Task 3

As a Module two student. I have been working around the ideas of positivist, and non-positivist approaches, as well as dualism, and embodiment.

positivist and non-positivist is a fluid idea. I think that it all depends on what type of information, or approach you have to the world at any given time may appear to be different each time. I can't say that I am either a positivist, or a non-positivist, as I experience both positions through each and every given day. As a teacher I am both a deliverer of information as well as a personal counselor to students with their many many questions about every aspect of their lives.

As a human being I think that a non-positivist approach to life is more often the case than a positivist one, however a positivist approach during times where emotions can make a strong bearing on a situation a more positivist approach may be needed.

Embodiment. Embodiment for me is very odd, again I am very fluid in my understanding of embodiment, and dualism. How come there can't be both? Is there a reason the mind can't be separate from the body, and be the vessel of knowledge, and the body become the physical connection of the mind to the physical world? or is the physical world really just a form of conscience that we aren't yet able to determine? Again I feel that as I get older, and as I get more life experience my views are constantly changing on what I believe, and don't believe, and where I am positioned in my understanding of phenomenology, pragmatism, and ontology. I am afraid that I will only get the answers I await for when I am dead.

TASK 1

I see many different dance companies each year as they come to town (I tend not to see the local company, for personal reasons), I also spend time on the internet watching various choreographic works that I really enjoy (the benefit of the internet is skipping what you don't enjoy, the downside to this though is we skip half of what we can learn from whether the learning is small, or large). I am finding that through watching choreographic works of many different individuals and groups, that I don't tend to see patterns except for in a select few. For awhile Choreographers were using the expression of "organic" I feel as though they meant to mean that they wanted more of a monism approach to their work, and if you could say it like this; "a more reflective method of dancing" meaning the dancers are more into themselves when they dance instead of really performing for an audience. Which could very well be the goal of those choreographers, as well as 'giving' the audience an intimate moment by watching the dancer be so into themselves.

As I learn more about different notions of knowledge I am finding that my own choreographic ideas are changing as I learn to understand through these ideas of knowledge as well. I am trying new ways(to me) of expressing communication through choreography, to see what I can play into an audience and performers imagination.

Speaking with audience members after various performances I have learned that there must be no single truth, as everyone can watch a contemporary dance performance and 10 our of 10 people will have a different idea of what was meant to be said, and myself learning upon speaking to the choreographer, that the intended performance was a mere exercise from a workshop experimenting with connectivism.

Ultimately I have no idea what people's view on knowledge are, until they die. By that time it is to late to find out. If peoples understanding is constantly changing, and learning is perpetual, then people understanding of knowledge is also fluid and constantly changing. I don't think as though I would be able to say that I am leaning to one notion of knowledge. I feel as in a single day I go through many.

Keeping on Track

The hardest thing that I am experiencing throughout the MAPP is staying on track. I think I am enjoying the element of 'discovering' too much. I start teaching most days at 8:00 AM and I end teaching most days at 8:00 PM because of this, time is very limited making it an extremely valuable commodity. Like any valuable commodity it needs to be used wisely, any minor distractions may become the difference between success and failure. Learning to stay focused is essential for any goal oriented project with a deadline to be delivered on time. The more time one is able to devote to the project the more quality the project should attain.

Using time wisely is unfortunately, for myself, much more easily said than done. This may be because of dyslexia, or ADHD, or it could really be more common than not, and I am just not aware of other peoples feelings on this. Reading books such as "The Mature Student's Handbook" by Lucinda Becker is both an immense help, and also perhaps also a little detrimental, as it makes the planning that is required to stay on track seem easy. This already can be extremely difficult for individuals who come from professional dance backgrounds because, as in my own case, and in the case of a few other acquaintances,  I have found that we (dancers) have been conditioned to thinking about many different subjects simultaneously due to the nature of dance. And on top of all of this thinking while doing, being a dancer also that you need know a little about variety of subjects such as mathematics, kinesthetics, and other various humanities in order to succeed and do your job as a dancer professionally. The difficulty with learning about our own professional experiences, and what we have learned, is that we don't consider what we do as learning, or learning in a form that can be documented because to us, all of our multiple subjects, is just what we do, dance.

All of this learning, and doing is very difficult on people in general, so how does this connect with time management? Dancers are used to doing a multitude of activities at all times, perhaps this multitude of activities makes dancers constantly over stimulated? whatever the reason, I find that dancers in general tend to 'run away' with various tangents frequently, whether the dancers are in rehearsal, or actively choreographing, or in discussions with other people (which we have seen evident in each and everyone one of our Skype sessions). I would even go so far to say that without our advisers we are basically a bunch of school children who are fighting over who has the ball, and then where the ball gets thrown. So now imagine ourselves trying to be organized, and productive, and stick to one subject without advisers, parents, or some form of authority making sure that we stay on track. I think I am one of the children with the ball. However, I will keep pushing until I get it done.