module 2 initial rough thoughts

 Throughout the past 2 weeks I have read through the handbook, brainstormed some very vague ideas for the topic of my future enquiry, and have read the first few chapters of 'Doing your Research Project' By Judith Bell and Stephen Waters (highly recommend this book), along with beginning reading the Kortext book for this module. This module is definitely over-whelming especially with the amount of literature required to read and the increase in workload, and I found it difficult to put down various ideas, but here are my initial thoughts.

 Some vague ideas for topics for my enquiry are:

- How nutrition and exercise/ movement can impact our mental health

this could flow into social views/ diet culture/ how it can impact performers going from being employed and active to being not/ how being this active can impact both the body and mind and what people feel like helps/ the 'ideal' diet

- perfectionism and how this can affect dancers/ performers becoming the best artist that they can be

(The notion of 'perfect' weighed heavily on me throughout full time technical dance training. I feel it is an important time to learn the foundations of movement for safety, strength an aesthetics that can help to carry an artist throughout their career. However, upon reflection throughout the various lockdowns in the UK, I have begun to realise that my inner perfectionist tendencies, actually hindered my artist and creative growth as an artist, causing a decrease in self-esteem and a struggle to see/ apricate the progress already made. Whilst I am grateful for the technique and artistry I have gained throughout the experience, it wasn't until attending classes in a less pressured environment, have I been able to be a little less fixated on striving for perfect aesthetic, technique and strength- increasing my confidence/ self-esteem to be free and experimental with performance and creativity.) 

- pressure and dealing with it as a professional could also be an interesting topic to explore, both in and out of work and how it can impact an artists work and mental health/ how they view themselves.

(social media, finances, reputation, job availability etc. can be external sources. Self expectation could also be a source of pressure and stress, even if no external source is present.)

- communication and is it /is it not important for artists to be creative or have a good career?

(Upon reflecting on the past year of having little in-person contact with friends and family I think it is interesting to notice how this has impacted motivation and mental wellbeing, which in turn affected training, progression of artistry.   Looking into this could help me to understand how important contact and collaboration is along with mental health and coping mechanisms)

- mindset in different professional situations (auditions, rehearsals, shows)

(Under this, it could be interesting to instead focus on one situation, like professional training lessons or auditions, and see what people have noticed helped them succeed/ crumble/ what their mindset was/ self belief?)

-it could also be interesting to just look at confidence/ how artists see themselves

(what could be hindering their performance progress, which interlinks with perfectionism) 

However, with all these I am unsure whether they are too broad for the 12 week research time period or too narrow that I won't get many results when exploring them. I will further explore and research around each of these and other topics, as I am still unsure what topic would be the most beneficial in regards to progressing my practice. However, I am leaning more towards pressure or perfectionism.

I would love to hear what your opinions/ views/ comments/ experiences linked to these possible ideas are!