Rationale for award title

Rationale for Award Title.

I am a professional dancer and dance teacher. My qualification achieved at Performers College (Trinity National Diploma in Professional Dance), my teaching qualifications as part of the Imperial Society of Teacher of Dancing in Modern dance and Ballet (Foundation in dance instruction) and my work experience have attributed to the decision of my degree title. My life experience I have had (so far) involves a generation occupied in dance (having had a dance teacher and dance school in my immediate family), training for three years having gained a scholarship to one of the top performing arts schools, I have appeared in numerous professional productions and I am still pursuing auditions within London and have two years of teaching children from 5-18years within a range of abilities have also been taken into account within my title. The award title I would like to achieve is BA Hons Professional Practice of Child Development into Professional Dance.

My anticipated topic for my work-based research aims to ascertain whether the hypothesis ‘studying numerous arts based activities has a beneficial effect on the development of a young dancer aiming to train vocationally’, is true or false and its positives and negatives on the progress of the dancer. This study requires me to have an understanding of what is required as a Professional Dancer to be successful at auditions and respect within a dance company and how this achieved having gained sufficient training since a young age. It also requires me to have an understanding of the ways that children learn and how they develop. This project will notify me of the most efficient ways of combining numerous dance classes and arts based subjects in the best way possible for the pupils to gain the most out of their training preparing them for a career in professional dance. Having a knowledge of the professional dance industry (and its requirements) and also the development of children in dance makes me deserving and justifies my of a title including Professional dance and child development.

Subconsciously my life experience and active present experience within the professional dance industry and teaching industry have provided me with concrete experiences and reflective observations as part of Kolb’s (1984) learning cycle.

Kolb suggests that practitioners of creative disciplines such as he arts find their learning most successful in these two sections of the cycle. Learning from accounts of experience and focusing on creativity are known as divergent knowledge as this involves the feeling and watching quadrant of Kolb’s Cycle. My own personal rationale experiences have lead me through Kolb’s learning cycle (1984), and I continue to circulate it continuously learning, signifying my divergent knowledge. Taking this into account makes me worthy of my chosen title.

Accomplishing this degree title, which involves the words child development; which will in the future help me develop my teaching career after my professional career, which is described in the title as Professional Dance, indicating I am highly skilled within this sector of the arts, is clearly worded in the title, which includes my learning and career perspicacity

References

Kolb, David A(1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J.

Walker, D. (2006). Learning Styles. Available: http://www.cipfa.org.uk/students/current/download/studyaid_Learning_Styles.pdf. Last accessed April 4th 2010.