I have spent the last two hours or so... I lost track of time! Reading other peoples Blogs. I have been looking for other peoples interests and questions and seeing what gets them excited about what they do, or what they may be interested in looking into further. I was pleased to find that more than I thought had some interest in similar things to me.
What really interests me is the benefits of dance education and how I can make a difference to other people using the thing that I love the most. Under this bracket comes for me, inclusive education, whether that's children who's parents cant afford expensive classes, children with disabilities, special educational needs or behavioural difficulties. Adults with learning disabilities or the benefits of Dance and Drama Therapies. What benefit community arts projects have in the wider performing arts community and how we can increase the accessibility and benefit of these.
I have seen that there are other people out there who feel the same about what they do, or perhaps dance teachers who have not considered the other applications that their profession can have. You may be reading this thinking that it is all rubbish and that dance and performing arts training should be used to create artists and not messed around with?? I would love to hear any and all opinions in order to see if this could be the basis of a useful enquiry.
If you are interested please join at the link below.
Inclusive Dance and Performing Arts Education - The benefits?
Thank you.
Danni.
Monday, 29 October 2012
Friday, 26 October 2012
MODULE 2. TASK 4A - QUESTIONS.
So I am a little late to start this Module, however I am
really excited now to get started and get on and I have been thinking about
questions, questions and more questions. I found that once I began to think of
the issue that I feel I need clarification on for my areas of practice the list
became more and more and the questions had questions of their own.
I work in two areas, recreational dance teaching, classical
ballet mainly and also within learning disabilities again teaching for
enjoyment. I am also looking to move forward into mainstream education and
undertake work experience where ever possible.
The nature of teaching for me means that it shouldn’t just
be something that my students do just for fun, obviously it should be fun but there
should be progress made, a movement forward and a benefit for the student
taking part, other than just the pure enjoyment. Therefore my questions are
based around the benefits of dance education in both sectors that I am employed
in.
I will start with my questions that are mostly based around
mainstream recreational dance teaching.
- How important in discipline and how do you strike the correct balance to foster encouragement rather than discouragement through correction.
I work as part of a team as an assistant dance teacher, and
often joke with my colleagues that if I was the only one teaching then we would
have far les student as I push them harder and tolerate less messing around.
Which is the correct approach I wonder? And how important is it to protect the
historical image of an art form such as ballet being highly disciplined?
- Does having knowledge about Dance History, Choreographers, and Dance Theory make for better more innovative and creative dancers?
Mainstream dance education within schools contains a lot of
theory, I understand that this is obviously necessary as part of an academic
subject, I wonder though how these student compare creatively with those that
attend vocation dance schools who are purely taught to dance with less emphasis
on academia. Does dance history enhance innovation or just lead dancers to copy
and recreate existing styles? Should we encourage students to find there own
way before showing them what others have created?
- What are the real benefits of dance teaching within mainstream education? Is there enough curriculum time given to be able to really make the most of these benefits?
I know that within mainstream school that the arts are not
the most important of subjects and to a certain extent I understand why,
everybody needs a certain level of education and being able to read a monologue
or turn a pirouette are not the most transferable skills in the outside world.
However I found benefits to dance training within my adult life and I am sure there
are more besides these, there are therapies that are based around dance and
drama, but what do these really achieve? And is it possible to make use of this
in the classroom to create a more worth while experience?
The second half of my questions are based around the more
learning disability side of my employment and special educational needs.
- What is any are the real benefits of dance teaching within special educational needs?
As I said before there are therapies that are based around
the creative arts, and therefore there must be real benefits, but what do these
actually relate to? Can aspects of this be used in standard recreational
classes for special needs? And would it be possible to tailor this education to
the needs of individuals?
- What are the best methods to ensure and develop the benefits of dance education?
Are there particular teaching methods that ensure any social
and emotional benefits of dance education are most effective, and if so is this
something that needs to be publicised amongst dance education professionals?
- Is there a market for regular dance and performing arts classes aimed at adults and children with physical and learning disabilities – would this be a viable business or would this have to work on a charitable basis?
The way in which I get to work with adults with learning
disabilities is though a care organisation that has a holistic approach to the
well being of the people they work for. Would there be a benefit of having a
specialist organisation that develops its teaching for this specific group of
people?
Okay so these are the things that I got excited about when I
thought about questioning my area of practice as part of this task. I keep thinking
more and more about each aspect and to me they are important and things I would
like to improve my knowledge and understanding about. I am not sure however
whether they do have wider implications for my practice or not? I would love to
hear your thoughts?
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