MAPP DTP Beginnings

Today, I had a Skype call with some students of the Middlesex MA Professional Practice in Dance Technique Pedagogy Course. I approached the skype meeting with some questions for which I hoped Adesola and Helen, our course instructors, would provide definitive answers.

The meeting proved to be more of a discussion, and instead of getting answers to my questions by our advisors, we were provided more questions and ideas to consider. Some of those questions where...

"Where do we draw the line between personal and professional practice in regard to reviewing learning experience?"

"How can we communicate this effectively in academic writing?"

"What is truth?"

"What is ethics?"

According to Google Search, ethics is defined as moral principles that govern a person's behaviour or the conducting of an activity. It seems to me, though, that I have been considering ethics from a limited understanding. If I consider only ethics from a moral perspective, then my experience is affected from an understanding of right and wrong. For example, to achieve a certain movement with the body is simply that..."to achieve a certain movement with the body", This is a conceptual understanding. But what is the movement? Is the movement right? Is the movement wrong? This is dependent upon the theory from which the movement is being perceived. So, truth or the representation of truth can be argued dependent upon the viewer (the one perceiving) and the projection (the object being perceived).

"Personal" reflection in my "professional" practice will help me to identify knowledge and what I have gained from this knowledge. How do I interpret this knowledge? How does what I already know affect my understanding? How do the actions of others affect how I define myself and my practice?

I know that my practice has already been affected by the introduction into this course and will continue to be affected. The formative assessment portion of the course in the form of reflective tasks, blogs, participation in the MAPP Discussion Group, and observation and feedback within my own practice uses Kolb's Learning Cycle to open up a deeper understanding into our professional experience. In other words, By using reflective observation, I can conclude and learn from the experience. Also, by recalling professional experiences, I can actively plan and try out what I have learned; thereby turning entering again the concrete experience.

I suspect that my practice will greatly benefit from applying the tasks, tools, and theories that I am beginning to explore in the MA Professional Practice in Dance Technique Pedagogy.