Reflective and Reflexive Practices and Experiential Learning - Week 1 Task

Some of the key ideas of reflective practice in dance include:

• Facilitating deeper experiential understanding to enhance performance.

• Studio based research and academic research are just as important as each other.

• Two forms of reflective learning. "reflection-in-action" and "reflection-on-action". Reflection-in-action is a process in which the dancer or mover can sense, recognise, assess, and readjust whist moving through a phrase. You are reflective and re-learning in action. Reflection-on-action consists of reflection after performing the action (Romita & Romita, 2016).

The strategies of dance-making, paired with reflective practices, provides more successful access to a dance artist or student's own embodied knowing in dance-making, therefore encouraging their own understanding of embodied knowledge (Bright, 2007). When making work or training, reflective practice provides an opportunity to draw upon the learning within the experience.

The Bright Model for reflective practice in dance-making, is a cycle of 4 continuous phases. Phase 1, Dance-making. Phase 2, Reflection-on-dance-making. Phase 3, Re-evaluation. Phase 4, Illumination and repeat. Note that any of these phases may include verbal, visual, auditory and/or embodied knowing (Bright, 2007). It is encouraged to mentally or physically record these ongoing reflections within a Choreographic Journal. In the book 'Studying Creative Writing', Sharon Norris discusses the benefits and learning experiences of Pre-writing. Through this technique you can practice observation, obtain useful material, and experiment with expression, structure and point of view. Pre-writing also gives you the benefit of background research and analysis, that can also be applied to your practice in real time and enable you to explore and experiment and gain new experiences and apply new knowledge (Norris, 2013). Within practical use of this I shall explore free writing as a way of 'Pre-writing' and reflect upon this by analysing this through The Bright Model.

Through every experience, we gain new understandings and skills where we are challenged, changed or reinforced. David Smith outlines that to simply experience is not enough as we are often too deeply involved in the experience itself that we are unable, or do not have the opportunity to step away and critically reflect (2015). However, planned activities for learning, such as development exercises, provides an opportunity to engage in reflection. Smith explains to us, that the practice of debriefing in experience-based learning, promotes reflection (Pearson & Smith, 2015). This practice has historical roots in military campaigns and war games. Its purpose is similar to "reflection-on-action" (Romita & Romita, 2016) and takes place after an exercise is completed. Participants gather after the exercise to describe or discuss what has just transpired, to account the actions that has just taken place, and to develop new strategies as a result of the experience (Pearson & Smith, 2015). This greatly reminds me of my own training with Adam Benjamin in 2016-2017, in which we would participate in different improvisational tasks of varying lengths and regroup at the end to reenact up to 50 moments or actions that have just taken place. This would also take place at the end of the year to see how much we remember and the memories held by the space. This challenged us to reflect on our actions throughout the experience and take accountability for our choices, habits and embodied-knowledge.

References:

• Bright, D (2007). Refletive practice: Da-making and image narrative. School of Education, The University of Waikato, 77(13), 10.15663/wje.v13i1.278

• Norris, S. (2013). Studying creative writing. Newmarket, Suffolk, UK.

• Pearson, M., & Smith, D. (2015). Debriefing in experience-based learning. London: Routledge.

• Romita, N,. & Romita, A. (2016) Strategies for reflective practices in dance training, Oxford University Press 2020