My Interviews - Salsa Dance Teachers

Super Mario - Million Moves Man.

The interview was conducted  at his base in London in October 2012.

I started dancing Salsa socially in 2000 and Mario was one of my first teacher’s.  Mario has a degree in Mathematics but decided to teach Salsa in 1998.  He has an impressive Biography, listing numerous awards to his contribution to promoting Salsa world wide, best UK teacher and more titles.  

Super Mario's web site Salsa 4 Fun

Bar Salsa teaching venue

Mario has taught in more than 70 countries and continues to travel abroad almost every weekend to teach Salsa. 
He teaches cross body style (New York) which is in a ballroom hold starting on beat 1 and 2.

What strikes me about his teaching is the ease in which he teaches the men's to lead.  He has an excellent grasp of the leading technique for social dancing. With no previous dancing or teaching background he is able to produce and execute so many imaginative moves and unique combinations. 

My observation as his assistant  dance partner confirms his affirmation to teach the basic fundamental steps of New York style Salsa.  His main objectives for teaching Salsa are;

• to promote and develop the social interaction through the fun element
• develop the practitioners style by encouraging them to experience and explore other Salsa dance styles, thus promoting fusion.

Mario constantly evaluates his own teaching.  He injects new found music into his club from his travels.

Mario is a seasoned interviewee and was a great respondent and we concluded the interview promptly. 

Mario the DJ, talks about what type of music he likes and plays and why,  the importance of the influence the music is to the dance in the London circuits, fusion in music, competition amongst the DJ’s and his concerns for the type of music that may be played in the future in connection with Salsa.

Mario has stated that a very small number of practitioners in the UK are not interested in knowing about the traditional dance but in his travels internationally there are Q & A sessions after every class where practitioners ask about the origins of the dance.

Marchant and Davina Birch -  Alchemy Dance Academy

The interview was conducted at their base in Winchester on 8th September 2012

Marchant is from CapeTown South Africa with a formal Ballroom dance background. 

Davina is from the UK with a dance background in ballet, jazz and tap and teaching qualifications from the ISTD.

Alchemy Dance Academy

Interview with Merchant & Davina in Salsa Mag

Together they have developed an almost unique jazz style of Salsa with a specific teaching programme at all levels from novices to performing style.  They have continued  in their endeavor to combine their individual styles. They each transfer and fuse one other’s style. Marchant is an expert in partner dancing and leading and Davina had to learn this methodology.

They are both experts and understand the history and culture with considerable knowledge of Latin Dance as well as their own dance backgrounds.  Some interesting points raised;

• ‘imitating’ one dance and another does not mean this is fusion.
• Marchant acquired the knowledge of the foundation Salsa steps known as Cape Jazz in Africa.  
• He grew up in Africa encompassing the rawness of the culture and music, plus his personality and dance expression produces a unique Alchemy Salsa dance style    
• Davina points out no one culture can claim ownership of salsa, it’s a sauce, a mixture. 
• It’s important to have absolute expertise and knowledge in the field to be able to fuse the dance styles 

They have both embraced this new style and they are focused on their objective and persist with the original foundation steps.  They are aware more trained dancers are getting involved in the Salsa scene and are diluting the traditional style by fusing their own background conditioning to a point that it has become a performance dance with more and more acrobatic moves and tricks. It has become evident in most cases these dancers lose the essence of Salsa as a social dance.  My observations in the UK show a broad split in Afro Cuban traditional dances compared to those in Cuba but with emerging professional dancers in Cuba fusing Afro Cuban 

I’ve become proficient at setting up the video equipment with ease and with preparations made the day before which include charging the battery, making sure of enough space on the SD storage card and a packed video tripod.

My interviews average three quarters of an hour because I was aware of the specialists teacher’s time.

The interviewee commented on enjoying the experience of my interview and found the questions interesting and enjoyed the discussion.  I have permission to quote them in my critical review. 

As I analysed my interviews I became aware that my interview technique could be much improved by;

• remembering the questions 
• remembering the order of the questions and looking less at my list of questions
• better articulation of questions
• not expressing my opinions 
• less fidgeting  

The interviews revealed teacher’s thoughts and expert knowledge.  Recording interviews for this project has been an important learning tool for me.  It has allowed me a deeper insight thus giving me a richer view of current expectations, participants likes and dislikes in various hub areas of the UK.

What has emerged from these two interviews is that both Salsa styles are contributing to a new style of dance and the original traditional style has been modernised with no evidence that the roots of Afro Cuban culture being offered as a subject of historical interest.
Both interviewees agree the effect of fusion today within their style of Salsa dance can be damaging to the traditional origins of Afro Cuban dance but they are adamant to keep the basic foundation step even though both interviewees express this to a different music style.

I have a further interview to analyse.

My Artefact idea and Campus session 3 (last session)

Campus Session 3 with Paula Nottingham

My light-hearted thoughts on the Campus sessions.

It has almost always been a relief to have attended the campus sessions offered to us.

Each time I've attended, a little more of what is expected from us becomes clearer.  I found this course challenging at most times to say the least.  Three reoccurring questions pop into my head;

1. what exactly does that mean  
2. how exactly am I supposed to do it
3. how do I start writing it

My mind could produce endless information all whizzing around or it could draw a complete blank thus  making me incoherent.
It's all very clearly defined by the structured processes laid out in the modules booklet and handbook.
But for me it has clearly been the campus sessions where the fog begins to lift for a short while as we come together for discussions, reassurance and group interactions. Is it only me that understands 50% of what was being explained?  I put it down to the 'Academics'.  Academia is another planet and I'm an Alien with hope of an accelerated integration into the system but with my unrefined, gung ho, brash approach to my answers,  have at times,  been halted and re directed me in my endeavours.  OK!  I know, they have the upper hand on psychology and theories.. But I ask you to be gentle with us as you break us down and then rebuild us.  On a serious note, I would have liked more campus sessions and I wish I had attended the sessions I missed...

Campus Session
Paula conducted the campus session on 21st November 2012.  Her presentation slide is now on her blog.  It is a very good guide, prompt, reminder and break down of what is required for this section of the inquiry.

Some of the points highlighted prompted me to think about;

1. Where are we in the time line. Apart from being at a certain point in the 5 stages we need to be aware that the 'Artefact' should be in our minds as well as our 'Oral presentation'. Date to be confirmed 23rd or 24th January 2013.  Paula mentioned that Your Oral presentation could be your Artefact.  This is an option I will consider.

2. Bibliography.  I have started to do this already, it seems a sensible thing to do rather than leaving it all till the very end and panicking because you can't find the web site or mislaid your literature especially if you had borrowed a book from a library.

3. Triangle. 
See slide 10 of presentation on Slide presentation 21st Nov'12 - campus session mod 3 - Paula
The main point for me was to write about my experience and understanding from the data collected as evidence and literature knowledge I gained from experts and specialists in the field and beyond.
This was also raised and discussed by Adesola in the morning campus session on 31st Oct'12

4. Analysis of surveys and interviews
Interviews
An example of how you can start to write; I interviewed seven people, two said............, four said.....etc.

Surveys
An example of how you can start to write; In five surveys I found people said......etc.
Talk about them individually.

5. Findings within the tools and Findings as a theme.
See slide 15 of presentation - I found this clearer to understand.

6. Analyse the interviews first and themes second

7. Self Critical Reflection
I will think about;

• How my mind set was at the beginning of the BAPP course
• How I managed the changes during the course
• What have I discovered about myself and how have I developed during the course
• What have I understood during my learning journey 
• How do I see myself now and how do my piers, professionals, family and others see me now as I approach my final stages of the BAPP course
• How am I going to use this acquired knowledge and has my personal development been enough to find the right job or continue my career in dance.

My Artefact idea

My inquiry is about Salsa Dance Fusion, the culture and history influencing the modern dance styles today.  Salsa is a word encompassing a variety of traditional dances from the Caribbean Islands and beyond.  My findings give reference to the different dance styles within Salsa and the music that influences modern Salsa.  My interviews are with the teachers of those dance styles and my line of questioning is based on their knowledge, experiences and teaching methods.  My surveys were completed by the dance practitioners and my questions based on their knowledge and understanding of the origins, culture and history of Salsa.
My very first idea about an Artefact was to video record the dances but at that time I didn't fully appreciate what was going to materialise through my analysis or exactly who my audience would be.
During a discussion at the campus session, Sarah Pearson made a point about how she would like to see these differing dance styles.  I then realised that I could go with my first idea.

I would like to video record the three different dance styles in a documentary format showing how they are taught.  The recordings should demonstrate how this social accessible dance style as accelerated some non trained dancers to professional level.

My audience would be dance practitioners and teachers.  Dancers could see how learning additional dance styles could be an advantage within their dance repertoire.  Teachers could see how by adding another dance style to their list of classes offered, could bring a wider range of dance practitioners to their business.
My reasons behind the idea for a video recording are;
1. My confirmed award title is; BA (Hons) Professional Practice in Dance 
2. My Salsa teaching experience can show, explain and compare the various dance and music styles
3. I want to continue developing my skills in presenting and editing

In addition,  I have also been researching Middle Eastern Dance and had intended to include this in my inquiry but then realised via comments decided not to as the subject became far too broad and ambiguous within the time frame given to complete this project.  I was encouraged by Paula and Kate to include some data in my analysis findings which I shall do.  If time permits,  I may consider adding some video footage of classical Egyptian dance and some dance fusion.

I am also considering the idea of using my Artefact for my Oral presentation.

I welcome ideas and comments.

Harvard Referencing examples

I came across Alicia's recent blog requesting the correct way of referencing quotes from  interviews conducted to include within our inquiry write up.

I have been using the Harvard Referencing examples by Staffordshire University simply because of the way it is clearly and simply laid out.  The contents are in alphabetical order and it seems to cover ALL articles from Journal articles, books by more than one author, conference papers, Dance (live performance), on line video, unpublished works to sound recordings.  It explains and shows the format, followed by an example,  plus an in-text example.

If this is incorrect can our Advisers advise of an alternative please....

Harvard Reference examples

Clarification, perceptions and discoveries.

My advisers have commented that the title of my inquiry could be misperceived and it requires further clarification.  Therefore, to be more thorough  I am giving more thought to a better suited title. 

The old title is ‘An exploration of fusion in Middle Eastern Dance (Egyptian Style) and Salsa Dance (Cuban style) today and its effect on the conservation of the historical & cultural origins of the Dance.

My objective was not to explore fusion of Middle Eastern Dance with Salsa jointly as the title may be perceived, but to examine each dance style separately from its roots to its current modern style.  In retrospect, I realise that exploring both Middle Eastern Dance and Salsa is too broad a subject therefore I have decided to concentrate purely on Salsa.

I recognise that there are two distinct groups of discussion regarding Salsa i.e the modern ballroom and the Afro Cuban.  Therefore, my new title will define my exploration of both these groups from the historical and the modern infusion of different styles.

Following discussions with my advisors they highlighted that the word ‘cultural’ within the title could be misperceived as a cultural sensitivity issue.   I acknowledge that this should be better defined within my inquiry.  

I believe the responsibility of a teacher is to uphold and convey the unique history of the particular dance, country, region and its culture.  It sets a precedent for how the dance has evolved.  

The video link below shows a trailer for a documentary called ‘The Black Roots of Salsa‘.  It portrays the Afro Cuban’s passion declaring the origins of the ‘Rumba’ dance moves and music. It shows the gradual and subtle changes to modernise the music.  It also shows the integration of a movement danced to a Deity of the Yoruba religion (1) effectively danced in Salsa today. 

video 1  Afro Cuban's claim to the Rumba (trailer)

I concur with one of the interviewees in the trailer saying ‘the more you know the more you can enrich your dance’.  I believe the Cuban culture of dance is passionately preserved and guarded by Cubans because it is deeply embedded in their identity today.  

My advisors and colleagues have suggested the following titles;

1 .An exploration into the extent to which modern fusion dance styles have effected the conservation of the traditional styles.

2. Fusion - modernising of traditional dancing

I believe a more appropriate title is;  An exploration of fusion in salsa dance.  The ballroom vs. Cuban style and its effect on the conservation, history & roots of the dance.

To aid this investigation,  I aim to produce a family tree of salsa dance styles and the outside influences that helped to define the emerging dance styles. 

The link below shows the ballroom style salsa

video 2   Top Ten Best Salsa Dancers  

(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoruba_religion

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salsa_(dance)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Cuban_Nationality

http://www.fusionexchange.org/about-fusion/what-is-fusion-dancing/organizer-definition/

Articles;

Beyond the Stereotype, Sensitivity begins with the teacher. on line Dance Magazine

Dance Studies/Cultural Studies, Gay Morris, Dance Research Journal 2009; 41, 1;International Index to Performing Arts Full Text pg. 82

Salsa, musical heartbeat of Latin America, Sue Steward, forward by Willie Colon. 1999, Thames & Hudson

Top Ten Best Salsa Dancers

 Salsa - a dance style included in my Professional Inquiry

I want to share with you my love and passion of Salsa Dance.  Salsa is under the dance umbrella of dance styles from the Caribbean Islands, with influences from Africa including Columbia,  Venezuela and connected to New York and Miami.   I have given a brief overview and taste of Salsa in this blog and some of the reasons for choosing to explore Fusion in Salsa and my interest in traditional dances.  Salsa literally translated means sauce in Spanish.  It is a cuisine term also used in Italy and is tomato based.  It can be spicy in Latin countries.  The dance is a reflection of it's meaning, hot, spicy, frenzied and sexy. 

Dance UK posted a video on Face Book of the 'Top Ten Best Salsa Dancer' asking for comments and your choice from the list.

It's worth watching this video link as you will appreciate how Salsa is danced today in clubs, classes, salsa congress etc.  All these dancers are based in the US but from my experience I see UK dancers in the London area on the par as the New York Dancers.
This video shows club dancers and some performers.

I posted a short, brief comment on Face Book that doesn't give a substantial and full explanation of what I refer to as 'mix of flavours' and full description of the basic Salsa dance step but merely touched on 'on2'.

'I'm not an expert, I'm from a dance teacher background trained in ballet with other various theatre dance styles. I have social dance experience of Salsa New York and Cuban style. Salsa is a mix of all flavours You bring to the dance floor your own individual style, (and knowledge of the basic foundations of Salsa) that's what makes it so exciting to watch. I've been privileged to have taken part in workshops with Eddie Torres during Salsa Congresses in the UK and a master class in New York. Eddie is known to have popularised 'on2', moving forward with a step on the 2nd beat (New York style). I think Eddie's footwork is ideal for the club dance floors, it's tight and compact with a smooth quality as opposed to using traveling steps and space for performances. I particularly love Nancy Ortiz styling, it's fiery and a little wild. Juan Matos oozes charisma, sexiness and is a real show man. He has girls queuing up to dance with him. I love watching Frankie Martinez's shines/mambo steps (individual footwork after breaking from partner hold), fab, fast and furious. It's a very personal and difficult choice, but I would pick Nancy Ortiz and Juan Matos.'

Top Ten Best Salsa Dancers 

Although since my interview with Super Mario from London (my first Salsa Teacher) and an international teacher, in his experience be believes there are more accomplished dancers in Europe.  I will be researching this further.

My preference is Cuban Salsa.  I feel a connection with the music and I love the earthy style of the dance.  This is achieved by dancing on the flat foot so the dance moves flow natural compared to New York style which has ballroom formalised partner dance hold and weight is forward on the balls of the feet giving a more impressive performance.  The couple move in parallel lines/ straight lines or swop places compared to Cuban style that is danced in the round.  There is more travel around the Cuban Dance floor compared to smaller, faster and neater moves in New York style. The NY style is accommodating to packed out clubs and venues where space is limited.
I remember being told to dance on a 50 pence piece and taught restricted moves if space is limited but still able to spin fast and dance furiously........

The link below shows Cuban Salsa with more traditional moves of African influence.  The African influence in the music can be heard with specific drum beats and rhythms.  This is a performance group dancing 'Rueda' which translated in dance term means wheel, round or rotating.  I've seen Rueda danced in Havana, Cuba.  It is a popular dance in the UK, it's great fun.  The fun part is the caller, calling out the next move or sequence of steps to execute.  It can increase in speed and the girls are almost lifted off the ground in places.

Cuban Rueda Dance Group

Maykel Fonts is one of the best Afro Cuban Mambo dancer's I've seen recently.   He clearly fuses a mix of traditional dance styles from Africa & Cuba.   Maykel is a powerful performer and is a regular guest at Cuban Salsa Congress in the UK.

Here is a link to Maykel giving a performance.

Maykel Fonts Afro Cuban dance performance.

This is a link to Maykel performing with a partner executing modern dance moves with traditional mix of salsa flavours.

Maykel Fonts with partner in modern Salsa Fusion dance with Cuban flavour

Salsa is a mix of styles that has become accessible to everyone.

What are your views and opinions on the preservation of traditional dances? Can they be a useful teaching aid in understanding the basic fundamentals of Salsa dance (basic rhythm and moves) including its history and culture? 

Do you think if Fusion continues to dilute traditional dances it could have a detrimental effect on it's identity?

What are your opinions, likes and dislikes on Salsa dance?

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dance-UK/74671441371?fref=ts
http://www.danceuk.org
http://www.salsaclass.tv
http://www.londoncubancongress.com
Salsa, musical heartbeat of latin America, Sue Steward forward with Willie Colon, Thames Hudson-London.

Funding for re building a ballet school in Havana Cuba

Just announced

The Cuban Ballet Dancer Carlos Acosta is looking to raise funds to rebuild a ballet school. It would be a charitable dance foundation in Havana.   I like the shape of the building in it's unfinished form and hope the dream will become a reality for Mr. Acosta and Havana.

Since the start of my social Salsa Dancing over a decade ago,  I've encountered a number of Cuban trained ballet dancers now woking here in the UK and have built up a passionate interest in Salsa, the country Cuba and it's History and way of life.  I support the idea that it may restore Cuban culture.


Carlos Acosta asking for funds video

Analysing Qualitative Data

In my feed back from Paula on module 2 one of her suggestions was to research and find literature on Analysing Data.

My surveys through ‘Monkey Survey’ are now all complete and collected and so is my narrative interviews from video recordings.

I decided to read through two research documents on how to analyse Qualitative date, links shown below, that were recommended to be by a college lecturing in a European university.  Time is of the essence and the few pages in the link were easy to read, understand and digest.  

It was made very clear that I had collected too much data.  My survey questions number 10. At this moment, I am considering choosing only two or three important and relevant  questions and answers to analyse.

I will have to consider choosing answers that;

• focus and justify my inquiry question
• compare and link to any quotes or important points from literature I’ve read
• link with relevant key points in my narrative interviews.

Quotes and generalising. 

I’ve read that ‘quotes’ should be chosen carefully to directly support an argument and that permission is needed by the owners, but they need to remain anonymous... I am currently seeking my interviewees permission to quote them as many are globally known teachers and performers, successful and influential people in the world of Salsa and Middle Eastern Dance. They are leaders, carving the paths of these evolving dance styles, listening to what students and spectators want..

By quoting people you avoid generalising as the responses are original to the individual's own perspective.

One to one narrative interviews

My narrative interviews number four in total, two interviews per dance style, each lasting approximately forty minutes.

My concerns were about the length and in some interviews I had gone off track with the questioning as the conversations became more and more interesting and revealing..

Little had I realised how much music influences these dance from a historical prospective.  Both music and dance are intwined within the evolution of this Art.

My most exciting interviews were musicians although my inquiry focuses on the dance styles, I will however need to emphasize on the influence of the music.

For the written data its a process of ‘Noticing, Collecting and Thinking about interesting things.  It’s a continuous circle of going from any one of those words as a starting point to jumping to another many times over.  The best thing for me would be to physically cut up pieces of written interesting points and put them in individual piles then disassembling the piles into smaller piles.

Analysis is a breaking up, separating, disassembling of research materials into pieces, parts, elements or units.  With facts broken down into manageable pieces the researcher sorts and sifts them, searching for types, classes, sequences, processes, patterns and wholes.  The aim is to assemble or reconstruct the data in a meaningful or comprehensible fashion (Jorgensen, 1989:107).

Coding like colours or words to represent an argument, facts or points is recommended.  As you notice interesting data, code it.  I can see that it may be a messy and confusing solution for me but I will physically lay out these piles as having pieces of paper lying around seems to help me in seeing things more clearly.

At first data may appear to be a mass of confusing unrelated, accounts.  But by studying the coding (often I code the same materials several times just after collecting them), the researcher begins to create order  (Charmaz, 1983:114)  

From this, mapping could be used as we practiced in modules 1 & 2 or putting it into a table.

I think I have to be aware of how much coding will influence my analysis, seems to be the beginning of another process that could pulls you deeper into your data.

I found these two links very useful. 

http://learningstore.uwex.edu/assets/pdfs/g3658-12.pdf

ftp://ftp.qualisresearch.com/pub/qda.pdf

I look forward to comments, suggestions and ideas.

Module 3 September 2012 Stage 1

Review feedback from my inquiry plan.  Updating our adviser Paula Nottingham on my tasks and objectives accomplished or delayed within my time line.

My exciting holiday to Cuba gave me the greatest opportunity to research Cuban Salsa and an opportunity to interview local dancers with my survey questions on the history of Cuban dance for the Salsa part for my proposed inquiry entitled ‘An exploration of ‘Fusion’ in Middle Eastern Dance and Salsa Dance today and its effect on the conservation of the Historical, Cultural and Origins of the Dance’
In my feed back for module two, Paula highlighted a significant point my title that I hadn’t even thought about and made remarks about how the reader would perceive this.  As we discussed what I wanted to achieve from this inquiry and started to break down the title I soon realised that I was giving the impression of  merging or combining the two dance styles of Middle Eastern and Salsa in fusion, but this was NOT my intention. My intention was to discover /explore ;

1. What other dance styles were being fused with Middle Eastern Dance
2. What other dance styles were being fused with Salsa Dance

The penny dropped! I will need to change the words slightly to clarify this further.  I realise that this inquiry could become a complex exploration primarily because of two very differing cultures and origins of the Dances.  
I could show some comparisons between the two dance styles but I will keep them to a minimum as this is not the main goal of the inquiry.

The element of surprise within my inquiry.
What has totally surprised and stunned me about Middle Eastern Dance  was how much I was drawn into the Politics of Egypt with the recent state of political change we’ve been hearing in the news.  Unfortunately with this country religion seems to be go hand in hand with the politics. In my research I have evidence reporting that Islamic fundamentalists intend to stop belly dancing.  They are saying Egyptian dancers should stop performing because dancing has always deemed to be ‘sinful’. This is having serious repercussions with European, UK and USA dancers making a living from belly dancing in Cairo.  Egyptian  men and women are included in the assaults and attacks.  This subject is very current and very relevant to my inquiry and I’m a little out of my depth reporting about the religious and political views on belly dancing.  I shall tread very cautiously and get advice along the way from our adviser Paula Nottingham
We are very fortunate in the UK, to be able to express our creativity and practice this Egyptian Art of Dance and other Dance styles without prejudice to a greater extent.
I’ve felt rather brave and joined in the conversations in chat forums about what I had discovered and read  in my research. I felt I had good reasoning and could justify my opinions. 
I was anxious about receiving nasty comments back to me. I was aware of my ethical behavior and was glad we had explored Ethics in module two. 

Surveys

I am on target with my survey questions and the distribution.  I am awaiting a couple more surveys to be returned to start the analysis process.  I have given myself time for analysing  because it is a qualitative survey.  
Unfortunately I will not be able to collect data from my focus group in which I was a member of an Egyptian Dance Troupe.  We will not be rehearsing because there are issues with long distance travel, financial issues and performance bookings were down to insignificant numbers.

Video interviews
I’ve been busy recording interviews this summer and captured the data required. 

Literature review
I’ve read three books this summer, two where about Carlos Acosta the Cuban male ballet dancer. I read both his biography and autobiography hoping it would give some reference to his experience with Cuban Salsa.  Unfortunately an insignificant amount was written but read about his remarkable and disruptive childhood and his relationships.
There are so many other interesting facets about this inquiry and I’m learning so much about both cultures and the bigger picture of it and we are all connected through dance.

My ongoing objectives/tasks
To read literature on analysing video recorded interviews
Continue reading literature on Middle Eastern and Salsa Dance
Re read Reader 7
Re read Module Handbook (keeping it handy)
Analyse findings

The difficult part is keeping focused on my inquiry and what I wish to gain from all this.

This inquiry is a huge task and I would welcome your comments, thoughts, ideas and advice on any part of the above.  

Life changing experiences

Paralympics London 2012

Hope you have all had a great summer break from BAPP or at least maybe had one or two thoughts and ideas about our professional inquiry..

What an exhilarating summer it has been for me.  I was extremely fortunate to be chosen to dance in the opening ceremony of the Paralympics.  An awesome but daunting experience rehearsing with all levels and abilities of dancers in groups of one hundred and fifty people at a time then eventually putting us together totalling six hundred dancers plus getting to dance in Stratford Stadium with an audience capacity of 80,000 and to dance for the Royal family, our Prime Minister and other VIP’s.  To be performing in the same show as Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Stephen King and Beverley Knight were just a few that I can mention in this mind blowing moment in time.  Seriously, who would have thought that a year ago, or ten years ago I would ever think of taking part in one of the biggest shows on this planet... 

Dancers and non dancers with disabilities from wheelchair users, partially sited to the deaf rehearsed with us. I had some experience, years ago, with wheelchair dancers in dance workshop but this experience blows every other previous experience into insignificance.  I was, however disappointed not to see more people with disabilities taking part in the show.  It was written in a report that there where only two hundred disabled dancers compared to one thousand able bodied dancers taking part.  

My most memorable learning experience from this event taught me how to plot a dance and choreography incorporating hundreds of dancers of all levels of abilities in one venue.  I was fortunate enough to be able to have a conversation about this with one of the Dance Captains. 

This type of mass gathering and shared experience produced great camaraderie amongst us and I can't tell you the fun we had in our changing areas on the opening night.. The Dance Captains and their dance assistance constantly thanked us and expressed gratitude for us volunteers. They made us feel quite special and did an excellent job of reminding us at every rehearsal

Looking at the whole experience what stood out most in my mind was the capacity and ability of will power, physical strength and attitude of mind we have as humans with the drive to accomplish such high levels of physical achievements.  How many times did we hear the words ‘super humans’ being reported or written about the Paralympians?   
The intense dedication and commitment to their sport, focus on their tasks and belief in themselves and their physical abilities are some of the attributes I would think.  Well I intend to focus on adopting some of those attitude to take me through my life tasks and challenges. It sounds corny but I’d be a fool not to.

Did any one have a life changing experience recently?

Cultural Education in England - IMPORTANT

IMPORTANT READING FOR ARTS TEACHERS IN EDUCATION

An independent review of Cultural Education in England was written by Classic FM's  Managing Director, Darren Henley recently. Henley requested any one involved in the Community could submit evidence, experiences, suggestions and ideas to help support this report.

Some of the important points that are highlighted;

Cultural organisations, museums, galleries, performing arts, visual arts, literature, poetry, craft, film and heritage plus organisations with expertise in specific areas have been included and embraced by schools up and down the country.  The beneficial impact has been realised. Many of those organisations are unregulated but a good deal of good excellent work is being delivered. 

Building close ties with schools and cultural organisations in the community is one recommendation.

Culture review by Darren Henley

Governments response to the recommendations.

Critical Reflection Portfolio - Summary

Developing my Professional Practitioner Inquiry has been a process of evaluating my dance knowledge and researching Dance Fusion.

I prepared a list of questions to assist with the development of my inquiry plan.   The comments from other learners and my adviser (via my blog) inspired me to further thoughts and ideas that fueled my interest in researching the origins and authenticity of dance styles.  (Appendix A)

My challenge was to choose an appropriate subject that would sustain my interest and build my knowledge base on historical dance.  I read ‘Finding A Focus’ this lead me to start the filtering process. (Appendix B)

I participated in SIG’s,  discussed on my blog, dance group forums to discuss this.  My conversations with teaching professionals and academics highlighted interesting and varied comments.  These resulted with a yes or no answer.  (Appendix C) 

After reviewing the questions I changed them to an open ended question. 

The Professional Ethics tasks has given me a deeper insight into the subject.

With my background in corporate business and my dance management knowledge, I have a good mature understanding of business ethics.  This is further enhanced by the guide lines issued by the ISTD (Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance) for dance classes. (Appendix D)

I found guide lines from the ‘home office’ offering advice on inclusion of transgenders.  (Appendix E) and (Appendix F)

I experimented with a range of tools available to gather data and conducted pilot trials in surveys, observations and interviews.   I read about ethical issues and data protection designed my questions using 'survey monkey'. (Appendix G) 

The pilot survey was completed by my peers on my blog and SIG and some members within my dance practice.  With mutual support, encouragement and valuable advice from my peers, improvements were made to some questions. The final results produced a good balance of qualitative and quantitative data. (Appendix H)

I organised two pilot interviews to be filmed using the same questions as the survey.    Preparing the interviewee with the question prior filming proved to be successful.  Some answers proved difficult to process and longer to analyse because some answers given seem to have hidden meaning.  This was due to the probing questions.  I will give myself more time to analyse the data.

The pilot focus group was an impromptu covert discussion. I was able to target my questions to a specific dance style thus having a captured audience.  The planning needed improvement in all areas.

In evaluating these tools, I favor video recording. This is more beneficial to my inquiry, giving me more holistic answers for analysis. (Appendix I)

I reviewed two pieces of literature linking to my inquiry topic. 

I ‘set the scene’ by describing the ballet before analysing it.  I was compelled to describe the human side of choreographer and her particular dance style and wanted to share this.   I hadn’t identified new sources of reviews which was required for this literature review.  This was an important element to a review which would have give a balanced perspective on my analysis.  My adviser invited me to comment on my blog about a review recently discovered by a contemporary critic.  I learned about the different ways of analysing reviews and a variety of writing styles. 

(Appendix J)

A contrasting review was about the holistic and spiritual side of dance deepened my interest. I was able to compare a broad section of diverse styles across cultures that have effect on dancers.  As I analysed the two reviews I could see that the inquiry subject was still too broad as I had discovered further areas to investigate and for a time lost focus on my line of inquiry. (Appendix K)

The tasks in Reader 5 & 6 and the book; Researching Dance,( Horton Farley & Hanstein) showed me a structure and frame work emerging that would assist me with the overall planning of my inquiry.  

The ‘Delicious‘ tool is for storing and sharing bookmarks and other useful shared resources.  I continue to search for primary sourced material from specialist of the Middle Eastern dance, on line magazine articles, University library archives, books and TV documentaries and my journal.  (Appendix L)

I have a clear plan and structure for this project to keep me focused with sufficient material on Middle Eastern Dance. I am now more prepared with the framework in place to proceed with my inquiry.

Appendix A http://corindahall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/part-4a-body.html#comment-form

Appendix B http://adesolaa.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/finding-focus.html#comment-form

Appendix C  http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Does-fusion-multiple-dance- styles-3682328%2ES%2E97966765? view=&srchtype=discussedNews&gid=3682328&item=97966765&type=member&trk=eml- anet_dig-b_pd-ttl-cn&ut=12YERJ5F9WC5c1

Appendix D http://www.istd.org/documents/code-of-professional-conduct-and-practice-for-teachers-of-dance/

Appendix E http://corindahall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/ethics-task-5b.html

Appendix F http://corindahall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/regulating-stage-schools-bbc-breakfast.html#comment-form

Appendix G http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5YGXLMH

Appendix H http://corindahall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/dance-survey.html#comment-form

Appendix I http://corindahall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/task-6-b.html#comment-form

Appendix Jhttp://corindahall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/literature-review- no-1.html#comment-form

Appendix K http://corindahall.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/lit-review-2.html#comment-form

Appendix L  http://www.delicious.com/corindahall1/tag_bundle/BAPP

DELICIOUS!

Here is the link to my  Delicious account.


It has some good links to;
Dance in Education
Dance Therapy
On line Dance Magazines 
A controversial piece about Ballet as a Form of Ethnic Dance! 
A research paper on Tap Dancing as a therapy
Articles on Middle Eastern Dance as my inquiry seems to be heading in that direction with a focus on Oriental Dance style  'Does the fusion of multiple dance styles have a negative effect on the conservation of historical, cultural or original dance’?



Please comment.

Task 6 a & b

My cover letter

 I am currently conducting pilot interviews and surveys for the purpose of gathering information on your experience and opinion for my topic based question ‘Does the fusion of multiple dance styles have a negative effect on the conservation of historical, cultural or original dance’?

The information that I collect will form part of a professional inquiry I am undertaking, in association with Middlesex University Institute for Work Based Learning and is for my sole use.  All participants shall remain anonymous until such times as permission is granted to me for results to be published.

All data will be strictly confidential. A code will be created to record data. I am the only person with access your data and will be the primary researcher.  You can instruct me at any time during this investigation if you wish stop the inter view or survey and be excluded.


Every person that took part in my various pilot interviews made were aware that these were trial interviews in preparation for the next module.  They were made aware that these surveys were being researched for appropriate tools to conduct my Professional Inquiry.

Pilot interview

This interview was conducted with an internationally known Salsa teacher and performer.  I’ve known this teacher for many years and have been employed by the company.  On this occasion my cover letter was shown and understood.

This interview was conducted after a Salsa lesson as this was convenient for us both.  

It was a semi-structured interview, the questions in the interview differed from my pilot survey questions. 

As a freelance dance teacher I was aware of the ‘insider-research’s conflicts of interest’ and made a conscious effort not to engage or be pulled into the conversation.  There was mutual respect between us as the participant was aware I was conducting this pilot interview under a Professional Ethics code.

I wasn’t expecting definitive answers with my open ended question.  I was anticipating this to be an interview of quality.

I am aware that my professional inquiry will require qualitative data for historical, cultural and original dance styles. This will give me the essence, core, heart and importance to the nature of my inquiry.

The interview lasted about forty minutes. This wasn’t really long enough as I felt pressured  that students were waiting close by to speak to the teacher after the class as often is the case.

My time during the interview was spent taking notes.  This concluded to be awkward when I asked to repeat some points.  I intend to conduct an interview via video recording method which will be beneficial to both my participant and myself.  This will eliminate illegible notes and the participant will have my undivided attention making the interview more relaxed.

The alternative was to have used a dictaphone. 

In conclusion, I found this method of interview to be much more appropriate for my professional inquiry even though we were in an open area with other participants around.  In future, I will find an appropriate quite area to conduct the interview in private.  I was trying to be as un-bias as possible and found I could hold my tongue and not express my personal opinion. This way, I learned much more and this rich information could be recorded and knowledge passed on.  

With my ‘future career’ in mind, my objective is to conduct these surveys in order to highlighting gap areas in education that I could research further and specialise in.

References

Middlesex University (2011) Reader 6: Tools of Professional Inquiry

Researching Dance :  Fraleigh and Hanstien

A pilot observation in dance classes is an inappropriate method of collecting data for my line of inquiry as I require verbal responses.  However I did come across a US dance company in Network Dance forum LinkedIn who are addressing my inquiry question within their dance workshops. That would be an ideal class for me to observe. 

A pilot focus group has proved to be a little challenging to get together because of time constraints but is impossible if planned well in advance by informing the relevant participants of a mutual date and place of meeting.  I found an occasion that I covertly steered a group of dancers after a rehearsal of Oriental Dance and started a discussion on the lines of ‘Why do women choose to dance belly dance’ This is linked to my inquiry question as it will be a dance style I will analyse and compare to other culturally diverse dance styles in the UK and the effect of fusion has on the original/cultural/historical dance.  I was most surprised by the variety of responses I got from the group.  I was able to jot down notes after the short 20 minute discussion while we were stretching out on the mats.  I think this is something that I may consider putting together but need to plan a convenient date time and place for the group and think about recording devices.

Filmed interview with a student/friend

I choose a close friend that happily participated understanding my restrictions regarding codes of conduct and that I was the only person with access to this data.  My friend understood that it was a trial attempt but we were relaxed during the interview which lasted approx. 20 minutes.  A list of questions was supplied the day before and we discussed these before filming. I had the opportunity to probe further due to the nature of the answers.  This gave me excellent responses.  We were both satisfied with the video.

Pilot survey monkey

The survey

The pilot survey was created with survey monkey.  Easy to set up, pass word protected with analysis results clearly shown.  These were sent out to a small group of contacts within my social networking groups, my  blog and emails were sent as well as given out by hand.  A broad age range and ability levels were included, ranging from leisure dancers to professional teachers and performers.

All survey’s came back promptly apart from the surveys sent to four people in a Middle Eastern dance group I am currently rehearsing with.  Nothing has been returned from this group to date.

I asked for suggestions of improving or amending questions in my survey.   Suggestions from my BAPP blog mentioned to include the following in the survey; gender, age range and a couple of multiple choice questions.  I didn't think it mattered about the participants gender but I think I will include the gender question to make it quicker and easier to analyse the data.

In conclusion, I’ve collected data in various forms on a variety of dance styles. 

The pilot observation will not be applicable for my line of inquiry.

The filmed interview gave qualitative results and the survey gave both qualitative and quantitate results I required particularly from the survey monkey.  Charts could be produced to show visual clear results.