Musings as the end is nigh

There are but a few weeks until all work is completed, submitted and my MAPP journey is done.  As I work through the end of the first 2 submissions, I have had to get practical and think about how I am going to hand everything in which has led to me searching Amazon to find what I need in the way of stationery.  It sounds crazy I know but it is a practical consideration and I have needed to stock up on ink (which seems to dissolve), paper, folders, and whatever else I need to hand my work in in a way which is clear to any reader.  I hope that anyone who reads my work has a clear journey through it so making sure all references to appendices and other documents should thorough and easy to navigate and I will check and re-check before submission. 

I have found that there has been much actual writing involved, from transcribing interviews, which amounted to some 50,000 words to what I then did with them, hand notating, processing, analysing, extracting, grouping and summarising and compiling my review and artefact – which I always knew would be the case, for you cannot share research without going through any of the above processes, but I think the actual physical appearance of the submission will be more substantial than I first imagined.  I can only hope that I am able to get everything in my head across.  Really frustrated by the fact that last night as I was trying to get to sleep a great phrase formed for my review and I cannot for the life of me remember what it was…. I will let it go and ask it to come back to me when needed, or hope that the essence of it is in my mind somewhere!

There is an outline of a presentation waiting in the wings, which has changed greatly already and I am looking forward to getting it together once the other work is in, and again can only hope that I can get across everything that I want to say as so much has presented itself, sometimes in slow burn thinking processes and sometimes as a waterfall of ideas, thoughts and learning.  I have new areas to question for sure, some radical, but all, in my opinion, logical as an outcome of my recent research and related experiences.  So: much learned that I am hoping to present captured in time for submission and also as seeds planted which will shape my future.  I cannot be anything other than different having been on this journey – and different in this case is good.

Anatomical dilemmas and other matters

Having started with the most current writers about imagery in dance, I have recently found myself back with the pioneers of ideokinesis and their pupils.  Mabel Todd's work is written in a very 'medical' way with lots of Latin terms and I found it quite hard to access although the thrust of what she is saying is clear.  What has been fascinating is to see how the ideas initiated by Mabel Todd have been filtered, refined or revisited by her pupils and then by their pupils - to a state whereby they are current and accessible, in my opinion.

I have much admiration for Mabel Todd - a true pioneer, and am intrigued by the fact that Todd, Lulu Sweigard and Barbara Clark all became involved with ideokinesis and movement as a bid to correct personal physical difficulties.  It was interesting to note that Irene Dowd felt it appropriate to dispense with Sweigard's 'Nine Lines of Movement', as she reviewed and refined her work in 'Taking Root to Fly.'  This suggested to me that it is possible to start at one point and then refine a notion or a system further which may lead to eschewing earlier manifestations of something that has possibly evolved.  In contrast, it is also interesting to note that many original notions remain.

I have been able to trace ideas from printed source to my interviews for my research - for example the notion of stacking the skeleton to create an aligned stance.  This is evident in the work of Mabel Todd, Andre Bernard, Irene Dowd, Lulu Sweigard, Eric Franklin and Valerie Grieg, and they all conform to the notion of a central axis which runs through the body, although they all describe it slightly differently at times.  I was particularly drawn to Grieg's visual description of posture as building blocks (below in a version which I have created myself)

I have been using this imagery for some time and have had notable success with it, none more so than it being reported in more than one of my narrative interviews as being something used by the interviewee as a matter of rote.

I have often alluded to the dancer as a tree with roots extending into the ground, the trunk supporting the branches and twigs, and the top of the tree reaching ever upward.  Although a simple metaphoric image, this concurs with the notion of aligning the body as described by Irene Dowd, 'see if you can allow head, rib cage, and pelvis to be centered in relationship to each other and effortlessly supported and connected by your spine.  Let your sacrum hang down to connect you to the ground just behind your heels.  Let your central axis, soaring out through the top of your head, suspend you from the sky' (Dowd, 1974, reprint 2012, page 11).  It took me a while to comprehend that there were areas of the spine that cannot extend upwards, and this notion now makes complete sense to me in terms of actual anatomical possibility.

What has resonated more than anything else is how vital it is to ensure that all teachers have a thorough and correct knowledge of the functions of the body.  I find this slightly disconcerting as although I have a fair knowledge, I am not fully trained in kinesiology.  I also truly question as to whether or not my fellow ballet teachers are, and this has presented itself as an area of future investigation and interest.

Throughout this course I have been reassured and challenged in equal measure with regard to my teaching and I am sure that I always will be, and this is part of the rationale for my continued relationship with learning.  I have already been presented with areas for further investigation, which I cannot ignore.  At some point I hope to be able to continue with my studies, but for sure will take a break of some sort after the end of January!