INCLUSIVE APPROACH ON ART, EDUCATION AND CAREERS
SKILL DEVELOPMENT & EDUCATION IN THE ARTS
So proud I performed international research and created content for this online platform on dance in public space the past 3 years, as part of my work at Fontys Dance Academy. Hell, it wasn't easy, but the final goal was crazy fullfilling. Never have I learned and developed so much new skills in online design, wordpress, innovative education and design prototyping. So check the film and link below if you want to see the result and become a free member of the platform to build the inclusive dance community together!
LOCATION
Take a look and become a member of the platform here: Inclusive Dance Community
A little retrospect on my journey so far
Since my masters in Theatre Studies at the University of Utrecht I'm fascinated by the ways the 'chaotic spirit of art' manifests itself in our own rationalized and civilized constructs called society. Especially in terms of separating different needs and work methods in our job descriptions (like artistic and business leader) as if they represented different languages was part of my study for many years. So I was happy when the subject matter of this project in inclusive matters of working in dance art passed by in 2014.
In 2012 I wrote my final thesis about the construct of artistic profiling in higher dance education, approached from the concept of an artistic construct. I analyzed the process of creating the curriculum from the dramaturgic point of view, trying to understand by what elements the artistic profile in the education program was defined. I mapped the encounters and factors that influenced the decision making by an actor-network analysis, without a hierarchic notion. Third, my method for defining curriculum as an artistic construct was based on a literary study of contemporary definitions of the dance artist and the dance maker.
One of the main outcomes of my research was that artistic vision development only encountered a small part of the realization of an actual program of classes, lectures and guest workshops. Based on my case study at one of the higher dance education institutes in the Netherlands money, policy making and organizational issues were more dominant then the pre-formed artistic values of the academy. This could be a consequence of the lack in flexibility of academies to move towards dynamics of the work field. Academies are rather large and have developed their own manners, constructs of organization and rules, which makes it hard for outsiders to join.
I also couldn't proof a causality between historical art foundations of the specific academy and future developments within the international dance field, where the students would need to adapt after graduation. Decision making in terms of educational programming for future dance artists was not articulated by an ideology in the end. Though, a clear intention for artistic profiling was usually set to frame the programming process.
When I was finishing my master thesis on educational programming in professional dance I started to teach at Fontys Dance Academy. There, my results from the analysis became illustrated in practice. I started to understand how hard it is to define anything within a large institute. Also, I got the realization that the educational apparatus was highly depending on the intentions of teachers designing their own classes in the academy. Based on the (educational and artistic) background of the teachers, the internal culture of teachers and management on dialogue and the inheritance of artistic convictions the dynamics of educational design were set. This dynamic could only take place within the financed framework given by the institute. It would never happen the other way around.
So basically, my study subject on segregated practice was defined within my own workplace as well. As a dramaturge I could only function by the synthesis of those seeming oppositions of perspective in knowledge and practice. On the one hand I could only practice what I preach, regardless of the context I was framed in. On the other hand I could only preach by what I observed in theory and practice. I now know this is the case because I can only commit to the subject matter first, rather then a solely pragmatic approach defined by profit. My work consists of defining the why over and over again.
The academic institutes and their ways of programming education and learning trajectories for future dance artists is not at all sustainable. To think in reverse, sustainable communities (art or no art for that matter) can't be built if we are constantly focused on consuming education by the ways we know it. If we are not allowed to question why we do what we do, I see no point in creating at all. Would it be possible to define artistry on the premises of synthesis? This question sticked with me.
The topic of this project on future careers in dance & movement art as well as exploring ways to redefine learning/personal growth, designing schools/programs and rebuild our social institutions inspired and fed me bigtime in my own work. It helped me to materialize and position an ideology and practice for creation, based on my own craft and by overcoming disciplinary habits in thinking by founding the Concept Store for Artistic Strategies.
In 2012 I wrote my final thesis about the construct of artistic profiling in higher dance education, approached from the concept of an artistic construct. I analyzed the process of creating the curriculum from the dramaturgic point of view, trying to understand by what elements the artistic profile in the education program was defined. I mapped the encounters and factors that influenced the decision making by an actor-network analysis, without a hierarchic notion. Third, my method for defining curriculum as an artistic construct was based on a literary study of contemporary definitions of the dance artist and the dance maker.
One of the main outcomes of my research was that artistic vision development only encountered a small part of the realization of an actual program of classes, lectures and guest workshops. Based on my case study at one of the higher dance education institutes in the Netherlands money, policy making and organizational issues were more dominant then the pre-formed artistic values of the academy. This could be a consequence of the lack in flexibility of academies to move towards dynamics of the work field. Academies are rather large and have developed their own manners, constructs of organization and rules, which makes it hard for outsiders to join.
I also couldn't proof a causality between historical art foundations of the specific academy and future developments within the international dance field, where the students would need to adapt after graduation. Decision making in terms of educational programming for future dance artists was not articulated by an ideology in the end. Though, a clear intention for artistic profiling was usually set to frame the programming process.
When I was finishing my master thesis on educational programming in professional dance I started to teach at Fontys Dance Academy. There, my results from the analysis became illustrated in practice. I started to understand how hard it is to define anything within a large institute. Also, I got the realization that the educational apparatus was highly depending on the intentions of teachers designing their own classes in the academy. Based on the (educational and artistic) background of the teachers, the internal culture of teachers and management on dialogue and the inheritance of artistic convictions the dynamics of educational design were set. This dynamic could only take place within the financed framework given by the institute. It would never happen the other way around.
So basically, my study subject on segregated practice was defined within my own workplace as well. As a dramaturge I could only function by the synthesis of those seeming oppositions of perspective in knowledge and practice. On the one hand I could only practice what I preach, regardless of the context I was framed in. On the other hand I could only preach by what I observed in theory and practice. I now know this is the case because I can only commit to the subject matter first, rather then a solely pragmatic approach defined by profit. My work consists of defining the why over and over again.
The academic institutes and their ways of programming education and learning trajectories for future dance artists is not at all sustainable. To think in reverse, sustainable communities (art or no art for that matter) can't be built if we are constantly focused on consuming education by the ways we know it. If we are not allowed to question why we do what we do, I see no point in creating at all. Would it be possible to define artistry on the premises of synthesis? This question sticked with me.
The topic of this project on future careers in dance & movement art as well as exploring ways to redefine learning/personal growth, designing schools/programs and rebuild our social institutions inspired and fed me bigtime in my own work. It helped me to materialize and position an ideology and practice for creation, based on my own craft and by overcoming disciplinary habits in thinking by founding the Concept Store for Artistic Strategies.
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