Just a quick update to let my readers know that I received a rejection letter today regarding fieldwork at the ballet company I applied to. It is back to the drawing board. I need to consider if I am willing to try this with another company. There are others in Australia and there are any number of overseas companies that I could consider. Do you have any thoughts on the matter? Is anyone reading willing to suggest this to their company? If so, contact me and we will chat. For now, I will start finding out a bit more about some other companies.
UPDATE: Mike Barnes – Fieldwork Proposal document.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: My circumstances have changed with plans for fieldwork hitting a wall. Please see this later post.
Hi Mike,
Are you looking for a company of a particular size? Classical or Contemporary or both? One with an international reputation or not? What about working with dancers that are independent agents, would that get you the info you need?
Hi Renee,
Thank you for your response. Good questions. Firstly I am interested in classical ballet companies. However, contemporary is not out of the question. What is important is that they have a large enough size (maybe over 20 full-time dancers approx.) to enable a valuable ethnographic research to take place with fieldwork of about four to six (max) months duration full-time. An international reputation is not something I have thought about. However, the dancers of such a company would presumably gain experience suitable for overseas appointments. I don’t think independent agents would work unless they were a cohesive unit of dancers that could be observed working together on a very regular basis but I am open to ideas in this regard.
cheers… Mike
Hi Mike,
I was wondering if you might need assistance with your research at some point. I have a PhD in Health Psychology and my dissertation research was related to dancers and disordered eating issues. My undergraduate degree was in Anthropology, and I find your background and interests to be similar to mine.
Best regards,
Alice
Hi Alice,
I am sorry it has taken me so long to reply to your comment but I have been in a bit of a slow patch with my research. At the moment, the idea of doing fieldwork has hit a wall so my progress is very slow and only involves contact through social media and email which is far from what is needed. Like you, I find your background and interests to be very compatible and will keep you in mind if something more concrete eventuates with my research. Thanks for the offer, cheers… Mike
Thanks for your reply, Mike. I understand how painstaking research can be, but please let me know if you need any assistance with this in the future.
Best of luck!
Alice