Task 2C

Reflective Practice (Task 2C)

Everyone use reflective practice almost all the time, especially in the art world, and sometimes without even knowing. You use it in your experience to improve your learning. As John Dewey saw reflective thought as ”an active, persistent and carefyl consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusion to which it tends” (Dewey 1933)

There is a lot of different ways to learn and different tools to use while you are in a learning process. The most common ways is:

-       Visual (spatial), you learn by watching.

-       Aural (auditory - musical), you learn by using sounds and music.

-       Verbal (linguistic), you learn by using words and sounds (similar to aural)

-       Physical (kinesthetic), you learn by doing it with your body.

I have noticed that I learn through both visually and physically. I can sit and watch something for a while and then go up and have an understanding on what the steps are. And as soon as I do it with my body it goes in and I pick it up farely quick. I am one of those people that if I have learnt a routine or some choreography and rehearse it over and over again it stays in my body forever. Even if I didn’t rehearse or even think about the steps for a months or years I would still remember it because it will be stuck in my body memory.

After a while thinking and reading through my journal I realize that I use the tool Imagery as a way to help my learning. There is a guy called Eric Franklin that have studied reflective theory and wrote a book about the different ways of imagery. In Eric’s Dynamic Aligment Through Imagery he defines 15;

-       Sensory

-       Kinaesthetic

-       Tactile

-       Proprioceptive

-       Olfactory

-       Auditory

-       Gustatory

-       Direct,

-       Indirect

-       Abstract

-       Concrete

-       Inner

-       Outer

-       Spontaneous

-       Self Teaching

After reading all this these 3 stood out for me as a dancer,

Sensory Imagery

Kinaesthetic

Tactile

Sometimes known as Tactile – Kinaesthetic as they are so closely related.

Sensory imagery is using your imagination to engage the senses and then using many senses to enrich the image to make it more effective.

Kinaesthetic imagery involves the physical FEEL of a movement which can aid in alignment in certain dance moves especially in the air. For example before you do a difficult turn or jum you can imagine how it is going to feel when you finish or land it correctly and calmly which can relax the brain into thinking that no possible dancger can come to you during or after. I use this way a lot before a show. I go to a quite place just before it’s about to start and imagine myself dancing the whole show perfectly in my head and that makes my body more calm and ready to go on stage, and then I feel like you are inn the right zoon.

Tactile imagery is very much related to the sense of touch. For example the feeling of when a ballet teacher corrects the alignment of your pelvis. You can recreate this process in your mind’s Tactile Eye to help you sustain the image until it’s reinforced into your nervous system. You can also use Tactile imagery to imagine hands rubbing a tense part of your body to assist in relieving tension.

I like how David Kolb explains reflective practice.

”Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience” (Kolb, 1984, p. 38).

He says that when we learn something new we go through four different stages and this is his experiential learning cycle:

I agree on everything in this cycle. When I think through how I act in an audition this is how I work. But I have noticed that other dancers can go from the first stage (concrete experience) straight to the last stage (active experimentation) and then go back to the second (reflective observation) and third (abstract conceptualisation). So they learn new steps and then try to just do it before they look at the details and go through the technique etc. It might work really well for them but I prefer to learn steps and get the details and then see what I need to do better before I actually try it out and go for it.

Kolb is also talking about four different learning styles and when I read through them I feel like one of them matches the way I learn.

-       Accommodating (doing and feeling – CE/AE)

The accommodating learning style is ’hands-on’ and relies on intuition rather than logic. These people use other people’s analysis, and prefer to take a practical, experiential approach. They are attracted to new challenges and experiences, and to carrying out plans.

I think why this match me so well is because I have noticed that I like when a choreographer comes in to work with you I prefer when he/she has a clear plan and already know what choreography to teach out. I think I am a bit unpatience when it comes to learning new choreography. I like to be told exactly what to do.

Conclusion

After studying all these different theories of reflective practice I feel more engaged and interested on what kind of way I learn the best. I feel really inspired on what David Kolb has written and feel like I agree on most of the things he says. I will start writing in my dance journal what ways I use and see if everything I thought and wrote about is indeed the truth.