My artefact was something I had been so confident about, right from the very start: something I would often get excited about having been inspired by something somebody had produced about the England Tap Team's journey to the IDO World Tap Championships... I was going to produce a documentary.
Within this documentary, my interviews with some of the world's leading tap dancers, teachers and training students of today. Within this I would include excerpts of classes I had observed and demonstrations from teachers and students incorporating the elements I had explored throughout my inquiry, however, this was not to be the case.
Having been kept on a certain timeframe, due to the constraints of my trip to the US, I unfortunately did everything at the last minute... including my preparations of release forms. Whilst I had had them set out for a long time, I had forgotten to send them off with the added condition of using images, and had to send these over to be verified just before I left. I also managed to time my trip really well, it fell right into the middle of the university's holiday. Here I am, emailing my tutor on her holiday, hoping and prying that she may see my message and answer. Thankfully, she did!
I had already started my interviews by this point, so I had to leave out the part about the images being used. Unfortunately, I had gotten a fair way into my interviews by this point and decided that my artefact needed to be changed. How could I present the information I had collated? How could I make something that felt as personable as the documentary I had first intended to make? My time in America was something very special to me, and I felt very privileged that the people who spoke to me, took time out of their busy schedules and spoke to me!
I decided to make a book, or at least the start of one.
There's something prestigious about a book. Your story, bound in pages, with a start, an end, and something in between, and you'll always have something to show, hard evidence that you have achieved something. This is where I would display all of my work and present it in a way that would appeal to teachers and dancers alike. I didn't think much more on this until this past weekend, when I realised that this was not realistic within the current time constraints. Actually, regardless of the time constraints, this wasn't really a practical way to present my work at all!
A book, as I said, has a start, an end, and something in between... but it has an end. I have decided that I want to create something that is easily accessible by all: a book has to be written, published, produced and then bought to get into the hands of your intended audience. It is also very hard to be taken to the exact point you need without a bookmark. I have decided I want to create something that will be ongoing, something that people can add to, something to which people can share their thoughts and ideas: something in which to create a community, a community which currently does not seem to have a place yet in the UK.
I think I have an idea of what I wish to do, but any ideas anyone?
