The Questions we are exploring - Looking for Feedback

Hello Fellow MAPP-ers, 

I am looking for feedback and discussion regarding my ideas, my process, to find my "Question" for Module two. 

I want to do something with Dance for Life. I feel very passionate about the fact dance, and the arts, give us so many tools to use no matter where our life journey takes us. I see the education curriculum being steered away from the arts, especially here in Alberta, and feel compelled to investigate and understand the benefits of the transferable skills learned in the dance studio. To understand how our years of dancing benefit us throughout our lifetime, even after some leave it behind to pursue other interests.  There is a desire within me to explore what is learned in arts education, and perhaps share the findings to assist future generations to be able to experience the arts, specifically dance, in school. I perceive this curriculum change as limiting children's participation in the arts and perhaps limiting it to the privileged few who can pay for extracurricular activities to experience the benefits of their chosen art. I love helping students connect themes into corrections and seeing them grow. Undertaking embodied ways of knowing. I love talking about how some of those corrections (e.g. postural, self-care, kinesthetic and breath awareness) can all be used outside of the studio to help them cope with stress, soreness from other activities, use dance as a way to be present, and form bonds with people they are being vulnerable with, sometimes learning the delicate ways in which we can support, or tear down, each other. Not to mention dedication, perseverance, problem-solving skills, and the ability to self-critique and collaborate. 

I have found research on transferrable skills for professional dancers moving out of performing; how the arts complements academic learning; how it is proven to enhance brain health; how it is being used to enhance cancer treatment recovery; support those with various disabilities to feel empowered, or those with Parkinson's to help functional mobility. 

I want to be more Brene Brown-ish in this - look into and contemplate the many gifts, life skills, tools, dance offers. How dance can fill our toolbox with skills that can take us forward into life. I see so many students drop out of dance to get 'real jobs' as the value of dance is still not widely accepted. I want to dive deeper into how dance training has enhanced or benefited or hindered the lives of my colleagues, fellow performers, teachers, and others who were dancers, maybe still identify as dancers, and may be pursuing other interests. In a way, be an advocate for the art I love, share the findings to help parents and students understand the benefits of dance participation.

I want to investigate the skills we learn in dance, talk to former students who have moved on, colleagues who teach, former studio-mates who have veered off onto other paths, and ask what they took from their time in the studio that helped them on their path.  Organize the data to see what is perceived or known by them.

My fears - I am doing exactly what we are not supposed to. I am trying to prove something I already feel to be valuable. Is it is too wide or broad of an area to explore? Using the analogy from our last zoom discussion - I contemplate if is this considered a manageable slice of the cake. I would love to interview and hear what people feel is applicable or not in dance. I will have to carefully create interview questions that allow for open dialogue and a flow of experience/idea sharing as opposed to guiding/directing questions. 

My question of exploration could be one of the following:

• "What life skills does dance offer to its participants?" 
• "Transferable skills: what does dance teach us about life outside the studio?" 
• "What do we learn as students of dance that is transferable outside of the studio?" 
• "What are the benefits of a dance education when we move beyond the studio?"

Your discussion is welcomed. 

With Gratitude, Sheahan