Are Performers just putting on a brave face?

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/edinburgh-fringe-festival-shows-mental-health-comedy-theatre-depression-a8484236.html


"Putting on a brave face." I mean its what we do right? That question asked in the title of this article made my head spin! Although this article is mainly focused on acting and revolves around the Edinburgh Fringe Festival which isn't my particular field, I feel many of us could relate to this in one way or another. I have read so much on mental health within the arts, spoke to many people about it and heard so many different opinions. I also brought it up in a discussion group with fellow Module 2 students and they gave me many questions to work on which sparked my thoughts. So I thought I would open up and discussion on my blog about it too, to give people who weren't in the Skype discussion an opportunity to share ideas.

I have so many questions revolving around this area of interest for me. What area of Performing Arts am I looking at? Ordinarily I would focus on dancing as it is my area, however, having read this article it made me realise I can branch out more into different areas. Is there a specific person I can focus on? Or is it a group of people? What time frame in a career do I feel we are most affected by mental health in? Is it just when we graduate? Or is it three years after graduation? Or maybe ten? In order to answer this I need to find others opinions. I need to look forwards as well as backwards along my timeline. Speaking of timelines, I need to think about the historical context of this subject matter. Has the trend recently increased or decreased and why? I think there is a lot more publicity and openness to talking about mental health now which is great but does this correlate to the growth in people suffering with mental health? People may be affected for many different reasons and I wonder what these reasons are. Someone in my discussion group said they were affected badly by an injury. This is something I hadn't even thought of - I had just thought of things like the instability of this industry and lack of routine. I also wonder whether the rise in young people suffering from mental health issues is happening in all industries? Is Performing Arts more prolific than others or not? I spoke to someone who thought that this industry had had a positive affect on her mental health and felt it could give her everything she had ever dreamed of. Is this because she was successful? Is this just happening in the UK? Or is this happening all over the world? Someone else I spoke to suggested that this industry gives you an opportunity for escapism. Therefore she felt she could pretend to be someone else whilst working in this industry, which seemed to suit her well. And lastly, what are my own personal experiences? Maybe I wont share that on my blog for everyone to read!!

Wow - when I write it all down like that, there are so many things I am unsure of! Lots of work to do I think! Please comment and join in this conversation - even if its not about Mental Health these questions may be transferable to another area of wonder!

L xx

Module 2 TIPS!! Skype Session 27/9

I'll keep this blog short and sweet as I know I tend to waffle... I just had a Skype session with Helen with a module 2 focus on Research as mapping to build understanding. I was apprehensive beforehand as I wasn't 100% sure on my line of inquiry, but it was SO helpful to speak to others in Module 2 (and other modules) to find they were in the same position as me The discussion flowed so well and everyone's ideas kept sparking others. I hope everyone got as much out of it as I did!! If you were unable to attend, hopefully this all helps!

My main points that I took away as 'tips and tricks to getting started' are -

• You are not setting out to solve problems of the world
• Don't choose something you have no idea about
• This whole process is a DEEPENING process
• Choose an area of interest and don't be afraid of the 'bigness' of it
• Going through literature will help to narrow down your line of inquiry
• Literature includes not only books and articles, but videos, maybe someone you work with, work you are creating etc
• Once you have found some literature, tap into them and see what is interesting to you
• You can't pick what 'piece' is key unless you have lots of 'pieces' to pick at
• It has to relate to you and your practice
• The starting point is you - then develop that further by looking at what others think
• Keep questioning the value and relevance of what you are doing
• Research contextually, historically and culturally

I hope this helps people to move forward. It really helped me out so I hope it can help you too!! At a later date I plan on moving forward with my area of interest by writing a blog on it and including what questions my colleagues threw at me to spark my ideas further. 

L xxx

Areas of Wonder...

I thought I would do a quick..ish blog on my areas of wonder as I am struggling to decide on what my line of inquiry will be. I am conscious I don't want to spend too much time deciding as this is only the first step of module two so I feel pressured to decide! So I thought writing a blog would help me reflect on my thoughts and weigh up the pros and cons of each one.

One of my first ideas is whether we are more affected by poor mental health being in this industry as opposed to other industries. This would be an interesting topic and when I spoke to my friends about it, many of them felt very strongly. I also had some mixed opinions which was nice to hear both sides of the story. When I had a look at my diary, it is something I constantly come back to as I always write how I feel in journal, which sometimes also isn't great. I also had a look in the library and online via google scholar and also some blogs and there seems to be a lot of literature out there on this topic already. There were many articles on newspapers and although this is good that it is being spoken about I want to make sure I'm not just re-inventing the wheel. I need to ADD to it in some way.

Secondly, I was wondering whether to focus on how dance teaching styles have to be adapted when teaching students with different teaching styles e.g students who learn visually/ audibly/ socially etc. I find this topic interesting as due to dance being a physical subject, it may be difficult to teach people who learn well from reading or writing. But I am one of those people who don't really learn kinaesthetically. So I guess I am the kind of person that would 'break the mould'. I enjoyed touching on this subject in Module one and the preconceptions some have about how dancers must learn. So it would be interesting the delve deeper into this and to find out what others thought. When I looked at what literature there was already out there, I struggled to find anything directly linked to the arts other than one article on the Middlesex Library. Everything else was just about learning styles as a general topic.

Lastly, I feel performing arts is a subject that everyone should learn - not only to be good and dancing, acting or singing, but to be a well rounded, confident human. So I was wondering what the national curriculum said. In Primary education Performing arts doesn't seem to be a compulsory subject. Music is a part of the curriculum as is being able to perform movements as part of the Physical Education curriculum. But nothing that is necessarily Performing Arts. Therefore I feel this would be a good subject to discuss. I know other people feel this way and I have read lots of articles about it myself prior to this course as it was something I was previously interested in. I am just not sure how it will benefit my practice in the future - as I would eventually like to teach A Level dance, not Primary education.

Sorry if I waffled on a bit - it was just meant to be a quick summary of my thoughts. I'd love to open a discussion about these areas of wonder I have, so please feel free to comment to spark my thought process, and hopefully something in here may have sparked yours.

Laura :)

New beginnings!

Adesola wrote a blog recently about new beginnings and although I logged on to my computer to start working through the handbook and begin to map my practice. This notion of 'beginning' made me want to share my thoughts.

I agree with Adesola that even now term has begun, nothing really felt like it changed on 17th September. I knew how busy I was going to be from now until December (partly my own fault with two holidays booked and birthday celebrations!) so I tried to get a head start on Module two. I read the handbook over the summer break, re-read the updated handbook and also planned all Skype sessions as soon as the calendar was released. So I guess for me, on the 17th, I felt it had already begun.

However, Adesola spoke of the energetic beginning and in module one I had hoped this would come to me. But now I know you have to go and make your own energetic beginning. So that's what I'm starting to do - go and get it! Getting stuck in with mapping my practice and from what I've read from Module 3 students, to find a line of inquiry as quick as possible.

Questions that made me think from Adesola's blog were -
" thinking about what you are building on. To start this course by thinking about what you have done, what you want to build on what good and bad things come with you as baggage. What do you want to take off and what do you want to leave on as you start this new episode?"

I'm going to ponder on these over the next few days. Please comment with your thoughts on those questions :)

Link to Adesola's blog for further reading -
http://adesolaa.blogspot.com/2018/09/beginnings.html

Welcome back Skype 16/09/18

Hi everybody! It feels good to be back! I've got a new job doing teaching work so my practice has changed slightly from last module, but along with the new job, I'm ready for the new module!!! Module 2!!

I have just come off a Skype call with Adesola and a few other students which was very helpful and reassuring. Adesola guided us through the new layout of Unihub which I had already had an explore through but it reassured me I was on the right path to understanding where everything is, what to do and where to move forward from here. If anyone is reading this that hasn't explored Unihub I would highly recommend it!!

Some things I didn't see by exploring which were brought to my attention were that the Skype sessions all have a focus, so I have now added them to my own personal calendar so I can make sure I am prepared to discuss that topic with my supervisors and peers.

Like I have said, I cant wait to getting started now! Good luck to everybody :)