Theory and Frameworks

Wednesday Oct 13th  

 Topic: Critical Thinking

For me, thinking critically is listening or reading a concept of XYZ and thinking about my interpretation of it. There are many ways to digest any information we receive everyday - in a dance environment or in life. Often we face conflict because we understand one thing differently to another. Receiving information, processing it and having my own understanding of what I've just seen/read or heard will allow me to think further. Once I've developed my own understanding around it, I'd be able to apply other theories or concepts to it. I'll be able to welcome different perspectives by others who's been exposed to the same. 

This can lead to discussions, debates and/or mutual agreements and collaborations. But first, one must be ready to receive information, process and develop their own understanding of it. 

In dance, I learn about numerous things all the time. Everyone's understanding of my teaching is different. Their speed in which they process what I teach differ from one person to another. I constantly come up with different methods to ensure I am able to cater to different abilities of students. 

And in life, just the same. I walk into rooms with different individuals who are from numerous backgrounds and expertise. 

We never stop learning. 

Some reading from this week: 

Developing critical thinking since the educational revolution gave rise to flourishing movements toward embedding critical thinking (CT henceforth) stimulating classroom activities in educational settings. Nevertheless the process faced with complications such as teachability potentiality, lack of practical frameworks concerning actualization of CT tasks, and transferability obstacles, as well as lack of a homogeneous model of conceptualization of CT among educators. The present study made an effort to represent a comprehensive model of CT for educators drawn on the contemporary literaturein order to indicate a uniform delineation of the construct and to offer a comprehensive model of CT for the intention of making boosting learners’ capability of CT possible.

Full Article: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1076013.pdf

Until Next Time, 

Dils The Kandyan Dancer!

 

Research Terms

Wednesday Oct 2nd  - Module 3 Focus

 Topic: What are you doing? 

It is now Week 3 and according to my Gant Chart I created in Module 2, I should have made a start on: 

·     Literature research on Ritualistic Dances of Sri Lanka

·     Document research on dance diaspora 

·     Completed gathering Sinhala translated literature 

·     3rd week into making notes of key information used in Lit Review

·     3rd week into making notes of existing document research on dance identities being compared across diasporas 

NB: I am conducting my research on different practises of Kandyan dance beyond Sri Lanka by reaching out to dance practitioners through open-ended-questionnaire through the social media networking platform I created @KandyanDancers.

See below for reference...

Following on from feedback from Module 2, I've made a start on my data gathering and so I've been receiving feedback from research participants. I've also been in contact with the @KandyanDancers online community in order to maximise participant options from different backgrounds/ countries. 

     I've purchased 3 books for my literature review and completed reading 1/3 during my commutes and free times this term. There's a lot of information I've gathered that I plan on including in the lit review from this - some ritualistic history related to Kandyan dance that I didn't even know about! 

     In terms of gathering data, I've been reading into some of the responses and it's been interesting to read the journeys of Kandyan dance practitioners outside Sri Lanka (so far there's been 2 responses). I realise I need to expect the unexpected, having sent out an open-ended questionnaire to participants when receiving their responses. This could potentially lead to me finding out things that I didn't even know would be useful to me.

     This made me want to look into having to categorise information gathered from respondents and how - this was a thought I've exercised before but reading two responses already gave me an idea on how this might be best when it comes to analysis.

     If anyone feels like this might be useful to them at this stage in Module 3, have a read from '5 tips to get you started' and really does help getting things started! 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/curiosity/open-response-question-types/ 

     Also watched this video to give myself a quick recap of what it is I'm actually doing...Reckon these moments should definitely be included in my reflective essay! 

Until Next Time, 

Dils The Kandyan Dancer!

Arts Critical Value

To learn about life through being an artist can be life changing. From a very young age you're exposed to an environment that's completely different to how you behave at home and in school. Discipline. There are many layers of learning self-disciple. By surrounding yourself in an environment that allows you to physically, mentally and spiritually connect with movements and music provides guidance. Unbeknownst to you, there are certain do's and don't's when you're in this artistic space. Of course this is the same at home and school though not quite the same. 

Through self-discipline, you learn to respect. Your teacher, other dancers, musicians, equipment and most importantly yourself. This is an essential learning that will later prove to be a valuable life lesson. Once you respect yourself as an artist, you allow to trust yourself as an artist. This will allow your mind to wonder without any limits. All thoughts, imaginations and ideas are welcomed. Your creative skills are explored through the capability to imagine. 

When you put this into practise, this is where the true learning happen. For example, you may have had years of training in dance where dancing on stage was the norm. Having practised in a studio full of mirrors and performed on stage for years, you become familiar to this routine. You've overcome any performance anxieties you have and improve yourself as a stage performer. Then, your creative thinking takes over. You want to choreograph an act where performance is showcased outdoors, daylight. You've allowed yourself to imagine. You've got yourself a new concept to work on. Finally, this is put into practise. During the trial runs you'll come to realise that unlike the stage, you've only got natural lighting. Costume colours will have a different effect in this space and the movements may need to be change to fit the flooring better. 

Being in the Arts teach you about life and vice versa. 

It's the application that one must give enough thought to in order to push barriers. 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zp9BmjdDBY

Is Performing Art Worth the Struggle? | Vie Boheme | TEDxMinneapolisSalon

Until next time,
Dils The Kandyan Dancer 

Third Term - First Week

I've just completed the quiz that's due today. This made me realise how useful it was to finally think about what's been said in the past two terms in this course. I always thought I knew where to find the relevant guides, read through the handbooks and participate in the Skype sessions whenever I could.

Going through the quiz made me think of how excited I was during first term and how exhausted I had become during second term. Dance has always been my only passion and it becomes difficult to make use of all the guidance when you lose focus.

The handbooks provide guidance in how to shape your research into something that is academically accepted, the Skype sessions explore the thoughts of likeminded individuals on topics that relate to everyone's practise and the blogs are here to put your reflective thoughts in one place. All these put together add value to your research project in ways you can't understand but it all come together.

Too often we get sucked into the whirlwind of life and lose focus on why we started what we started, it gets put in the back of your mind and when the panic mode hits you either do a sloppy job or you give up altogether. I spent weeks working on the RPLs in term one but I couldn't recall the title of the module during the quiz. I'm about to start my final term and I had to stop and think for a second how many characters I have on my student ID...

It's been a long year.

Now, onto putting together term three study plan!

Until next time,
Dils The Kandyan Dancer

History & Legend of Sri Lankan Dance

Prior to starting my Module 3 with MA Professional Practise in Dance, I thought I'd have a quick recap of my specialty: Kandyan Dance.

As we all know, I am all things Kandyan dance. I perform it, teach it, choreograph it and conduct workshops around the country and now I am researching it - we will get to that later.

Let me tell you a little bit about the history and legend of the country..

The name: 
Ceylon - now known by as Sri Lanka is often referred to as an independent island; because of its jewel-like shape, its also been called the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. The Aryan Prince Vijaya, when he landed in the island 2500 years ago called it Thambapanni - the red land which the Greeks later adapted to Thaprobane.  It was also known as Serendib by ancient Arab navigators who believed that our most sacred mountain, which they named Adam's Peak, was the one on which Noah's Art rested. Lanka was known to King Solomon of Israel, to the ancient Egyptians and records prove that we had Ambassadors in the Court of the Roman Emperor Augustus in 22 B.C.

Set like a jewelled penance on the Southern-most tip of India, and providing a variety of landscape beauty which few countries in the world can equal, Sri Lanka with its golden, sun-kissed beaches, its mountains cascading waterfall, is one of the most attractive tourist sports in the world today.

King Vijaya:
The recorded history of the country begins with the arrival of the Aryans in 500BC. The ancient chronicle the Mahawansa, tells us that when Prince Vijaya landed on our shores, he found the Yakka queen Kuweni who ruled Sri Lanka at the time, weaving on her spinning wheel.

This is indicative of a highly developed civilisation prevalent in Sri Lanka at that time. He also heard music, drumming and singing coming from a wedding ceremony in the distance, which tells us that this was an important aspect of our ancient heritage.

I look forward to blogging more about Sri Lanka, it's heritage and the connectivity to traditional dance over the next couple months!

Excited to start the next term!

Dilini
- The Kandyan Dancer

An excerpt from the book I borrowed..

My Dance Blog

So prior to blogging here, I had started a while ago on Kandyan blogging on wordpress and recently published an excerpt from this incredible book I've been reading.

Dance and the Nation: Performance, Ritual, and Politics in Sri Lanka by Susan A. Reed and I must say.. there is so much to Kandyan Dance than I once thought I knew!

https://diliniseneviratneblogs.wordpress.com/2018/10/15/women-and-kandyan-dance/

Here's my favourite part:

Miriam Periris and Chandralekha Perera gave Kandyan dancing visibility and legitimacy. The fact that they had learned the dance at all - and from traditional Berava masters at that - is also an indication of the new significance dance had achieved due to the cultural resurgence. However, this should not suggest that female Kandyan dancers suddenly became common or that they became stars. In performances and tours, male dancers continued to dominate, and it was only after the dance was introduced in schools in the 1950s that female dancers began studying Kandyan dance in large numbers.

Chapter 3

Better late than never..

How Dance is Adapted 
Despite the universal language in Kandyan is the same, the adaptation has modified it (to be different)


Kandyan dane is a unique dance form. One of a kind that's predominately practised in it's origin country, Sri Lanka. The basic movements include a series of steps practised just with footwork followed by including arm movements. These are known as the absolute basic steps and there are no modifications to these steps. Various dance choreographies are created using these steps as the fundamentals and the focus on today's post will be how different yet similar in practise they are outside of Sri Lanka. 

The biggest change come with the language barrier - each step has a basic Sinhalese word(s) that go along to it that are also identified by the live drums which altogether becomes the complete step. This is easier to practise in Sri Lanka as all children understand and speak the national language of the country. However, these words and sounds become 'one.. two.. and three' when taught and practised outside of Sri Lanka. 

This is not because the practitioners and teachers don't want to pass on the knowledge as it is - this is because of the understanding of pupil. I know when I teach my students these steps in Sinhalese words, they repeat it a few times but tend to refer to them as 'Step 1 and Step 2 and so on' as time goes on. I've written it down on their weekly handouts, tell them how to pronounce these words but I can see how much ease it gives them when referring to these steps as 'steps' as the direct translation of the Sinhalese word 'Adi'. 

However, the execution of the dance movement still remains the same. There is no modification to the practise of the step itself. It is only when they address the series of steps or practise or discuss these steps, English words are involved. The examinations around the world do not focus too much on the words itself either - not every country anyway and because Kandyan is passed from generation to generation, a qualified dancer is able to teach and practise almost immediately after their Kandyan graduation. 

I personally don't mind my students identifying and connecting with the steps in whichever language they feel comfortable in, at the end of the day they still practise the same movement as every other student around the world. Traditional practitioners though, they may not feel the same way. As a teacher, my knowledge is reflected in my students: how I choose to teach them and how the student's learning process in which how they choose to learn. I can stand in front of the class until I'm blue in the face and say all the Sinhalese terminology, write them in big letter on the white board but if the learning process of this is to remember these information in the language that they understand, that's what they will take home.

Overcoming this is a challenge, weekly reminders and having the words written in English letters for readability definitely helps since Sinhalese writing is a whole different story. It's about catering to your students needs and facilitating them. If they're half Sri Lanka and half i.e. English then the parents may have decided not to practise Sinhalese at home so is it really my place to teach them Sinhalese at dance? 

Until next time.

Dils - The Kandyan Dancer