being part of the Skype discussion this morning was very interesting on many levels. It was my first Skype discussion and what got me thinking this morning, but also getting started with the AOL and Portfolio work, was how challenging I find it at times, to communicate my thoughts clearly and put them into words, especially in an academic setting and why exactly that is (besides the fact that English is not my first language). 

And also how, while it is challenging, the fact that you have to put your thoughts into words, can already alter them and trigger a thinking process that transforms your initial thoughts and ideas and lead them in a new direction.

We spend so much time in dance "translating", or learning to translate ideas, stories or concepts into movement. But usually spend very little time, to learn how to translate movement back into words. Or how to talk about dance. Also a big part of the learning in dance usually happens on a visual level (when the teacher demonstrates for example). 

We had a dance teacher, who used to make us explain verbally, what we were doing with our bodies, while doing a certain step or exercise. Back then, we used to hate those moments (as usually we would just stutter around and feel really awkward about it).
Now, as a teacher I find myself asking my students to do the same thing. I feel that when you can explain something to some one else, it deepens your own understanding of it (or if you can't explain it, it might put a light on the missing bits of information). 

I never gave it much thought, while being a dancer, but when I started teaching and working on dance education projects and choreographing, I realised how important it is to be able to communicate your ideas clearly to others.

Just the other day I was in a meeting with the arts council of my home town and a woman from the council said, how often dance projects (in comparison to music, theatre or visual arts) get rejected or don't receive funding, simply because the application is so poorly written.

It also made me think, how in todays society in general anything having to do with your body, tends to have a lower status in most peoples eyes. (This is reflected also for example in salaries, where physical work is usually paid less, than intellectual work). And if this might have anything to do, that we have been very influenced in the past years, by the cartesian world view, dividing body and mind, and putting the mind over the body ("I reflect, therefore I am").

So, all of the above made me reflect on the subject of talking about dance also in a broader context. Somebody in the discussion this morning brought up, how they felt that the field of studying dance had a low status in some peoples eyes, compared to other areas of study. Which made me wonder if there was a connection between the way dance professionals  seem to struggle to talk and communicate about their art form and the way it is seen by the general public. I know many dancers and  dance colleagues, that feel intimidated or uneasy in situations, where they have to talk in public about their practice (me included). 

And I wonder if we would put a bigger focus in dance education, on also learning how to communicate verbally about dance and movement, it would influence the way the field of dance study and dance in general is perceived.

Curious to hear your thoughts about it.

white space

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!