11th October - MAPP Discussion Group 2

 Expectations in the Arts 

A month into my MAPP studies and I find myself really looking forward to skype discussion groups (even cancelling my teaching classes just to attend them  🤪). The discussions are often deep and really make me reflect and think a lot. 

This time, we discussed on various topics including Ethics in Restaging of an original work versus Individualism, Expectations in view of an artist or show. 

Ethically speaking, would it be RIGHT to change or improvise on an original stage work when learning the choreography? In my opinion, there are many points that comes from this point. There is no written set of rules to follow or even concrete laws that protects or disputes when it comes to the arts.

EXPECTATION vs CAPABILITY - Speaking from the point of view of a Coach, Competitions are common these days and is considered a new trends where dancers as young as 5 or 6 years old perform variations from Famous ballet pieces to try and impress the judges and the audience to win collectable awards. To fit in, the dance school I work in follows very closely to this trend and we have an elite team where we train aspiringly young ballerinas to compete in hope of being noticed in the dance scene. As such, the dancers are required to perform certain variation from original ballet such as Blue Bird, Candid Fairy, Silver Fairy, Miettes Fairy; all from the Sleeping Beauty Ballet. The original choreographer of theses variations are by Marius Petipa, who is a famous French choreographer. Subsequently, his ballet has been restaged many times by different dance companies. Following this, my students (as young as 7years to 12years old) are expected to dance these variations, However, we know a 7year old's capability to execute the variation will definitely not be as good as an adult company dancer. Hence, this calls for an improvisation to cater to the standard of the 7year old. 
However, dancers these days are also getting better at a younger age as compared to back where I do not have a chance to dance a variation till I was much older. I would say that using the original choreography as a framework is definitely important, but it is also important to be able to cater it to the capability of the dancer who is dancing it. 

CHOREOGRAPHY - Speaking from the point of view of a choreographer, if we plan to restage the original, I believe that it is important to keep the original choreographer's idea and framework in mind while innovating or inserting our own creativity in it. It is also important to reference the original choreographer whenever possible. The mindset is also an important point to this, the aim to restage something is not to compete or aim to be better than the original choreographer but to improve or innovate on its original work modernizing it. 

Times are changing, the arts are evolving. I believe that we should be open to the arts. For instance, in the recent Mulan movie by Disney. There are many backlash regarding the show on the social media, disproving the movie because it does not resemble the original cartoon. From my point of view, I really enjoyed the movie. I went in there with no expectation as I know that it would only be silly for Disney to recreate an exact movie from the cartoon and not improve on it. 

Although it may be hard for someone to not judge but it is important to build a conscious mind that one should not do so. Even if it happen, it will be more like a discussion than a criticism. 

Till my next post,

Jovita B. 

Academic Writing by Peter Thomas

29th Sept - Academic Writing by Peter Thomas 

Attended Peter Thomas' Skype session on Academic Writing and I find it very exciting and refreshed with the idea that I am revisiting something that was once familiar and a nightmare. 

We started off with a free writing activity on the topic of "What is Writing". Having never done this before, I was nervous to whether I am able to continue writing non-stop or my mind will just go blank. To my surprise, the thought of not stopping and just write whatever that was on my mind, or even to just write down "I do not know what to write", made it easier for me to write. 

As a Psychology graduate (many years back). I remembered doing alot of writing and research assignments. Everything in I do or say (in every single sentences) in my reports, thesis or writing assignments needs to be cited and referenced to the details or even who the current author referenced from previous post. I remembered having to do so many research and even to the types of articles I picked out couldn't be from any random blog or website. Everything needs to be from a credible source or organization.  I was wired not to make any claims to any statements although I personally had some viewpoints to it. 

Moving on to starting my RPL writings, I am still trying to wrap myself around the idea of writing based on my personal experience and journey. 

I had so many questions to whether there is a difference between a dance style writing or a research writing? Should it be written formally or informally? Am I allowed to use the word I in the written assignment? 

I was intrigue by the techniques he has taught us through GENERATING, ORGANISING and RE-WRITING. 

Generally, I am the type that gets stuck in the generating stage, I do not particularly enjoy reading what I write (apologize for any bad grammars or ideas that doesn't make sense) because I do not like to revisit feelings or ideas and judge myself on it. However, I believe that I need to learn from past mistakes and make improvements for the future. 

Definitely learnt alot in this and looking forward to start writing and improving in my writing skills. 

Till then, 

Jovita B. 🩰👠

27th SEPT - MAPP Discussion Group 1 

A little late, as I still struggle and find it uncomfortable to share my thoughts through written words. But here I am finally settling down my thoughts, gaining my courage to start writing and sharing abit more. The topics from the the first skype discussion group still lingers in my mind, and I have been thinking about it a lot during my daily commute to work about what to write about it. 

We were re-introduced to the idea of Knowledge from the previous discussion on (Learning vs Knowledge vs Information) . Still a little confused as to how I would distinguish them and apply them to my professional practice, I googled and found the meaning to these words that I sat for a very long time thinking about

Learning is the acquisition of knowledge through study, experience or being taught. 

Learning is me on an everyday basis, finding ways on how to continue improving myself; be it in my teaching or personal growth.

Coming from an Asian culture, we are "trained" to do what we are being told to do. There are very little room questionings and discussions, every feedback or voice on matters would be perceived as rude or disrespectful and of course the "Cannings" would appear to threaten; hence, It is better to be silent and just do what you are told to. This blog has definitely helped me learnt that my voice matters and here I am still learning how to share and voice out my thoughts in discussions. 

Knowledge is the facts, information or skills required through an experience, education, theory or practical understanding of a subject 

I believe that knowledge is something we all have inside of us through our past learnt experiences. It is also a choice to share the knowledge which makes us knowledgeable. The knowledge I have through my dance technique learning from my RAD examinations should never come to an end. It should be thought of as a well that has a never ending bottom' every little idea or thought I picked up through attending master classes or observations should help me grow deeper in my knowledge of the particular subject. 

Information is the facts provided or learnt about of a person, object or things that is also conveyed or represented by a particular arrangements or sequence of things. 

How we decipher or use the information received from others or what we read, see or heard will determine the kind of person one in. Information, when received could factual or fake or just rumors that comes from a third party. My thoughts are information doesn't necessary provide us with in depth learning or knowledge on a particular subject, but knowledge are typically information received or acquitted through our learning.

Ethics in Filming Sessions 

The next topic was most interesting to me. Considering the fact that it was almost 1am in the morning on a work night and I struggle to digest deep information by that time.

Building on the fact that in Asia, there is a saying/practice where "if something is not said, that doesn't mean that we are not allowed to do it". For example, in most parts of the world, people would typically jay-walk across the street for convenience even though there could be a zebra crossing or a bridge just a couple of walk down. However in Singapore, there needs to be a written rule (with fine and potential jail time) if people jay walk and caught. 

There should generally be an unspoken rule in regards to filming in the area of the arts. It is typically announced during big concert or events regarding filming of shows where filming is not allowed, however I think that It is okay respectful for people to ask if they are allowed filming before doing so. 

I have personally experience parents of students filming in Open House sessions, where there was a clear rule written in the letter where "no filming in allowed". What would I do as a teacher? I would inform them nicely to stop filming in respect of the other students present in the class. And if they continue to do so and other parents join in? What would you do? It really boils down to the idea where their upbringing and respect for the class comes in. 

In my opinion, filming could be a good thing too. It could be used for educational purpose, where parents could use the recorded session to keep track on their child's progression or use it to work on things that their child is lacking in and use them solely for improvement purpose. But what I find it wrong is that they use it to post on their social media without seeking approval of those that are in the video (other students or teachers). 

On the other hand, Filming during competitions would be something that I find very useful for my own personal practice. In a typical overseas competition where my dance partner and I will travel alone to, There will be nobody to help us film our sessions and we have no way of watching ourselves for further improvement. So when someone comes up to use wanting to connect and they happened to have a video on us (my dance partner and I), we would be overjoyed to be able to watch ourselves dance again to see how we could do better in the next round. 

There would be many more discussions on the topic of filming. However, I would conclude by saying that when it comes to filming others, there should be a form of RESPECT that one should ask for permission first or if filmed impromptu-ly, use it positively and not to be used for copying of other people's work or shaming. 

Phew, it turned out to be a post longer than expected 🤣

Till our next discussion

Jovita B. 🩰👠