Activity 7
Retirement Transition in Ballet Dancers: ‘Coping within and coping without’
Irina Roncaglia
(critique is in bold italics)
Appendix: Interview Schedule
Questions and sub-questions during interview schedule:
1. Can you start by telling me about yourself (e.g. your age, when did you start dancing, when did you stop)? Asking their age could be a potentially sensitive subject area, especially when dealing with people who are retiring from their job and may feel sensitive about it. If one is researching how people cope with retirement, does it matter how old they are if the researcher already knows they are retiring and are eligible for their study?
2. How did you feel when your career was coming to an end?
· Was retirement planned? Was retirement sudden?
· Do you want to share the reasons for your retirement?
3. How did you come to the decision of retiring?
· Was it a lengthy process?
4. Was/is the experience important for you?
· Do you want to share your feelings around the time of retirement?
5. Did/do you feel you have/had control of the situation? Control to what extent? Participants may have completely different ideas on what being ‘in control’ is so the interviewer would need to be aware of this. The interviewing process can be highly subjective and so the researcher would need to acknowledge this when analyzing their data.
· Did/do you feel that you had enough support around you?
6. If you explore the events since retirement, which area has been more important?
· Your friends? Your work? Your family? Yourself?
· What kind of support you received if any? (friends, family, outside agency)
7. How did/do you feel towards your family? This could be a sensitive subject area. Often the amount of support you receive from your family comes down to much more personal issues. Interviewer is assuming that they have close family.
8. How did they feel towards yourself? This could be a potentially uncomfortable question for the interviewee if their family felt negatively towards their retirement. They might not know how their family feels about it and might therefore feel embarrassed and/or alienated if they have to answer the question. The interviewer is making an assumption that the interviewee has some knowledge of what their family thinks of them.
9. How did/do you feel towards your colleagues that were still dancing? This is possibly another sensitive subject area. If they have negative feelings towards other dancers will they want to reveal them? The researcher might have to be aware of a slightly untruthful ‘sugar coated’ answer.
· How was the transition away from the Ballet Company?
10. How did you cope through the whole experience?
11. How did/do you cope with the transition?
Questions 10 and 11, the researcher would have to be aware that participants may have very different ideas of what coping is when analyzing their data
12. How do you feel about the future?
· Did/do you have a new purpose in life?
· How is the future looking for you?
13. How do you define yourself now that you have "retired"?
· Do you consider yourself still a dancer?
· Do you see yourself as an individual looking for a new identity?
14. Are there any other experiences that you might want to share or address?
15. Looking retrospectively has the experience been important in a positive or negative way?
This is a semi structured interview which includes specific but open ended questions in order that the interviewee has the opportunity to speak more freely. Considering that the researcher wants to find out about how individual dancers cope with retirement, the interview has well constructed questions that encourage the interviewees to give their in depth thoughts, insights and interpretations of the issue. I do feel, however, that the interview could be a bit long with 15 questions as most of them allow for the interviewee to speak freely and in depth, and so could last up to an hour and a half or more. An hour should be an appropriate length of time to gather the information that is needed and at the same time keep the interviewee’s interest. Because of the number of personal in depth questions, I think that this interview would be most suited to a smaller select group of individuals rather than a large group sample. I also think that the researcher would need plenty of time and a relaxed atmosphere to conduct the questions so it would be unsuitable for anyone short of time. I think that overall, other than what I have already critiqued, this interview has a good structure and does not contain any leading questions.
Reference for interview:
FQS Forum: Qualitative Social Research: Irina Roncaglia ‘Retirement transition in Ballet Dancers: Coping within and coping without’ Volume 2, No. 2, Article 1
Friday, May 7, 2010
Rationale for Award Title
Rationale for award title
I would like my award title to be ‘BA Hons Professional Practice in Dance’
I would like to propose this award title because since the age of eleven, my life has been completely centred round dance. In 1999 I left home to become a student at Elmhurst School for Dance where I studied professionally for 8 years. During my time there, I trained not only in Classical Ballet but also in Jazz, Tap, Flamenco, Contemporary, Character and Irish dance. I was lucky to work with choreographers such as Michael Corder (Ballet), Sherrill Wexler (Flamenco) and Stephen Paling (Jazz). I also worked with companies such as Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Ballet in various productions as a student. On graduating in my final year I received my level 6 National Diploma in Professional Dance before beginning my first job as a classical ballet dancer with Dortmund Ballet Theatre in Germany. I signed a 6 month contract with the company to perform in their production of ‘Swan Lake’ which required my skills in both classical and neo classical ballet. After my six months employment was complete I was then taken on by the Vanemuine Ballet Company in Estonia where I signed a year’s contract. During that first year I performed in Par Isberg’s production of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ in which I had the challenge of dancing my first classical solo since graduating. I also danced in Ruslan Stepanov’s ‘Kevade’, a contemporary production and Mare Tommingas’s ‘Queen’, a collaboration between dancers and renowned Estonian pop singers that called upon all my skills and versatility as a dancer. After a successful and enjoyable first year, I signed a second contract for a further two years. Now in my second year, I have continued to perform in all of the company’s classical and contemporary works and additionally in their Estonian production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Evita’.
With my career taking off I hope to continue as a performer for a while yet. I have therefore decided on my project topic of ‘How can dancers cope with nerves and stress’, in order to address an issue I and other dancers are constantly faced with. Having had a strict dance education and much performing experience, I have often felt the effects of nerves and stress and have witnessed others going through the same experience. I therefore think that developing my knowledge in this topic would be extremely worthwhile, not only for my future career but also for others in the same position.
Although my main area of expertise is in Classical Ballet and my project will involve and be largely based on classical ballet dancers, I believe that whatever information I find out from my research will be useful and beneficial to all types of dancers.
I feel, therefore, it is important for me to have the word ‘Dance’ as opposed to specifically ‘Classical Ballet’ in my award title as I have always been interested and appreciative of different genres. I hope in the future to continue to perform in the many different styles of dance.
I would like my award title to be ‘BA Hons Professional Practice in Dance’
I would like to propose this award title because since the age of eleven, my life has been completely centred round dance. In 1999 I left home to become a student at Elmhurst School for Dance where I studied professionally for 8 years. During my time there, I trained not only in Classical Ballet but also in Jazz, Tap, Flamenco, Contemporary, Character and Irish dance. I was lucky to work with choreographers such as Michael Corder (Ballet), Sherrill Wexler (Flamenco) and Stephen Paling (Jazz). I also worked with companies such as Birmingham Royal Ballet and English National Ballet in various productions as a student. On graduating in my final year I received my level 6 National Diploma in Professional Dance before beginning my first job as a classical ballet dancer with Dortmund Ballet Theatre in Germany. I signed a 6 month contract with the company to perform in their production of ‘Swan Lake’ which required my skills in both classical and neo classical ballet. After my six months employment was complete I was then taken on by the Vanemuine Ballet Company in Estonia where I signed a year’s contract. During that first year I performed in Par Isberg’s production of ‘Sleeping Beauty’ in which I had the challenge of dancing my first classical solo since graduating. I also danced in Ruslan Stepanov’s ‘Kevade’, a contemporary production and Mare Tommingas’s ‘Queen’, a collaboration between dancers and renowned Estonian pop singers that called upon all my skills and versatility as a dancer. After a successful and enjoyable first year, I signed a second contract for a further two years. Now in my second year, I have continued to perform in all of the company’s classical and contemporary works and additionally in their Estonian production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Evita’.
With my career taking off I hope to continue as a performer for a while yet. I have therefore decided on my project topic of ‘How can dancers cope with nerves and stress’, in order to address an issue I and other dancers are constantly faced with. Having had a strict dance education and much performing experience, I have often felt the effects of nerves and stress and have witnessed others going through the same experience. I therefore think that developing my knowledge in this topic would be extremely worthwhile, not only for my future career but also for others in the same position.
Although my main area of expertise is in Classical Ballet and my project will involve and be largely based on classical ballet dancers, I believe that whatever information I find out from my research will be useful and beneficial to all types of dancers.
I feel, therefore, it is important for me to have the word ‘Dance’ as opposed to specifically ‘Classical Ballet’ in my award title as I have always been interested and appreciative of different genres. I hope in the future to continue to perform in the many different styles of dance.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Critical Commentary
Critical commentary
Looking back it is really interesting for me to see the way that I have learnt and progressed through this module.
From reading my first diary entry, I can remember how completely overwhelmed I felt at the beginning of the module, confronted with an email containing a seemingly never ending handbook to read. (I later realised I should have asked for a printed version of this as I progressively found it difficult to learn when reading off the screen.) At this point in the module I had managed to familiarise myself with a few research terms, but was struggling to find a research topic idea and felt rather lost. It wasn’t until my first phone call with my tutor that I had a little confidence restored and started to get my teeth into the course. I have realised from this that I am the kind of learner that needs someone to support and build my confidence and who also likes to see how other people approach the tasks. Particularly from looking at the way I have utilised people’s blogs in this module I now understand I like to have a little guidance from my colleagues, or just a taste of how they are doing things to reassure myself that I am going about matters in the right way. I have to mention that the BAPP network has been of great help to me as a long distance learner and other than the handy skype conversations with my tutor, has been the one source I have relied upon for help and information on campus sessions.
This module has also opened my eyes to a completely different way of learning. Work-based learning requires you to almost be your own teacher, it is up to you to look for information, complete the various tasks and look back and realise what you have learnt in order to progress. From being unable to go to the campus sessions, although having support from my tutor, I have found that I have almost been undertaking this course and learning from it completely by myself. This is a totally different way of learning for me coming from a background of strict schooling, and at first was a rather daunting prospect, almost like your first time riding a bike without stabilizers. However, now I feel I have gained more of an idea of my capabilities and a better understanding of the way I learn. The thought of having to choose a topic idea myself rather than it being handed to me was at first a struggle, but now I realise will enable me to be more knowledgeable about an area I really care about.
Then of course, there is all the new information that I have learnt from completing the tasks in this module. I had never heard about the different research approaches and am now pleased to have an acquired knowledge of them. Since learning about them, I have been able to link the requirements of my research topic with the most suitable research approach and move on to choosing an appropriate data collecting technique. Although I had encountered data collecting techniques before, this module has given me a much better understanding of how they can be used to most effect and how they must be carefully constructed in order to be as free from bias and as ethical as possible. Ethics, in particular, has been one of the most critical aspects of conducting a research project that I have learnt. I have never had to consider ethical issues before when conducting a project and my eyes were opened to their importance. In particular, for a worker –researcher, familiarity with their organisation and those within it will make it difficult to eliminate bias and be totally ethically correct. I have learnt, therefore, it is important to carefully consider what you mean when promising such things as confidentiality and anonymity.
Time management is also something I have had to consider in this module, and I now know it is important for me to allow myself enough time to complete my research project.
Looking back it is really interesting for me to see the way that I have learnt and progressed through this module.
From reading my first diary entry, I can remember how completely overwhelmed I felt at the beginning of the module, confronted with an email containing a seemingly never ending handbook to read. (I later realised I should have asked for a printed version of this as I progressively found it difficult to learn when reading off the screen.) At this point in the module I had managed to familiarise myself with a few research terms, but was struggling to find a research topic idea and felt rather lost. It wasn’t until my first phone call with my tutor that I had a little confidence restored and started to get my teeth into the course. I have realised from this that I am the kind of learner that needs someone to support and build my confidence and who also likes to see how other people approach the tasks. Particularly from looking at the way I have utilised people’s blogs in this module I now understand I like to have a little guidance from my colleagues, or just a taste of how they are doing things to reassure myself that I am going about matters in the right way. I have to mention that the BAPP network has been of great help to me as a long distance learner and other than the handy skype conversations with my tutor, has been the one source I have relied upon for help and information on campus sessions.
This module has also opened my eyes to a completely different way of learning. Work-based learning requires you to almost be your own teacher, it is up to you to look for information, complete the various tasks and look back and realise what you have learnt in order to progress. From being unable to go to the campus sessions, although having support from my tutor, I have found that I have almost been undertaking this course and learning from it completely by myself. This is a totally different way of learning for me coming from a background of strict schooling, and at first was a rather daunting prospect, almost like your first time riding a bike without stabilizers. However, now I feel I have gained more of an idea of my capabilities and a better understanding of the way I learn. The thought of having to choose a topic idea myself rather than it being handed to me was at first a struggle, but now I realise will enable me to be more knowledgeable about an area I really care about.
Then of course, there is all the new information that I have learnt from completing the tasks in this module. I had never heard about the different research approaches and am now pleased to have an acquired knowledge of them. Since learning about them, I have been able to link the requirements of my research topic with the most suitable research approach and move on to choosing an appropriate data collecting technique. Although I had encountered data collecting techniques before, this module has given me a much better understanding of how they can be used to most effect and how they must be carefully constructed in order to be as free from bias and as ethical as possible. Ethics, in particular, has been one of the most critical aspects of conducting a research project that I have learnt. I have never had to consider ethical issues before when conducting a project and my eyes were opened to their importance. In particular, for a worker –researcher, familiarity with their organisation and those within it will make it difficult to eliminate bias and be totally ethically correct. I have learnt, therefore, it is important to carefully consider what you mean when promising such things as confidentiality and anonymity.
Time management is also something I have had to consider in this module, and I now know it is important for me to allow myself enough time to complete my research project.
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