Interviews
I
am intending to do two interviews. One of a female freelance ballet dancer of
today and one of a marketing officer from a leading UK ballet company - this needs to be someone who will have
information regarding box office sales.
This
method will be useful to gather data as it will allow me to ask the participant
to elaborate on their answers if necessary. I intend to use a semi-structured
approach with open questions because I want to gather as much information as I
can.
The
interview with the dancer is likely to be a great deal more informal than the
one with the marketing officer, as the questions will relate more to the way she
has felt about her connection with the audience in certain performances. I will
be asking her in which situations she received the most recognition from her
audience. I will then be comparing the situations which she comes up with to
the situations in which Anna Pavlova had a particularly powerful effect on her
audience and analysing if the audience is responding to the same elements
present in Anna Pavlova’s performance or different elements.
The
other interview will have set questions to do with the way the company
functions around its audience, what performances sell best and what does
not sell so well. However, I still want to use a semi structured approach here
too.
The
only draw back to interviews is they are very time consuming, definitely
worthwhile for all the information generated though. If at all possible, I
would like to do face to face interviews but I may have to use a telephone
interview. I will avoid using skype as the connection can be very bad in North
Wales and I would not want to appear unprofessional by having to keep asking
the interviewee to repeat what they had just said.
The idea of an interview makes me quite nervous! I think I find it hard to be the one conducting the conversation. Maybe I am used to be being dictated to?
Focus
groups
I
am intending to do a performance at my local town hall of solo dances. Some
will have been inspired by Pavlova, some will be my own more neo classical
choreography and I will embody as many of the elements I have identified as
being the most significant to Pavlova’s performance as I can. The performance
will be to an invited audience of at least 10 people (I will send out 25
invitations and the performance will also be open to the public). Ideally there
will be at least 2 people from 5 different age categories. This audience will
form a focus group, they will have previously signed a consent form in response
to my invitation, stating that they are willing to watch the performance and
then fill out a short questionnaire afterwards, giving their views on what they
have seen. This focus group will give me an insight into what a small audience
of today may feel about the elements which were most significant in Pavlova’s
work. I will also be able to assess how different ages may affect what
audiences are seeking although obviously this is a very small scale inquiry. I
will analyse the responses with a coding system.
Looking
at Documents
In
order to fully answer the historical aspect of my question into why Anna
Pavlova had such an impact on her audience, I will be using literature to back
my inquiry. I will also be using it to explore what particular dance
performances are popular with audiences of today, such as Mathew Bourne and
investigating why this might be the case.
Literature
will be very beneficial, as it will be a reliable source of information.
However, care must be taken when using this tool to ensure that I do not become
bombarded by other people’s research, especially as I love to read and research
through books and this method of learning comes more naturally to me. It is
essential that I keep to a select number of books to ensure that the inquiry is
my own and not a reprint of other literature.
I
am intending to approach the theatre where I will be conducting an interview
and ask for access to the archives of the ticket sales of Anna Pavlova’s
performances. I will then compare the sales with the information about what is
popular with the audiences to today I have gathered from my interview with the
theatre official.
I will not be using journals or diaries
as I feel the time constraints of the inquiry would make it difficult to access
them and draw the necessary data. Also, it would be a challenge to get hold of
diaries of audience members.
Surveys
or Questionnaires
Yesterday
I did an informal trial of a questionnaire for my brother, Michael, who is also
a dancer and whom I have in my special interest group. I tried out the way in
which I would like to do the questionnaire by getting him to watch a 7 minute
video clip of Anna Pavlova and then fill out a questionnaire on how he felt
about what he had watched. From the trial I discovered that this method is
going to be the right method to use for the ‘invited audience focus group’ who
will be attending a performance which I give. Although normally in a focus
group, data would be generated in the form of interviews, I feel that in order
for the audience members to give an honest response to my dancing, they will
want their responses to remain anonymous. Therefore, I have decided that it is
better to provide a short questionnaire with interview style questions. This
way people are able to make criticisms which they may not feel able to make to
my face. The only problem with this method is that I am reliant on the one
response to each question and I cannot ask the participant to develop what the
mean further. However, I feel that I should be able to address this by ensuring
I use very clear questions on the questionnaire sheet. I am aware that it is
more unusual to use questionnaires in this way, especially in a focus group
setting however, I intend to analyse them with a coding system in which I draw
an analysis from the positive, negative or neutral statements. I will use them
in a qualitative rather than quantitative fashion. This tool is not going to make a numerical
influence to my inquiry, it is more an insight into a current small audience’s
view point.
Observations
I
will be observing two different productions in performance by a lead UK ballet
company (the same one that I am connected to through the interview). Identifying
the most significant elements of the dancing and exploring whether these relate
to those present in Anna Pavlova’s performance. This will be covert observation,
but the company will remain anonymous so that the inquiry will not cause harm
to any parties involved. As the observation will be from my view point, I will
be drawing up an observation plan sheet with key questions
relating to different aspects of the performance to avoid personal opinions taking
over. I will draw up a set of reasons why the performance might be relevant to
audiences today and another set for why it might not be. I will address the
overall elements of the dancing rather than referring to specific individuals
to avoid them being identified. I will mostly write notes during the interval
and after the event, but I will write trigger words throughout the performance
to ensure I absorb as many details as possible. If someone notices me doing an
observation I will have sheets of paper with me summarising the nature of my
inquiry which I will give to them. It will clearly state that it is analysing
the different ballets being performed today and the ways that they might appeal
to a modern audience for an inquiry which is investigating what current
audiences are seeking in ballet. Bell (2014, p. 214) states that it is
essential to observe and record in an objective a way as possible. Therefore, I
will constantly be reminding myself to look at the performance from different
perspectives noticing aspects which the rest of the audience responds to with
applause or laughter.
Bibliography
Bell, J and Waters S (2014) Doing your Research Project, first published 1987. England: Open University Press
Module 2 Handbook (2017) BAPP Arts, Middlesex University, London: Middlesex University
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