Developing themes for Professional Inquiry and beginning of SIGS

                On the past days I have been talking with many professionals about my thoughts and questions presented on the last posts. I tried to reach different perspectives: talking to professionals from different areas, teachers, classical dancers , contemporary dances, acrobats and musicians and allow my thoughts to flow during the day and get to a more concrete idea.

                

               My focus turned more and more to the constant process of research for artistic quality on professional artists. I concluded with the others I have been talking to, that this research is a constant process and once is stopped, improvement and actually passion for your profession is gone. The research consists not just on the technical aspects from a class but also, on news ways to constantly innovate yourself and reach different qualities for your practice. The technique also needs to be adapted for yourself, and for this success deep research and dedication must be given. On this flow then, it is important to be what I have mentioned so many times on my other posts: “open-minded” and be actually part of the, in this case , dance community , being updated of new choreographies , needs and ways to reach artistic quality. One of the professionals I have talked to (a dancer from a professional contemporary company in Brazil and my contemporary teacher), related this process as a discovery to be a complete artist. In the case of dancer, would be one that have the domain on different techniques and movement qualities, the one that have a deep body conscious, the one that tries to internalize the choreography given, that wants to give a meaning for his movement and captivates the audience.

                

              I would like to relate my inquiry on the research for artistic quality and singularity on professional dancers. Discuss about the importance on dominating different movement qualities/dance techniques/body conscious methods; give importance for the knowledge on dance, the importance on studying; being updated of the dance community and the new needs for the audience. I would like to analyse this process during the last years of dance formation (the graduated student getting to the professional field) and during the professional career when formation is concluded (actually, never concluded! We need to reach for constant development!). For example about the domination of different qualities for your dance, I believe that techniques which aim for a more spontaneous movement have an extreme importance for this own body research and maturity on performance: The Gaga Technique developed by Ohad Naharin emphasizes the exploration of sensation and availability for movement, fostering a greater confidence in ability to improvise. The Gaga Method requires deep self- knowledge and a sense of freedom of movement which allows the artist to discover many new ways to work his/her own body. The Contact and Improvisation Technique given firstly by Steve Paxton (and under constant development through many others later on and being one of the most used methods by choreographers nowadays) it is a constant experimentation through physical contact, working on movement aspects such as rolling, falling, supporting, lifting etc. The relationship with the partner is very important building up a sense of cooperation, confidence and communication.  Telling about my own experience, when I began to take Contact and Improvisation classes I found very difficult to actually let my body to be conducted and feel what the other person was asking from me and being part of this “dialogue” between the bodies.  Once I began to reach this place, I began to recognize bad addictions and limitations I had, as well as finding new qualities of movement which I didn't imagine I had.

               

               All this focus and conclusions have been made after a very turbulent and busy moment which I have been through.  So many discoveries were made and some many great professionals I have met and had the opportunity to work and talk to. I realized how immature I still was and that I needed to find new ways to reach for a better development and a more professional quality. Ways to discover my own singularity, to apply techniques and to dedicate to my job. For this, contemporary dance classes, ballet classes, body therapies, very long talks, reading and watching different performances allowed me to begin this new research.  With those professionals I have been talking to and began to build up my “Special Interest Group” (SIG), which include professional contemporary dancers, classical ballet dancers, teachers from the “Angel Vianna Dance University in Rio de Janeiro” and professionals involved with the Choreographic Centre in Rio de Janeiro. Soon, I will be taking part in more contemporary projects and I hope to be able to talk to even more professionals. I would like to reach a big range of opinions, from recent graduates, dance professionals from different fields and dance researches and teachers.

               

                I found very few from my Module who have a similar direction of inquiry. I believe that this is due the fact that many are teachers and have inquires more directed for the teaching perspective. However some questions from Pip Spalton and Della Estlin about how to stimulate motivation on students, I believe can be related to my idea of inquiry. I think that stimulating an artistic quality research can be a way to help students build up confidence and self-motivation. I believe that applying different dance/movement techniques can help this process. As well as updating about the actual dance scene. From my personal experience I used to appreciate very much when workshops with choreographers were given who used to bring new experiences for us or talks with professional dancers; I used to also appreciate when my teachers used to recommend us dance videos, companies, artists to study about. I used to have to research about the repertoire I was dancing and Dance History which I believe helped me to build up interest. I always fell a great motivation after performing, after watching performances and after classes/experiences/ talks which shows me new ways to discover my abilities.

                

                To be able to talk more about those issues and about other inquiries I would like share my email here as maybe will be easier than the blogs: julia.juliagil@gmail.com

                Soon I will be posting more about my SIGS, about the opinions I have been listening to, about my thoughts and also about the literature I have been researching. 

Task 4a: Inquiry Questions

           

I wrote on the last post about the classes and experiences I’ve had on the last months. I can affirm that many discoveries were made: on my development, on new dance languages, on body therapies, on body conscious methods, improvisation methods and on my own personality and perspectives for the future. I also wrote already few questions and since then I began to develop them better. Reading through Reader 4, more possibilities of enquiries came through and I was also more able to structure my thoughts. Talking with professionals from this field, looking into my practice, daily routine and current issues were helpful as well. Is a complex process of thinking and get even more complex once you begin to connect with the concepts worked on Module 1. However, I recognized that some issues were not actually from my current area of practice or were way too extensive. I wouldn’t be able to connect theory with the practice and on this path, wouldn’t develop my role as a professional and my workplace. They are important issues, maybe one day I will work on them once I’ve studied it, but I guess we should take one step after the other. And after all, my current role on this environment is as a dancer, so I will use this performing and practice environment as a research foundation.

            

            The vision of a learning organization by Peter Senge really got my attention. The five disciplines described and his deal as real learning became fundamental on my opinion and made me question about my own education and learning process:

“The basic rationale for such organizations is that in situation of rapid change only those that are flexible, adaptive and productive will excel. For this to happen, it is argued, organizations need to discover how to tap people’s commitment and capacity to learn at all levels (ibid. : 4). (…) For Peter Senge, real learning gets to the heart of what is to be human. We become able to re-create ourselves. This applies to both individuals and organizations.” (Peter Senge and the Learning Organization: http://www.infed.org/thinkers/senge.htm).

I believe this statement is very important and realistic on our area of practice. On a such competitive, unstable and hard area of practice (performing arts and arts studies) this focus on constant development, increasing knowledge, capacity to learn and re-create ourselves are keys for the progress. This commitment into work made me connect with the concept of Social Constructionism: meaning is not discovered but constructed. An actual meaning emerges only when consciousness engages with them. To fully live the routine and engage with the process of learning brings a meaning into your work. On the explanation of one of the five disciplines, “Systems thinking”, Peter Senge states that “We tend to focus on the parts rather than seeing the whole and to fail to see organization as a dynamic process”. I believe this idea of dynamism on organization is a very necessary and also tricky process. The professional fields change, societies, values, methods, goals change. The dance environment nowadays is totally different from the past, as well as the audience and also the countries where performed. Organization then, should adapt into the new necessities. I question myself nowadays if dance schools actually prepare us for the current professional field and also bring us the possibilities on it. The question of if we actually graduate with a professional perspective and if we are prepared. But is also a tricky task once a fundamental basic process and structure of learning might be questioned. On this path, also began questions about keeping traditional models, the costs, adapting to the future as well. It is then a very deep discussion.

Peter Senge also emphasised on the individual learning, to be able to hold a creative tension and recognize your growth and ignorance areas. To be able to bring the discussion to the surface and on this flow create a dialogue between the group and a sense of thinking together. It is one of the challenges for the next modules once we will have to manage this discussion place.  However, during the dance career the space for dialogue isn’t very accessible. Bringing this idea into reality, few places this “Team Learning” actually happen. On few companies the dancers have space for dialogue during the choreographic process and managing of the company. Few schools support this dialogue between the professionals and students and within the students as well. During the training as a dancer this space for discussion is very restrict or if not nonexistent. This issue is brought in the end of the text about Peter Senge, questions about the costs, support, politics and moral issues. I believe would be very important all this discussion to come through into the dance environment but I have to recognize that more than the support from institutions , a support from the dancers is very necessary once the discussion need to be brought from us and also the ideal to make professional places better and more creative.

Those issues about the structure from dance schools and companies showed up but I am not really sure if I would focus on them on my inquiry. However, I thought I should bring them up anyway and would be happy to share my opinions with who might work on those issues.  I believe what have been intriguing me on the past weeks is what is asked from a dancer nowadays. Recently I have been focusing a lot on my contemporary technique and being very amazed with the repertoire and type of work required. My training has been very classical and I see myself going to a more contemporary dance path from now on. Or for companies/choreographers/workplaces that require both classical and contemporary technique.  I have worked on contemporary projects on the last months and being with contemporary dance professionals (even if I continue to do a classical ballet class every day), during this time and also during my experience in Germany I realized how much is necessary for dancers to be versatile nowadays. When I write versatile, I mean dancers who are able to dance classical based choreographies (or what is called “neoclassical”) to very contemporary based choreographies. Actually I can also affirm that I improved much more on classical dance since I began to take contemporary classes. Not just contemporary classes, but classes that bring another sense of body conscious such as Improvisation Technologies, Alexander Technique, Eutony and Gyrotonics. With this affirmation, I can relate to my last post when I asked about kinds of training which are helpful for dance development. I can also relate to what I have written on Task 2d, when I talked a lot about creativity and singularity. It is an aspect that I love from my area of practice. Other issues also came for example, what currently inspires choreographers. As I have an interest into choreography, this area also showed up on my mind. I still think I might be a bit extensive and even vague, but I guess is a beginning.

What I have been talking a lot about with dancers and teachers around me as well, is the importance of the singularity and development of artistic quality. That is another very interesting area that puzzles me. Even if technique is very much required nowadays, personality is crucial. I believe this is a constant research for dancers and should be under constant development. Some would say that the dancer is born with the gift, some that this self-knowledge can be brought during different classes, some by watching other dancers, some with specific classes such as drama. I think is an interesting point to think about. I will have to do a better research into this area, as emotional, education and even cultural issues (which I mentioned before) might need some investigation.

I can affirm that I have been through a quite brainstorm after reading through blogs, talking with my colleagues, taking different classes, working on different projects and after the group Skype Session. Issues on what is also possible to be able to do a good research.