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!

'Golden Rays': the choreographic process for the dance

Next week I am performing a dance I have choreographed to music by Couperin called Golden Rays. The music will be played live and I am very much looking forward to performing it. 

The dance explores the golden rays transcending from the sun. I have often been very intrigued by the patterns and incredibly vivid colours that I see in rays of sunlight and this dance explores some of those patterns. I am also exploring a deeper spiritual connection associated with the golden ray, the connection which allows us to be at one with our creator or spirituality. The collage below is helping me through the choreographic process and encouraging my artistic expression to shine through.

Creating my Dragonfly costume

Today I have been busy at work creating my dragonfly costume for the performance next week. I have been trying to create a costume which is nice and light but also represents the creature well. Compared with Anna Pavlova's original dress, mine is very different but this is deliberate as I want to create my vision for the dance, something new and distinctive to me. I have also had quite a strict budget to stick to so had to bear that in mind too. Below are some shots of me in the creation process. I will share the finished piece soon.

Pavlova Tea afternoon

I am currently preparing for My Pavlova Tea Event next week on the 31st of March. Busy rehearsing and finalising the programme ready for printing. I am very pleased with the response so far and am expecting about 27 to 30 people to come. Many of these people have already signed slips to say they are happy to fill out the questionnaire afterwards. The programme is made up of the six dances and between each dance the audience can help themselves to tea and pavlovas! The event has been advertised in the local paper this week and below is the flyer which I created for the event.