Philosophy, Culture, and the Historically 'Maitre de Ballet'

I would like to say that my definitions of Western and non-western societies are considered Western as being derived from Greek and Roman philosophies, and non-western being societies haven't yet been contacted by western society.

This last two weeks I have been reading about trying to understand different cultures, various biographies and recounts of experiences with some of the world's most influential teachers of classical dance from various cultures, and some basic philosophy, all leading to personal discoveries of how relevant what I am learning is now.

I have been learning about approaching statements with a philosophical point of view (looking for premise, and conclusion, using logic), I have also been learning during the same time frame that it is probable that western idea of philosophy was unheard of, and possibly inconceivable from an indigenous[generalizing] perspective during the time of pre-contact with western societies, due to philosophy being a western concept/value [within my current understanding of the idea from gathered sources I have collected thus far].

During the last few months I have also been reading about the great teachers of French, Italian, Danish, English, Russian, and American classical ballet traditions. I have learned that they(the teachers) varied so much in their opinions about the underpinning pedagogical techniques, and the overall aesthetics of what ballet should be, and yet somehow ended up all have a common goal generalizing the purpose of classical dance in the forms of being a tool with which to communicate to  the audience something [this could literally be anything]through a codified system of movement, that vaguely resembles each different teachers interpretation of a 500(ish) year old art form.

All of this reading and comparison of teachers, and cultures has led me to realize that as Classical Ballet is a western art form, then it should never be forced upon any non-western society as a necessity, and this choice of participation must always be available to any individual, or society if there is any wish to preserve that society values, and culture, in tact.

This leads us to the idea that the individual or society needs to be the ones in charge of making this choice, not the bigger enterprises engaging in the exploitation of other societies with the idea that popularizing classical dance globally will seek better performing artists, and lead to higher profit margins[and the glory of Terpsichore]. Classical dance is for a very small audience globally, it should always stay this way in order to prevent more societies and their ways from being lost forever.

However if ballet is what a non-western culture would like to learn then the individual, or society that wishes to learn about classical ballet needs to be educated in the history of classical dance, and acknowledge that its origins are deeply rooted in western society. This will allow for the non-western society to attain a conscientious understanding that the experience of learning could heavily alter, or even destroy, the original culture of that society leaving those involved feeling as though they don't belong to any social group.

During this process of reflection currently have come to realize that there is currently no element of classical dance that accepts or allocates parameters for other cultures [non-western cultures, or non western cultures that have either been colonized, or become intermingled with western values, understandings, and ideologies] to actively be a part of classical dance societies[group, colony, field of study] while still maintaining their cultural values, and maintain their social norms.

This means that the International non-western communities could very well consider all of the teachings that I have learned through endless exploration of past teachers and teaching styles as "completely irrelevant, and non-existent" within non-western societies., and all the work to create a perceived conducive learning environment that would be completely viable within a western society looses all value and should fail and loose all appreciation, if placed within a non-western society.

This leads to a realization that the love that I have for classical dance[ballet] is one that only can be shared by people like myself whom have been raised with similar western values, or those whom have turned their back on fragments of their own culture [this may or may not be a bad thing] either by choice, or forced; and in order to share these values with which I personally care so much about one would need to explore new ideologies derived using intercultural communication in joint efforts from both western and non-western parties.

This would entail the participation of western, and non-western communities, with which the western community demonstrates a clear display of knowledge of classical dance, and brings this knowledge, along with western culture to the 'table', and the non-western parties would in turn bring their own dance ideologies and culture to the 'table'. If everyone is perceived as equal by both cultures then there it is probable that a new form of classical dance will be created, that blends multiple cultures.






Am I on an unacceptable train of thought? or is it all logical?

Breathing and dance?

This article showed up on my facebook news feed and made me start thinking about everything I have learned about breathing from experience while dancing, and training to dance, and also from reading artifacts from other teachers in the past interpreting their understandings of the relationship between breathing and movement.

Some ideas that hit me more are:
1. Joan Lawsons, words about breathing in which she writes about breathing on the closing of movements.
2. Nikolai Tarasov and his chapter on breathing and how the importance of breathing is intertwined in dance.

I focus alot on what I already know about breathing in my classes that I teach, now I am going to see what happens if there is a correlation between the breathing that is intertwined in the ballet movements already for the aesthetics of the movement,and the movement quality, with the idea that if breathing in properly according to this article, the students will also be able to think much more clearly about the movements, and the next steps that they will be executing.

Here is a link to the article. Enjoy!

https://neurosciencenews.com/memory-fear-breathing-5699/?fbclid=IwAR2qTJBzBWixjfyCvpb00sGKJaWIEm3xWsXE0hONfofEshRiJcfGveLhX94

Doing Your Research Project

I have just finished reading "Doing Your Research Project: A guide for first-time researchers in education and social science - Third edition" by Judith Bell. I really like this book. It is dong a research project presented in a "connect the dots", or step by step guide. I feel much better about approaching research projects now, and I feel as if I use the guidelines laid out in the text by Judith Bell I will be successful in my executing of a research project. 

Now, does any one have a preference of these options: APA, or Harvard, and if they do why?

Also now I have an idea from reading about different teachers and their approaches to learning and teaching about where I what I would like to research and how I will be able to get it done.

Wanting to learn more.

Hello, I have been reading a lot of various books lately with the intent of finding out my true interests of dance. I am discovering that I am gravitating towards Hermeneutics phenomenology, positive, dualism, and how it can all be intertwined in teaching. I am finding it difficult to stay focused on anything in particular because I am finding that I wish that when I was a dance student, and dancer I had more time, and more interest in learning classical studies, philosophy, and various mythologies.

Is anyone else finding that they wished that they had more time, to learn more?

Here is an article that I really feel also highlights my some of my ideas about different dance forms and their developments, the fine arts in general actually.

https://creativesystemsthinking.wordpress.com/2014/02/16/how-einstein-saw-the-world/

Choreography

Does anyone have any good recommendations for academic sources on theory of choreography?

After Skype meeting September 30, 2018

Hello everyone,

This is a little recap of our skype meeting of September 30, 2018

First off we talked about what we are currently researching and working towards, including module one, two and three people. This led to us discussing that we need to always be constantly aware of the action that we as teachers also need to be learning, and the topics shouldn't be about our own experiences, but should also contain more objective observations of what our students/pupils/peer are experiencing, and how we can reflect upon, and learn from their experiences.

My feelings have always been that learning has to be mutual in order for growth to happen, by growth I mean by development/improvement, leading to a greater achievement for everyone involved.

Reflecting back at the conversation. my own thoughts lately have been directed towards the affect, and importance of culture, and diversity in teaching styles, and leading to the type of people more attracted to learning various styles of dance, and where that would lead to when it comes to learning outcomes, from a series of set contained experimental labs(?).

The next topic that was addressed, I believe by Hannah was making sure that everyone was aware of the inevitable experience of being disappointed by the level of participation in research by research subjects when it comes to "work" that they need to do, in this case the "work" consisted of a survey I am guessing by how the conversation went.

On this topic my reflecting thoughts were "is there a possibility the relationship status between the researcher, and the research subjects holds a bearing upon the level of participation of the research subjects?" I am curious to see how my own research subjects respond to anything I give them when the time comes.

The next element of conversation was led by Dilini, and was based around similarities, types of dance that work well in combination, and creating social networks around the world to share ideas and generate discussion (this is my own interpretation of the underlying discussion, and Dilini may have been meaning something completely different, also my thought on this, isn't what we are doing in the MAPP an example of the same thing regarding social networks internationally?)

which leads me to thinking about international culture, and how different early beginnings will have a strong bearing on the outcomes even after several hundred years of global interaction and cultural exchanges. =>=> Language is at the base of every culture, and dance is the international language. (sort of paraphrased, and sort of my own words, if you know about the dance international language thing in more detail please comment below about the source!)

This led to Dilini speaking of her students various ages, which then led me to thinking about my own school, and my own children (I have three daughters) and thinking perhaps culture is not limited to location, language, and nationalities, perhaps culture could also be related to maturity levels, and age?

This then led to a GIANT discussion about assessment and evaluation. I have been reading a lot about evaluation and how it fits into education personally, but I decided to listen and see what people would say by themselves, the results were very interesting. regarding formative assessment and summative assessment.

(This led me to start thinking about what if knowledge is truth, and in dance we teach the knowledge of dance, and therefore dance = truth then how are you able to convert the dance(truth) back into knowledge?......this may seem like a stupid train of thought but hey, I am dyslexic, and my mind works in mysterious ways)

My next thought was "you mus understand where a student comes from, to be able to understand where they can go, how to get there, and how to evaluate their arrival at their final destination. This will be a very difficult, and intuitive process that could be very much analyzed as a series of studies........"

We then talked about Disability, evaluation, culture and society (I group them together), and ethics.


How do you assess art, in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary 10th edition it states that "art is a  personal, analyzable creative power" therefore, why do we keep trying to analyze dance (dance is a form of art)? as soon as we analyze it, aren't we are making it into something that becomes non-art?
 not only is Dance and art form, being the teacher, and the assessor, we are talking about a system riddled with conflict of interests, consisting of relationships, empathy, an international communication that is sending different messages to everyone who watches it (it doesn't matter what technique or style you are using).

My interpretations for assessment of dance is that it is relative and of value only to the choreographer, or teacher, (if assessing students, or pupils). If it is a professional artist then assessment becomes only relevant to the artist. This is all arguable.

This is all I think I should write in this post, as it is getting long, and my brain is going crazy again thinking about so many thoughts at the same time, and collating them all together is getting difficult to concentrate!

I will write again soon, thank you for reading, and please post any discussion and comments below! I look forward to as much feedback as I can get because I never know what I am really saying.

Here is a link to the Down's Syndrome company I was speaking of in Colombia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3rGEK6n9-8

I hope you like it!