Respect, trust, flow reply





I found the film of Itay Yatuv and his daughter which Helen posted on her blog this week, absolutely mesmerising with its graceful energy and flow. The raw innocence and trust that a daughter gives to her father was so tender.


Sadly, I have had little experience with contact improvisation and when I have been lucky enough to have been involved in a workshop, I have spent much of the time trying to relax and turn off the voices in my head that say ‘I don’t know this person. How can I touch them, we’ve only just met? Etc, etc’ Finally at the end of the session I have built up enough respect and trust to enjoy myself.


It made me think that when teaching our pupils, we need to build up the respect and trust that our pupils need from us and not just expect it as a given. When I moved to Carlisle in 1984 I set up dance classes. I expected (in my ignorance) that people would choose to come to my classes, as I was the better qualified to teach dance out of the schools on offer. Not so of course. I needed to earn and build up that trust. It wasn’t until a few years later that I realised that one of the reasons people came to my classes was through word of mouth. I.e. a parent of a child had given a good verbal review. 

I also thought of the trust and respect that is needed between a choreographer and her/his dancers. I spent a few years choreographing some local amateur shows. It was hard working with non-dancers, but I had understood that they had they had invested time and effort into the performance and were putting their trust in me to help them ‘look good’
on the stage. Some firm friendships came out of working on these projects as we built up our respect for one another.

To finish I would like to go back to contact improvisation. Please look at the beautiful duet between Dave and Laura in Lucy Bennett's Artificial Things by Stopgap Dance Company. 







Comments

  1. Marianella Desanti- Dancer, Choreographer and Teacher12 March 2019 at 20:44

    Dear Debbie, I have found your blog most comforting and familiar. I also experienced a strange moment in my life in which I started my own dance school project thinking that my curriculum and professional experience would be a magnet to parents. To my great dismay it was not. Like you, it took me years to build trust and a solid relationship with my students. It was a great learning experience for me. My greatest learning was on the ethics in the relationship towards the dance community and learning to be part of it while still being critical so that we can grow and develop together. I am still learning...it is a slow and delicate improvisation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Debbie13 March 2019 at 11:45

      Thank you Marianella. Glad its wasn't just me. Looking back, even though I went to a small private collage, we realised that the education we received was very good for its time, and we felt confident enough to go and start our own classes and expected people to realise and believe in what we taught.
      Now I look at newly qualified teachers wanting there own studio's etc so quickly before they have built up a clientele I worry for them. There is so much more to starting a business than teaching classes. x

      Delete
    2. Tanith Waldie14 March 2019 at 03:06

      Hi Debbie

      Thank you for your post, it really resonates with me!
      The students i have in London, arrive in England with absolutely no english vocubulary or understanding of the English language. It is through time and the earning of their trust, that we build up a relationship and set of communication skills that allows us to form a strong bond and understanding, where we are able to impart knowledge and learn from each other. Although it is a timeous process, it is a treasured one.

      Delete
    3. Debbie16 March 2019 at 06:55

      Thank you Tanith. That's lovely to hear. x

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The labyrinth of learning

Image
As a Module Two long distance student, I have been trying to 'get ahead of the game' this summer by undertaking some study time during the summer break. That's in-between making scones and tea for a cycle café that my husband and I run from home at the weekends.  www.woodsidewelcome.co.uk,  if you are interested! Actually I find that some of my best 'thinking time' comes when I'm baking. Take note module one students! The idea of research made me think of how curious we are as human beings? Crosswords, puzzles, word search games are a huge industry. Even as far back as the Greeks with their labyrinths? Having watched the lecture posted on Adesola's blog it made me think about our need for knowledge. The how and why, and even where? T he great lengths that Cindy Foley's husband went to create a piece of art.  As dance/drama/singers/actors we have all undergone research. Whether it be because of a piece of choreography in dance, or a character anal...
Read more

Pandora's Box

Image
Watching the TED talk from Professor Giovanni Corazza from the University of Bologna t hat Helen posted on her blog this week, made me think about this image that I have used in creating dance work shops. Pandora's box. As Professor Giovani explained, most of us sit in our safe little boxes, scared to venture into the unknown. We are frightened that we might be tested and found wanting or in other words 'get it wrong' As John Green suggested in a video that Adesola posted, we tend to think everything in our lives are a test! I am now embarking on module two of the MA course in Somatic Studies. I believe  I spent most of the first module worrying that everything I wrote or blogged about might be wrong. I needed the reassurance of a traditional 'wrong or right' marking system. It wasn't until I had finished the module and reviewed my professional practice that I realised that I had been effectively working on my own and exploring possibilities for years. I had...
Read more

Sir Kenneth Robinson

Image
What an interesting TED lecture by Sir Kenneth Robinson. If only everyone could make there point in such an exciting and humorous way! Yes, yes and YES I thought! So much of what he said made me think about my own teaching and my family. The fact that my grandchildren wouldn't be retiring until 2065. Yikes! My son, at the age of five, telling his teacher that she would be very compressed with him. He meant impressed but didn't worry that he had said the word wrong. He just went for it. Most all what I took from the lecture, was the idea of children being so inovative. As teachers, we have always known this of course, but Robinson really brought the idea to life. I have worked on the U dance project in Carlisle for many years. We help teachers to produce a dance piece, usually based on an area of the curriculumn. There have been some amazing pieces, building on subjects such as maths and science. One, I remember based on the patterns and colours of a Rubix cube. What a f...
Read more