Wednesday 25th PM Skype Call
Last nights skype call included people on all Modules. It was great to discuss subjects such as Mapping, Creativity, Diversity, Culture, Ethics, Questioning and Gender all in the space of one hour. Jessica, a Module 3 student, brought up a subject that was of particular interest. She wanted to talk about Culture, she was struggling with an inquiry too vast to know where she was anymore. I was in the exact same position in Module 2 and at the beginning of the term. In Module two I wanted to explore Safe Practice in dance but found this such a vast subject it had too many avenues to explore. I needed to be more specific in which area of Safe Practice I was particularly interested in. When training I was injured in a dance class performing Freestyle due to hypermobile joints and lack of strength in surrounding muscles causing a tear in cartilage in my knee joint. I did make a recovery after plenty of rest and physio however this then made me feel slightly cautious and lead me to undertake certain injury prevention research in my own training. After Mapping this and looking further back in my practice, Injury prevention within Safe Practice then became a forefront in where I wanted to lead my inquiry.
My proposal became How Freestyle Dance Teachers implement injury prevention techniques within their Safe Dance Practice, however after feedback from Module 2, it was concluded it was still too broad. I needed to think back to why I wanted to research into this and in doing so how it would help inform my Practice. This is how Andrew, also now a Module 3 student, felt in Module 2 and suggested to Jessica ways of going back to where you began in Module 2, looking at past blogs and reminding yourself of your practice. I did exactly that and looked back at the mapping of my practice in Module One to find out exactly how this Inquiry came about. I then looked presently and forward into the future and thought about in doing this research, how would it inform my current and future practice.
I teach under the Governing Body of the International Dance Teachers Association, therefore, I am predominantly interested in this syllabus and how Freestyle Dance is taught under their association. I then also thought about the grades I teach and whether there was a specific level I could focus on. In September there is always an influx of new students in the current dance school I work in and with the influx comes children that are brand new to Freestyle dance. Some of these children have seen YouTube videos of professional Freestyle dancers whom they automatically want to be able to replicate, this, of course, comes with problems. There is a lot to be taught first about technique with beginners as jumping straight into difficult moves can cause injury if not taught correctly. This is happening in my practice now. I then looked to the future, and one day to the hopes of owning my own Dance School. With this would come brand new students, many of which may be new to Freestyle Dance. This then made me decide focusing more on the teaching of beginners would be beneficial to my practice.
My inquiry has now become Questioning Freestyle Dance Teachers' injury prevention methods when teaching beginners within teaching styles under the IDTA dancing body. I now understand you have to trust in the now and allow that penny drop moment. Trust the process you are going through and try not to stress out which was exactly how I felt when I was faced with such a vast subject. Trust your curiosity and know it will lead you along the path you should be taking.
My proposal became How Freestyle Dance Teachers implement injury prevention techniques within their Safe Dance Practice, however after feedback from Module 2, it was concluded it was still too broad. I needed to think back to why I wanted to research into this and in doing so how it would help inform my Practice. This is how Andrew, also now a Module 3 student, felt in Module 2 and suggested to Jessica ways of going back to where you began in Module 2, looking at past blogs and reminding yourself of your practice. I did exactly that and looked back at the mapping of my practice in Module One to find out exactly how this Inquiry came about. I then looked presently and forward into the future and thought about in doing this research, how would it inform my current and future practice.
I teach under the Governing Body of the International Dance Teachers Association, therefore, I am predominantly interested in this syllabus and how Freestyle Dance is taught under their association. I then also thought about the grades I teach and whether there was a specific level I could focus on. In September there is always an influx of new students in the current dance school I work in and with the influx comes children that are brand new to Freestyle dance. Some of these children have seen YouTube videos of professional Freestyle dancers whom they automatically want to be able to replicate, this, of course, comes with problems. There is a lot to be taught first about technique with beginners as jumping straight into difficult moves can cause injury if not taught correctly. This is happening in my practice now. I then looked to the future, and one day to the hopes of owning my own Dance School. With this would come brand new students, many of which may be new to Freestyle Dance. This then made me decide focusing more on the teaching of beginners would be beneficial to my practice.
My inquiry has now become Questioning Freestyle Dance Teachers' injury prevention methods when teaching beginners within teaching styles under the IDTA dancing body. I now understand you have to trust in the now and allow that penny drop moment. Trust the process you are going through and try not to stress out which was exactly how I felt when I was faced with such a vast subject. Trust your curiosity and know it will lead you along the path you should be taking.
Interesting summary of our discussion the other evening. It sounds like a great line of inquiry.
ReplyDeleteHi Sam, thankyou so much for sharing as I was unable to attend the skype call, I am too trying to find a specific focus within my inquiry.
ReplyDeleteFrom Millie x
Hi Sam, great blog. I started dancing really late as there just were no dance schools locally but then a new freestyle school opened in my area and I joined straight away.
ReplyDeleteI only did freestyle for a couple of years but I found this blog to be particularly interesting as there are SO MANY freestyle teachers who don't practice in a safe way. I really appreciate everything freestyle did for me as I felt it was a really good launch pad into the dance/performance industry, but I have and always will question the safety behind the style and the way it is taught.
Despite needing to be qualified to teach it, I know of so many teachers who are not necessarily qualified and can get away with it as they are not viewed as the 'main practitioner/teacher'. I also think the nature of the style lends itself to dangerous practice because of the extreme speed/flexibility/power that is all needed. Teachers parents and students are so desperate to be flexible that the lengthy process is so often rushed. And the idea that flexibility reduces strength in a muscle is almost non-existent. I remember being stretched by a teacher, (It was a back stretch,) and I was pushed so far that I actually blacked out. And more so the bodys' natural reaction to that was to spasm which then proposed additional dangers to both the teacher (who was heavily pregnant also) and surrounding students. I do just want to say I don't think safety and technique are abandoned by all freestyle teachers at all, some are amazing teachers, but I do think it is an area that particularly suffers from bad/ unsafe practice.
Have you considered that this may be because of its derivative, or lack of, For example, contemporary was derived from ballet which is highly technical and then comes lyrical so they all have a technique base but where did freestyle start? Just a thought, I don't know where it came from so I could be completely wrong. Also another thought is freestyle has developed so much over the years that maybe safe practice just doesn't know how to keep up with something that is developing and changing so quickly.
Hi Lorien, thank you for your interesting response. I totally agree with the dangers you talk about. Even being a Freestyle dance teacher I watch certain performances in competitions and cringe slightly at the flexibility and power that goes into come routines and wonder what measures it has taken to get there. I too understand that it is an area which suffers from bad/ unsafe practice which is why I think it’s such an interesting line of inquiry. Yes, I feel because Freestyle emerged quite late in the 80s and derived from the style of disco there wasn't a real technical stance to it. There isn't a great deal of literature on Freestyle dance as it fairly new and seems to have a many takes. The only injury prevention methods available are in the syllabus taught to teachers when undertaking an exam to become a Freestyle dance teacher therefore not readily available for me to access; I only know what I was taught under the IDTA. I do think because it has developed so much the safe practice is slightly out of date therefore I think it should be more regulated and generalised with what is taught to teachers
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