· Is it better to be a big fish in a small pond or vice versa? For example, is it better to be a principal in a small company or an artist in a big company? Why?
· Why do aesthetics have to have such an effect on the process of selecting dancers for employment currently and not just artistic and technical prowess alone?
· As dancers are we ever satisfied with our success? And is this a Healthy mind set? Does this lead to setting unrealistic goals?
· During injury how valued do we feel by our directors? And how much do we think that they want to spend time on our recovery and rehabilitation?
· How important is it to be made aware of your limits from a young age e.g. During training? Or does this kill our dreams off before they begin?
· What impact does a negative audition have on aspiring dancers? What makes you carry on and not give up? Is the audition process (negative or positive) thought out with the way it might affect auditionees? Should it be?
All of these questions are born from the experiences of me and my friends, the bruised egos, occurrences within our workplace that have caused us harm mentally and an impulse to discover a better way of dealing with the negative events that happen to us during our training and career. The questions are mainly focussed around classical ballet as these are my personal experiences but the aim of the inquiry is to find a constructive and healthy way of dealing with rejection, under appreciation, disappointment and satisfaction with our success so that we can gain an more in-depth understanding of our profession and to be happy with our growth as artists.
The final question is taken from the blog of Carly Osborne; I found this to be an exceptionally good question as it applies more than ever now due to the recession and there being less jobs available and a record number of dancers, old and new, going for them.
I plan to put these questions to a dancer or hopefully dancers in different ways (video interview, questionnaire, etc.) and get their responses in the hope of finding positive tactics for dealing with these issues; the bottom line is, these are all issues that I would like to deal with out of interest but also on a personal level this should help me go at them with a bit of vigour!
I think you've come up with some really honest and interesting questions. The only thing that did strike me is that they are slightly focused on the negative, rather than the positive (such as injury, bad auditions and limitations). There is not necessarily anything wrong with this, as these are very real and important issues to you, but I wondered if it was also worth adding in how can these problems be overcome? I thought your question about the mental state of dancers wanting more was interesting - I was just thinking today about how I am always thinking and worrying about the next acting job, which sometimes stops me just being happy and fulfilled in what I am currently doing.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to hearing your feedback and seeing your questions develop.
Hi Stephanie!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, i thought the same thing after i had finished coming up with them so i came up with the idea to do what you suggested and find a way to overcome these problems by interviewing and putting my questions to performers and seeing their ideas and survival techniques in a way!
When I chose my inquiry topic, I considered
ReplyDelete1. The availability of information (existing literature, whether to use qualitative or quantitative research method), and
2. Whether I could make the most out of my current position by choosing that topic.
I guess either having a controversy between two opposing ideas, or identifying a problem and searching for solutions, is a structure that is easy to handle.
Being an insider makes the research convenient, but at the same time, it could be awkward to ask some personal questions, or difficult to get their 'real voice'...This depends on your position in the professional community.
Hope this helps...