Aesthetics and Analysis in Arts-Based Educational Research: View of a Dancer/Poet

• In Event: Aesthetics and Analysis: Method in the Practice of Arts-Based Educational Research

Abstract

The purpose of this presentation is to explore the intersection of aesthetic considerations and education research in the ABER mode. I will create a dance/poetry performance in response to an education phenomenon prompt. I will create a phenomenological account of the methods employed as I examine how aesthetic thinking creates the grounds for insights into the phenomenon. This will be used to broach a conversation within the ABER community as to method. This exploration can begin to foster a spirit of methodological exploration, in a more generalized way.

As a professional modern dancer for over 40 years, my process for making dances and writing poetry has become something which I initially consider when I begin a new piece. This “consideration” takes two non-sequential forms.

1. I “live” with the “theme” at hand for a while.
2. I think, as I begin the process of making, of all the compositional tools at my disposal. These tools include the “music of words” and motional terms (space, time, shape, narrative dynamics of an unfolding abstraction)
3. I play with materials in the Gadamerian hermeneutic sense and in the experimental sense of just trying things until something “strikes” me. I limit myself to a smallish palette and explore that limitation.
4. I trust instincts developed through study and work but these instincts can be shared with others, both conceptually and concretely. This I will do in this presentation.

As I encounter Nick’s and my prompt, it is that openness to allowing the prompt to speak to me in unforeseen ways and trusting my “instincts” that ground my practice. In this presentation I will share some of the decision moments and what occurred for me to make that decision. I hope to open up the conversation through this sharing.

Author

• Donald Blumenfeld-Jones, Arizona State University - Tempe