Referring back to personal learning plan- final

REFERRING BACK TO MY PERSONAL LEARNING PLAN- FINAL

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT MOVEMENT?
Within semester two we have explored movement at a higher level and an more in depth way. We have be looking at skeletons and the way they allow us to move and live through everyday life. When I look back on my personal learning plan I find that most of what I have aspired to has been improved upon and I feel more confident in my ability to move and perform in an appropriate way for the module. When I found out that we would be performing in Trinity square in front of the public I was nervous and excited, but I never thought that I would enjoy it as much as I did. As I have said before I used to dance a lot before I came to uni but had not done it for a little while before starting this module. This module has reminded me of the buzz I get when performing and moving in a space. It is different to other modules in which you have to perform the words given to you in a specific style. Movement has given me the ability to be expressive and learn through experience and watching my peers. I think my group has bonded well together and I truly believe that we have developed leaps and bounds since the start of the module. I have learnt more about my own capabilities and have engaged in further reading that has deepened my knowledge of what we are learning in the lessons. I have enjoyed being able to notice and explore my surroundings in a different way, whether that is listening to the sounds around me or noticing the way I breath and move. The module has helped me within my other modules as well, by helping me to calm my nerves for example and remind me how to harness my nerves and transform them into energy within performance. I feel stronger physically and mentally, something that I have desired throughout the module.
I cannot express how much I enjoyed performing in Trinity square and the feeling of accomplishment it left me with. I have enjoyed getting to know my peers as we explore the fundamentals of movement together. 
'Yes it is expressive, yes it is energetic, but we have looked a lot at improvised movement that is inspired by the music and your surroundings, not choreographed alongside it.' This is something I said in my last personal learning plan in which I was comparing my knowledge of dance to that of movement and I still believe it to be true. For me movement now has other purposes, there is so much more to it than than just moving in the space. I agree with everything I said in my last plan and the exploration has only continued to get deeper and better. I have enjoyed this module and gained a lot more from it than I initially thought possible. 

WHAT ARE MY PERCEPTIONS OF WHAT MOVEMENT WILL INVOLVE?
'Therefore my perceptions of what the module involve, is the exploration of our bodies abilities and the way in which they can move.' I quoted this last time but I think it remains relevant and was my initial perception of what movement would involve. 
Past statement-  'I have begun to get to understand my body in a deeper sense, in particular through my exploration of breath. I have enjoyed doing the outside reading and gaining greater knowledge of such elements, elements that I have never heard of before.'
As we come to the end of this module I believe that what I said above remains true. I discovered more about myself and my abilities through the exploration of movement within the session. We have continued to explore the fundamentals of movement and I now feel that I am able to apply them myself to my own movement and I often find myself linking our class work to reading I have done. My confidence has grown within performance and I hope this was visible through my performance at Trinity square. Within rehearsal I really pushed myself to enter the performance space for example even if I was the first one there. Within the second group section where we followed a leaders movement I challenged myself to break off and begin solo sections which others began to follow and if they didn't I remained confident within my actions and finished my section before rejoining the rest of the group. 
My group and I have developed in many ways and I didn't anticipate how useful movement could be in relation to establishing friendships, as you challenge yourself to work with someone new, building relationships along the way. My initial perceptions of what movement would involve were in my opinion pretty accurate, in relation to my personal experience, however alongside this I have gained greater knowledge of deeper aspects of movement and sound and improved my group performance skills.


WHAT ARE MY STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES?
I hope that within my performance the energy and commitment I gave to my movement was visible. I really felt that I gave my all to the performance at Trinity square, something that worked to increase my enjoyment of the experience. When performing I tried to really take on board the feedback that I received after the formative assessment which suggested I try to incorporate a greater aspect of fluidity within my movement. Thanks to what I have learnt within class and the reading I have done around the subject I felt that I was able to feel a full body connectivity within performance, ensuring that I was breathing appropriately to energise my entire body. I think a strength of mine is that I do try to take on board the feedback given to me and continue to improve and adjust what I am doing. I tried hard to listen to the feedback given in relation to group sections as well and use this to make my performance the best it can be.
I would like to think that I have been a good addition to the class as I have enjoyed developing my skills and abilities alongside my classmates and getting the most out of the module. If I were to do the module again I would try to make sure I was at as many of the sessions as possible as I often missed things that were important. However I have always tried to find out what I missed from one of my classmates and rectify this.
I am happy with how my blog looks and I have really tried hard to keep this up to date and write about anything outside of the lesson that was of particular interest to me. One thing that lacks slightly is my discussion of the sessions something that I would improve on if doing something like this again. I have never done a blog before so it has been a new experience for me. I enjoyed making it appealing to the eye so that it was more enjoyable to read as a whole, by adding pictures for example. If doing it again I may have chosen a different blogging site as I was unable to work out how to upload videos and as a consequence wasn't able to document anything I had watched on YouTube for example, as part of my research.
I think that my strength lies in the performance area of the course however it has been an interesting experience to document the module on a blog and was more enjoyable that keeping a log book for example.
WHAT DO I HOPE TO ACHIEVE?
I think that my knowledge of movement has improved both mentally and physically. I have enjoyed reading around the subject and learning about the fundamentals of movement rather than just performing. I have discovered a lot more about movement than I ever expected and this is something I am very happy about.
I have pushed myself to socialise with the entire group and this is something that I feel I have accomplished. The movement module has been a good way to get to know my peers which has helped in my other modules to. This is due to us experimenting and learning through movement together rather than just talking about it. I think that we performed well together in the final assessment and where able to establish a real sense of ensemble within performance. We were able to feed off one another using the energy to inspire and create interesting material.
In comparison to the start of the module I have been partaking in a lot more outside reading of my own in particular of Peggy Hackney's book Making Connections, which I have really enjoyed. By doing this reading I was able to reinstate the knowledge given to me in lesson and begin to understand the fundamentals of movement. I decided to buy this book and it is something that I will keep forever. I particularly enjoyed the section on breath and have learnt to use this through everyday life as a calming mechanism for example.
As I stated above under the last question I have really pushed myself to fully engage within rehearsal and performance and not take a back seat whilst waiting for someone to enter the performance space first. I have used my innovative to create expressive improvised dance that will hopefully will have inspired some of my classmates in the way that watching them perform has inspired me. I feel as though I have achieved what I set out to do and am pleased with the way in which I have developed as a person. 

WHAT STRATEGIES CAN I ADOPT TO ACHIEVE THESE GOALS?
(Previous statement) 'By setting these goals i feel that I am already on the path to completing them.'
This also links to the last question as I discussed what I had achieved. I have found that it is about my mental attitude within the sessions and performance and I have encouraged myself to do things I know I am capable of. I have been setting myself goals along the way in relation to my blog and the sessions and this has been an affective way of achieving what I desired. 
I am really pleased that I have been doing the reading for the module as it has increased my enjoyment of the subject as I am able to understand it in more depth and realise the true impact and power of movement. I believe that I have improved throughout this module and pushed myself to achieve the goals I discussed in my previous learning plans. By doing so it has meant that I can get the most out of the module and truly enjoy it.

HOW DO YOU IMAGINE THIS MODULE MIGHT TIE IN WITH YOUR LEARNING IN OTHER MODULES?
I was right when I said that this would tie in with my learning within the physical actor module as it helped my with exercises that involved the use of breath for example and transporting this breath to the different parts of my body. We also looked at Michael Chekhov's technique which involved experimenting with elements such as legato and staccato. Thanks to the movement module I am able to visualise this type of movement and convey this through my inner body. It also relates to our exploration of the Laban efforts within the physical actor module. The Laban efforts gives you a range of elements that you can explore through movement and then apply to my monologue. It allows you free yourself up by approaching the monologue physically and I used it to go through my monologue and the add elements I thought appropriate. The movement module helped me be able to develop motifs and gestures corresponding with each element. It has given me the confidence to find my own interpretation of each element through movement, moving around the space and improvising what instinctively comes to me. Similarly to movement we were advised to choreographed a structure and then be free with it. This is similar to our performances within movements where we are given a basic structure or piece of music and told to improvise to it. Approaching my monologue in this way has allowed me to step outside of my character and view it from another perspective, through movement.
The movement module has also helped with my nerves when performing and practicing in the other modules. I have discovered how to use breath as a calming mechanism and I can use this before performance to compose myself and prepare.
To conclude I am enjoying the movement module and the new things that I learn within the sessions and from outside reading. I feel that I have developed significantly in relation to my interpretation of the word movement and improved my level of outside research. I hope to continue to do all the things I have talked about and improve the ones that still seem slighting week. I am looking forward to whats to come. 

I decided to keep this section in from my previous plan as my response to this question remains the same, especially because the movement module was the last to finish. The movement module has helped me develop mentally and physically, which in turn worked to aid my concentrated within the other modules, in particular in relation to the performance sections as it has reminded me of the ways in which I can combat my nervous.
Overall I have truly enjoyed the movement module and as I have said it has allowed to develop and I am happy with the progress I have made within the sessions. It has inspired me to take up dance lessons next year due to this ending as I want to continue to experience the feeling I get when performing movement.