The Student Dancer.. further thoughts

Tuesday 15th October 2013

Having read over key points in Buckroyd’s ‘The Student Dancer’ and thought about various ideas, I have come up with the following points to consider. These may be causing affect on their physical performance.

Adolescence:

• Students are going through puberty, beginning to understand relationships and may also be questioning their sexuality. They have a lot of ‘life’ pressures to deal with and handle as well as those pressures that come with their dance training.
• “The body is changing in size, shape and hormonal structure” (Pipher 1994: 54-55, The Student Dancer, p.g. 52)
• Looking in mirrors each day, feeling pressured to stay slim can then have negative affects on those who’s bodies are changing.  Girls may begin to gain curves etc and it is these bodily changes that could potentially lead to eating disorders because students are unhappy with the way in which their bodies are looking.
• Students going through vocational training can often feel as though they don’t have a normal childhood or younger years. They feel removed from normality and live within the dance bubble. It can be a shock when they enter the ‘real world’.
• Vocational students are busy training and become tired, their friends are also fellow students and they can’t get away from dance. They may often feel too tired to go out and live a ‘normal life’ and school pressures may make them feel guilty for enjoying themselves.
• “..the student at a vocational school has an extraordinarily busy life” (J Buckroyd, The Student Dancer, p.g. 63)
• “...their childhood and adolescence had been taken away” (J Buckroyd, The Student Dancer, p.g. 139)

In class:

• “The central experience of learning to dance is the dance class” (J Buckroyd, The Student Dancer, p.g. 69)
• They key place students learn. They take part in it every day, work the same routine and muscles each time and is the place they should feel most comfortable and happy. 

This may not be the case for all students...

The teacher may influence how they feel and behave in class 

“What is particular to the dance class is is physicality, underlined by the revealing clothing worn by students, and its focus on the body.... in any case are very powerful and difficult to manage” (Julia Buckroyd, The Student Dancer, Introduction, p.g.10)

The teacher:

• I feel that the teacher’s approach to teaching and their class is a key part of the learning process. Their attitude, way of speaking, praise, corrections are all taken in by the students. If these are not delivered correctly, students become obliged to react as the teacher wishes and may feel pressured to behave in ways that they do not wish.
• “Truly effective teachers are realistically positive, supportive and enthusiastic” (Thomas, 1993: n.p, The Student Dancer, p.g. 67)

Praise:

• “Pleasure and satisfaction in the students and their work are also strengthening to class morale and to the individual’s efforts” (J Buckroyd, The Student Dancer, p.g. 73)
• “Praise is handed out so seldom” (J Buckroyd, The Student Dancer, p.g. 73) - This is a point that Julia discussed with me on the telephone and how she wishes that the environment in which students learn could be more positive.
• Gaining praise will increase self-esteem and confidence in the dance students. Having a higher confidence level (but not so much that they become boastful) will increase development as students want to progress, they want to work hard for their teacher to gain more praise.

Negative comments:

• I agree that we should all be given constructive criticism but it is the way that we recieve it that affects us. If it is shouted at us or said ina negative way, we are more likely to feel sad about it or less keen to work hard.
• “..hard treatment does do harm to students” (J Buckroyd, The Student Dancer, p.g. 76)
• “Dancers with critical teachers were unable to achieve their goals as professionals because of problems with self-sabotage in their careers” (Lina Hamilton 1977: 73, The Student Dancer, p.g. 76) - This shows that the way in which they were taught then affected their lives later in their careers.

• There is the idea that the teacher is responsible for creating a positive learning environment, make students feel comfortable with opening up, sharing feelings, whether they do it in a group or one to one with the teacher outside of class. 
• I feel students should be able to speak to their teacher whenever they wish and not feel afraid of what might be said. Teachers are there to support their students and if the dancers can not create that connection with staff, they will struggle to feel ‘at home’ and comfortable. 

 Overall it seems that both the teachers approach and adolescence play key parts in the behaviour and learning of dance students. I feel that it would be good to focus on certain areas when questioning the students so that I gain a true idea of how these particular factors affect(ed) their physical performance. Although it may seem less by only using two ‘topics’, there are many layers within them which can be questioned and explored further.