Task 2c: Reflective Theory

            Reflective Practice is extremely important for dance career. Is impossible, in my opinion, to be an artist, or work with art, without reflection. Reading through “Reader 2” and “Using Journal Writing to Enhance Reflective Practice” (David Boud), I realized how reflection has a big role in our practice and discovered ways to deeper my thoughts and how much they can help me can help me to improve my professional practice.

John Dewey stated that “(…) the quality of the education was linked to the level of engagement with and consciousness of the experience” (Reader 2, page 4). Finding ways to link new experiences to previous experiences; and finally achieving ways to find meaning for ourselves is part of a good quality process of education. I strongly agree with this idea. Without a conscious concentration on the subject of learning, the experience will be easily forgotten. A good example is during a choreographic process or when a correction is given in class. Without focus, the combination or correction will be forgotten or it won’t be understood what is exactly being required. Engaging new and previous experiences and finding a meaning for you, is an extremely important if not a crucial process. And I have to admit it is not an easy task. When I read about that, it made me remind when a contemporary choreographer first came to create a piece for the graduate group in my school. We, classical ballet dancers, were then struggling with some of the combinations and the floor work. He said to us: “I want you to use your body knowledge that came from your training. Be aware of your muscles, lines, quality. You don’t need to forget everything, but use in your favour”. The process of adding knowledge to your body and linking them, make the process of learning easier and you achieve a better quality work. And I believe that not just dance experiences should be involved in the dance work, but also life experiences. After all, if we are expressing our personality and feelings through motion, our own life experiences and personality should be part of it. An artist becomes special when it becomes unique.

“The basic assumption of the model is that learning is always grounded in prior experience and that any attempt to promote new learning must take into account that experience. All learning builds on existing perceptions and frameworks of understanding: therefore, links must be made between what is new and what already exists if learners are to make sense of what is happening to them. Learners bring to any event their personal foundation experience.”

(“Using Journal Writing to Enhance Reflective Practice” Page 12, David Boud)  

But it is a really a hard task, and is something that I think a lot about it: bringing my personality to my dance, engaging everything that I have experienced and learned and trying to do something special about every piece that I learn.

Analysing Kolb’s learning cycle made me think about at which point I usually start my learning process, what type of learner I am and I asked many colleagues about it. I realized that the circle doesn't have a concrete and definite form for each one. Even if I believe I usually start with a Reflective Observation (I think I am a very visual person. I learn a lot from watching and prefer to write down or create charts to help me remember important facts, corrections) the next steps depend on the situation. For example, in a new choreography I think I would first watch someone else doing it (Reflective Observation), second imagine how would I do the step (Abstract Conceptualisation), then try out my ideas (Active Experimentation) for finally get involved in a concrete experience. So, based on the circle I assimilate, converge and then accommodate. In a class would be different.  I think I would start as well as watching, but then instead of visualizing myself doing it, I think I would go straight to a concrete experience. So I would skip one of the phases of the circle and become a more activist learner.  For then after, reflect about my experience and watch again. Many of my friends had different opinions about it and it was an interesting discussion. I also asked myself if I would achieve better results if I miss one of the steps of the circle. If I am a visual learner, maybe more than watch I should imagine myself doing the combinations (especially on centre, when the groups are divided) before I get to do them. Like this I could prepare myself and already conclude what I want to achieve with the step.  But this can also block me somehow, so what are the benefits on starting the cycle at the “Active Experimentation”? Or even, don’t watch, begin visualizing yourself and becoming a more pragmatic learner?  Each day I began to try different ways to approach a better learning and results, and I think will be a process that might never end. I actually ended up with more question than answers about myself.

Going further with the process of learning with the idea of Multiple Intelligences from Horward Gardner and the four stages from Peter Honey and Aln Mumford, I created a chart to help me connect the concepts and ways on “turning experience into learning”:

All those concepts made me realize how hard is to be a teacher as well. As we all have different ways of learning and are intelligent in many different ways (Multiple Intelligences) must be very important to teachers recognize those differences and be able to approach a good education for all needs from your students. The communication from teachers to their students is extremely important and must be very hard to achieve, as well being aware if all students went through this whole process of “turning experience into learning”

Dancers need to be “on-line” thinkers. We must reflect-in-action in order to achieve the combination or choreography. Or to adapt in case something is not working. Like Robert Kottcamp describes

“(…) the actor must simultaneously attend to performing the action and observe and analyse his or her action, as if from an external perspective.” (Reader 2, page 8)

 These definition and the concepts of “reflection-in-action” and “reflection-on-action” made me realize how teaching ballet is a hard task. The reflection-in-action is less common (compared to academic professions) and without it is harder to achieve the coordination and constant awareness of your whole body that is necessary for dance. At the same time, I believe is also important for dancers to be “off-line” thinkers. Once the action is done , I believe is also important to analyse it back and give full attention for it for a better self-correction and knowledge of what you have done and what are you aiming. As I stated before dancers are “on-line” thinkers and this concept is associated with the muscle memory and tacit knowledge that we begin to develop through our career. The “feeling” of movements began to be part of our knowledge and can’t be always expressed by words always. Our muscle memory is a crucial tool to keep choreographies and movements. And give us the feeling that sometimes we dance without thinking. Reading about Twyla Tharp explanation of “the idea of muscle memory when demonstrating a dance, a tacit knowledge” (Reader 2, page 10) made me ask myself how many times I saw a choreographer struggling to explain his ideal movement and the dancers , struggling to understand what is being required. The choreography is many times something almost natural to the choreographer and he/she knows nonverbally:

 “Her memory of movement doesn't need to be accessed through conscious effort”

(Tharp and Reiter, 2006. Reader 2, page 11)

This show how important is for choreographers to develop ways to connect their tacit knowledge with verbal words and be able to communicate with others. “The interplay of the conscious and unconscious in the creative process” (Christopher Bannerman in “Navigating the Unknown, RESEN, Middlesex University). I have already also worked with choreographers who create the dance with the dancers. It is required from the dancers a lot of improvisation and creativity. I find this process of choreographing very interesting, once the tacit knowledge and muscle memory will be created together, choreographer with the dancers. William Forsythe usually says that he gives the algorithm for the dancers to make the choreography. He says that he provides the conditions and both of them begin the creative process:

“So we both dance, the dancers and I, we all dance together and we all choreograph together, because if you sort of leave it over to the other person to just do the dance and the other person do the choreography I believe there’s a gap forms in your experience. And this experiential gap, I find, dangerous, and detrimental to the kind of work at least that I want to do.”

(John Tusa interview with William Forsythe. BBC Radio 3, available at

www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/johntusainterview/forsythe_transcript.shtml)

The Tacit knowledge should be also be carefully developed by each dancer. I believe that ballet technique (not just even ballet but other dance techniques as well) should be adapted according to your body. The pictures from the ballet methods books are to help you develop the technique, but I believe that to work in movement is necessary to take your individual conditions.  We are different people, different physics and facilities. For example, for a pirouette, some might prefer to do a big position for the preparation; some might prefer to do a smaller one; some will prefer to put all the weight over the front leg; others might prefer to divide more equally between the legs. I think is important to develop an own body language and conclude what it works better for each of us.

The previous experiences with Tasks 2a and 2b showed me how important and useful is to use Journal Writing in the process of learning. The many ways I tried proved how the reflection practice can be done and support a process of critical thinking. Journal Writing helps us to come back to our experiences and help us understand and develop a further learning and analysis. In “Using Journal Writing to Enhance Reflective Practice” (David Boud), the process of reflection is described differently when is done in the midst of action and when is done after events. During the event, we might be aware of what is happening and become actively involved in the process, or be conscious of the process and focus more in our own thoughts and feelings. We might notice the process of learning and reflection which make us come back to the concept of “Reflection-in-Action”. After the event however we might return to the experience and re-evaluate all this process. And that’s when Journal Writing becomes a powerful and useful tool. It allows us to develop further thoughts over the event, understand our emotion, question ourselves and re-evaluate the experience:

“(…) the role of journal writing here is to give an account of what happened and to retrieve as fully as possible the rich texture of events as they unfolded. The emphasis is on conjuring up the situation afresh and capturing it in a form that enables it to be revisited with ease. ”

(“Using Journal Writing to Enhance Reflective Practice, page 14, David Boud)

 All this process was really noticeable during this course since we began our Reflective Diaries. It was clear as well that our journals were private and nobody would read it. David Boud also focus on how important this privacy is and how the expectation of writing for an external audience can change totally the shape of the writing, and create a barrier for further thoughts. I mentioned that on my last post, when I emphasized how important is to be honest with yourself during the process of reflection. Is important to question, explore your feelings, express and doubt your thoughts and even get more confuse about everything. It is a process of exploring and going deeper.