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.

Module 3 Update

What have I done so far?

• Feedback response from Module two
• Started an completed Literature review (although I may add to if I find literature which I feel would be relevant)
• Plan and Organise Interviews
• Create and send out Consent forms
• Create and send out Survey
• Create and send out Questionnaires
• Write Introduction of Critical Reflection
• Look at Ideas for Artefact

Some of my interviews were changed slightly as I intended to interview some experts on the subject of dance injury and dance psychology. Due to both theirs and my busy schedule, sorting out appropriate time that worked for both of us because challenging so I agreed to create a questionnaire with some questions I intended to ask in the interview which allowed them to complete it when they had time. Those questionnaires have been sent out now and I intend to carry out a few more interviews in the next few weeks with a couple of professional and training dancers.

What do I still need to do?

• Complete interviews (all planned for the upcoming week)
• Gather and analyse findings from all my research tasks
• Complete Critical Reflection
• Finalise ideas and complete Artefact 

Each week I feel that I am getting closer to completing all the tasks and hopefully over the next few weeks I will take a big step in my analysis. 

Survey

For my inquiry I have decided to do a survey. I am looking at dancers in any stage of their career (training, professional, retired) who have suffered an injury regardless of severity to participate in the survey. If you feel this would apply to you please help me by taking part in my survey. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Link is below:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WXQ6T32

Literature Review

This is what I have currently written for my literature review, I now understand that it is not quite what was required although I will probably use and edit bits for my critical reflection but I thought I would share it anyway so people could get an insight into what kind of literature I have been researching for my inquiry.

Dancers Experiences of Injury and How They Cope

Literature Review

In my inquiry I want to explore dancers experiences of injuries. To do this I have split my review into four subheadings; Accepting Injury, Dance Injury vs Sport Injury, Coping Mechanisms and Treatment. Over the past few months I have been reading, watching and listening to other experts findings in order to create an accurate perspective on the topic. I have been able to access many sources which has allowed me to examine many debates which have expressed different views on the subject making me aware of the many variables which can affect how people cope with injury. I have used several different sources for my literature in this review to allow me to focus on a range of views and allow me to be inspired by or debate different theories that have been bought up in other peoples findings.

Accepting Injury

Injury rates for dancers can be as high as 97% (Kerr, Krasnow and Mainwaring, 1994) and 60 to 75% of dance injuries resulting from overuse (Thomas and Tarr, 2009). What I have discovered is that a negative emotional response frequently follows the onset of injury. The physical loss of not being able to train and perform is often accompanied by a loss of self-identity (Crossman, J. Macchi, R. 1996). These are some of the contributors which present amongst dancers and prevent them from seeing a medical professional.

Dancers are unique in the challenges they face during injury and rehabilitation. Due to circumstances and pressures that occur in the dance community many dancers are reluctant in acknowledging that an injury exists. Being injured in the dance world can result in being replaced, losing income and affecting future employment. Dancers have a lot of pressure from choreographers, peers, audiences and themselves to perform causing them to push through the pain (Thomas and Tarr, 2009; Anderson and Hanrahan, 2008).

Dancers also my have issues differentiating between the origin of their pain thus making it difficult to make the appropriate decision whether to carry on performing (Anderson and Hanrahan, 2008). There are two categories of pain, “good pain” (a result of exertion and pushing the body to its full capacity which is common during performance) and “bad pain” (pain caused by an injury). If a dancer is not correctly educated in the characteristics of these individual pains they may further exacerbate an unrecognised injury.

Dance Injury vs Sport Injury

Much of the literature I have studied has compared sport injury to dance injury. One thing that is often bought up is the high tolerance to pain that dancers have, this is a characteristic which is common with professional sports people. In 1995, Tajet-Foxwell and Rose carried out an investigation comparing dancers to non dancers using a Cold Pressor Test - A standard laboratory technique used to measure pain and pain tolerance thresholds. Their results demonstrated a clearly higher tolerance in professional dancers similar to professional sports people.

Clearly, although both dance and sports people are bought up in very different cultures with different training there are certain aspects of there profession which overlap. Due to the exposure to very physical training and increased fitness in both professions there are bound to be similarities in areas such as pain threshold and response to injury and I think this will is an interesting aspect to consider.

Encarnacion, Meyers, Ryan and Pease (2000) carried out a similar study and subsequently found no difference in the pain coping style in a group of 135 ballet dancers taken from a variety of stages in their training or career. This might suggest that ballet dancers, regardless of skill or age, tend to cope with pain and injury in a particular way. Contradictory to other studies, the authors suggested that ballet dancers do not exhibit pain coping styles similar to those of professional sports people. Both studies used measures of pain and coping style drawn from sports psychology, which may not take into consideration all the artistry involved in dance. Additional the second study did not take into account the severity of the injuries that the dancers had sustained.

Although a lot of research in dance psychology is derived from studies and research methods used in sports psychology I have observed that attributes of dance and dance injury are unique to the profession. For Example, Anderson and Hanrahan (2008) note that dancers experience a higher percentage of overuse injuries than athletes.

Coping Mechanisms

Every dancer has different ways of coping with the emotional strains that come with injury and it is something that I am very interested in exploring in my inquiry. An article which I read by Wozny (2012) Explores two contrasting perspectives about watching performances and rehearsals during a time of injury. On one side a dancer may want to distance themselves from the dance world as they may feel uncomfortable watching others do what they cannot. On the other hand some find comfort in maintaining a connection by watching or taking notes as a way of feeling involved. Both these are valid coping mechanisms which has allowed me to come to the conclusion that reactions to watching class or rehearsal vary in each individual. 

Dancers can often feel pressured into returning to dance before injuries were fully healed. Since they invested a lot of time into reaching the current stage in their career they feel that they must perform through an injury. Due to the physical pain from injury and the pressures placed on them by fellow dancers these factors had triggered an emotional pain within the dancer (Alexander, Fields, Nehrenz and Rivera, 2012). They suggest that a dancer would push through the pain or past what they may feel comfortable doing in order to complete a performance or rehearsal. These findings are similar in studies conducted by Crossman and Macchi (1996) and Kerr, Krasnow and Mainwaring (2001).

A post by Long (2012) also compares three situations of dancers during different stages of their careers. Kate was a student who suffered from chronic stress fractures in her years of training. Jason tore his Achilles tendon leaving him unable to dances for a prolonged period of time leaving him feeling depressed and isolated and Jeanette was a retired dancer who had a successful career spanning over two decades without any setbacks cause by injury. These observations cause her the raise the questions;

“What was her secret? Was Jeanette simply older and wiser?”

Tarr and Thomas (2009) claim ‘there is evidence to show that as dancers age they are likely to be more aware of the warning signs of injury and to take steps to prevent it’. This could partially explain why through time Jeanette was able to have a greater understanding of her body and therefore prevent the onset of injury.

Treatment

In an interview by Christiansen (2011) the resident psychologist at the Royal Ballet Company Tajet-Foxwell observed that “two dancers with the same injury could respond to it in completely different ways, one making a full recovery, the other never even making it back on stage.’” This inspired her to discover more about the psychology of dancers. She now uses visualisation as a way of aiding people through a particularly tough injury. She encourages people to create an image of an injury, an example used in the article was one where a principal dancer Steven McRae had suffered from a ruptured achilles tendon which seriously threatened the future of his career. Having suffered from anxiety over the injury during recovery he turned to Tajet-Foxwell for help and he says “she made me visualise my good heel and my bad heel: the good heel was running water and blue sky, the bad heel was gnarled broken twigs and barren landscape. Slowly, I learnt to see the bad heel as good heel too, and I realised that the pain was in my head, not in my heel.”

This technique used by Tajet-Foxwell is one that greatly interested me so I want to look further into her studies.

All of the information I have gathered will help greatly in my inquiry especially in producing my professional artefact as I am aiming to create an accurate and genuinely helpful self-help guide for dancers suffering with injury. I have come to understand that there is no straight forward formula that if someone follows will help them cope the best during injury. Human nature dictates that everyone is individual in mind and body therefore each person has there own way in which to recover. Looking into a variety of literature has helped me to understand why people behave the way they do while injured, given me inspiration into things to including my survey and interviews and has allowed me to form my own opinions on how to help and advise people on how to cope with injuries.

References

Alexander, J., Fields, B., Nehrenz, G. and Rivera, D. (2012) ‘Dancers' perceptions of injuries’. http://www.academicjournals.org/article/article1379922433_Rivera%20et%20al.pdf [Accessed October 2014]

Anderson, R. and Hanrahan, S. (2008). ‘Dancing in pain: pain appraisal and coping in dancers’. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19618573 [Accessed October 2014]

Christiansen, R. (2011) ‘Lift the mind and the body will follow’ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/8480719/Lift-the-mind-and-the-body-will-follow.html [Accessed September 2014]

Crossman, J. Macchi, R. (1996) ‘After the Fall: Reflections of injured classical ballet dancers’. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/After+the+fall%3A+reflections+of+injured+classical+ballet+dancers.-a018668788 [Accessed October 2014] 

Encarnacion, M., Meyers, M., Ryan, N., and Pease, D. (2000) ‘Coping Styles of Ballet Performers’. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Pain+Coping+Styles+of+Ballet+Performers.-a061909294 [Accessed October 2014]

Kerr, G, Ph.D., Krasnow, D, M.S., and Mainwaring, L, Ph.D. (2001) ‘And the Dance Goes On: Psychological Impact of Injury’. Journal of Dance Medicine & Science, Volume 5, Number 4

Kerr, G, Ph.D., Krasnow, D, M.S., and Mainwaring, L, Ph.D. (1994) ‘Psychology of Dealing with the Injured Dancer’. http://www.citraining.com/pdfs/Psychology-of-Injured-Dancer.pdf [Accessed January 2014]

Long, E, K. (2012) ‘Finding Balance: Dancers On Coping With Injury’. http://www.4dancers.org/2012/05/finding-balance-dancers-on-coping-with-injury/ [Acessed September 2014]

Rose, F, D. and Tajet-Foxwell, B. (1995) ‘Pain and pain tolerance in professional ballet dancers.’ J Sports Med. 29(1): 31–34.

Tarr, J. and Thomas, H. (2009). ‘Dancer's perceptions of pain and injury- positive and negative effects’. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19508809 [Accessed October 2014]

Wozny, N. (2012) ‘Your Best Body: A Deeper Hurt’. http://www.pointemagazine.com/issues/octobernovember-2012/your-best-body-deeper-hurt [Accessed September 2014]

Setbacks Dancers Face

1. Being told you'll never make it
2. Attaching your success to one role
3. Constantly struggling to make rent
4. Constantly comparing yourself to others
5. Desire to be perfect
6. Proving that dance is a 'real' profession
7. Not being able to fit the desired look
8. Disconnecting yourself from your dancer self
9. Being put in a box
10. Communicating our feelings

These are some of the setbacks a dancer faces according to an article I read a few days ago (Link). Being a dancer I personally I feel that I can relate to all of these setbacks in one way or another which made me think about how I deal with them.

As I have been researching my subject of dancers coping with injury it has allowed me to discover a lot of aspects that make achieving your goals in a dance career challenging. Not only has it allowed me to understand how to help others deal with setbacks but along the way it is helping me understand my own personal setbacks and how I deal with them, if I even deal with them at all. Over the next week I am going to explore each setback and try and construct my own tips, using the ones given as inspiration.

I would recommend the article, it isn't very long and an easy read but it really encouraged me to change the way I think and help myself overcome some of these challenges. I know you can't change your mindset overnight but making small changes in your thought process over time can help you deal with issues in a better way.

Module 3 Update

Inquiry title - Dancers Experiences of Injury and How They Cope

I had a very nice chat today with Paula discussing my inquiry and refining my thoughts and what I need to do next to progress it through this final phase of the course. I am trying to push through as much of the stuff as I can through the next two weeks as I start a contract shortly which will limit the time I can spend working on my inquiry so you will be hearing a lot from me.

What I need to do;

1. Literature Review
I have started my literature review although having spoken with Paula I have a better understanding of what it needs to consist of and I have realised I need to increase the amount of sources included. I have spent a good bit of time over the past few months trying to keep up with reading into my topic of inquiry so this has helped me greatly with putting together the review. As I have a main structure of it and I do have other sources that I have read and can use I just need to tweak the review which shouldn't take too long. 

2. Surveys
I have in my head ideas for my survey and my pilot survey in module 2 will also help me with that but now its just a matter of creating it on survey monkey. I have also realised that I have to ensure that my survey goes out to people who definitely meet the correct criteria so that I get the most honest answers. I want to ensure that it goes out to either currently training or professional dancers that have had an injury that has resulted in them having to stop dance for a length of time (This can range from a few days to a few months).

3. Interviews 
Finally I need to create 3 interviews. Due to my circumstances over this module I have decided that my interviews will have to be held over Skype. I have decided on areas I want covered in my interview however I do not want to make it too structured as I want the interviewee to feel comfortable to openly respond but I still can get the information I am looking for. I am planning on initially interviewing 3 people. Firstly 2 dancers I know who have struggled with serious injuries (the first is still in training and the second is a professional dancer) and the third interview if with a specialist dance psychologist. I hope to get in contact with the dance psychologist who used to work at the college I was at as I know she has experience in my specific topic. Also Paula mentioned that after I gather my information from these interviews I could always interview a few more dancers as I may want to get the opinions from a few other people.

These are the first three things I am going to concentrate on over the next few weeks. I will post more with more structured versions of my surveys and interviews for you to see where I am going with them. As you can see I still have a lot of work to do but I hope to power on with the written stuff over the next few weeks.

I hope you are all getting on well with module 3.

Artefact

During my planning stage in Module 2 I had put a lot of though into what I wanted to get out of my inquiry and how it would be beneficial towards myself and others. By the end I had decided that I wanted to produce a accurate and genuinely helpful Self-Help Guide out of the information I have gathered throughout my inquiry.

From my research and experience I understand that many dancers do not get support for injuries and if they do, they do not receive the psychological support they need to help them cope. The hectic lifestyle and culture of the dance world mean many won't take time to get help especially psychologically so my self-help guide would try to support and advise dancers on coping with injury no matter have severe it is. I want my self-help guide

to be in the form of a small leaflet like booklet (like the kind you might pick up in the doctor about certain illnesses) which I hope will be easy to understand, be written in a way that looks attractive to the eye and easy to read. This way people can quickly and easily read it without feeling that theres a lot of time and effort involved so that it will appeal to a wider range of dancers as I understand people do not want to ready long books or essays on the subject.

This is my initial idea for my Artefact. Obviously it has to be developed into a more solid plan but I would appreciate any comments and ideas that come to mind.

Thank you

x

Module 3

I hope everyone has had a great summer and are ready to get back into the swing of module 3. 

During the summer I have been spending a lot less time on uni work than term time due to a busy work schedule but I made sure I definitely got some time in weekly to keep my topic constantly fresh in my head. I have mainly be concentrating on reading articles and literature that relate to my topic. I am currently trying to put together a literature review and I'll let you know more about it when I have completed it.

Over the 4 months of my job I made a few observations about dance injury and how people cope. 

• Over the 4 months every dancer struggled with some sort of injury ranging from muscle ache to pulled muscles.
• Not once did any of the dancers take any more time off than 1 dance in the show which particularly aggravated the injury.
• None of the dancers sought out any help from a doctor, physiotherapist or psychologists during the length contract.
• Most dancers resorted to ibuprofen gels, tiger balm and massage techniques in order cope with the injury during a show.

Having witnessed and also be part of these observations I feel I am growing a greater understanding of the psychological mind of a dancer and I think I can use my experience over the summer as good examples in my research.

Having observations is all good but now I need to get down to the hard written work so I need to get into my surveys, interviews and reviews. It seems like quite a lot but I am glad I had done so much planning last module as it has set me up well for now.

Good luck everyone for your next term and I look forward to seeing how you all get on.

x

6c - Award Title (part 2)

After talking with Alan, he advised me to simplify my award title. This would make it more relevant to my expertise and more beneficial in the future. So this is my revised award title rationale.

I have chosen, BA (hons) Professional Practice (Dance) as my Award Title for this course. Having already gained a Level 6 National Diploma in Professional Dance I have established a profound knowledge in dance and performance, especially in classical ballet. My understanding of the physical and performance side of dance gives me first hand experience into what a dancer goes through psychologically and how that affects them which has aided my learning and inspired me to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the subject. My training has brought me into contact with many people who have had a career in dance and have undergone injury and I have found it interesting to observe the variety of responses shown by the injured dancers and how it has affected them both in the short and long term.

The biggest factor in choosing my Award Title was ensuring that it would be beneficial to me in the future. Although currently I am a performer I want to able to have the option to have a smooth transition into other aspects of dance and I think this award title will aid that. Having a Degree in Professional Practice (Dance) is something that can be valuable in a variety of different jobs within the dance world and I am interested in one day in transitioning to dance therapy. Therefore having a good understanding of dance and the way dancers think will establish a good base to allow me to progress smoothly into a future career.

Critical Reflection on Professional Practice

Developed Professional Questions

This course helped me to actively reflect on how to personally and professionally develop an area of performance of my choosing. I really enjoyed this freedom that allowed me to look into a lot of aspects of dance and really discover what interested me. By identifying questions I found that these stimulated me to come up with ideas that constructed my final line of inquiry. 

I began by brainstorming a selection of questions which looked into a few possible approaches of my inquiry (Appendix 1). I found that a lot of my themes were based on pressures that dancers have to face and raised questions about how that psychologically affects them, this affirmed that psychology was what I was interested in. I then came across a piece of literature which really inspired me (Appendix 2) and it allowed me to refine my questions down to a specific subject which was the psychological effects of dancers with injuries. My special interest group (SIG) has been an efficient way to share questions and receive advice about all our topics and it allowed me to engage with others, build on ideas and encounter new ways of thinking (Appendix 3).

Ethical Considerations

Having developed a greater ethical awareness as well as acknowledging my own morals has led me to an understanding of my power as a researcher in my studies. I recorded my initial awareness of ethical considerations (Appendix 4). From there I was able to identify the gaps in my knowledge and Reader 5 opened up my eyes to ethics and how concepts such as right and wrong have many overlapping areas which are subjective to an individual (Appendix 5).

My new understanding and being able to discuss these concepts with my SIG group allowed to me engage my knowledge and pin point what ethical considerations were relevant in my inquiry.

Tools of Inquiry

Throughout this module I have been able to refine methods for gathering information for my inquiry. By creating a pilot survey and interview I was able to compare the advantages and disadvantages of these methods (Appendix 6). 

After reflecting on the initial results I decided that I would take a completely different approach to my survey focussing my questions which had been too broad and did not lead to useful results. Also feedback from my interview allowed me to get the participants perspective ensuring that they felt comfortable and the questions were relevant. Contribution and feedback within my SIG group has made a huge impact on this section of the module as it has allowed me an insight into other peoples ideas, adding to my own reflections.

Realising how beneficial this module has been in preparing me for my inquiry has allowed me to feel confident in tackling my topic of inquiry. I have learned that communication is the key element in developing me even further personally and professionally and I feel that I have come a long way from the beginning of module 1.

(Appendix 1) - http://rohannecb.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/task-4a-questions.html

(Appendix 2) - http://rohannecb.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/task-4b-literature.html

(Appendix 3) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1453841404846242/

(Appendix 4) - http://rohannecb.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/task-5a-ethics.html

(Appendix 5) - http://rohannecb.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/5c-reader-5.html

(Appendix 6) - http://rohannecb.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/6b-reflections-on-inquiry-tools.html

Thoughts on injured dancers in Schools

Something that I remember from when I was in training was that when a dancer was injured, yes they did get support from the physio and the option to use the gym and remedial facilities within the building however there was no regard to their psychological well being. Injured dancers would be required to watch all dance classes (unless excused with a physio appointment or rehabilitation classes). I understand this can be very educational and can keep them up to date with what their classmates are learning but often long days having to sit and watch daily classes left the injured dancer feeling sidelined, bored and dejected. I think this came about due to a lack of understanding for the psychological well being of injured dancers.

Although it is good for the dancer to watch things and learn from their peers I think that classes like daily technique class is not so vital. Often it can be very repetitive (some teachers may teach the same class for up to a week to help dancers feel an improvement every day they do it) and I think watching all your peers up and doing a full day of dancing will make the injured dancer want to dance or cause them to feel depressed that they are unable to. This can lead to dancers pushing through their injury before it has fully recovered or even if they have experienced it before it can prevent someone reporting an injury because they do not want to be taken off dance be the physiotherapist.

This shows that people do not really know how to support an injured dancer and people seem to not know what to do with them so they just make them watch classes. Personally I think there should be other things set up for injured dancers for example, maybe they could spend some time in the costume department or technical department. This would allow the dancer to learn abouts new things that interest them and are still related to dance, it would also keep their minds off their injury and the fact they are currently unable to dance. In my inquiry I want to study this and find ways that dancers can do this for themselves in order to help themselves feel psychologically better.

6b - Reflections on Inquiry Tools

I attempted two pilot methods that I may use when writing my inquiry. I found them both interesting but they both produced very different qualities of information and piloting the techniques have allowed me to learn from the experiences so I can produce better results when doing them for real. I may try other techniques later, but these are the two I have attempted so far.


Pilot Survey

I created a pilot survey in order to test techniques which I may use as part of my research for my inquiry, it allowed me to survey a wide range of people and the responses were kept anonymous. Firstly, one thing I noticed is that I did have minimal responses to my survey. This makes is harder as the statistics produced may not be accurate to a larger scale but barring that some my findings were interesting. Everyone who I surveyed had suffered a dance related however two thirds of these people did not seek medical attention from the first signs of injury which backs up statistics which I had found in my research. I found this method produced a lot of similar answers and not always were the most detailed responses.

Here are some quotes from my survey which were responses to questions regarding dancing with injury, pushing through pain and coping with injury;

• "It feels a failure to be taken off due to injury"
• "Fear of disappointing others"
• "I thought it wasn't worth being off for such a small injury"
• "I just used to grin and bear it"
• "Technique and overall happiness is going to suffer"

I found some of these responses pretty worrying. Although I hope all these dancers have recovered from their injuries it worries that mentalities like this will make dancers dance through injuries or push them until they are worse and this could lead to the injury becoming too severe to continue dancing. Responses like these make me determined to establish ways to help dancers find the right help and support physically and mentally.

Although this tool did help gather some interesting information I am not sure I will use it in my inquiry or I will devise more specific questions that ensure I gather the information I need. I just found that not many people have the time or patients to complete surveys which resulted in a lack of responses and I think I could get in precise responses in an interview. However, it may be more useful is I created very simple multiple choice questions. This would mean that it wouldn't take very long for people to complete and it would allow me to create statistics with the results. 

Pilot Interview

I found this a very useful technique as I could produce a higher quality of information. My plan for my final interviews is that I am going to interview two dancers that have suffered injuries which has stopped them dancing for a certain period of time, with the information gathered I am going to create case studies based on what they went through and then use these case studies to work with a psychologist and discuss how to go about supporting this person and what would be the best ways to help someone cope during a time of injury. 

Due to the nature of my inquiry I am asking a lot of personal questions about the persons emotions and feeling during the times of their injury so firstly I wanted to create a consent form to ensure they were comfortable with me studying their situation and I decided to keep them anonymous when sharing my information. I also decided that I would try to create a comfortable atmosphere where the person was in an environment they knew and felt relaxed. I also created key questions that I wanted to ask during the interview but as the person answered I tried to keep it relaxed so it was like a conversation, so that all the questions are covered but the person is comfortable to reveal their emotions. I also used a voice recorder as I wanted the person to remain anonymous and I also felt that some people might feel a bit uncomfortable in front of a camera. I found this technique very informative and I am definitely going to use it as a tool in my inquiry.

6c - Award Title Rationale

I have written this as my rationale. I have tried to cover all the points I thought were necessary but I am not sure if I have done it quite right. One thing I was slightly concerned about was that my inquiry is more focused on the psychology of dancers specifically with injuries but I thought that would be too much to put in the title so I thought I'd broaden it. Anyway, have a read and see what you think and please comment feedback and any improvements I can make. Thanks you.


I have chosen, BA (hons) Professional Practice (Psychology in Dance) as my Award Title for this course. Having already gained a Level 6 National Diploma in Professional Dance I have established a profound knowledge in dance and performance, especially in classical ballet. Since beginning this course I have focused my research and learning on the psychological aspect of dance as it is something that has always interested me however never had the opportunity or resources to research it in depth. My understanding of the physical and performance side of dance gives me first hand experience into what a dancer goes through psychologically and how that affects them which has aided my learning and inspired me to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the subject. I knew that my title would definitely be based around dance as that is where my knowledge lies but I also decided to add the psychological aspect as that is what I am studying and what I have based my inquiry on. 


The biggest factor in choosing my Award Title was ensuring that it would be beneficial to me in the future. Although currently I am a performer I want to able to have the option to have a smooth transition into other aspects of dance and I think this award title will aid that. Having a knowledge in Psychology is something that can be valuable in a variety of different jobs within the dance world and I am interested in one day in transitioning to dance therapy. Therefore having a good understanding of a dancers psychology will establish a good base to allow me to progress smoothly into a career in dance therapy. Subsequently, the combination of all these aspects resulted in me naming my Award Title Psychology in Dance. 

6a - Survey

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QBC5KYP

Hello, I have done a survey for my topic which is based on the Psychological effects of injury in dancers. I think the majority of people in the dance world have suffered some kind of injury during their training or career whether big or small so I would appreciate if you could fill out my survey. I have posted it to my SIG groups but I think this can apply to any dancer so feel free to go through it even if we are doing very different topics.

Please comment any advice, ways to make it better or bits that don't make sense.

Thank you!!

Click here to take survey

5c - Reader 5

"Religion and law are both closely associated with morals and ethics."

It is interesting going into more detail about ethics and the above quote from reader 5 somes up something that reader 5 has really opened my eyes to. Having thought about personal ethics and my own understanding of ethics, I found it interesting learning more about the theories of ethics and how that can affect moral and ethical decisions. There are two main types of ethics which I understand.

Personal Ethics - Family Values, Conscience, Religions. These ethics help define you as a person. They can be affected by your upbringing and experiences throughout life.
Professional Ethics - Theres are the guidelines which are set in a professional environment which allow you to work in a comfortable and efficient manner.

The word ethics comes from the greek word ethos which means character. This links in a lot with personal ethics and it made me think about how your personal ethics really do affect your character and how come come across to another person. I think having good ethics makes you come across as a nicer person and people are more comfortable to be around you and friends with you.

One thing that really stood out to me in the reader were that there are a variety of overlapping opinions when it comes to ethics. A good way of showing this was shown the the table provided in the reader showing the approaches to lying. 

Action - Lying

Consequentialist:	Deontologist:	Virtue Ethicist:
could be acceptable for a greater good	always wrong	moral behaviour & character as important as action

This table shows 3 opinions on the act of lying and how they differ from one another and I think that they can all apply to certain situations. I think that having these overlaps are good as it allows some variety in ethical codes as long as they are applied in the right situation. For example the reader uses the quote, 'To kill one person in order to save 9' when describing consequentialism, and for me in that this is understandable. But I feel that this is only appropriate in certain situations.

Articles

Here are a couple of articles which I have come across through facebook which I found interesting. I think they touch on things that many dancers will experience and they are worth a read! Enjoy

http://industrydancemagazine.com/2014/03/why-i-will-never-be-quite-good-enough/

http://www.janetlcastillo.com/2014/03/how-to-know-when-its-time-to-give-up-on.html

Task 5a - Ethics

There are a lot of ethics that arise in many social situations. As a nation Britain is particularly known for having a lot of ethics, such as the well known stereotype of how Great Britain "loves" to stand in queues, but in the workplace there are also a lot of ethics that are followed which are often subconsciously.

What is Ethics? My understanding of Ethics is that is a group of moral principles that governs a person's behaviour during an activity, in this case in a professional environment. It is what guides us about what is the right and wrong way to act in situations.

Within the workplace of a dancer there are certain ethics that apply which may differ from ethics in day to day situations or other workplaces. Below I have made a list of a few ethics that come to mind in different situations

In the Studio

• Being quiet and respectful when others are dancing
• Respecting other people space
• Listening and applying corrections given by teacher/peers
• Allowing each person equal time in the space (In a pas de deux class equal time with a partner)
• being aware of health and safety in the classroom
• To be friendly and helpful to other classmates

At a Performance

• Being respectful of someones pre-performance preparations
• Allowing space in the wings for people getting on and off stage
• Being quiet backstage
• Helping someone who may be struggling with a costume or quick change
• Being aware of health and safety in the theatre

These are just a few things which I thought of off the top of my head, some apply in both categories and I am sure there are many more which we apply automatically in situations.