Artefact

The deadline is soon approaching and I am trying to make the finishing touches and last minute edits to my work. I thought I'd give you all a little insight into what I have been doing.

For my Artefact I intend to design ‘The Dancers Notebook’ that will effectively convey the findings from my inquiry to other professional freelance dancers and would be accessible and beneficial to my professional community. It took me a long time to decide what I wanted to do as initially I wanted to create a website or leaflet or some kind of small book however from discussions with my Special Interest Groups, my tutor and personal time spend brainstorming various ideas I came to the conclusion that I wanted a more tactile way of producing my findings.

The professional community I am aiming at is professional freelance dancers and although my inquiry is based on injured dancers I wanted to ensure that my artefact would be accessible. I aimed to write it in a way which was beneficial to all dancers and still provided the advice about dealing with injury which I had discovered in my inquiry. I understand that some academic notebooks begin with a several pages that would include information on a certain subject. For example, a map of the world or foreign currency. I wanted to use this idea and mould it into something that would relate to dancers.

I began by creating a general structure that supplied note sections for different aspect of freelance jobs. I created profiles that offered specific space for notes on costumes, rehearsals and performances on each job. I also ensured there was space for general notes as I am aware that many people have there own unrelated things they may wish to include in a notebook. 

I have decided to set it out my ‘Dealing with Injury’ section mid way through the notebook as I felt that having it at the beginning made the notebook seem specific to injury and I wanted it to be usable for all freelance dancers. I have divided it into subheadings derived by the advice given by the dancers who participated in my survey and interviews and each section is made up of a couple of pages. 

The Sections are

• Remain Positive
• Set Goals
• Visualisation
• Keep yourself Busy

Throughout each of these I offer advice of how to carry out these objectives and I offer space in order to take part in some short activities that promote positive thinking.

I also had added a Calendar at the end of the notebook. I felt this was a vital tool for a freelance dancer as it is imperative that time organised so that you can book in work and free time. I also felt it would be beneficial to injured dancers as it allows them to plan activities that gives them something to look forward to during their time of injury.

I feel this will adequately reflect the work I have done in my Inquiry. As it is a notebook and I know that all dancers carry notebooks to rehearsals I feel that it something I know that will be used and the information it holds will be beneficial to dancers in my professional community.

I hope everything is going well for everyones work. Not long now, Good Luck! x

Visualisation

As part of my Inquiry I looked into visualisation as a method for coping with injury. I intended to add it to part of my artefact and after some research here is some of what I have learnt from my research:

Visualisation

What is visualisation?

-     Creating a mental likeness to something that has occurred in life.

-     Using senses to recreate an experience.

What can imagery do?

-     Increased sense of internal control.

-     Add the rehabilitation process.

-     Potentially enhance the rate of healing.

-     It is said to improve mood and relieve some anxiety from injury.

How to use visualisation

-     Relax.

-     Create a vivid and realistic as possible image.

-     Remain positive.

-     Have realistic expectations.

-     Always be in control. Don’t be afraid to restart if you are not getting the desire effect.

Where can you find guided visualisation?

-     Visualisation if often done in a group setting, as having a set place can allow you to really enter the imagination.

-     You may find support groups, study groups or healing groups in your area.

Helpful tips for trying out Imagery

-     Listening to music may increase the affects of imagery.

-     Imagery that induces a emotional response is more effective that imagery that doesn’t.

-     Your imagery may seem silly, but remember your own imagination is what it helpful to you, don’t try and follow other peoples ways.

-     Try and engage all of your senses.

-     Don’t worry if you ‘space out’ during a guided session, allow your mind to wander.

-     There is no ‘right way’ to visualise.

Pain Management Imagery

Pain can often be exaggerated when you have tension in your muscles. Here are some example of how to use imagery to relax your body:

-     Imagine tight muscles getting massaged and relaxing.

-     Imaging heat or ice on the pain.Imagine swelling draining from your body.

-     Imagine lying on a soft surface and any pain melting away into the floor.

-     Sometimes it is helpful to distract yourself from thinking about pain. For example, imagine dancing or performing or being somewhere nice, like on holiday or with family.

-     Try to reverse any association you may have with pain. For example, if you imagine pain as red try and use your imagination to turn that red into a cool blue colour.

Healing Imagery

Healing imagery creates the mindset of a healthy dancer. Creating images that symbolise recovery can help you cope with an injury.

Everyone is different and to create you own healing images you must explore, what you associate with your injury, what do associate with being healthy and strong and what to you associate with recovery. Remember these images only need to be meaningful to you.

 Examples of Healing Images include:

-     The fibres of a torn muscles threading and weaving back together.

-     Cement filling in the cracks of broken bones.

-     The body draining swelling from the body.

-     Relaxing, lengthening and stretching tight muscles.

-     Ligaments getting stronger and more robust.

Evaluation of Critical Review

Below is a summary of the process of creating my Critical so far.

Literature

•  It is essencial to do plenty of research and I spent the first portion of module 3 sourcing, reading, watching and analysing literature on my topic.
•  By allowing myself to research such a wide topic though I found literature from many different sources including, dance and sports psychologists, professional dancers, blogs, teachers and academics.
• I quickly established that dance injury is a broad topic and my literature review helped me find out what I wanted to focus my Inquiry on. 
• I divided my literature review into headings that then became the three themes of my inquiry, these are Accepting Injury, Pain Tolerance and Coping Mechanisms.
• Created a list of questions about what I intended to find out during my inquiry.

Planning

• Using my research and literature review, I planned my interviews and surveys. From my pilots I had done in Module 2 I was more confident to structure it in a way that would gather the most useful information.
• I reached out to dancers I knew that fit the criteria for my interviews and ask if they were interested in taking part, I also explained he context of my Inquiry and ethical implications.
• I reached out to several dance academics and psychiatrists as I intended to interview someone from an academic background. When I did contact someone we agreed to do a questionnaire due to time constraints and both our busy schedules.
• I sent out consent forms to participants.
• I reviewed my schedule, inserted dates of interviews.

Practical Research

• I carried out my interviews, some over Skype others face to face, All of which were voice recorded to collect data.
• I sent out my survey to my selected groups.
• I send my questionnaire and collected my response.

Analysing data

• I interpreted the data and typed up some rough notes including any similarities or differences in opinions that arose over different platforms. 
• I found responses that stood out to me and compared them to my literature.
• Looked at what my results meant, thought about whether my original questions were answered and at what questions arose.

Reflection

• I thought about how this process has affected me.
• What I have learned from this Inquiry.
• What I want to find out in the future.
• Where I want to go from here.