I created a questionnaire to collect both quantitative and qualitative data from my Grade 6/7 ballet students and have chosen to leave ballet within this year 2010 to join the hip-hop class. The same questionnaire was then given to my current grade 6/7 classical ballet students. The questionnaire was completed anonymously at the end of the class to ensure a truthful response. The open ended qualitative questions at the end of the survey will allow the students to write on a more personal basis.
Hip hop and ballet students who completed the questionnaire had a varied level of experience in ballet, studying ballet once weekly. Some of the students sampled, have taken examinations at my school for a number of years with results varying from pass to distinction. All students have shown continuous improvement between examinations reflected in improving examination results year after year. Other students in the sample prefer not to take examinations and have been studying ballet as a form of exercise and enjoyment. Some sample students have only been at the school a few months coming from other dance schools in the area studying a different syllabus.
This questionnaire is a perfect opportunity to identify their learning needs, preferred learning styles and task preferences in class. This will enable my teaching to become inclusive by using differentiation to allow the less and more able to remain motivated and focussed throughout the class, focussing on confidence issues with their peers and teacher. The first part of the questionnaire is about their history in dance, by asking their history i am hoping to ascertain what sparked their initial interest in ballet so that I can use the positive association and motivating factor to reignite Interest. Alternatively it may identify that the interest was perhaps not their own but that of a friend or parent, thus explaining dwindling interest. This may identify for me if lack of motivation is due to my teaching or a general lack of genuine self-motivation in ballet.
The questionnaire takes a holistic approach to reviewing the content and context of the class from start to finish, exploring learning styles, comfort, quality teaching, learning and feedback. Three methods of research were selected to triangulate the results and give the validity. The focus group with twelve female students from the ballet class and twelve female students who had previously been in my ballet class but now only continued with Hip Hop. The process of selection was unnecessary as these were my focus as the research is highly personalised to my context. The idea that action research ‘attempts to explain the ‘big consequences of little things’’ (Phelps & Hase, 2002, Educational action Research, Vol 10:3, pg. 507) really appealed to me in my research as it was highly personal. I taught both classes and as such had access to the pupils in both styles and could relate their finding to my knowledge of my own teaching.
Ballet training is said to be the foundation for almost all types of dance, it was the first style of dance that was formalized. Ballet is a style of dance that engenders body awareness in the student, basic alignment and fine honed control that ballet requires. Ballet can be translated to other dance forms giving the student a head start. In ballet a dancer learns very precise movements and positions, when the student takes other styles of dance, he or she has a good enough understanding of alignment and movement and musculature that can learn easily be transformed to a new style of dance more easily like hip hop, but this style of dance still have basics in common with ballet, and most teachers and performers in any style have studied some ballet.
I carried out the same 1hour workshop for my ballet students and my hip hop students; the aim of the workshop was to recognise their thoughts and understanding of ballet in group and class discussion. I am hoping by the end of the workshop students will have a clear knowledge of the career advantages, benefits in ballet for example stamina, alignment and artistry, looking at famous celebrities who are known for their singing/dance such as pussy cat dolls Kimberley Wyatt, Victoria Beckham and Cheryl Cole and the similarities between ballet and hip hop regarding to core stability and alignment. I did this by looking at dvd footage with the rest of the group showing New york city Ballet Work out dvd and Pineapple studios Master class Ultimate Street dvd, In the hope of a better understanding that even if you are never going to be the next Darcy Bussel you can still have a career, maybe not in ballet itself but in other dance genre.
I started the workshop by putting the twelve students into groups of three and asking them to brainstorm “what do you think ballet is” by analysing their results looking at the frequency that certain words that appear and identifying a trend in both groups. I am hoping to find that students at the beginning of the workshop are unaware about the benefits in ballet but by the end of the workshop I am hoping to see that student’s perception and understanding has widened by asking the same question “what do you think ballet is” and eyeballing the data again to identify the frequent words. During the workshop we looked at body images of ballet and hip hop dancers this was in the hope to explain that regardless to their shape or size the importance laid in flexibility, strength, stamina and confidence, I did this with the group as a whole to instigate a debate in the class.
Findings
Appendix 1 shows the questions used in the questionnaire which was given to students. The context questions 1-3 of the survey revealed the majority of the pupils surveyed had been with me for three years plus and the ones that had joined the school within this time frame had joined due to the reputation of the school in terms of examination results and the school’s annual show. The ballet focus group revealed their initial interest was image, whereas the hip hop focus group showed that their initial interest was partially image and partially fun in equal measure queston 4 This finding interested me because it revealed that the students in ballet where more focused towards a career in that art form alone, in contrast to the hip hop students whose motivations were more focused towards a dance career in any genre (Question 8).
Another area of interest sprung from Question 5 relating to other dance genres studied in their curriculum at the school. Of the Hip Hop focus group (all of which previously studied ballet) none of these pupils now continued to study ballet but do other more commercial forms of dance (e.g. Musical Theatre and Modern). This supports the earlier finding that the Hip Hop focus groups interest in the genre of ballet had passed. I had initially assumes it was a cost issue, students could not afford to do both ballet and hip hop, but this question (5) showed me that some were still studying multiple genres. With this assumption quashed I had to look to other factors and it was becoming apparent that culturally popular dance forms among the youth were winning out in favour of the classic genre of ballet because the perhaps this ‘MTV generation’ saw it as more enjoyable and viable for their career prospects.
Other assumptions I made about the formal uniform of ballet being unpopular and hampering ballet numbers was proven accurate as the Hip Hop focus group, did not enjoy the uniform and the ballet interest group were mixed in their response. This could be interpreted as a response that shows the cultural aspects of hip hop, again provided by the image of MTV and various hip hop dance films had infiltrated the student’s consciousness and given them an ideas of what the hip hop dance should be like, which does not appear to be formal. The ballet focus groups mixed response shows that these ideas are part of youth cultural and body consciousness is perhaps an important factor in this specific age range as they develop.
Question 9, 18 and 19 related to my teaching. The response on these questions was largely positive saying that the atmosphere of the class, the pace and maintaining motivation was good. I objectively looked at these responses with my critical friend because I was worried the pupils had responded positively because they knew I would read the survey. My critical friend pointed out to me that I had made the survey anonymous to combat this and that the pupils had been honest in their responses to the other questions. I felt I could trust this data partially as other questions were showing me more interesting avenues to follow, but I was aware my long term motivating of the hip hop group must have needed development otherwise they would still be in ballet. I then began to think about the language I was using in the ballet class, I refer to the students as ballerinas which I was assuming that this is their inspiration although they study ballet they may not want to be a ballerina. Ballet vocabulary is a technical language which may be the reason students are finding ballet less enjoyable and changing to a less technical focussed class such as hip hop.
This was perhaps then reflected again in student’s response to the music of the ballet class. Question 12 showed that hip hop students were fully engaged with the context and style of the music genre used, which came as no surprise as hip hop and R&B are the largest growing music genres of the 21st century. The ballet focus group responses were very mixed showing they were not enjoying the classical genre but they were sticking with the classes. This then looks at a much bigger cultural question which in another cycle of research I would enjoy exploring. The area looks at the students world views perhaps it is that certain students see the long term benefits of the ballet education and its abilities to open doors long term whereas the hip hop students are perhaps looking to narrowly at the immediate future and narrowing their field of expertise. This is a dance and wider educational philosophy that I need to address within my teaching at the dance school.
Question 16 and 17 talked about how pupils felt in demonstration in front of their peers and working on self-assessment. Hip hop pupils responses revealed that they were comfortable with each other and the idea of performing in demonstration. Whereas the ballet focus group were mixed in their response and when showing work to peers the majority said they were nervous and had worries about being wrong. This could reveal numerous interpretations relating to body image, confidence and self-esteem. One area I had failed to consider however was to be highlighted to me in my workshop.
Appendix 1
1. How long have you studied ballet?
Please circle:
0-6 months 6-12months 1-2years 3+
2. How long have you been studying ballet at The Michelle Moss School of Dance?
Please circle:
0-6 months 6-12months 1-2years 3+
3. If you have studied ballet at another dance school prior to this one what made you join The Michelle Moss School of Dance?
Please use space below:
4. What was your initial interest in ballet?
Please circle one of the below:
Came with friends Fun Fitness Image Encouraged by parents
If other please state:
5. What other dance genres do you study?
Please circle below:
Ballet Tap Hip-Hop Modern Musical Theatre
6. If you have circled the above.
Please give a brief explanation about why you choose to study that discipline.
7. ‘I enjoy wearing my ballet uniform’
Please circle as appropriate: Strongly disagree Disagree Neither agree nor disagree Agree Strongly Agree
8. Why do you continue to attend The Michelle Moss School of Dance?
Please circle one of the below:
Fun Career Fitness To attain a higher level of training/qualification
If other please state:
9. What do you think ballet is?
Please comment below:
10. On a scale of 1-5 (1 being unwelcome and 5 feeling very welcome).
How welcome do you feel within the class by the teacher?
Please circle one of the below:
1 2 3 4 5
11. On a scale of 1-5 (1 being the lowest in confidence). How confident do you feel within the class with your peers
Please circle one of the below:
1 2 3 4 5
12. ‘ The warm up of the is class is motivating’
Please circle as appropriate:
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither agree nor disagree Agree Strongly Agree
13. On a scale 1-5 (5 being Really liked) Did you like the music used?
Please circle one of the below:
1 2 3 4 5
14. What aspects of the class did you find most beneficial?
Please circle one of the below:
Partner work Corner work individual work in the centre
15. Please give a brief explanation about why you chose the above answer.
16. What else would you have liked to have seen being used in class?
Please circle one of the below:
Help Cards DVD format (showing spotting and alignment) Movement demonstrations Verbal Recap
If other please state:
17. How did you feel when the teacher introduced individual demonstration
Please circle one of the below:
Very Nervous Nervous neither Nervous or not Confident Very Confident
18. During self-assessment did you feel confident to do this?
Please circle one below:
Very uneasy uneasy Neither Confident nor not Confident Very Confident
19. ‘The teacher maintained the attention and motivation of your learning throughout’
Please circle one of the below:
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither Agree nor Disagree Agree Strongly Agree
20. How did you feel about the Pace of class?
Please circle one of the below:
Too quick to Understand Just right Too slow
Please use this space below to comment on any area that has not been covered by the questionnaire, which you would like to add.