Filming Dance and Self-awareness

Yesterday night I joined the MAPP online discussion. (Sun, Sept 27th 2020).

We first re-introduced the idea of knowledge, but more from a self-discovering point of view. 

I also liked the idea of thinking of knowledge as something that never comes to an end. 

I believe that as long as we keep experiencing, we keep gaining knowledge. 

Learning, for me, can be a short or long process of understanding information given to us. Some informations can be immediate, some others can take a long time to be perceived and elaborated. We can be masters of our knowledge because we are able to decide how to process the information, what to remember, what to research, what to observe. 

I guess I am still trying to elaborate all the maps and drawings I have got inside my head about knowledge and self-discovering as well 😏

Moving into the other big topic session we had: filming dance, right or wrong?

I personally had both wonderful and awful 👀 experiences watching myself perform on a screen. Which is why I believe that: yes, filming is a very useful tool to improve our dancing, but we have to be careful not to over-do it. 

Here's a list of my thoughts about it:

- The idea of filming dance students and/or colleagues could be introduced as a method of improvement (practical example: fixing corrections quickly), never as something negative. Just because we spot something not being 'perfect', it doesn't mean it wasn't a great performance/exercise/moment.

- What you feel and express when performing art, often can't be seen in the video, so I would remind everyone that: what you see on a screen might not have been what each member of a live audience experienced. In fact, it is so subjective it could even be the opposite!

- We live in times where filming and posting online content happens ALL THE TIME. I think we must remind students that it is important to always ask for permissions, and maybe think twice, before sharing anything.

- Let's not forget body awareness and sensations. I come from quite a strict ballet academy where we were almost never allowed to see ourselves in the mirror during practice. 'There's no mirror on stage!' - they said. Well, I believe in mirrors as a powerful way of improvement, but sometimes it's actually good to take a break and record just in our minds and muscles what we felt like during that specific movement/dance. 

- I absolutely trust in filming to promote a certain dance piece/class/performance/choreographer. But always respecting ethics and not filming in an obsessive way, or in a way that can influence dancers' confidence and concentration!

- I strictly believe audiences do not have the right of filming a performance just because they paid for a ticket. A ticket has been purchased to experience the live performance, and let your mind process it through some memories, maybe some feelings. Not to record it on your phone and keep it (or share it!) without having the performers know you have done that. I would feel the same if this happened during one of my classes as well, to be honest. 

-Filming in studios for rehearsal purposes: accepted. I mean, which dance company doesn't have videos of rehearsals?

-Filming students in class: Great, for some purposes. Example in my experience: preparing my students for a contemporary dance exam. Some of them found helpful to imagine that the video could be 'how a specific member of the jury sees them' to then think: what can be improved and what are my strengths? 

To conclude: filming dance, when permitted, is great.  Maybe not too often, and always with a positive, constructive approach.

Looking forward to the next discussion.

Laura