Module 3 one month check in

I feel like I really neglected my blog in Module 2, but in my recent tutorial with Pedro, he reminded me how helpful our blogs can be to help us articulate our thoughts as we journey through each Module. This was especially helpful to hear as after the summer break I've found it really hard to organise my thoughts again and have felt a bit stagnant waiting for ethical approval/results and research findings. 

The thing I found most helpful and also the most inspiring last Module was the literature review, and as I immersed myself in literature, my thoughts and my essays began to take shape naturally. I even noted this in my critical reflection, so when I reread last modules submission to get started this time around, I decided to take my own advice.

Revisiting the literature in my original review I'm reminded of the trends and patterns, but also gaps and conflicts I found. I then utilised the search tools on google scholar to order findings from most to least recent to discover any new and current literature in my area of interest.

The literature that has been published is exciting and inspiring for me, and reminds me how beneficial it is to revisit literature in my areas of interest and beyond, regardless of my current studies. New research that is being published in regard to the at home online dance training during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the difficulties this presented, including health and safety issues (Goletti and Milovanovic, 2022). After finding substantial gaps in dance literature about the health and safety of the dance environment, it was exciting to see new findings beginning to address these issues.

Furthermore, an article about dancer wellness has quite rightly reminded me to remember and confront my own privilege while conducting my research:

"If dancer wellness is being defined by and for White able-bodied women with a background in (as well as the want and means to pursue) higher education in Western concert dance performance, then the construct may not adequately address the needs of all dancers" (Downie, 2022)

This was an important reminder for me as I begin to gather my data that I need to consider my own privilege when I triangulate my findings with my own experiences.

This is only a small check in but it has been helpful. I felt that I needed to just put pen to paper as it were and stop staring at a blank screen and organise my thoughts with no pressure to be too articulate about it. 

References:

Milovanovic, D., & Goletti, C. (2022). COVID-19 Pandemic and Online Dance Education: Issues, Opportunities, and New Pedagogies. Dance Education in Practice. https://doi.org/10.1080/23734833.2022.2114250

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23734833.2022.2114250?needAccess=true

Andrea Downie (2022): Equity-Informed Dancer Wellness, Journal of Dance Education, DOI: 10.1080/15290824.2022.2030061

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15290824.2022.2030061

(I've also included this poster that was distributed on the University of San Francisco campus as a visual reminder to myself to check my privelege, at all times, not just in my research)