Thursday 24 November 2022

Inquiry into what lights the spark inside me

 I am returning to these questions which I explored earlier in the module but have needed to add to as my learning has developed across the module.


What in your daily practise gets you really enthusiastic to find out more about?

How trauma affects and manifests within the body.

Why people act the way they do.

The creative process of collaboration with a choreographer.

How I can develop my ability to direct others by using an empowering approach.

Bringing ballet to people who would not otherwise access it.

Dancer health.

Connecting to an audience

 Reaching a deep level of characterisation within the roles I dance

Mental health in dance- how can support services be improved for dancers and those working in the performing arts industry

The healing aspects of dance and how it can help with overcoming mental health issues

Inclusivity in dance

 

Who do you admire who also works with what makes you enthusiastic?

These are all people who all work or have worked in areas I am interested in, and I deeply admire all of them. They are just a very small proportion of the people I admire really because I when I think about it I realise just how many people I truly admire for different reasons.

Anna Pavlova, Misty Copeland,

Terry Hyde (dance psychotherapist) Lucie Clemence (Dance psychologist)

 

Nicky Keay,

Stephanie Potreck (Dance nutritionist and doctor),

Claudia Bagley (teacher)

Layla Harrison (former dancer, now teacher).

Ashley Bouder – recently spoke out about body shaming in the dance industry

Joseph Isaac Powell- Main

 Lauren Lovett

Julianne Rice-Oxley

Emma Slater

What gets you angry or makes you sad?

Dismissal of children’s needs and feelings.

 Dictatorship in directorship.

Not feeling I have a voice within the working environment.

Body shaming of dancers

Lack of awareness of mental health issues and ways of dealing with them in the dance industry

 

Who do you admire who shares your feelings or has found away to work around the sadness or anger?

 Misty Copeland,

Ashley Bouder

Terry Hyde

Stephanie Potreck

 Lauren lovette

 What do you love about what you do?

I love to get into an honest place with the roles I dance. I love collaborating with artists across diverse disciplines. I love to work with children who are dealing with mental health challenges and helping to build their confidence.  I love performing when I really know a role and feel prepared for it. I love reaching people who I wouldn’t ordinarily get to connect with by bringing dance to them. I love dancing in unusual places.

I love helping or giving something meaningful to others

I love being a part of change and development to make the dance industry a healthy environment and yet still produce wonderful art.

Being a support or role model to young dancers

 

 Who do you admire who also seems to love this or is an example of what you love?

I feel that once again I am returning to Anna Pavlova as my biggest inspiration. She was the focus of my BAPP and my interest in her work and the way she bought ballet to so many through authentic and expressionistic performance remains a huge interest of mine.

She is the most prominent person who seems to be this example for me yet she is not necessarily an example of health.

She performed all over the world and worked herself to a point of burnout probably. Therefore, as this module has developed, I realise that I want to continue to be inspired by her work but now progress this to the present and to find a way to live a meaningful career whilst still being an example of health to others.

Lauren Lovett

 Misty Copeland 

Marianella Nunez

Vadim Muntagirov


 What do you feel you don’t understand?

I feel that I am struggling to understand my place within the industry. I still feel there is a lot of dance within me that I want to share. I don’t understand where the boundaries are in my teaching sometimes, where my responsibility ends so to speak. I have a tendency to feel responsible for everything even that which is not necessarily my fault.

I really want to understand my upper body more so that I have better coordination. I want to understand why I have an inconsistent coordination when I dance. This has worsened since being unwell.

 

I don’t fully understand where my boundaries are in terms of how much I can push myself before I experience a decline in my health. I am still in search of balance to some degree although I have much more awareness than I used to.

 

 

 

 

Who do you admire who does seem to understand it or who has found a way of making not understanding it interesting or beautiful, or has asked the same questions as you?

Raymond Chai seems to have found his place within the industry as a dancer and teacher and held onto a sense of integrity through his work.

My ballet mistress has given her life to dance and teaches in a way that is nurturing and empowering to young people.

Layla Harrison is wonderful teacher who had a great freelance career.

The co-founders of Danscend official

Lauren Lovette former NYC Ballet dancer who became freelance during the pandemic

Sara Mearns dancer with New York City Ballet

Ashley Bouder

Richard Slaughter one of my first ballet teachers has this year come to new insights which have aligned us further.

Misty Copeland

Sally Marie director of sweetshop revolutions

Jack Philp




Misty Copeland in Swan Lake

Image from

Read Misty Copeland's Amazing Response to Her "Swan Lake" Critics (dancespirit.com) Last accessed 24/11/2022

2 comments:

  1. Thank you for sharing this! It's so interesting to see what has changed for you. One thing I reflected on about your post was the point "Who do you admire who also seems to love this or is an example of what you love?". You mentioned some artists/movers who you admire but then also reflected that perhaps they weren't always healthy in their way of approaching the movement sport of dance. In high performance sport/art I always found it helpful to also look outside of our movement and into other realms. I have definitely pulled inspiration from basketball coaches, soccer players, and other sporting arenas. I have found being able to look at other sports has really helped me view my own sport (dance) in a more objective way. It has helped me pull the sport psychology into the dance setting especially with mental skills and health :) Just wanted to share what has helped me :)

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  2. Thank you so much. This is so useful to hear and it's so easy to get stuck within the world of dance when thinking about people who I admire and you have have just prompted me to notice that so thank you. :)

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