Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Task 4 a: looking back, moving forwards



Looking back at question 2d has helped me form the following ideas, these are very definitely works in progress but if anyone has any thoughts on any of these questions or better lines of inquiry around them, get in touch:


1: Are there generic weakness in dancers?  If so, are the patterns that emerge general, age based, physique based, continentally genetic, or something else.  Are these weakness related to the dancers strength/flexibility ratios and could they contribute towards common faults.

2: What is the value of trigger point therapy, myofascial release and self massage for the dancer?  Can the implementation of such therapies have a positive effect on dancers flexibility?

3: In a dance environment is there equal value in demonstration and verbal instruction or should one be favoured over the other? Is the divide between the favoured techniques age related?

4: In the industry it is often said that we are married to the profession:  How, if at all does the work life balance of a dance teacher differ from other professions?

5: What effect would the implementation of an examination system and/or participation in the competition circuit have on the studio?

6: What are the benefits of the different schools of training used across the world and what are the results?  Is one producing a more rounded dancer than the others?

7: What are the issues around working within a foreign environment: 
Even when there is no language barrier, is language still a problem and do cultural differences have an effect on this?

Monday, February 10, 2014

Dance Psychology week



I have just seen the following on Dance UK:

It's nearly dance psychology week - the first videos on dancers' psychology will be online tomorrow at 10am. 

If anyone is looking at aspects of
dance psychology as a possible inquiry this could be useful?

Friday, February 7, 2014

Does training in parallel reduce turnout?



Yesterday I read an article questioning whether training in parallel reduces turnout.

As a Jazz teacher I have encouraged my students (for years) to work as hard on their turn in as they do on their turnout.

If you're interested, take a look! (It gave great further reading too).


Wednesday, January 29, 2014

New Year, New Module



Happy Chinese New Year Everyone!

It's the eve of Chinese New Year and we are on the cusp of our second semester. "Merde!" as they say in Theatre Land.  Hopefully everyone has made the grade, registered, and sorted their fees! 

I've been reading like a beaver the last few weeks.  Some has gone in, some hasn't!  I've discovered questions, found answers, had moments of realisation... and as usual, periods of huge confusion!  My motto for this semester is read, read, and read again.  

How is everyone else finding Reader 4?  And does anyone know when last semesters results come out?!

Monday, January 20, 2014

Second link in Reader 4

Dear All

I contacted Paula yesterday regarding the following link: http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/arp/argyris.html redirecting to another site, and not knowing where to find the information on that new site. 

Paula send me an incredibly speedy response with the correct link:http://www.aral.com.au/resources/argyris.html.

I hope this helps anyone else who was confused by what to read.

Take care


Monday, January 13, 2014

Notability....Late to the party?


Following the Holiday I'm back in China.  Getting back to China obviously involved a flight, and during that flight I had the pleasure of sitting next to a really interesting man who was on a CRAZY 3 flight 24+ hour journey just to attend a meeting.

He introduced me to Notability, and given my absolute obsession with everything Apple I cannot believe I didn't already know about it!  So, just in case I'm not the only one here's a clip on the functions of Notability.  

I'm currently just playing around with it, but really thinking about using it as my journal from now on. We'll see...


Friday, January 10, 2014



Happy New Year one and all!

Hopefully everyone got their submission in on time and was happy with their work, despite the distractions of the holiday.  Fingers crossed for you all.  I wasn't brave enough to upload mine to my blog, but I have huge admiration for those of you that did.

Here's to a successful Module one and everything 2014 brings.