2c - Reflective Theory task

After studying reader 2, I have taken a lot of time to research further into the use of reflection within my profession. I have found many interesting articles studying the uses of reflection in ballet - my current leading favourite “Reflective Practice in the ballet class: Bringing Progressive Pedagogy to the Classical Tradition” by Jessica Zeller (2017). Zeller goes into great depth about the strict training that ballet students are put through, describing the industry as struggling to “transcend its authoritarian pedagogic history” (Zeller, 2017). She is urging the ballet training to endorse more use of reflection within it’s training. Zeller sights Paulo Freire’s (1970) “in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor”, pointing out the floors in the education, particularly the lack of focus on reflection and self awareness. Within her article she delves deeply into the current ballet training techniques and discusses how the industry educates “the teacher as beyond reproach, students’ knowledge and experience are overlooked as essential elements in their learning.” (Zeller, 2017) I’m sure others in my industry would recognise a lot of the issues which Zeller raises, and it has made me reflect a lot about how we can rectify this for future educators...

One key tool which I often use for my own reflection is through video-based learning. Filming myself rehearsing/performing and then being able to look back and self-correct has greatly helped me in the past. This often draws my attention to corrections that I may have been given by others, allowing me to see from the outside, and reflect on how I can endorse the correction in to my training next time. I also can create an opinion on my own individual way of moving, leading to finding my personal artistic signature style. This tool focuses on the use of Schön’s ‘reflection-on-action’ concept and also Kolb’s ‘reflective observation’ entry to the learning cycle, along with building on my use of Dewey’s ‘reflective thought’, leading to my “continual reorganisation, reconstruction and transformation of experience” (Dewey, 1916).

During my research I started to wonder if there was a point when maybe reflecting could potentially take a more negative turn on our training? I am often guilty of over-thinking and I wondered if this could be an issue if my reflective practice isn’t handled the correct way. Dr Alice Boyes describes it as rumination; “A little self-reflection is a good thing but ruminating - brooding too much on an event in the past - is the biggest predictor of common mental health problems, according to a 2013 study.” (Boyes, 2015). So although reflection should be a key part of training and is an integral part of our everyday professional lives, we need to be able to recognise when to stop. “For anxiety-prone people, rumination often takes the form of self-criticism.” (Boyes, 2015) My aim is to introduce more reflective thought into my practice, keeping a positive outlook on it’s use and to not allow it to become a source of any anxiety when I dance. But are there more techniques that should be taught in order to not allow our reflective thought become ruminative?

Looking more closely at Kolb’s learning cycle, I reflected on my own use and development in order to identify where my entry into the cycle is. Vince Russ (1998) sights “Kolb (1984) maintains that "learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience" (p. 26).” When I was younger, I definitely learnt best through abstract conceptualisation - when learning new styles or steps, my teacher would always refer the step to a ballet technique/terminology in some way, which would help me to connect and understand the new movement. Now I am more of an advocate in the use of active experimentation. I like to play around with a movement until it fits to my body. Maybe this has come from more trust in myself and my abilities? 

From this task I have learnt that I shall be using reflective thinking, not only in my day to day practice, but also to help with my class teaching. I plan to start to actively make a difference to the way the ballet industry educates and start to include more self reflection within the classroom, in order to bring the ballet training out of it’s old school, traditional ways and into our modern actively thinking and rapidly growing modern day. Hopefully this will install more confidence in ballet students to stand out from the crowd and be proud to show their personalities. 

References

Boyes, Alice (2015). Make anxiety work for you: How to use ‘overthinking to your advantage, Telegraph London. 

Dewey, John (1916) Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education, facsimile of edition 2010, Charleston: Nebu

Vince, R. (1998). Behind and Beyond Kolb's Learning Cycle. Journal of Management Education, 22(3), pp.304-319.

Zeller, J. (2017). Reflective Practice in the Ballet Class: Bringing Progressive Pedagogy to the Classical Tradition. Journal of Dance Education, 17(3), pp.99-105.