If life is what happens to our plans, then dance is what happens to our steps.
ideas sometimes when you wait they come to you.

Preparation for starting with BAPP

Tuesday 17 September 2019

About 'The Test' - the capacity to make connections

Welcome to the start of BAPP  - Week 1 of this term
Here are some thoughts about how you position the idea of learning. Please read and watch and comment below so we can start a conversation...

This is a section of a video lecture. It is quite light hearted but what John Green's point is that learning - that is worthwhile is a part of living (and living with integrality). Education is about application not being told what to do...It is about the capacity to make connections and critically imagine, divergent thinking...



Then think about what your learning is - what does it mean to have learnt about life through being an artist or being in the Arts. What value do you put on creative skills to imagine, wonder, working-out the capacity to make connections . These are skills we ask you to use as core to what learning means - Art's Critical value.

In this video Cindy Foley references *Sir Ken Robinson's lecture (video).
Cindy identifies key habits that artists employ, that are also key to our course.
Comfort with Ambiguity
Idea Generation
Transdisciplinary Research



*https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity/up-next?language=en

5 comments:

  1. Thank you for this blog. The idea of 'finding comfort in ambiguity' makes me reflect on my first module and how I had to trust myself and realise that there where no right or wrong answers, and that questioning and exploring my practice would aid me in completing the module 'Research to further thinking' and 'Research that serves curiosity' I feel will be essential to module 3. Does anyone else feel their inquiry plan was laying the ground work, the facts and now we have to follow our curiosities in order to find new perspectives?

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  2. Hi Adesola, this is a great post! I particularly enjoyed watching videos on creativity,as this an area I am exploring in my inquiry, which is exploration of YouTube as a tool for creativity development in dance. I agree with the speakers that exploration and comfort with ambiguity sets foundation for development of creative work. I teach college students (16-20 years old),as most join the course straight after school, I find that their learning culture rarely supports experimenting. Most students are afraid to go wrong or look "silly". This also made me think that perhaps this is the reason why students often refer to YouTube when asked to create a choreography piece. Perhaps in their view they cannot go wrong if they are re-creating someone else's work (especially if it is a successful choreographer). Looking forward to read other people's ideas around this subject.

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  3. Thank you for sharing this blogpost, so many important points that relate to the BAPP course. I really enjoyed watching the Ted talk, specifically the references to the discomfort of ambiguity, the challenge of teaching for idea generation and courage of new ideas. I have written a blog in response to this below:

    https://jessleavins.blogspot.com/2019/09/creativity.html

    Kristine - I do agree. There is a huge fear for pupils about making a mistake. They are too often just taught black and white/right or wrong as part of modern education and continual testing meaning that they don't have the courage to let their own ideas form.

    Charlie - Indeed, curiosity is now key. It is so fulfilling to create a inquiry about our practice as it is a part of us and what we do. For me I am so excited and curious to find out as much as possible!

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  4. Thank you for your point about ‘a life lived through the arts’ Adesola - I think this is such a fundamental part of the way we as artists frame our critical thinking. It’s so easy to underestimate and undervalue the impact that the arts have had on your own development, as they are so integrated into our lives that it is challenging to look at artistic influence as an external factor to our thinking. But it is absolutely true that being immersed in the arts has shaped my world view more than many other things.
    I totally agree with your point Kristine about students being afraid to get things ‘wrong’; I know that this is exactly how I was as a student. It now strikes me as such a shame that I effectively wasted all those years trying to fit into a preexisting mould, and not making the most of the opportunity to discover my own way of looking at things and challenging myself to ‘go wrong’.

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  5. I found the first video with John Green very clever, using humour to emphasise how the current education system is demolishing creative and critical thinking. Cindy Foley's passion for the arts and the importance of creative education is eye opening. Why is the education system so concrete? Black and white. Right or wrong. I agree it doesn't provide support to those with a more creative mind, who think outside the box and interpret information differently. By establishing my professional practice for module 1, I hope to communicate the arts' critical value in our lives. I want to dissect the basis of my practice and explore the comfort in ambiguity, and discover just how vital creativity and curiosity is. Being a dancer, life is not always stable and monotonous. Injuries can occur, competition may lead to higher chances of future unemployment. Being comfortable with ambiguity is an aspect I want to implement into everyday life, and see no right or wrong. Cindy's point for idea generation I found intresting. Having the courage to have ideas. To have a classroom full of "master builders". The lego metaphor was brilliant, as we are all unique artists that have an equal opportunity to create. Ballet being a traditional art form, the teacher tends to tell the students how to dance and what to do. Perhaps ballet is an art form that is in fact not creative! I admire Foley's forward thinking in believing that creativity is "essential for 21st century learning". By being apart of the BAPP community and participating in the course with Middlesex University, I would like to connect the arts with creativity where "curiosity reigns".

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