Mapping out my ideas

As stated in a previous blog, I have started to brain storm my ideas and themes that I want to include in my inquiry. Now it's the challenge of choosing the literature I want to include in my project and beginning my literature reviews......help!!

Has anyone started their literature review yet??? Do we have to review each and every source we include in our inquiry? I think I'm confusing myself here because there's so much to do!

Any advice/help would be much appreciated!

Katrina x

Dance and Sports Science- Gjuum

I thought I'd share a video I came across on youtube whilst searching for different techniques Dancer's use in their training. This is a documentary which was shown at the 2014 Prix de Lausanne Ballet competition and it evolves around Patrick Rump, a Sports Scientist, and his practice 'GJUUM'.

Founded in January 2014, GJUUM is a clinic that collaborates a team of sports scientists, physiotherapists, sports psychologists, social workers, conditioning coaches and ballet masters who offer the innovative advances of sports science and medicine to dancers across the world.
The practice offers specific training methods to improve a dancer's performance, strength and overall confidence, particularly when they have returned to dancing after an injury.

Tamara Rojo, Artistic director of the English National Ballet, states in the documentary that she strongly believes Dance science should be incorporated into every national ballet school. She believes that if this tool was available to her at her younger age, many of her injuries sustained in her career would have been avoided. 

William Forsythe, Artistic director of The Forsythe company, said that: " Sports Science is like the secret weapon that we didn't know we had."

I find this so interesting, could sports science be integrated into the curriculum of vocational dance schools in the future? When I was injured at ballet school I didn't have any kind of therapy support or the facilities like the GJUUM practice available to me, I was only advised to do some pilates, watch class and to be honest, left to my own devices. 

The most compelling aspect for me from this documentary was the fact that Patrick Rump instilled a confidence in the dancer's throughout their rehabilitation process, so they could come back to dancing stronger than ever.

Here's the link to the documentary:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLLc4mHRUGY

Katrina x

Middlesex Stay Day

I travelled to Hendon yesterday for a study day and met up with Paula- we discussed where I was in my inquiry so far and what I needed to do. My goal of the study day was to find sources of literature that challenge each other. I intend to view my sources as a 'Dinner Party'-

Who will I invite?
How will I open the conversation as the 'host'?
What would they think about my topic?
Who will agree and who will disagree?

I want to critically analyse my sources, so I am not just contextualising them, describing what they mean. I think this will be challenge for me as I have never attempted a task like this before. However, I believe that the dinner party imagery will help me grasp the concept of inviting different perspectives on my topic into my inquiry.

Once I have the Themes or ideas that I want to portray in my inquiry, I will make a large brainstorm of my topic on an A3 piece of paper with the subheadings coming off of it. I will then link the literature I have found that relates to these themes. Hopefully this will map everything out for me and make things slightly clearer in terms of starting my literature review and ultimately my critical reflection.

My Professional Artefact is just an idea at the moment, and Paula advised me to really think about the intended audience for my Artefact. I need to determine what my target audience is first before I start developing my idea. I potentially want to create a short film or powerpoint presentation of the inquiry process for my colleagues in my professional practice, i.e Physiotherapists. It would be more of an educational video of what I have discovered during my inquiry and it would give my work colleagues an insight into my project and how it relates to their practice.

Lastly, I find one-on-one conversations about module 3 and my inquiry so beneficial and I am hoping to travel up to Hendon again very soon. I am off work on Thursdays so if anyone else is up for meeting for a study day I'd be happy to organise it and I can book out a room online!

Let me know,

Katrina x

Physiotherapy and Dance Science

A colleague at work who took part in one my interviews emailed me a link from the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy website... A Physiotherapist has travelled to Brazil to take part in a 5 day workshop which focuses on the research into Dance medicine and science:


http://www.csp.org.uk/news/2016/10/05/physio-travels-brazil-dance-medicine-conference


It seems that the science of Dance Medicine has the potential to evolve with innovative collaborations between physiotherapy and dance.


I find this so interesting because this is a current issue which is being developed to ensure dancers have the tools and sources around them to improve their practice. As this is part of my professional inquiry I am very excited to delve further into this idea!


Katrina x

Interviews in my Professional Practice....

So after an informal chat with one of the physiotherapists at work, I have drafted out the questions I will be asking them. They are as follows:

• Tell me about yourself, your education and career.........

• I will then give each physiotherapist a written scenario on a piece of paper for them to read:

" Patient A has come to you for treatment and is a professional Dancer in a Ballet company, who has sprained her ankle during ballet class after landing awkwardly from a jump. Her ankle was swollen and bruised, and after a visit to A & E she found out that her ankle is badly sprained. She is keen to get back to dancing as soon as possible as she has upcoming performances."

•  How would you approach her treatment?

• How would you progress her?

• What advice would you give to professional dancers who experience an injury during their career?

I am looking forward to the responses from this interview, and I am hoping to interview at least 6 physiotherapists within the next few weeks. 

Any comments or advice would be most welcome!

Katrina x

Revised interview questions for professional dancers

So after a pilot interview today with a friend of mine, I discovered that several questions I asked were quite repetitive and were poaching for a one sided answer. I have constructed my new interview questions and I hope they are more neutral, asking open ended questions:

• Tell me about yourself....

• Describe your injury....how did it happen?

• Explain to me your recovery after your injury....

- How did you feel during this process?

• What effect did your injury have on your professional career?

- How long were you absent from dancing?

• How do you approach dancing and exercise post injury?

• What advice would you give to other professionals experiencing an injury?

Any comments and advice would be most welcome!

Thanks, 

Katrina x

Consent form for interviews

I am currently in the midst of creating my consent form for my interviews, and I am wondering what to call the title of my inquiry.

At the moment I have BA Hons Professional Practice (Arts)...... is this suitable for the title of my inquiry? I didn't know if I had to put another working title, such as 'Exploring techniques professionals use in their training for injury management and prevention'???

What are your thoughts???

Katrina x 

Module 3 Skype call

On friday night I had my first Skype call with Paula and several others who are on module 3. We began by looking at images of confusion that Paula had posted on Skype and were asked to pick which one most relates to you at this moment in time:

I chose the 'Help' picture as it depicts the inquiry process for me so far.....

From my own pictures, this is where I am right now, about to commence my professional inquiry:

And this is where I want to be:

This pretty much sums up how I am feeling!!! Currently it's a combination of feeling confused, overwhelmed, and to be quite honest scared at the amount of work I will have to do in such a short space of time. The second picture is definitely how I will feel once I have handed all my work in!! It seems as if the end is so far out of sight but I know it will all be worth it in the end-I just need to persevere and keep myself motivated.

We then each talked about where we are in the inquiry process, and most of us are on the same page, a relief to hear. Personally I am on Stage 2 of the inquiry process (see picture below):

This stage consists of focusing on my literature review and researching sources in relation to my inquiry topic, constructing my interview questions and gaining consent from potential interviewees. From speaking to others in the Skype call with Paula I know that I need to download the BAPP Arts consent form from myunihub as a template and guideline for when I request permission for my interviews.

What is an inquiry?

An inquiry in my opinion is a learning process that portrays knowledge, research and then expertise in a particular field. It is a journey of discovery, to ultimately gain a greater understanding of your chosen topic.

Hart Considers acquiring an overall "understanding of your topic to be part of your academic development , of becoming an expert in the field." ( Hart, c, 1998).
This is what I want to achieve from my professional inquiry; to gain knowledge and understanding on a specific topic I want to learn more about,  and by utilising my experience in the arts I want to portray an insightful and meaningful research project.

Another topic we touched upon in the Skype call was the professional artefact. This is something that is scaring me more than the critical review at the moment. Paula mentioned that the artefact should be aimed towards an academic and a professional audience, and that it should have a 'creative twist' to it:portraying your inquiry like it is a performance.

So it seems like I have my work cut out for me in the next few weeks. I do find the Skype calls and conversations with other BAPP students beneficial because I can voice any worries and concerns I may have, and it's good hear that we're all in the same boat!

Katrina x



References

Hart, C, 1998, Doing a literature review: Releasing the social science research imagination. London: Sage in association with the Open University.