For this task I have taken a look at other peoples blogs and how they have gone about ensuring all the thought provoking questions are answered. I like how some have set it out almost like an interview, asking the questions and answering them individually. I am going to use this method to explore the questions raised.
What in your daily practice gets you enthusiastic to find out more about? Who do you admire who works with you - what makes you enthusiastic?
I really enjoy teaching curriculum dance in primary schools and it inspires me to do so many different things and helps me to see subjects from a whole new angle and go about planning lessons in a completely different way. As much as I enjoy teaching street dance, musical theatre and kids fitness dance, I feel I get so much more from being given a topic from a class teacher and developing it into a whole block of dance lessons. Being able to bring a topic to life and seeing the children's understanding and appreciation broaden is very exciting. I love coming up with a concept to bring a subject to life and then letting it evolve, together with the children. For this reason I have to say I admire the children for being able to open their minds and access dance without the barriers that are often created. Having worked with some classes for many years now I have seen them grow and learn to enjoy dance in many different forms. For example, last year I did a dance project connected to the Ancient Egyptian civilization. The children had been studying the topic across the curriculum for many weeks exploring it through history, geography, art, maths and literacy. It was my job to bring the subject to life through dance. I initially found a piece of music from "The Mummy Returns" and got together some ideas to help the children get into the characters of the Pharoahs, workers, animals etc for the workshop. We spent a few lessons going back in time and get ourselves into the topic - from their I let the children role with their ideas - we ended up creating a 5 minute long piece in which we fell back in time, build the pyramids, paraded around as Pharoahs, became moving hieroglyphics and then mummies! Not only did the children get a great feel of the topics, particularly the more kinaesthetic learners, but the class teachers reported back to have seen an improvement in the creativity of the children's writing in the topic - now that makes me enthusiastic!
What makes you angry or makes you sad? Who do you admire who shares your feelings or has found a way to work around sadness and anger?
It makes me angry when people do not understand and appreciate the power of dance and the importance it can play in the development of a child. Dance can be used to encourage fitness and health, relaxation and musicality to name a few! It also promotes hard work and perseverance - something many children seem to be lacking in these days. I call it the 'X Factor effect' and it seems to becoming more and more popular these days which makes me both very angry and sad. People want to be able to start something and instantly be winning medals or making money from it, I like how this cant be done with dance. To be successful at dance it takes years and years of hard work, dedication, missing out on things and pushing your body to do things that you never thought was possible! I admire and respect all those who, not only make in the dance world (whether its performing or teaching), but simply put their mind to it and work hard! No matter what the outcome, the skills learnt are enough to make an impact on a persons attitude towards all aspects of their life.
What do you love about what you do? Who do you admire who also seems to love this or is an example of what you love?
I love the impact that can be made through dance, I love seeing children develop and engage in dance and chose their own path to take whether it is starting musical theatre, ballet or commercial style classes. I love the hard work of working up to a performance and then the enjoyment the children get from performing and being able to reap the benefits of their commitment and enjoy the buzz of the performance.
There are many people who I admire for achieving their dreams and gaining their 'dream job' or personal targets however there is one person who I particularly admire. Many years ago I worked for my local council in the dance and fitness department delivering lessons for many government schemes connected to the arts and fitness for both children, their parents, disabled groups and disadvantaged adults. I loved my job for so many reasons but particularly my boss, Anthony, who was such an inspiring person. He was so driven in helping to make sure anyone had the access to dance no matter what their background. He did an amazing job and was such a great guy to work with. He was the person who stopped me beating myself up about not wanting to become a west end star just like many of my class mates from Laines, but showed me the benefits of reaching out to others to broaden their horizons and open their eyes to so many new things connected to dance.
What do you feel you don't understand? Who do you admire who does seem to understand it or who has found a way of making not understanding it interesting or beautiful, or had asked the same question as you?
The job that I referred to in the above question was such an amazing job, the impact that me and the whole team made over the years was so impressive and I am so proud of everything we did. The thing I do not understand is that, despite all of our best efforts and evidence of the need for our work, we had all of our funding cut and so the jobs ceased to exist. This was so disappointing and I am really upset that it is the disadvantaged that are missing out on being able to push themselves into achieving their potential - something they are simply not aware of doing. I admire the whole team for keeping the faith, not giving up and moving on to jobs that are still important. I still miss the job and the ethos of the team but I am glad we have all managed to continue our careers in differents ways.
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