Text Repsonse about Diversity

Review of the Session: In our session on the 05-11-09 we had to get into groups of around 5-6 people.

The session of dance was then split up into stages. The first stage was to work as a group to choreograph our own routine to a clip from a diversity dance. We only had to choreograph short sharp movements for 8 beats. We had a short time to choreograph this and then we performed our routine down-stage to Dr. Connell along with all the other groups in the session.The second stage of the session was to add to our routine by looking and choreographing from a set dialogue.

As a group we then had a number of minutes to add both pieces of our choreography together. We then had to perform our routine again down-stage along with the rest of the groups. The third stage of the session was to choreograph the final part of our routine. In the final part of our routine we had to make a structured formation.

This included stepping into the formation in five beats. We, as a group, then had to hold our position as our routine was finished. We then had a while to practise before the final stage in the session were all three subgroups performed there routine, one after the next in front of a camcorder.Reflection on issues raised: Honestly, when i heard about doing a dance module I can say that I wasn't looking forward to it. However, once I got into the session and started working in my group I felt more at ease. In my group I felt really comfortable in getting the work done as I already knew them from my first days at university.

I felt that we were all leaders in the group and if there were any faults in our performance or something wasn't working our group worked well to overcome problems that we came across. This I feel benefited our performance and improved it dramatically. I feel that everyone had an equal input into the performance and I feel that this wouldn't have worked as effective if people didn't know each other. I feel this because everyone is different, some people are shy and some people are natural leaders. I feel that our first 8 movements in the first stage were very simple and I feel that this was acceptable as this was the first dance session all of us have had.

However, as we went through the session, I felt we maybe got a little ahead of ourselves and incorporated movements that were too complex for our own abilities. An example of this was where our group was learning the dialogue, our routine was too complex over the first two lines rather than keeping it simple and making moves for all of the lines. This I feel was why our group had a moment in the performance where we had no moves to incorporate into our routine and I feel this is where we could have improved. Looking at the other groups performances I feel that our routine could have flowed better but I feel with more time and practice it could have been just as good or if not better.However, I do not feel that my group let me down as I understand it is the first time and I feel that everyone has different abilities and we all did the best we could.

In the practise parts of the session I felt that we were struggling to see what everyone else in the group was doing. I feel that this was because there were no reflections from mirrors. If there were mirrors I feel that the group would have picked up the routine quicker and our performance would have been a lot better. Personally I feel that I was performing to the best of my ability and although I was a little nervous I put 100% effort into the routine.

However, I feel that I could have smiled a little more and relaxed a little. This would have made my dancing better. Overall, I really enjoyed the session and I feel that I can improve if I keep practising.Potential and actual application to Learning and Teaching (APPLICATION): During the session I was really nervous as I had never done dance before and when people think of dance they usually think of ballet not street or other forms of dancing. So when I was in the session I was out of my comfort zone (Karl Rohnke 1991). I found a website with some of Karl Rohnke's work on it from the book cowstails and cobras II.

This book had a section about comfort zones and explained basically what happens if you are put under pressure and made to do something that you are uncomfortable with. There were 3 sections to this theory that he had.The comfort zone, where you as a person are calm and happy with your surroundings. The stretch zone were you as a person begin to become pressured and uncomfortable with the situation and the final section is the panic zone where you as a person begin to feel really uncomfortable with the situation. I can relate to this from my dance session as I was put into the stretch zone a couple of times. This was because I was undertaking tasks that were new to me and I didn't feel comfortable doing at first.

However, when I got into the session I went back into my comfort zone and comfortable with all other things I participated in.In my group I felt that we didn't catch on to the routine as well as we could have. I felt this because we couldn't see what other people in our group was doing due to the lack of mirrors. Russell stated that, "the viewer can assess the attitude of the performer; this will increase the general awareness of movement as a means of communication.

" (Russell, 1958, pg18) I think that this is basically stating that if you can visually see what is happening in the group and how the group is performing, then it will make your awareness of mistakes and faults in the performance and enable them to be corrected and improve the performance.I felt this because we couldn't see what other people in our group was doing due to the lack of mirrors. Russell stated that, "the viewer can assess the attitude of the performer; this will increase the general awareness of movement as a means of communication." (Russell, 1958, pg18) I think that this is basically stating that if you can visually see what is happening in the group and how the group is performing, then it will make your awareness of mistakes and faults in the performance and enable them to be corrected and improve the performance.