Thinking About a Direction of Inquiry

A page from my reflective journal

As I enter this new term at Middlesex University London, and after extensive reading, discussions and time devoted to analysis last term, there is a topic that I continue revisiting with great passion which is Early Childhood Development and Dance.  The first time I brushed through this topic was while exploring my Areas of Learning during Module One,  I explored the highly commercial and popular area of Baby Ballet.  I reflected on my formation as a dance teacher at the Washington School of Ballet and my academic formation in Early Childhood Education On Babies, Ballet and Early Childhood Development. I continued to explore this relationship between dance theory and early childhood development.  

I started to recognise that I have a great passion towards this subject.  After all, dance starts young and the early years in dance may have a great impact in the dancer´s development...or is it more important for children to play freely and dance naturally during those early years (as other researchers have suggested)?  I have begun reading articles and books to further deepen my understanding on the topic.  To my extraordinary surprise I have discovered that there are publications on the topic as far back as the 1920s.  Why is it that we have this divide between theory and practice?  What is it that we know and have researched up until today?  How can our knowledge impact our general field of professional practise?  What implications may this knowledge have when extrapolated to practise in schools and in dance classrooms?  How does this impact parents, dance educators and children?  How can we grow from the knowledge gained and enrich our pedagogical practices?  So here begins my advanced practitioner inquiry: meaning making in action.