Alys Davies BAPP Blog

On Monday 16 th  November 2020 I attended the Module 1 discussion group centred around ‘Synthesis of Information through Reflection’.  Multiple topics and ideas were discussed but several in particular resonated with me.    Adesola (who was leading this session), made the excellent point about how all the ‘data’ we have collected throughout this module relevant to our practice is malleable. There is always the opportunity to use the data to express one particular idea whilst also expressing another. I feel this ties in excellently with another point made during the session, namely that our presentation of our practice does not have to be one solid ‘shape’, but can continually change and be open to adaptation. The concept of not separating dance (or our art form) from academia was also mentioned which I believe follows on from this, since I have had personal experience with struggling to make my wide and varied practice ‘fit’ into a narrow academic box. In my opi...

I recently handed in my drafts of my Reflective Essay and Diagram for Module ACI3611. This whole process made me question what the term ‘draft’ really entails and how it can relate to me and my practice.    The Cambridge Dictionary defines a draft as:  ‘a  piece  of  text , a  formal   suggestion , or a  drawing  in  its   original   state , often  containing  the  main   ideas  and  intentions  but not the  developed   form ’   Sticking to this definition, what I handed in cannot really be qualified as a ‘draft’ since the ideas were developed and the pieces were vastly different from how I originally wrote them. But then again, we often distinguish between first, second, third drafts and so on. At what point does a draft cease to be a draft and become a ‘finished’ piece of work?    If we look at this in terms of the dance world, and thus my practice, all pieces o...

During this entire research period I have been trying to analyse every aspect of my practice and where it comes from. However, there’s one aspect that I have always tried to ignore, partly out of embarrassment, partly out of fear of judgement, and partly because of a feeling that it was not relevant. But it is exceptionally relevant, because the management of it is imperative for me to practice efficiently and to the best of my ability. This ‘aspect’ is that I suffer from depression and anxiety and have done for several years.    It sounds almost paradoxical that I can be doing what I have always dreamed of doing (i.e. dancing professionally), yet I can still have depression and feel as if my life is without hope nor purpose. But that is because it is an illness that affects your brain chemistry, not a logical stream of thought following the positive and negative pathways of your life. Moreover, within the dance community, despite positive steps being taken in the last few yea...

On Wednesday 14 th  October I took part in a ‘Talking about Writing’ workshop with Peter Thomas. I was keen to attend this meeting since although writing comes relatively naturally to me, I wanted to find areas upon which I could improve and was curious to hear other people’s viewpoints. I noticed that in many areas discussed, there was a large correlation between the writing process and the choreographic process, alongside general dance practice.    We started the session with a freewriting activity. The aim of freewriting is somewhat self-explanatory. You aim to write for a certain amount of time (in our case it was five minutes), without stopping, re-reading, correcting or judging. I found this exercise rather daunting since I often struggle with self-judgement and I feel anxious when I can’t check what I have written as I feel I have the tendency to go off topic whilst writing freely. This self-criticism is mirrored in my professional dance practice, and it struck me ...

Yoga has been a key part of my practice since early last year, and an element that has always resonated with me is the idea of ‘apana’ versus ‘prana’. ‘Prana’ is the idea of pulling up from the ground, whereas ‘apana’ is the concept of releasing into the earth. From these ideas I thought about how they could correlate with the idea of using force and almost designing movement as opposed to letting it materialise organically. Perhaps a key example could be when learning a very intricate piece of choreography, or doing a style that we are unfamiliar with. I feel as if I have to force my body and mind to understand and translate the movement, since it feels so alien. On the contrary, if I am learning a piece of choreography that sits well with my movement style or I am partaking in a class in a genre in which I feel confident, less mental and physical force is required and I can trust my body to deliver.      As well as being useful in dance practice, I feel a knowledge of t...

During my reflection upon my practice a particular idea has often come to mind, that of skills that dancers possess. Some of these skills are taught in training, others learned through (often difficult) experience. I like to think of those taught in professional training as ‘formal’, and all the others as ‘informal’. I use this terminology because in my opinion, ‘formal’ skills are those that are painted from the outset as essential to success. ‘Informal’ skills are equally important, however these are never expressly mentioned, since they are often acquired from dealing with the dingier side of the dance world, that no school wants to advertise the existence of. Here is a (non-exhaustive) list of ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ dance skills:    Formal        ·        Picking up choreography quickly ·        Technique (whichever style) ·        Self-presentation – i.e. stage m...

I am currently in an all-too familiar situation. A dancer on the training course of the company I work for recently tested positive for COVID-19. Hence, we have not been in the studio since last Saturday, and yesterday we all had to independently get tested (the cost of which was reimbursed by the company). Throughout this experience thus far, aside from experiencing fear and anxiety, I have been reflecting on the idea of individual versus collective responsibility, and how they intertwine. This idea was reinforced by my own reading, where Nicholas Ridout examines the philosophical ideas of Kant, ‘In particular, he replaced a philosophical emphasis on ‘being’ with a dedication to an ethics based on the existence of the ‘other’’.    If we take the unfortunate real-life example of COVID-19, the lines between individual and collective responsibility are somewhat blurred. Following the guidelines, i.e. wearing a mask where required, maintaining social distance, disinfecting your h...