Interpretation

Through the observations I have done of a lead UK ballet company, I had a very important realisation.  As I was watching the full length classical ballets with all their splendour and I found myself thinking 'Ann what is it that you really enjoy and you feel really at home in when you are dancing?' My answer was so clear - I love interpretation of characters and roles. I love to get inside my roles and become whatever I am dancing. What I find challenging is the physical side. The stamina and strength required are not natural to my body type but I love to perform. This knowledge gave me the incentive to work at the physical side that I find a challenge so that I might have more opportunities to perform bigger parts in the future. But also to realise that opportunities which emphasise my abilities in interpretation are where I will be most fulfilled.

Below is a photograph by Mike Mason, post production work by Steve Lloyd, of myself as The Little Mermaid in a recent performance.

Should audience opinion rule your decisions?

Through the analysis of the inquiry I have realised just how much emphasis I put on the opinions of others. I started the inquiry process feeling that I want to learn how to reach audiences today and I do feel that I know a great deal more now about what audiences seem to seek today. However, I also realised that it cannot all be about what the audience wants. Sometimes by challenging an audience to see something that they are not expecting, they develop a new interest. The difficulty lies in attracting them to come in the first place.

Not all audiences will like the way I dance or the choreographies that I create, but no doubt there will be some people out there who do, because everyone has a different opinion. I had never acknowledged this idea of everyone liking something different until this inquiry, because I have a perfectionist nature and tend to want to please everyone. From my interview and questionnaire data it has become so apparent that there are a huge variety of tastes out there and how important it is to do your very best and hope that it does something for some people. It is not right to put artistic creativity and development after what the audience might think it wants, the two must be considered in equal measure.

Emotion and Honesty in the performer: dwelling on findings!

As I am writing up my inquiry, a number of important findings have emerged as being significant to audience members. A very frequently used word amongst the audience members of my own performance was emotion and emotional. These words were used to describe The Swan solo and the effect of live performance. The audience members used the word when describing what they liked and found meaningful. This made me realise that my individuality as a performer lies the ability to create an emotional atmosphere, whether I am expressing positivity or conveying the sadness and difficulty of The Swan's death. I suppose reading this feedback has helped me to understand that an honest performance, with true emotion may have a longer lasting impression than technical perfection.

Professional Artefact

Because there are a number of different strands to my inquiry with the historical aspects of Pavlova and the exploration of what current audiences are seeking, as well as the practical side of trying to embody some of the elements identified, it has been a challenge to come up with an appropriate artefact in which I can share the whole process of the inquiry. However, what I have identified as being important to people within the ballet world is having something very visual and not too wordy. Yet at the same time I felt that a video would be too much like my viva exam as I would have to do so much talking.

So, I have decided to create an album of collages themed to the key elements of the inquiry process and finding. I will collage around pictures which I have taken throughout the inquiry process as well as some historical pictures of Pavlova. This will be accompanied by small descriptions and points to make these key elements clear and understandable, as well as quotations from audience members and interviews. Each collage will be numbered and there will be a bibliography at the back, linking up with each collage to ensure that any images used out of books or off the internet are referenced using Harvard.

 I put this idea to a number of dancer colleagues who all agreed that a visual format would be much more enticing for them. Izzy Clough from Module 2 said that it sounded ‘a bit like a real life power point presentation’ and this made me think that I would need to ensure it was different to the viva, but I feel that the collages would take care of this as I would not use all of these in my actual power point. I also thought that colleagues and professional associates from the dance world are going to be particularly interested in the dances that I performed for my recent event so I might focus on the event with a number of collages and pictures in the costumes, accompanied by short descriptions on what the process of rehearsal and performance unveiled within my practice.

I also felt that an album is a good way to share my inquiry with as many people as possible because even if they do not have a lot of time they can always have a quick flick through and look at the pictures. I can also take pictures of the album and send it to people digitally or share it on blogs and social media. Another point is that the collages are a direct expression of my creativity, as is my dance, so it unites all aspects of my artistic self.

 I wondered if anyone had any thoughts as I would be most grateful for them! Thank you!

Choices

I was very disappointed when my physiotherapist said the only time that she could see me this week was at 1.45pm on Tuesday right bang in the middle of the campus session at Middlesex Uni. It was on the other side of London and I had already arranged to go to the campus session and especially planned my trip to London for it.

I was faced with the choice as my foot is still not right and this injury has been lingering on for a long time. I have been worried about the injury and how I should be approaching it. I did not know when I would be able to see the physio again and so I considered the matter for a few hours, in the end I realised that this course is all about work based learning and that looking after my body and ensuring I am in fit condition for my area of practice is a key part of my development as a professional within my field. I have always had a tendency to put work before anything else but I have recently realised that health must be a priority if I am to have a good career. Therefore I decided to go to the physio and looking back I am so glad that I did because she gave it great treatment and special exercises with a little band. She also gave me lots of advice for getting it back to normal and reassured me that it would eventually go as this was a concern that had been increasing in my mind for some time.

I suppose this made me reflect back to Module 1 because that was when I first realised that sometimes those times when you think that something is holding you back and interfering with your degree, it is actually the very thing that is helping you grow as a professional within your field and this is what the degree is all about!

Analysing Questionnaires and Pavlova Tea Reflections

My initial idea for the Pavlova Tea event performance was to have a focus group of roughly 10 people who would fill out questionnaires after my free performance of ballet solos. However, this all changed when I had 35 people attending the performance 27 of which wanted to fill out the questionnaire.

This has made the analysis process slightly different as I decided that with this number it would be useful to see how many people attending the performance were from different age categories and also to see which of the solos seen were most popular. So as well analysing in a qualitative fashion from the comments made, I have created some charts with the numerical data although of course it is still a small number of people so the data collected is only of use to me and my local audience.

I must say that I have been quite overwhelmed getting all of this information ordered into my computer as 27 questionnaires was more than I was anticipating. But first of all I gave each questionnaire a number and then categorised the comments on each variation and theme and it soon started to unfold. What has been very special about this process is really hearing what people are feeling about what they are seeing. I have never been able to receive this sort of feedback before and the only feedback I have been able to get on paper has been from a teacher.
I was very surprised by feelings about what I read. Some of the positive comments really touched my heart. I also have had to take into consideration the fact that many of these people do know me and that their feedback is possibly going to reflect that. However, there were also people who I had never met before, some of whom had never seen me dance before and some of whom had never seen ballet at all before.

Some of the comments reflected that certain dances do not appeal to certain age ranges and vice versa and this is such valuable information for me as it can all be taken into account when I plan my performances in the future.

Below is another picture from my Performance by Sian Parry who kindly gave me permission to publish it.

Thoughts on my use of Social Media and the Internet

I have been thinking a lot lately about my use of social Media and the internet generally since I began the course. I realise that since embarking on the BAPP journey I have become a lot more open about my work on social media. I always use Facebook to publicise my work and performances and I did not do this so much before as I felt a bit scared to. However, I still do not find it easy to put myself out there on the internet and I do not use many forums other than facebook and this blog. I love my blog now and every time I do anything or think about something that I want to discuss, I straight away post to my blog. Considering that at the beginning I had to use 'wiki how' to learn how to start a blog I think I have travelled a fair journey!

However, I still feel I have a way to go. I am considering starting a website and possibly a professional artist facebook page with more details of what I have achieved and the kind of work I am available for. I have not got on with delicious or google docs really as I find it much better to send my work to different individuals by email or message. I have a flicr account but have not used as much as I could so I am thinking of trying to develop this next. I have to be strict with myself to ensure that I do not become fearful of getting myself out there on to the internet as I can fall into this trap very easily.

Pavlova Tea Event

On Saturday I had my event and it was a great success. I had over 30 people in the audience and they all filled out their questionnaires afterwards. I thoroughly enjoyed dancing and performing. Although I have to be honest in saying that I have had stomach flu for a week and was feeling pretty dreadful. However adrenaline as always got me through it! It did make me consider though the dangers of doing a performance of solos with no understudy. I really did not have an option other than to perform. I am in the process of analysing questionnaires at the moment and it is fascinating to receive this sort of feedback, some of it surprised me very much. I was surprised by how nervous I was presenting a solo performance! Below are some pictures from the event. I also created the Pavlova's. Timing was key for this event!!

With Michael Wall who was in charge of music and Esme Marie Sallnow who helped out with the serving of teas and Pavlovas!