New technologies used in the teaching and learning of ballet and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic : A qualitative analysis of students’ evaluation and experience

Details

Supervisors

De Cock, Sylvie

Faculty

Faculté de philosophie, arts et lettres

Degree label

Master [120] en communication multilingue, à finalité spécialisée: langues des affaires

Abstract

Throughout this dissertation I have been guided by two main research questions, namely: Would the five new technologies presented in chapter one be welcomed in Belgian dance schools according to the students themselves? And what were the most negative and positive consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown? New technologies are becoming more and more important and prominent in our society. A few decades ago, who would have thought that classical dance could be taught using virtual reality or an avatar? As these new technologies are being used increasingly in the world of ballet, I decided to explore them. I chose to work on five of them, which are already well known and widespread in the world of dance, i.e., the Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE), Virtual Reality (VR), VideoTrace, DiViDU and DanceForms. The first chapter of this master thesis describes the functioning of each of these technologies. One of the aims of this thesis was to find out whether these technologies would be accepted and used by Belgian students. Three students who train at a professional ballet school participated in my research. Through individual interviews with each of these three students, I was able to gather their opinions and determine whether they would like to work with the help of these new technologies or not. At the beginning of my dissertation, the coronavirus pandemic disrupted my plans. Conducting interviews in person was, for example, no longer possible. Since Covid-19 has had a huge impact worldwide and on education, including on dance education, I wanted to dedicate a chapter to it. The third chapter of my master thesis therefore focuses on the impact that Covid-19 has had on the world of dance and what negative or positive consequences it has had. In order to understand the real impact of the virus on dancers, I decided to continue working with the three Belgian students who participated in the interviews for the second chapter. Through targeted questionnaires, I was able to understand how the pandemic affected them and what the consequences, in terms of their academic career but also their private life, were. But in order to get a more global view, I also asked a classical dance teacher and a director of a renowned Belgian school to answer some questions individually. Thanks to the interviews and questionnaires used within the framework of my study, I was able to provide an answer to the two research questions that guided me throughout the two years of the master’s degree.