Sunday, September 30, 2018

On Knowing and Learning

This morning I had the fantastic opportunity to participate in a virtual class discussion as a student of the professional Master’s in arts, Dance Pedagogy and Technique with my professors and classmates from Middlesex University.  I was terribly nervous as I sought to prepare notes on the topic for discussion: Knowing and Learning.  From the literature I had gathered I had divided my conceptual understanding of both terms in two columns in a scrap piece of paper.  Knowing a topic or subject was defined by some authors as exposure to and a superficial approach to the subject at hand, while learning was a higher level of cognitive exploration that results in the student taking ownership of the content and learns and constructs an understanding unique to his own mind.  Literature from the neuroscientific perspective, goes as far as to describe learning as resulting in a physical change in the mind of the student: new synapsis would form in the mind for information to be stored, and then and only then can we say that a student is learning.  After this broad literature search of mine and with my chart in hand, I joined our class discussion.
Since this was y first class, I was very nervous.  I feared that my findings might not be the correct focus of my university or of the Dance Pedagogy and Technique programme in itself.  I discovered though after more than an hour of healthy and intense discussion that the aim of our work is to do precisely this, to give meaning drawing from our professional practice and our research to such complex concepts as are knowing and learning.  From my classmates a lovely concept of knowing as a fluid and changing process emerged.  Each classmate shared philosophical approaches and the grand experience of discovering our students´ process of knowledge acquisition.  From the discussion I broadened my analysis from my personal professional practice, as this has been only my initial stages of analysis, to focus beyond that and direct my attention to the evolution that my students are experimenting in front of my eyes.  I felt it was an excellent start of my Sunday morning, as I now gathered greater insight after sharing in such lively and passionate discussion.
Image result for clipart class discussion

Thursday, September 27, 2018

A Handbook of Reflective and Experimental Learning


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As my studies with Middlesex University advance, I start an interesting and challenging academic and professional exercise.  One of our module activities is to reflect profoundly on my prior experience and professional practice so as to eventually produce a portfolio of essays.  Now, this is the challenge: I am not merely to narrate about my professional practice in the field of dance, but rather I must analyze the experience in relation of the area of learning from which I grew and developed as a professional. 
This will be an intense activity, I wonder as I rewrite my story from this academic view, what this story will look like to me at the end of the process?  How will this activity affect the way I reconstruct my memories and the details of so many years of my life?  One may only wonder at this initial stage. 
I begin slowly and shyly, reading first!  First book: A Handbook of Reflective and Experimental Learning by Doctor Jennifer A. Moon...as I start to navigate areas of learning and the analysis of experience and learning.

Sunday, September 23, 2018

Proper Pointe Technique


This post is keeping in mind my Tuesday and Thursday night students.  These are some of the corrections and mistakes we have been discussing in class.  Study the video and we will continue discussion and analysis of pointe work.  As we keep developing and improving our technique, we head towards healthier bodies and injury prevention.  Have a lovely week!

Friday, September 21, 2018

Remembering Arthur Mitchell


Let us not forget how far we have come in such a short time thanks to dancers and teachers like Arthur Mitchell.  Let us remember the role of dance in a more inclusive and diverse society.  What a beautiful story and extraordinary man.  Rest in peace.

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Starting my Graduate Dance Studies at Middlesex University London


This week I had the great privilege of becoming a graduate student of Middlesex University London, it is a professional MA in Dance Pedagogy and Technique.  It is the fulfilment of a great dream of mine to have been accepted into this programme, and I face the challenge with great enthusiasm.  On Sunday my classmates and myself received an induction to the programme.  What most piqued my intellectual curiosity and where I will begin my course exploration is diving into their library with the course reading list and beyond.  See, I am a dance teacher of the tiny beautiful country of Costa Rica without access to such a selection of dance books.  This library to me is the key to a dance world beyond the borders and limitations of geographic location...let the learning begin!