Good to hear the discussions from the first Discussion Group today...
My thoughts from it are around the idea of Transformation. How do we move from one idea and through discussion have a deeper or broader understanding of that idea. How do we pose a question (perhaps through interviews) and layer our knowledge as a result of the responses we receive. We are active engagers in our learning at at MA level we are always looking to move beyond what we know.
As a choreographer I like to make sense of things through that lens of a process of creation, exploration, experimentation, review, revision, communication. If I start with an interest in the concept of time (for example), my initial explorations will draw on MY understanding of time at this point, which albeit will have been constructed and shaped through my past experiences, are at a point of my understanding. In sharing these initial explorations with others (dancers, musicians, designers) I am privileged to be open to alternative interpretations of time and may witness and experience perhaps different layers to my initial understanding. Some of the responses through this exploration may challenge my 'way of thinking' (what I thought I knew), may affirm my thoughts (what I know is really a thing!), some may take me of into a completely different understanding of time altogether (when I know what I don't know) and as a choreographer I need to work to take all of this information, through experience somewhere.
If I continue to make a work about time, using only the understanding I came into the project with, I am effectively negating the value of the choreographic process itself and of that being an interactive process with others. I am ignoring others views and stifling the potential for the artistic development of my work. At MA level one of the challenges in our work is to be able to acknowledge what we know, look and be receptive to move beyond this to what we don't know, and to recognise and, through reflection, make meaningful this journey.
How might we identify knowledge from our own practice.
In what ways may we synthesise this knowledge from experience with what we encounter through theory?
How does the engagement with theory begin to support us in transforming our practice?
The first Discussion Group revealed the need to question. This is imperative at MA level. Not to receive an answer, but to open further your understanding of something, in someone else's practice and in your own.
How does that feel to you?
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