A week later...again in the library, I find my mind spinning with ideas much like a soyuz rocket. Let´s see, if by May I somehow manage to return the rocket back to the planet earth and come up with a plausible line of inquiry.
I decided after the past panicked January coursework essay hand in-time to approach Module 2 slightly differently. Thinking of the choreographer George Balanchine, who would choreograph the end of a piece first and then work his way backwards (so he knew, where he was heading) ("Dancing on my Grave", Kirkland, G.) I drew up a map of what the final hand in will be about. At the beginning of the last Module I was still busy registering and so on, so this time around I am much more relaxed and more focussed on the things, that are really important.
Working through the fourth reader I brainstormed, what I already know and what competences I have. This gave me a pretty good idea on how big the field is, that I could potentially choose something to research on, from. As a classical dancer trained by British, French, Danish, Russian and American teachers, I have a fairly good understanding of the different aspects of the various techniques taught all over the world. I understand that research in dance/ballet technique is an interesting subject already quite frequently mentioned and has already been done a lot.
Recently a younger dancer in the company approached me for help in search for the right pointe-shoes for her. Many years of experience have taught me, what different brands there are, how they are made and how each dancer has their own perks in sewing and preparing her shoes. Sharing this with her made me feel proud and also think of an interesting point(e) of research.
Work as a dancer has given me a sense of movement and space, musicality and acting skills.
In being a company member and belonging to a theatre I have learnt a lot about social dynamics in groups, social structures and behavior. Ever the observer, I am fascinated by human psychology and find the psychological and sociological aspects of dance highly interesting. A book I stumbled upon some time ago "The Neurocognition of Dance", compiled by a famous dance teacher Martin Puttke and the neuroscientists Thomas Schack and Bettina Bläsing has opened my eyes to new paths ahead.
Next thing I did was draw up a mind-map in order to sort through my jumbled thoughts.
Now that my soyuz-rocket has been launched, in flight I feel like reading a lot of literature, looking around the vast expanses of the universe..um...web and playing a good deal of ideas ping-pong with colleagues, friends and actually any one who will play with me.
Last sunday I meet up with one of the ballet masters from work. Some years my senior, but from a very similar background to me, the conversation proved very interesting and in many ways inspiring. Although we did in the end drift away from my question of research I can say that our little excursion gave me some more clarity on the area I would like to concentrate on.
I also find Peter Bryants blog extremely helpful. This one really hits the nail on the head to me- especially the five points on what a research problem needs to be!
So, as my journey through space and time is continued and I look out of my rocket´s little window and hope that Einstein was right... ((O;
