How Does Ethics Apply to my Inquiry Question?

Now that I've looked a little more into ethics, I want to take the time to apply these thoughts and develop them in how they relate to my inquiry. Adesola has provided me with some thoughts and questions for me to delve into on this topic.

My personal beliefs in the use of Benesh have been focused on practicality. I believe that Benesh is a system that can most accurately depict specific positions of the body in order to most effectively document and reproduce choreography. By doing this I am viewing choreography in a very objective manner. As a dancer myself I acknowledge that a large part of dance is one's personal connection with the material and one's individual portrayal of movement.

People may very well be of the opinion that in a way, I may be missing the point of dance with my aims of accurate documentation. Is my artform something that can be simply written down on paper? One could argue that the magic of dance is in a dancer's depiction of a work and that through their personalisation, the dance comes to life. My stance is that accurate knowledge of choreography serves as the foundation for what I deem to be a competent dancer. Personalisation and/or characterisation acts as the decoration on top to augment what the choreographer has created. I would argue that Benesh actually assists in keeping the 'spirit' of a dance. An example would be that looking at a corps de ballet performing, if they were to reproduce the steps too differently from each other, that could even hinder the life of a performance by looking too 'messy'.

As I'm considering these views and thoughts, the main keyword that pops into my head is 'responsibility'. As a notator, one has the responsibility to maintain a choreographer's artistic vision. Benesh allows one to record steps but not necessarily the 'feel' or tone of the piece in question. During my investigation it is important for me to acknowledge that dance notation isn't the be all and end all of entirely capturing an artistic work.

One more consideration to make is the responsibility behind re-staging an old work that may have been created before any notation was available, especially Benesh. The responsibility lies within the modern day choreographer to provide authentic choreography that would honour the memory of said piece and keep its spirit intact. This then applies to the notator to equally ensure unhindered memory of the steps and style of a dance. One example that springs to mind is Nijinsky's 'Rite of Spring'. Out of Nijinsky's four choreographies, only his first 'L'Apres-midi d'un Faune' was ever accurately preserved, and even then it was through notation of Nijinsky's own design. In order to reproduce the Rite of Spring, or 'Sacre du Printemps', the choreographer had to draw inspiration from photos, eye-witness accounts and newspaper reviews to piece together as accurate an imagining as possible.

One element of Benesh is that as 'movement' notation, when it is applied to dance, certain assumptions are made depending on the style it's being applied to. For example, if some notation depicts the dancer with the arms high above the head and it is being applied to classical ballet. One would interpret this as a 'fifth position port de bras'. Nijinsky's choreography has a very distinctive style and has certain variations on traditional ballet positions. When documenting Nijinsky's revised works it is important to remember these details to ensure as much of the original intention is preserved. This applies to any choreography from years ago and the aim of this is to not mis-represent a choreographers style, to keep the memory of their works alive for years to come!

Comparing the Professional Ethics of My Workplace with My Original Thoughts

Now that I have listed some examples of ethics from my own thoughts I'd like to compare them with codes of practice from my place of work. I felt the best examples of regulation would come from my theatre contract, so here are some points that stood out for me regarding ethics within my workplace.

Good Communication Skills

My contract considers good communication skills as a required qualification. I find this interesting because in my previous blog post I didn't really consider the idea of how I work with others. I briefly brushed on the idea that my lack of punctuality can affect my colleagues in a negative way but this is an example of actively engaging with colleagues in a positive manner. Most of my initial ideas revolved around how I am expected to behave and manage myself as an individual. I feel that communication is especially important within a theatre as so many different departments must work together to achieve the staging of a performance. As a dancer, I wouldn't be able to do what I do without the stage crew, costume department, hair and make-up department etc. Even within just the ballet company communication is key to working effectively with each other.

Another reason why communication is important is that I work at a theatre that employs professionals from all over the world! There is the immediate thought that just being able to speak the same language as someone else will help and actually it is stated in the contract that an employee must have a good command of at least one international foreign language. On top of that though is that with many nationalities, this can provide differences in cultural behavior. Being able to work alongside different individuals successfully requires openness and good communication!

Acquiring All Necessary Repetoires on Time

This is something that relates to the direction I was heading with my original thoughts as this requirement revolves around the effectiveness of the individual dancer. It is one aspect that I failed to mention though. I had mentioned how a dancer should be respectful, punctual and in dancing shape but it is also ethical as a professional to be competent at learning the choreography you will be performing. It's all very well being a good dancer but if you're not able to learn what is required of you that can be very problematic. A dancers ability to learn is part of their reliability.

More often that not, my workplace can have a very hectic schedule as each choreographer/director will be trying to find time to rehearse their respective pieces. If you have a company that can learn quickly, it can make time management far more effective and economic even. This also comes into play when for example, one dancer gets injured very close to a performance and they don't have a cover. In this situation it is vital for a new dancer stepping in to that role to be able to learn quickly enough in time to replace the injured dancer. I myself have experienced stepping in to a new role with only a matter of a day to learn all the choreography. These situations have also required me to take a video home for learning in my spare time (which is also another thing mentioned in our contract as an expectation from our employer).

Mastery of Multiple Styles

Especially as a theatre that has a dedicated dance, drama and music department. We regularly host a variety of different styles of performance. I am considered a ballet dancer but I also take part in Musicals, Modern Dance, Tap Dance and Physical Theatre. On top of all the requirements for me to be professional and competent at my work, it is also expected that I not only be diverse but also proficient in those different styles. This is something that is very dependent on where one works. For me, this makes a lot of sense as there is a plethora of differing styles of performance that my theatre puts on although for many other dancers, they may be working in an environment that only requires classical ballet or contemporary dance for example.

Creatively Open and Loyal to the Employer

This is just one small section I wished to mention quickly as it goes hand in hand with what I was saying in my last post about committing to a role/piece. There seems to be the acknowledgment that not every artist will see eye to eye but in order to run a smooth and professional working place, sometimes one must forgo any personal discrepancies. I also feel that this isn't just an artistic matter but one of respecting authority. What the director says, goes.