Kolb's Learning Cycle

This is the very first time that I have ever had to think about analysing the way I learn and Kolb’s learning cycle has made me quite fascinated with a process that is constantly happening but that I have never taken the time to acknowledge. Kolb has set out a clear cycle consisting of four points, Concrete Experience, Reflective Observation, Abstract Conceptualisation and Active Experimentation, all of which can be applied in any order, I’ve realised, to many of my experiences. I have in fact already done this to several past experiences, and actually found it to be quite fun!

Although there are a huge number of things that I could apply Kolb’s learning cycle to, I have chosen an experience that has happened since joining the company here in Estonia.

Apart from suddenly finding yourself at the other end of Europe, coping with complete culture shock and a strange foreign language consisting of lots of double letters, as a new dancer of the Vanemuine Theatre one of the first things that you are required to do is get to grips with learning all of the company’s repertoire. The downfall of being a small country is that you have to keep performing a large variety of productions so that the same audiences will return.

To begin with, my Concrete Experience was making sure I watched the ballet that I needed to learn. I decided that at the rate I had to pick up the choreography I needed to grasp an idea of what the ballet was about, what the part was that I was playing, what the music was like and what the choreographic style was. I would ask to borrow a DVD of whatever production it was I was focusing on and watch it on my laptop at home. As I really had never been able to see much of the company in performance before, I always found it interesting to see my how my new friends appeared as dancers on stage and to see the new productions that I would be dancing in.


Reflective Observation then often managed to manifest itself in the form of panic, at first, when I thought about how much I needed to learn and the time span with which I had to learn it. But to make myself feel better, after having watched the ballet through once, I would then rewind through the DVD to the specific points at which I was dancing to review and to try and memorise the choreography, not only the steps but also where I was on the stage and how I contributed to the storyline. I would also often then retreat to the shower, somewhere where I often find it easy to think and reflect. I would then continue thinking about the steps I had to dance and what character I was playing, visualising in my mind that I was already on stage dancing that role in order to familiarise myself with the part.


Abstract Conceptualisation resulted from having watched and reviewed the DVD. Having begun not knowing anything other than the title of the production, I now had a clear idea of what the ballet was about and of the role that I played. To use examples, when I was preparing to dance in the ballet Onegin, I learnt that I had to be diverse and portray two very different persona, one character being a simple peasant and the other a rich guest at a ball. When getting ready for the Nutcracker, I was able to pick up the sharpness of the movements as a snowflake in the first act in contrast to the fluidity of the pas de deux I would be dancing in the flower waltz in the second act. I also now had an idea of the costume I would be dancing in and the tempo of the music and also if I had a prop to look after and how it should be used.


Of course, having prepared and found out what I could from watching the ballet, it was then really important for me to put all that I had learnt into Active Experimentation. For me this is probably the most exciting bit, as being a dancer I am always itching to start dancing about myself after having seen someone else do it. I also like the feeling of trying out the steps you have seen, accomplishing them and then making them better and improving on them. It is also really great to finally get hold of a partner, because despite how well you know what you are doing, you can never be absolutely sure how he is going to hold you or how high he will lift you and it is particularly this kind of thing that I have to put into action in order to understand how to do it.