Gefördert durch die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien im Programm NEUSTART KULTUR, Hilfsprogramm DIS-TANZEN des Dachverband
Tanz Deutschland.
(EN: "Funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media within the framework of the initiative NEUSTART KULTUR, aid program DIS-TANZEN by the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland")

The Research Question

DISCOVER EXPLORE RELATE - Discovering meaningfulness instead of producing it.

Searching for today's human connectivity and meaning within a professional dance education and the influences of these on creative processes as a growing artist. Far from ticking boxes, collecting ECT points, and working hard for some seemingly senseless goals. I aim to spend 5 months (taking a break from creating) to find out how today's complex expectations and unavoidable, flood of information are being dealt with by young artists. To explore the different needs expressed and look at the inner development of the individual as well as the endangered human ecosystem where connectedness to one another and meaningfulness of daily life and the things we choose to do seem to suffer immensely under the pressure to perform and produce.

It's my passion to host young artists and mentor them daily. After two years of restrictions, shaken safety, and an insecure future I feel the need as an artist myself and a leader of those in my care to rediscover and explore a circle of safety where study can happen with a purpose that is not "produced".

I began to watch a lot of teachers teaching their, contemporary dance classes, ballet classes, composition classes, movement research classes, and more. I attended as many open showings of work in progress, half-baked ideas as I could, as well as productions in the free scene of Kassel. This observation work was time-consuming and although I was already doing it in the months before the funding was taken, I continued to let the observation work become a weekly schedule. Watching at least 10 to 12, 90-minute classes weekly (a mixture of classes as listed above). I could follow in many cases, fluctuations in presence, motivation, and healthy stimulation. Even punctuality, communication, and being proactive or not could be seen to affect the learning space.

Exercises and Measures taken

• Christina Barandun came and led the students and teachers on a journey of Discover-Explore-Relate. Introducing from her book, the concept of “Dynamic Safe Spaces” we learned as students and teachers how this could change our daily exchanges with one another on many levels, which would also support, meaningful learning. Being led in a continuous flow of brainstorming, think tanking exercises lead to a choice of the most important points that we would say as students and teachers were the things, we could relate to the most right now at this time in the school year. These were performance skills, information flow, health, learning, having an innovation council at the school, and mentoring. Workgroups were formed until the current day and ongoing after the summer pause, these topics are and will be worked on.

• A two-monthly teacher’s meeting where we exchanged from the teaching perspective was organized and took place 3 times within the funding period. In these meetings, we also practiced not just talking about the students, but also choosing a theme each time for at least half of the meeting for our own discourse. The themes we chose were, defining performativity, sharing our current artistic practices with each other, the generation gap, and healthy and clear ideas to deal with the absence of students or continual latecomers. The meetings will continue as all the teachers were enjoying them and were expressing their gratitude over the richness of the dialogue and exchange.

• As well as the teacher’s meetings we anew, let the students meet once a month in lesson time in their classes. This reduced stress for the students needing to find time after school to meet with their peers. Each class had representatives who met a few days later with me. Topics were collected and discussed and then anything needing to be shared with me was done so. We used the setup of the “dynamic safe spaces”, so the meetings were structured. I noticed that the themes that moved the classes and individuals were very broad, for example, the frustration of different learning tempos in a class, passing on names of teachers they wish for in the future, dealing with absence or late coming from some class members, gender themes and pronouns, and presenting innovative ideas that they wanted to organize and try out.

Discoveries and Explorations

4 Cornerstones are important: Creativity, Communication, Critical thinking, and Collaboration. Combining, discussion, hands-on activities, questions and answers, experiential learning, quick writing assignments, and interactive lecturing can really open up the flow of information. Realizing that Meaningful learning is teaching important cognitive skills such as being able to evaluate, analyze, remember or retain information, and make comparisons. It is active, constructive, authentic, and collaborative. In the following examples, I could see all the mentioned components above being used and the wealth of the combination of them all.

• I intensified teaching, passing on and then mostly practicing the DasARTS feedback methods and the methods from Larry Lavender's “Dancers Talking Dance”. In these sessions of learning to observe artwork (dance and performance) the engagement was heightened in such a natural way and even those who were shy at the beginning of the sessions to speak out, found their voice and meaning through the general interaction of the class as opposed to a teacher just teaching.

• In my own teaching of ballet, I intensified the “ME AND MY BODY” part of the equation in learning the technique. Even with ballet for contemporary dancers, we are beginning to include some improvisation now and using quiz times and playfulness to learn terms, positions, and jumps. Even with limited ballet vocabulary, letting students learn solos and repertoire is enlightening.

• Another of my personal workshop intensives concentrated on vital and urgent movement. Using martial arts / kung fu and some fighting monkey-inspired drills. There was only the unplanned, spontaneous, vital, life-giving movement. Taking the repetitive drills into creating a performance and presence circle where moving in the now became a performance… only what matters!

Impressions and Impact

Whatever area or layer I was working on there is definitely a pattern. In any particular experience where the dancers were absorbing information, and an “impact” followed, it became relevant and therefore meaningful. The young artists were impacted by different information in different experiences. It made me question why we teachers always expected everyone to love our lessons and “get something” out of them. It also made me rethink my lessons and make sure certain components were added or balanced.

What matters? - Time Matters!

The biggest challenge as I expected was time. Not my personal time which I had put aside for this. No. It is the feeling in general of the younger generations that they don’t have time, needing instant gratification and needing a lot of guidance about what to do and when. I am leading a dance education that is striving for free learning within group lessons and community, with inner artist development being accepted and nurtured DURING the education. I want to bring back the “finding things out” more than ever. Otherwise, our up-and-coming artists will only produce what they feel is “right” and conforming.