Midterm Performances

Now that I have had time to sit down and blog and reflect on our midterm performances I just wanted to say what a great job everyone did!  I know that we had a long talk about how much our individual assessments would be worth and we came to the conclusion that they were only participation.  But looking at how much I put down that I would pay to see these performances and what I rated everyone as I think that we really should have had it count toward everyone else's grades!  I really liked how everyone had different ideas as to what their performances were about.  Some did scenes from the Ramayana, some made up their own stories, and some made their performances more modern day related.  I admired everyone's creativity when it came to those ideas and then relaying those ideas in the form of a dance.  As always, anything having to do with reaching for the creativity in me is somewhat challenging!  I kept joking to guru that he was talking to two business oriented people.  Lizzy and I are both in the business school and I know I can't speak for her but I know for myself I am a very practical and matter of fact kind of person.  I have never been the one to come up with creative ideas or possess any artistic ability whatsoever.  But that is why I like to take these classes.  The GER 6 classes help to bring out that creative ability and make you think outside the box.  And I think that that is something that everyone should be taught and be allowed to develop at some point in their lives.

Discussing how much our individual assessment should be worth is another story I think.  People brought up different ideas and reasonings as to why we should go with their idea.  I always like to see both sides of an argument before jumping to a conclusion so first off I think it is very productive to talk these decisions out.  However, I personally didn't understand why some people did not want to have our opinions count towards everyone else's grades.  I thought it meant that it showed some sort of distrusting of each other.  We are a community, a banjar, and we are supposed to be there for one another.  From watching people rehearse during class and hearing their ideas for their performances you could tell that everyone was putting in a large amount of effort and consideration into what they wanted to convey through their dance.  And I think that as a viewer and critic I have a great respect for that.  Spending the time and energy to come up with these dances is honestly enough to make me want to give people higher scores in the first place.  I would not trash anyone or want to blatantly tell someone that their performance was bad because like I said we are a community and we are supposed to be their for one another.  And I would hope that everyone else feels the same way.  And I could see that most did.  That is why they also wanted to have our individual ratings count towards their grades.  Because they knew that we would simply praise them for their individual creativity and exploration through dance.  And I also think that is what guru was trying to tell us as well.