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Essay prompt - Critically assess the impact that two or more collaborative projects and/or creative practices have had on at least one aspect of your ongoing practice

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Kenrick Sandy’s choreography class taught me a lot about what does and doesn’t work for me in choreographic processes. I discovered a lot about time management, especially to do with working within a large group. In the first couple of classes, Kenrick gave us tasks with the aim of giving us the tools to be able to create movement material quickly and easily. One of the lessons consisted of us having a circuit around the studio with different things to interact with, some sections containing cards with a selection of colours, or different characteristic traits on them. We would be given a certain amount of time to create some movements based on our interpretations of the cards. Although at first, I felt slightly doubtful towards the tasks, I discovered that it did in fact help me to create material quickly and that the prompts made me come up with very different movements than my usual style.

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Another lesson that we had towards the beginning of the term was learning hot steppin. Kenrick taught us his way of notating the footwork which can be used in many helpful ways. We could use the notation to either create random combinations or to note down ones we had created to give to other people to learn. Furthermore, we learnt how a simple footwork phrase can be developed into choreography by adding things such as arms, dynamics or direction changes.

Kenrick gave us a task one week, to memorize three different hot steppin combos. These consisted of one that he had given us, our own one that we had to come up with in pairs, and another pair’s. We had to learn these from notations that were given to us on pieces of paper. As more of an active and visual learner, I found it very hard to refer to the drawing and transfer it into movement that stuck in my body. The process of attempting to memorize the phrases from the notations, on top of how complicated the footwork felt, proved to be quite stressful for me.

At the end of term, we were given a choreographic task directed towards putting into practice all the things that we had learned. We were split into groups of roughly seven or eight people and each group was given a different piece of music that lasted 2 minutes and 35 seconds. We had around 4, 1.5-hour sessions to finish the piece. Almost immediately, I was finding the dynamic quite hard as there were so many people trying to input their opinions. Everyone was feeling the pressure of the time limit, especially because of how long it took to listen to what everyone had to say. However, something that I found quite helpful was that Kenrick had told us at the beginning to go around and tell the group what we bring to the table. For example, if you are someone that likes to lead, or someone that can bring intricate musicality, or someone that is good at time keeping, etc. This sort of clarified the roles that people had in the group which made others step back in certain areas.

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In a dance science lecture about collaboration, we discussed healthy ways to navigate communicating with each other. Our teacher Lucie Clements showed us a table which demonstrates the balance of behaviors needed in order to collaborate well. I find that the group that I worked with had quite a lot of people that were assertive. This meant for me that sometimes I felt like I couldn’t really contribute much, assuming more of an accommodating role. I didn’t really mind this too much as I understood that having eight people all having their own idea of how the piece should have been created, was a lot to deal with for all of us.

I feel that Kenricks approach to using notations and choreographic structure is very functional. However, a lot of people in my group, myself including, felt that the process could be quite creatively limiting. Kenrick had given us very specific instruction on how to approach every aspect to choreographing a piece. For example, we were given a table which included the music divided into every two counts of eight. With this, we had to draw which parts were green, amber or red sections (the green being low intensity and the red being high intensity). This was useful because we could refer to the table when it came to mapping out the piece and decide what kind of movements we wanted to do alongside each different part of the music. He also heavily encouraged us to write out an exact plan of how we wanted to use our time in each session. For example:

First five minutes, discussion/ check in with group

15 minutes, break out into smaller groups, working on duets and solos

10 minutes fitting it together

10 minutes going through Kenricks combination

20 minutes creating red section

5 minutes run through with music

This can be very effective as it keeps everyone on the same page, and it is a very efficient way to utilize the studio space when having very little time on your hands.

However, some could argue that having the entire process planned out so specifically can take away the spontaneity that many people enjoy when partaking in creative processes. It has brought up the question of what the end results would look like if we hadn’t used the structure? I think that the reason some of us felt like it was taking away options for us is because in our training we usually have so much creative freedom. I feel that I am very used to working with improvisations and so perhaps when boundaries are implemented, I feel like they are limiting. However, I also believe that having a very structured choreographic process still creates good work in a very productive and efficient manner.

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The circus collaboration was something that I was heavily looking forward to because i have had an interest in circus performing arts since I was very young. I was obsessed with contortion and acrobatics and so when we started, I was very excited. I knew that it was going to be physically demanding but what I did not expect was how mentally challenging it was going to be. From the beginning, our teachers created an environment which encouraged us to work hard and try new things which I found very helpful, especially because of how scary circus partner work can be. I find that when we are in collaborative settings that involve partner work, particularly when taking part in something as potentially dangerous as circus, it’s very important to have a psychological safe space. There is a certain level of trust required amongst the group to allow people to feel confident taking risks, for example, standing on someone's shoulders for the first time.

During one of our dance science lectures, we learnt about what makes a psychologically safe environment. A list of a few examples of this could be:

“Members of the group have positive intentions to one another

Members of the group express mutual respect for each other's competence even (and especially) when mistakes are made

There is a belief that the group is safe for interpersonal risk-taking (e.g. asking for help, admitting one’s errors, or seeking feedback from others)” (Clements, 2025)

When we were learning how to do two highs (one person standing on another's shoulders), our teacher Chris Knight heavily encouraged us to talk to each other whilst practicing the lift. I find that having verbal communication of adjustments that need to be made, for example the flyer turning their feet out more or making weight placement adjustments, is essential. Aside from the people doing the lift, we would have multiple people spotting, for safety reasons, but we would also all assume a role of encouraging and pointing out things that were helpful. I could really feel that everyone acting as spotters was very invested in whoever was doing the lift. It felt very uplifting because we all wanted to see each other succeed, which made us more connected as a group. Something else I really enjoyed about the process is that it really encouraged people to step out of their comfort zone. Because of the support system we had, it made everyone who was a bit warier towards trying things feel a lot more comfortable when having everyone there for them.

However, during circus class I discovered that I am predominantly more confident with basing lifts rather than flying, which is mainly due to how tall I am. I found it very hard to trust anyone other than the instructors to lift me because most of my classmates are shorter than me. This led to me basing for most of the classes and barely ever flying. I have felt regret about this reflecting on the process because flying is something that I really wanted to be able do at the time, but I stopped myself because I didn’t feel like my classmates could lift me. Looking back, I wish I had just pushed past my fears and trusted the people around me but of course it isn’t as simple as that. “In psychology, counterfactual thinking is the tendency we have to ruminate on the past and wonder “what could have been”. It involves thinking about the “what ifs” and “if only's” as we envision what might have happened if we had taken a different path, made a different decision, or if a series of events somehow played out differently.” (https://www.facebook.com/verywell, 2023)

Reflecting upon the experience, I recognize how supportive my teachers and classmates were and that it’s okay if there were things that I was uncomfortable with trying regardless, at the time. Focusing on the possibilities of what I could have done differently is an unproductive way to review my experience and takes away from the things that I did achieve.

As the term progressed, I started to need a lot of mental resilience to be able to keep going because of how physically challenging it was on my body. Before I came to Lcds, I didn’t really have any partner work experience, so I hadn’t really had to lift anyone properly before. I had been a flyer when I was younger in a gymnastics club that I used to go to, but I never had any experience basing any sort of lifts by myself. For this reason, becoming someone that largely bases, was a massive shock to my body. I was in a lot of muscular pain most of the time, which was partially positive as I could feel how rapidly my strength was building up, but it also added a lot of pressure on the class for me. For obvious reasons, you must focus all your attention and energy towards a lift whilst it is happening for everyone's safety. If I was to take part in lifting someone on a day where my body feels shaky and tired, it puts not only myself but my partner at risk also. This is where my mental resilience came in, as dealing with the stress of having the responsibility of someone else's safety in my hands, whilst also pushing through physical exhaustion was a lot to deal with. Reflecting on this experience, I have realized how important it is to look after my body as sometimes my wellbeing can affect more people than just myself.

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Clements, L. (2025). Material details. [online] Google.com. Available at: https://classroom.google.com/c/NzAxMjU0OTM4NDMx/m/NzAxMjU0OTM4NTM3/details [Accessed 7 May 2025].

Flett, G.L. and Hewitt, P.L. (2016). The Psychology of Perfectionism in Sport, Dance and Exercise. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315661100-15/reflections-perfection-pressure-perfect-athletes-dancers-exercisers-gordon-flett-paul-hewitt.

Guest, A.H. (n.d.). Dance notation. [online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/art/dance-notation.

Heyward, A. (2015). How to Write a Dance. [online] The Paris Review. Available at: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/02/04/how-to-write-a-dance/.

https://www.facebook.com/verywell (2023). Counterfactual Thinking: Why We Dwell on What Could Have Been. [online] Verywell Mind. Available at: https://www.verywellmind.com/the-pros-and-cons-of-counterfactual-thinking-7371316.

Virtanen, N., Tiippana, K., Tervaniemi, M., Poikonen, H., Anttila, E. and Kaseva, K. (2022). Exploring body consciousness of dancers, athletes, and lightly physically active adults. Scientific Reports, 12(1). doi:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-11737-0.

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