1-1 with Paula

I decided to blog straight after my 1-1 with Paula as I feel I can remember more now and I am full of information and ideas I would like to share.

First of all I decided to arrange this skype session to make sure I am on topic and that I am not missing anything out or miss understanding anything so far in module 1. What I actually realised is that I keep concentrating too much by sticking to the topic and sometimes I need to branch out more. Me and Paula discussed that in the arts some people are afraid to branch out and be like 'yeah this is what I think and this is my opinion' and I feel I have passed that point now. I feel I am confident enough to branch out with my opinions and ideas and broaden my knowledge within the arts. 

We began by talking about reflection and how I found reader 2 which is how we got on topic of discussing the oral histories in family and especially people in the arts. This is something I have always used to reflect without realising until I had to began my journal. Basically, I come home and I tell my family about my day, I discuss the good and the bad, find out the meanings why some of the things happened and then talk about moving on from this. Paula informed me that this was something I should look more into online and find out if there is any journals or books I can read up on to find out why people do this and if this is used a lot in the arts. 

As the skype session progressed we discussed some of the things we thought were interesting in our families and my idea that I decided to share was how I gained my freedom in my family, how I was the one choosing to go into education and how I felt free when I was in the studio. As we got deeper into this topic I realised how relevant this could be in the classroom when teaching students. Some of the students come to dance because when they come into the studio they feel free when they dance, some because it gives them freedom from home or some because they feel free from the stress of exams and so on. This is again something now I want to broaden my knowledge with, I want to learn about the freedom in the dance studio, find out why people feel free in the studio and also find ways on how I can use freedom when teaching. 

Something that Paula also said to me during the skype 1-1 is 'the world is your oyster'. This straight away stood out to me. It is clear now that I want to go into mainstream teaching in a high school and when this happens I want to be the best I can be at that time and be able to share my experiences and knowledge with the students to educate them. So in terms of the professional arts I now need to educate myself on a wider range of dancers, dance theories, dance companies and so on. This is a challenge I decided to set myself. I want to each week spend time 'online shopping', which Paula said that is what she feels like google is, you type in what you want and you find it. After all, if you spend time buying your latest shoes online then you can find time researching some new information about the professional arts. 

I feel in this industry it is very clear to me where I am heading and what I feel I need to do to achieve this. So as well as becoming more open to ideas and researching more within the industry I need to think about myself. I do not want to be all for teaching and forget in myself what I love about the arts. I want to bring into this course more knowledge and reasons for teaching whilst also remembering what I love, what I want to gain from this as a dancer not just a teacher and learn more for me. 

Leaving the skype session I feel completely full of motivation and I have ideas swimming around my head that I am extremely excited to learn more about and blog on. This skype has made me realise that this course can be about anything, about finding my way to the destination whichever way is best for me and on the way gaining the most out of a situation that is possible. 

Thanks for the positive session Paula.