Regulations steering the ethical framework at work

 Following items show an excerpt of the German NV (Normalvertrag) Bühne. Every dancer employed by a German state theatre has signed this contract and I have added the index as well as two pages specifying the laws for dancers in German theaters.
I think the most important ethical aspects in this case are the working hours and hours of rest and recuperation (Proben / Ruhezeiten).
As you can see, the NV law is very intricate and often leads to discussions amongst employees. Although we are all aware of certain aspects- let´s say woking hours, not many dancers actually know this documents detailed ins and outs.
I am actually just questioning the ethics of people signing a contract they don´t really understand, or know of it´s existence. Many dancers are not German nationals and therefore not necessarily in command of lawyers German.

ballet meets design

http://www.behance.net/gallery/NIKE-ARC-ANGELS-(Pointe-shoe-training)/3346353

hey...this made me think about the BAPP program, where dancers are researching side-by-side to a group of talented young designers and learning from each other....hope you are all doing well

thick as a brick !!!

...much to my surprise...it came to me, as I was blow-drying my hair. Although I must admit to having had an inspiring conversation over the breakfast table shortly before I can advise anyone as stuck as I was to go by every day life and wait for the genie to come out of...um...the hairdryer (I´m thinking Hoover might work as well).
So my topic and what my research will be based on is "Transition in Dance".
Transition of dancers from their dance career to a non-dance life. I would briefly like to illuminate historical points with August Bournonville being the first to support his dancers to find another career upon leaving the stage. Another aspect I will be dipping into is the social habitus of dancers and the psychological impact the end of a career has. In my research would like to question dancers about their current view on their life after their career and former dancers on how they perceived and what they experienced in their transition time.
One thing that really motivates me, is that I feel that I am coming to the end of my dance- career and it´s a subject us dancers are all concerned with. Another thing is that whilst in the UK dance transition is already well established in Germany the first dance transition foundation was founded in 2010!!!

So this is just a quick overview...what do you guys think??? Do you think I have found what I was looking for...

Stray birds of summer come to my window to sing and fly away. And yellow leaves of autumn, which have no songs, flutter and fall there with a sigh.

As my blogging activity is rather dismal, it must seem, like I am not really doing too much...on the contrary....I´ve been rather busy...still searching for the grains of inspiration for my final enquiry....as the module commenced I was already chatting with friends about my ideas...stirring things up a little. I made an appointment to talk to one of the ballet-masters at work and I also had the wonderful opportunity to talk to the new financial director of the "Hessen State Theatre" where I am employed. I am trying to approach the subject with open eyes, looking into many fields around me and I am sure come autumn I will be able to harvest and bake a nice bread out of my work.
I´ve been looking into the structures of the German cultural scene. Where does the funding come from, what is considered important and how are cuts and closures affecting society.
There´s the German culture council to start off with. It is responsible for political decisions concerning the arts including drama, opera, music, dance, literature, architecture, design, film and cultural education. Many enquiries are initiated by the council...and I was able to print some of personal interest and read through them.
I took a look at the German governments web-site and found answers on how the German government views the necessity of dance at this day and age.
Then there are also several associations concerning the german theatrical landscape. The "Deutscher Bühnenverein", the "Bühnengenossenschaft" seem to be the largest ones- then there´s the "Vereinigung Deutscher Opernchöre und Bühnentänzer", responsible for choirs and dancers in Germany. There are two dance specific archives. One in Cologne and one in Leipzig. Their sites also operate in English...
I´ve been putting a lot of thought into the social aspects of dance, or more specifically ballet and modern dance as we know it today, as I would like to look at the rather unknown field of dance-sociology for my final piece of work. Maybe I am falsely attempting to land on the wrong branch of the tree here...not sure yet.
The financial director of the theatre advised me to look into the sociological department of the TU in Dresden- especially at Dr. Rehberg´s work concerning culture, which again in turn lead me to a highly interesting book about the arts in society. Basically this book is what I would like to take a closer look at- but from a dancer´s point of view. Something like "The dancer in society". Or "Dancing with Society"....something like that.
Concerning research I am actually getting slightly worried...I am advised not to query the audience of the Hessen State Theatre. I could however ask my colleagues....dancers, as well as actors, opera singers, choir singers and the entire technical department. I am also able to draw upon my professional community...but I am also aware of the fact, that that will not be scientific research, as from my subjective point of view. Conversations with a sociologist have led me to GESIS, the German institute of social indicators. Maybe I can peck out some more ideas here??
So long so far...a quick glance at the creative mess I am looking through at the moment...maybe the birds of spring will help me untangle it...

PJs vs pointe shoes

Having let my thoughts spin out of control in their soyuz capsule over the past weeks I am trying to learn how to knit the tangled wool of ideas into something with shape.
The place I started thinking about ethics in the workplace was the stage, as to me, my professional setting consisting of the theatre-building, the ballet studio and my fellow company members, the stage is my church. It´s the place you enter and you immediately quiet down and look up.
Maybe my rather rigid classical education ingrained certain values in me. For example I was taught not to put my hands on the tutu I am wearing and although my ballet-days are gone I still respect my costumes, hanging them up (unless there´s a "fast change"during performance), when taking them off and not carelessly throwing them into a corner. Respect for principal or senior dancers is something you grow up with- never failing to leave them their preferred space at the barre.
I also learnt that the ballet-studio is there to work, not for eating and even now it still troubles me to take a bite of my kitkat- even when starving.
A thing that really opened my eyes was the program "Agony and Ecstasy" about the English National Ballet, kindly recommended by Alicia some time ago. In one episode a young dancer is literally being yelled at for being 5 minutes late, being called "dis-respectful" and "un-professional". In my own professional environment being 5 minutes late certainly would never prompt such an outburst.
My surrounding being a dance company of contemporary german expressionist dance, it struck me that there are considerable differences in values- especially to the ones I grew up with in a "classical" surrounding.
Another example that sprung to mind was how in classical companies such as the Hamburg Ballet, I have observed a certain dress-code. Clean and tidy, hair in a neat bun or french-roll and tight fitting dance-wear. In the more modern milieu I move in wearing your pajamas or covering yourself in thousands of layers to keep warm is more convenient and adds to a "certain kind of cool". Or I should rather say- it´s a kind of uniform. ((O;

this little world has quite captivated us your joys and sorrows have refreshed and touched us

...sitting in the extremely crowded reading-room of Wiesbaden´s State Library (yes, education is a "thing to do" these days) I take a look out of my little soyuz-capsule, which lately took a detour past planet "Romeo and Juliet" premiere...now that I am managing to bring my little rocket back in to it´s proposed orbit I am finding the right brainwaves in order to compose the next blog.
A lot of thinking and some discussions have been going on about the award title I would like to propose for myself. Something that has been following me my entire dance-career (also in school days) is that of social structures of dance-companies (hierarchy) and in theaters and social backgrounds of dancers. I enjoy looking at the consumers of the art we produce, having had many discussions with friends I have introduced to dance or the theatre full stop about how dance and the theatre can be made more accessible and "a la mode" again.
I am also reading an extremely inspiring book on the history of ballet "Apollo´s Angels" by J. Homans. Who knew, that the classical corps de ballet actually sprung from the French Revolution? Or that the figures still practiced today in classical ballet class are representations of how people thought the planets moved in the 16th century??
Thus this book is opening my eyes once again to how much the creation of art is linked to the time it springs from.
In my own mind I have often drawn links between the origins of a choreographer, the time he or she created in and the nature of his or her works.

Coming from this the title I would like to propose for myself is 


BA (Hons) in professional practice in dance sociology/ philosophy.

Another thought has been to translate the German "Tanzwissenschaften" (a BA uni subject here, thus making it a


BA (Hons) in professional practice in dance science.


What do you guys think of my ideas??
Is my rocket spinning out of control?Do we have to call Houston?? Are these also questions you have asked yourself at some stage or would like to know more about??

I am always thankful for honest answers and feedback!!

Feeling a little like Laika the dog...

moonwalking with einstein

When a week ago, last monday I packed my little computer into it´s cozy travel-bag, sharpened my pencils and set out to hit the library in my lunch break, I felt enlightened and relieved to have a reason to think again...especially about my work, which I love very dearly.
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.

This gives me a pretty good overview and I can modify it as the Module progresses and I am (hopefully) kissed by inspiration.
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;