Professional Artefact and a bit of plate spinning……………………….

I googled ‘Professional Artefact’ and the definition that came up was:  “standalone evidence of professional practice” - something that is instrumental in accomplishing an end. 

I considered my inquiry question: “Can improved health education for dancers make a positive change to the body culture and lifestyles of female dancers?”

After much consideration and discussion I have concluded my artefact will be in the form of a booklet/leaflet so it can be used as an educational tool to inform other professionals in the dance industry and which can be cheaply and easily reproduced and converted onto a web page, is visually appealing and is creatively an expression of myself.  I want it to have real purpose and be meaningful but the question was  what to do and how to present it?

This will be a real challenge as my worst enemy this term has been ‘time’ and balancing work commitments with classes, rehearsals and researching and I only have a few weeks to complete this but I think I will have to approach this like a piece of choreography.

I looked back at some notes I made at college regarding choreography for my final presentation piece that said:

“Enjoy the process of making a piece. You'll be tempted to focus only on the final result, so don't miss the satisfaction of the creative process, and the joy of dance, along the way”.

“First, ask yourself why the audience is there.  What do they want to see?  What would interest them?  Why should they like your piece?  Or even if they don't like it, how will it impact them?  (Art doesn't have to please.)  What will hold their attention at each moment?  Keep your audience in mind during every step of your design.

Why?  This helps prevent one of the most common mistakes in choreography — self-indulgence.  Many beginning choreographers approach their choreography as simply "I love to do this!," assuming that viewers will enjoy watching, as much as dancers enjoy dancing.  That's assuming too much, and your audience may quickly lose interest unless you know how to hold their attention and make it meaningful for them.

  Think big.  You may have to settle on some compromises down the road, but begin your creative process with the highest ideals.  Even plan on revolutionizing the field.  Make history.  If you don't succeed in revolutionizing the field, that's fine, but your piece will be better for aiming high.

Avoid the opposite attitude:  "Yikes, I have only a month until the show! I hope I come up with something decent before then."  That's a self-pressured attitude of avoiding failure, which is the opposite of an optimistic attitude of making history.  Either attitude will be apparent in your final work”.

I thought perhaps I can apply this approach to developing my artefact too.

How will I hold my audience and keep them interested? How will it impact?  How can it be challenging and interesting for me at the same time as being a relevant piece of research?

I think as my research has developed my inquiry I have decided that a booklet will probably be the best way to inform my main audience which is young female dancers  of college age to help them make healthier choices and improve their lifestyles and well being to enter the dance profession. I want to make it as appealing as I possibly can to that target audience whilst also being a professional, useful and relevant piece of research for a degree.

From my research it is evident that most women, in particular young girls, look at glossy magazines especially those that discuss body image and so this is how I would like my artefact to develop, so it is colourful and appealing as well as being professional and informative in its content and discussion of the inquiry question.

I looked back through my research and my blogs and asked myself what I would find interesting to read and use as a reference guide. I tried to use the psychology that if I would be attracted to use it then maybe others would too. What first attracts me to a piece of literature is the presentation and whether it’s pleasing on the eye, ie: colourful and interesting, so this is how I would like it to develop creatively. 

Aiming high? I thought this may well be in a blurb application that can be reproduced as a web page but I am also currently researching other forms of booklet applications to make it in a magazine/web page type presentation format. I believe this would be the best way of presenting my inquiry through images and text and it would be easy to read and understand and be visually appealing.

I can make it creative and colourful as a reflection of my creative self as well as informative as I have more scope to write and insert images. I can structure the booklet with titles, headings and chapters, along with illustrations, quotes and anecdotes which is the way I like to write and what I think I do well and I think this will be more interesting for my audience to read by making it more ‘real life’ based on my research and  findings. Many dancers are ‘kinetic’ learners like myself  and I want to develop the artefact to appeal to that type of learner too.

I have often felt like the person spinning plates at the circus this winter and have become perilously close to breaking a few but I am determined to achieve my objectives and complete this on time as I am still convinced that this is an important piece of research and can help young dancers make informed, healthy life choices in a very competitive and fickle profession and will plug a gap that I think is missing in the vocational process.  

I’m going to start piecing together some work that I have written previously and collecting some images to make a start on my booklet and continue to research the best way to present it.

Things I need to think about for my artefact:

• ·         Explain my inquiry
• ·         Discuss my inquiry
• ·         Analyse and report on my research and data
• ·         Discuss what I have discovered
• ·         Critically reflect on the findings
• ·         Conclude my inquiry and summarise
• ·         References/bibliography

Here I go …………………………………..    let the plate spinning commence