Task 6C Award specialism title draft

I have decided to select the title of BA (Hons) Professional Practice in Arts (Dance) as my award specialism title.

I have selected this title because my area of professional practice is classical ballet and I intend to continue working in this area in the future. The title I have chosen for my professional inquiry is ‘What elements of Anna Pavlova’s performance had such a large impact on the audience and are these elements still relevant to audiences watching ballet today? Therefore, it seems appropriate to choose the award specialism title which focuses on the area of dance for my degree.

Through this inquiry I seek to uncover the elements of Anna Pavlova’s performance which had such a large impact on her audience, exploring whether these elements are still wanted by audiences of today. It is important because I, as a freelance ballet dancer, want to be able to reach current audiences with greater impact.  Both through my performance of Pavlova inspired dances and some newly choreographed pieces I am creating. I will benefit from understanding what audiences are seeking today and hopefully audiences will ultimately benefit from my understanding, in the work I go on to deliver to them.

A collage which I created

Tasks 6A & 6B Tools and pilot questionaire

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

Developing ethical frameworks for my inquiry

Through careful study of Part 5 I have come up with the following ethical framework for my professional inquiry.

My participants are a freelance female professional ballet dancer, a marketing officer (although I am still waiting on clarification of the exact person I would need to speak to) from a leading UK ballet company who has access to information regarding box office sales of different productions, a small focus group of ten people who will fill out short interview style questionnaires after watching a performance I give. The focus group will have participants from five different age categories, they will be of different genders and at least two of them will have little experience of watching classical ballet.

I have chosen the freelance ballet dancer because she has worked across a wide variety of contexts and I am hoping to get an insight into where she as an artist felt the deepest connection to her audience - in what roles and in which contexts. In a way Anna Pavlova could be considered a freelance ballet dancer of her time and so I felt that interviewing a freelancer of today will help me to gain insight into what elements of a performance audiences appreciate today.

I have chosen to interview a marketing officer from a ballet company because I want to discover which of their performances sell best and what is in least public demand. I am hoping to illuminate the extent to which the audience contributes to the decisions made about repertoire for each season. This will help me find out what the current trends are in ballet and analyse the possible reasoning for this.

I have chosen to invite an audience to watch me dance because I need to be sure of adequate numbers. The performance will however be open to the public and I will have extra questionnaires and consent forms for anyone else wishing to participate in the interview/questionnaire sheets. I have chosen my participants to ensure a full spectrum of ages and experience of watching dance. Even though this is a small number of people, it is still an audience of today and therefore the reading is still valid.

I will contact the freelance ballet dancer who I already have some connection with by email asking for her consent to participate, she also has my email address.

Contacting the ballet company l is going to be a slightly more complicated procedure as I will need to go through the gate keepers of the company in order to find out exactly the person with whom I need to speak. I will have to receive ethical permission from the company as well as the official I interview.

I intend to send out invitations to people to attend the performance, explaining the exact nature of the inquiry and how the information in the questionnaire sheets will be used.

In the event that the freelance ballet dancer refuses to participate in the inquiry I will have two more people as back-up, who I will contact if necessary after I have received an answer from my first choice.

I have a number of possible UK ballet companies lined up to approach so that if one refuses I can approach another.

I will send invitations out to 25 people for the local performance so that I will hopefully end up with a at least 10 definite audience members.

All names will be protected and participants will remain anonymous. They will simply be referred to as a female freelance ballet dancer, marketing officer of a ballet company (although I have yet to find out the exact title of the person I will interview) and audience member (60+ category, female)

I intend to propose interview and questionnaire questions in which I only ask what is necessary, which are not leading and do not pre-empt the response of participants. I will send out letters or emails explaining exactly the nature of the inquiry, how the participants information will be used and for how long it will be kept. There will be a page which they will need to sign and send back to me to give their consent to being involved in the project. The children under the age of 18 who fill out the questionnaires will have a consent section which needs to be filled out by the parents.  I will be completely honest with the reporting of the data I gather and never change what has been said or just use selected material to suit my personal view point.

The performance I put on will be a free event at my local town hall. I will fund the venue myself but will ask people attending to give donations if they wish. I realised that if I am going to have an invited audience I cannot expect them to pay and therefore it would be discriminatory to charge members of the public who may wish to come to the performance, to have some people attending for free and others paying would not fit in with my inclusive ethical outlook. I hope that at the same time as being beneficial to my inquiry this event will also bring in people who may otherwise not attend a ballet performance because they cannot afford to pay for a ticket. I will use it as a means to broaden the audience for dance in my local area. By having the event open to the public, I will also be able to see how popular a performance of this sort is and by making it free there can be no financial influences, i.e ‘they felt it was too expensive’ and this will further influence the outcome of my inquiry.

I will clearly cite all the resources I use in my inquiry these will include all literature, videos, photos, programmes and live performances I watch which have any impact on my inquiry

Reviewing part 5: ethics

After looking at part 5 I have discovered many more ethical implications to the inquiry I have been planning. I really opened my eyes to see that what I think of as being the right thing to do, might be considered wrong by someone with a different ethical outlook.  The different theoretical approaches are helping me to consider issues from all angles.

For instance, consequentialism is where the good is maximised for the greatest number of people, so to kill one person in order to save the lives of ten others would be considered morally right.

Deontology is where an action is only right if there is good will and only good will behind it.

The virtue ethicist’s approach is where the moral behaviour and character of the person carrying out an action are the most important factors in considering whether something is right or wrong.

I have realised that as a person and a dancer I have am probably a virtue ethicist. I have been able to identify this by noticing that often someone can say or do something which other people tell me was wrong and I will usually find a way to justify their behaviour. I will do this by looking deeply into their character and often finding insecurities and personal problems which have led them to these actions. I can very easily forgive people for something hurtful when I know that deep down they are good people but have inner personal difficulties which are what ultimately may be responsible for their actions.  

When carrying out my inquiry I intend to continue looking from all of these angles to see which best fits the purpose of my inquiry.  Throughout the historical part of the inquiry into Anna Pavlova I can also apply these approaches to help unveil her values as an artist.

With regard to professional ethics I have been very interested in the article which Part 5 of this Module signposts you to called A dancer is a person by Sho Botham. This article deals with issues regarding the approach taken to teaching dance. It highlights that dancers must be treated like people and valued for the people they are, not only for the skill or talent they possess as a dancer, if they are to reach their full potential. It argues for the benefits of a more holistic approach in which the person and dancer are equally respected. I found this article very insightful because I have experienced certain approaches to teaching to be very detrimental to my health and happiness, but never noticed that it was the teachers with the people centred approach which have ultimately drawn the best out of me. It has given me a new outlook on my practice where I feel a right to receiving acceptance and respect as a person as much as a dancer.

Bibliography

Botham, S. (2000) ‘A dancer is a person’ Journal of Dance Medicine and Science , Vol 4, No. 4, p.146.  Available at: http://www.ethicsdance.co.uk/resources/downloads/A-Dancer-is-A-Person.pdf (Last accessed 12 November 2017)

Module 2 Handbook (2017) BAPP Arts, Middlesex University, London: Middlesex University

Campus Session 7th November

This was the first campus session which I had attended and I have to say it was great to discuss with other people face to face rather than virtually. At the session I enjoyed the company of Adesola, Amanda and Eleanor Byrne as well as a number of other people on skype. Amanda and Eleanor are also on Module 2 so it was a really productive few hours.

Professional Artefact

Adesola started the session by getting us each to choose a game which we then played. I must admit I was a little bewildered as to what this had to do with our degree at first but Adesola soon enlightened me! Adesola was helping us to understand what a professional artefact was. Although we do not have to directly study this in Module 2, as it only comes up in Module 3, it is very important that we understand what the concept is now. What was revealed was that in the games we had played there was a sort of mutual understanding between all of us which did not necessarily rely on words.

Some words which emerged relating to this understanding were inherent, circumstantial, culture that starts to build, body language,

 This sort of communication has similarities to our professional habitus or cultural capital. For example, in the field of ballet there are certain forms of communication which are simply the norm if you are an insider in that area of practice. However, if someone from a different area of practice was to walk into that situation they would not necessarily understand this communication. For instance, the lack of dialogue between an employer and a dancer in rehearsal, the appearance of well- groomed hair and tight- fitting practice clothes. Practicing on the side of the studio if you are not being used. All these points relate to a special kind of communication which is inherent to our professional practice.

The professional artefact is basically a way to share your inquiry with others within your professional practice who may not be able to relate to an essay. The artefact is not the result of the inquiry it is a way of sharing what you have learned in a way which fits in with your practice. It could take the form of a performance in which you explore the elements uncovered from your inquiry for example. It is not something that should be planned until the end of your inquiry as it will emerge throughout the course of the study.

It was discussed how the professional artefact is important because if you can only explain your inquiry one way, it is really not your work. It is essential to be able to explain your inquiry both in the university language and the artistic language.

Other themes discussed

Adesola encouraged us to really notice everything and everyone in our practice and not to allow our university work to be somehow separate from our professional practice.

• It is really important to know how you are going to analyse data such as interviews and questionnaires before making a decision on what types of data you are intending to use.

• The analysis is simply something you are going to do with the data, literature and comparisons and from this analysis themes will emerge.

• When exploring an historical figure as I am with Anna Pavlova it is also important to look into the ethical background and implications of them historically.

• A particularly enlightening statement that Adesola made was that the art is in the planning of the inquiry not necessarily the outcome and that if it all works out something has probably gone wrong!

• Adesola also reminded us of the importance of stating our professional practice when we are working as this is often an area people tend to forget about!

• When submitting Module 2 we are now allowed to put our whole portfolio into one word document with a contents page at the top.

• I am now in the process of deciding on the tools for my inquiry and getting my draft inquiry plan and critical reflection done.

Reflections on one to one chat with Hopal

Yesterday I had a highly beneficial phone tutorial with Hopal, after which I have had a much clearer idea of what I am doing. I must admit that before this chat, I was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed because recently I have had so many different questions going round in my head I did not know what to do with them! I was starting to feel more and more that the area I was looking at from my inquiry 'How does audience opinion affect the dancer' was simply too broad and not really the question that I wanted to look at.

What I realised is that as an individual learner I am much better if I am focusing on a historical figure. I really discovered this in Module 1 when I was looking into who I admired, as they were all dancers from previous eras. The person who has always inspired me is Anna Pavlova and as I am currently performing dances that she also performed and performing in more unusual contexts, like care homes and children's book shops, in front of people who do not have such easy access to ballet, Pavlova has begun to have even more of an impact on me as a performer. I am really wanting to know how I can further develop my dancing to have a greater impact on my audiences. So the questions began to emerge What was it about Anna Pavlova that had such an impact on the audiences she performed for? How Might I develop my dancing to touch audiences with greater power?

However, I was worried that doing a more historical inquiry would be problematic when it came to interviews and questionnaires. So I spoke about all of this with Hopal, she was really helpful as she said that she did not think doing a historically based project would be a problem , although a little more unusual, just so long as I am careful to situate myself in the present. She helped me to see all sorts of other threads to the inquiry, many of which related to the topic area I have been looking at previously relating to the audience. She spoke of how I might explore the audience/dancer connection, why are audiences touched by certain performances, does this have to do with certain eras and what people find applicable to them in different historical periods. This got me thinking, if Anna Pavlova had been a dancer of today she would have had a different training and would be a different dancer, but if she was the same person with the same artistic vision, how would she have reached a modern day audience?
Hopal suggested that I could look into arts centres or theatres and see how the audiences affect the dance which they show at the theatre, see what sells best, this could be one of my interviews. Many ideas began to emerge including the idea of putting on a performance based on Anna Pavlova's work and providing questionnaires for audience members to see how the work impacts them today. She also spoke of Liz Lerman who has apparently done a lot of interesting work on the audience and dancer relationship. So I am going to research her and see how all of these ideas can help form my inquiry.

After reading and thinking today I think I have come up with my true inquiry question which is

What elements of Anna Pavlova's performance had such a large impact on the audience and are these elements still relevant to audiences of today? 

I now need to go back and do more literature reviews but I feel that I am finally embarking on an inquiry which I am truly passionate about and one which will have a long lasting affect on my practice as a ballet dancer.