Alison Lonsdale BA (Hons) - Professional Practice, Arts & Creative Industries Blog

I think the way we think about ethics and the way we portray them in life has a lot to do with; how and where we are brought up, how open minded we are and experience. My upbringing was not one of religion, I wasn't exposed to it at all and I was from a small town. My big move to a city at 16 was when I realised how different life was. I had no option but to open my eyes and change the way I looked at things. I felt a bit like a blank canvas that was able to form my own considerations but also a little uneducated in approaching certain situations. Attending other dance classes was a massive eye opener for me. There was a student that didn't take off their cardigan for the entire ballet class, throughout the barre, centre work, allegro and all the way through to pointe work. Out of curiosity I asked why they made this choice, to which they politely explained that it was due to religious reasons they were making this choice. Things as simple as this I had never had to think abo...

As a child I attended dance classes and took numerous exams with the examining body ISTD for ballet, tap and modern, I now teach these grades as a qualified teacher. It wasn't until I learnt and taught the grades that I realised there are differences in the syllabus, in the way it is learnt, taught and performed. The ISTD is a syllabus written in books, word for word, black and white, count by count. So where do these differences come from? One of my classes is grade 6 tap, which I have recently just taken over. Whilst observing the class prior to teaching, there were a lot of differences in the way the students performed some of the exercises. The students weren't doing it wrong but it certainly looked different to what I teach. Me being a conscientious person started to question myself, did I learnt it correctly or have I modified it to what I think it is? Has the previous teacher put on their own twist to give the performance factor? It started a whole trail of thought abo...

Picking up the handbook for the new module (module 2) after a break for the Christmas period was always, in my mind, going to be a mind field of unanswered and unexplored questions to add to the list of thinking and research. The first Skype back was a lovely introduction to new members to the BA PP course and also a very good kick start to the new material at hand. I didn't allow my self to think about how much I have to do, but more so about pinnacles through out which are going to help me progress. The first read through the handbook didn't register at all, I tried to process everything but there is so much to take in. I read the words but as soon as I was onto the next page, I forgot what was on the last. This feeling was all too familiar as I felt a little like this during Module 1. Before reading through the handbook again the next day I completed one of the tasks set out in the handbook to help you settle into the module. For us (module 2) there are numerous activities...