Where I Stand

Following this week's twilight Skype talk we spoke a lot about perspective and the importance of people sharing their different views. This is something I have really been thinking about since, particularly within my professional practice.

Adesola created some rules within the Skype session. We were not allowed to say 'thank you' after some one spoke, we were not allowed to follow a comment with 'I totally agree with you' but were encouraged to develop the thought further and discuss our view on it. We were also encouraged to try and speak within the Skype session twice.

I will be completely honest, and say when these rules were explained I was very confused as to why they had been enforced. One thought was whether this was a 'housekeeping' rule to ensure that conversation covered and satisfied the varying ranges of people over all modules on the call. It was only as the conversation developed I began to see how these rules changed the way that I thought about comments. It challenged me to think further about what was being discussed and look at it in relation to my own experiences and perspectives.

Encouraging everyone to speak filled the talk with more experience and varying perspectives as there were more people feeding into the conversation.

I've always been slightly conscious in life that if 'disagree' with someone that it may offend or upset them. But I feel I am beginning to learn that I am not disagreeing, but instead sharing my perspective and experiences to hopefully further develop ideas, not dissimilar to the nature of the twilight skype session.

Within my inquiry topic of gender and how it manifests in theatre and performing arts, I am hearing and reading a very large variety of perspectives from different backgrounds, cultures and view points. The experience of this week's Skype session has really redefined to me the importance of not only listening into all of those perspectives and giving them opportunity and space to be heard within my inquiry, but also to look at where I stand in relation to their views and how this challenges my perspective.

Photo source; http://www.sott.net/image/s15/303673/full/earthing_feet_grass.jpg