Lewin's 'Spiral Steps' Technique...

I used Lewin’s ‘Spiral-Steps’ technique to look at an experience I have had lately. I have been working on choreographing a piece for our Christmas Show…

1.	Cycle of Ideas I think that this is truly an essential stage in any learning experience because it is the beginning of an idea…where it all starts and stems from. It is the foundation of an experience – so it must be strong!	Right now I am working on a piece of choreography for our Christmas Show here onboard. I decided that I wanted to create an emotive piece about love, and how the holidays bring everyone together. Especially onboard the ship where we’re all away from our loved ones, this unites us as one - we encourage and support each other during this special time. I did consider an upbeat piece of choreography – something fun and festive. But upon deliberation I felt that a deeper, more meaningful piece would be more effective in capturing my vision. I believe that the theatre is a very special place where we can all come together- dance is a language with no boundaries, everyone can watch a piece, understand it, and feel something. That is what I want to achieve with my Christmas choreography this year. Taking the time to think deeply about my idea; what I want to create and why, is so important because when I start choreographing and creating I have a clear vision.
2.	Fact Finding/Planning/Research This is the chance to collect all of the information I will need to support my idea. Making sure that I have all of the tools necessary to carry out the idea successfully. This is also the fun part, getting to play around with the different routes that my idea could take me in. I feel that in this stage it is important to ask opinions of those around me, see whether they like the music, or if they have any suggestions on costumes etc. Using their opinions to support my creative idea.	I started off with the creative side of things – looking at music, and really spending time searching for something that will really inspire the choreography and show off my vision. The music is a huge aspect and could really make or break the piece. I decided on ‘Ave Maria’ by Beyonce. It’s a beautiful song that I think is perfect for the emotions I am trying to create and share with the audience. We also have a female singer in the cast who’s voice is perfect for this song - I know will be able to sing it charmingly, creating the exact emotion I am going for. There were other options but this one just felt right. I then looked at the practical side of things. Taking time to check out the stage to understand how much space we have to dance. Considering whether I want a music track or whether I should ask the onboard musicians to play onstage with us.  I decided on the music track because I want my female singer and the choreography to be the main focus. I then had to brainstorm the costumes. I know that I want them to be white and for the lighting to have a very warm feel. But I am still deciding on what footwear the dancers will use. Once I decide on the choreography I am sure it will become apparent what footwear will be most feasible.
3.	Action This is the doing part of the experience. Actually taking the idea and making it a reality.	I spent time in the studio playing around with choreography. I first came up with a dance break that will be the core of the routine and will be danced to the chorus of the song. Then I worked on a partner work section that an adagio couple will lead. The style of the choreography is contemporary which I love because it leaves room for my dancers to interpret the steps and make them their own – telling their own story that contributes to my overall vision. I then spent time teaching this choreography to my dancers and trying things out onstage with them to figure out transitions, entrances/exits onto the stage etc. I ran the piece multiple times to prepare for the dress/tech rehearsal of the Christmas show. The piece came together nicely and I was really pleased with how it looked.
4.	Evaluation This is the chance to look back and see how to improve. Looking at parts that may be unnatural and can be fixed but also not forgetting to point out the positive, effective parts too. Not just evaluating myself but having others give feedback too.	My onboard managers came to watch the dress tech rehearsal and it was also filmed so that I could have the opportunity to watch it back. Overall I felt really pleased with the energy and emotion that the cast brought to my piece. There is a section towards the end that my manager noticed was a little clunky. The transition from the partner work section to the final dance break doesn’t flow as smoothly as it should. I hadn’t noticed this before but it was good to get a new set of eyes on the piece and I agreed with his feedback. I also spent time speaking with the dancers to see how the canvas dance shoes worked out. They said it made the stage a little slippery. I thought from watching the recording that the lighting and backdrop were perfect, I felt very proud of how it had come together. My managers agreed and it felt good to get that positive feedback. I think my female singer could start the song off a little softer to really make the piece grow in intensity and have that strong finish.
5.	Planning As creative practitioners we never stop. We are constantly challenging things, challenging ourselves, seeing what we can do better and how we can improve.	I took time looking at the feedback from the dress tech rehearsal to see how I could improve on the piece ready for the show. I tried the dancers out in bare feet and this worked so much better. It was less slippery for them whilst they were dancing and I also liked how it looked with the costumes. I spent time working though some of the transitions to make them smoother. I tried out different things until I found what was right – it just seemed to click and I am really pleased with how it all seems so natural and real and not over choreographed. It is exactly the look I was going for. I spent time working with my female singer to get the change of intensity just right so that it grows as the piece develops. She didn’t seems to understand what I was wanting at first but we really put time in and I think it is going to be great.
6.	Action This is what happens moving forward, as a result of this creative process. How will I continue to move forward and grow?	My dancers performed this piece last week in the opening. I was so proud of them and how they came together. They really felt the piece and I could feel the emotional energy building in the audience just s I had hoped. I now want to challenge myself and work on a more upbeat piece of choreography. Maybe an all male number full of tricks and jumps to really show off what my male dancers can do and capture the Christmas spirit. I have learnt that I tend to go for slower, contemporary pieces, and I want to push myself out of my comfort zone and try something new.

I have found this technique extremely useful in putting reflective thought into practice to better understand an experience, and outline how to move forward in order to continue my development. Noticing what stage I am at in the spiral steps makes it easier to move forward in the right direction.

I have learnt that my practice is an ongoing experience of challenges, achievements, developments, realizations and of course learning. The creative practitioner never stops! I have found it especially useful to focus on the feedback section of these steps…using this feedback to inspire me to keep pushing, growing and making things better.

Discovering my practice and my preferred styles of reflection...

As a manager I feel as though I am always assessing others and reflecting on their professional performance, and I do not spend enough time focusing on myself or reflecting on my own professional practice. This module has been great in making me realize how beneficial reflection is and how taking a small amount of time each day to write a journal can make a huge difference in the development of myself in my practice, and consequently in my career. 

I have always thought that I was a dedicated person - very focused on my career and aiming for the top. I want to progress successfully and I thought that putting 100% effort into my practice each day would be the way to get me there. Always dancing full-out on stage, arriving early to ensure that I am fully warmed up and staying late to cool down and look after my body. But I have come to realize that this is not enough, because the physical side of dance is only one part of my practice. At first glance, my practice is mostly physical. Dancing is of course an active job and many wouldn’t think that dance has an academic side. But focusing on the written side of my practice, documenting experiences, challenges, ideas, is what will help me to develop and be a step above. I have been staying within the safe comfort zone and not pushing myself past this to explore what more I can do to be the professional that I want to be. What other parts of my profession can I explore and learn from? I think that generally I am aware of when I make a bad decision, when something goes wrong or when I have come across something that is new to me. But I have never thought to write down and document these things. It was something that I never knew could be so helpful in growing within my practice. I was narrow minded and didn’t see that my practice can be more than just dancing. I need to take time to realize when I have had an experience that is something that I can learn something from. I need to look back on how I have handled a situation and think about how I can do it better next time. Thinking about these things and having them written down to be able to look back on, compare and share is something that I am excited to get stuck into and something that I am sure I will see great results from.

I have been working professionally within my practice for the last 5 years. Just because I haven’t documented my progress does not mean that I am the same performer now that I was when I started. I haven’t stayed in once place, I have definitely grown and become a more experienced, knowledgeable professional. But I think that I could have grown a lot more if I had focused on reflecting. Seeing the things that I need to look into further and spend more time working on - being more aware of my strengths and my weaknesses so that I am working on relevant areas of my practice rather than focusing on my favorite aspects. Looking at what I need so that I can organize my growth and development in a beneficial and thought out way.

I think it is very important to explore learning and work on understanding myself as a professional and how I learn. If I know what I need from a learning opportunity, then I can put myself in ideal situations where I know I will get the most out of them. But if I don’t know this then I can spend too much time in situations that aren’t as useful to my learning style, or to my practice.

For example…I know that I prefer reflecting in-action. It is something that I do naturally, every day in my practice. As the company manager within my cast I cannot just focus on myself and my performance, I need to look at everyone else, the technical aspects of the show, the audience reaction. My brain is constantly processing multiple things at once and figuring out ways to improve things, help cast members should someone become injured, find a way around a technical-glitch that may affect the show. I simultaneously do this whilst performing myself and I feel as though my brain works best ‘online’. In other aspects of my practice when I need to work ‘offline’ - looking back at a video of the show, breaking down choreography for the cast to give them notes, spending time making a rehearsal schedule -  I have found that I tend to second guess myself, over think things and find problems where there really isn’t a problem at all. I have found that because working ‘offline’ doesn’t come so naturally to me I utilize the help of others around me by asking for their opinions and advice on certain situations. I think this shows that I do know my weaknesses and I always try to improve on them. My profession has definitely had a huge impact on the way I think and reflect and why I naturally prefer reflecting in-action. If my practice involved more down-time, working in an office for example, I would have more experience in reflecting on-action - taking time to analyze ideas and decisions. But due to the nature of my practice, reflecting in-action is definitely something that comes more natural. I plan to work on combining the two…reflecting in-action and then writing about this in my journal and looking deeper into it as I reflect on-action. I think that this will help me to develop different reflection skills and hopefully learn more from my experiences.

Before working through this module I knew that I made better decisions in the moment and that when I took the time to analyze and plan I really struggled. But I didn’t understand the difference between the two. I found Donald Schon’s idea of reflecting in-action vs. reflecting on-action helped me to distinguish between two different reflecting styles and therefore help me to understand why I find one style easier than the other. And Robert Kottcamp’s development of this by adding the idea of reflecting ‘online’ and ‘offline’ is a very visual description for me and something that I can easily picture and relate to.

As a professional I think that is very important to be versatile and have the ability to adapt to different situations. I think that within my practice this is something that makes me employable as a performer. Being open minded and able to work in many different atmospheres and situations is so important for me. It is good to know what I need to be able to perform at my best, however it is also good to be able to make the most of situations that may not be an ideal learning/work environment for me.

I am still exploring my practice; what it is, what this means for me, and how I can develop further. As I look deeper into reflection and start linking it to my own practice I am learning a lot about myself as a professional and how I can continue to grow.