Critical Reflection Summary: Digital Portfolio

 The topic of body image is one that I have always had strong feelings about in my career. At the start of this module I looked into my own thoughts and drew on my own experiences from within my training and career. My initial questions were: why is being slim so important within my area of practice? Are you more likely to get cast if you are slim? How do we know what slim is when everybody is a different shape and size to begin with? How many dancers are dealing with eating disorders of some description? And I wonder how many dancers are genuinely happy and contented with their size and weight? I blogged these questions on 1.2.2011.

            I then started joining in with discussions with my SIG on the BAPP Facebook page.  Emily Rose began a discussion titled 'Is the world of entertainment obsessed with body image?'. From comments made in this discussion I found that many dancers' issues with food and diet began at dance school/college. Which prompted me to ask whether other dance students have experienced this? I created the discussion titled ‘Body Image and Dance School/College’ in which I asked my SIG to comment on their experiences. From their answers I questioned whether, out of the students who were told to lose weight, they were given a healthy eating plan or just told 'lose the weight’? The answers I received were mixed. Some were given help with nutrition while others were not, one girls was told to ‘lay of carbs’. So after discussing my ideas with Paula and her referring me to Dance UK’s healthy dancer program. I began to se how bad some of the advice coming from dance school was. I started asking the question are some of these teachers fit to be giving advice? And is there a need for better nutritional advice in dance schools? These questions were blogged on 10.3.2011.Some of my further questions can be found at my wikispaces account.

            After further discussions with my SIG, in particular discussions about the media’s coverage of how thin the actresses in ‘Black Swan’ were in order to convincingly play ballerinas. And also looking into how ethics work in my area of practice (a theatre) blogged about on 18.3.2011. I realised that dance schools are only a small part of the dance world as a whole and are no longer my area of practice. I still want to do some research in them but they are not going to be my main focus.

            After reading the course reader on ethics of a professional inquiry and

blogging my thoughts on it on 21.3.2011 I learned how important ethics are when carrying out any kind of research. If proper ethical considerations are not adhered to then I could lose out on important information. This made me think about how I can ensure my inquiry is ethical.

This meant that when I carried out my pilot research I knew the rules of how to ask questions that are unbiased and not leading. I also knew to keep all the research techniques anonymous. Not only did this make the research ethical, but it also made the participants answer honestly. I blogged my thoughts on each of the research techniques from 29.3.2011 – 23.4.2011. My main issue was the length of my pilot interview. I think it was too short and in my final inquiry I will think about how to change it to make sure I get the most out of it. I got my SIG involved as much as I could but mainly for the pilots I used people in my area of practice.  The literature I found useful can be found at my delicious account. Some of it is about eating disorders and body image in dance schools/companies and some is about nutrition for dancers. The articles I reviewed are on my blog. What I found interesting is that my line of inquiry is very prominent in a lot of literature yet opinions seems to differ greatly which has made me more excited to do my inquiry and find out what people think for myself.