Journal 11: Time Travel

This week I finally got an email back from Laurie Ewart regarding a time to interview her. Yet it was unsuccessful news because it is the busiest time of the year in the dance world, competition season. With this news, I needed to research new ways to incorporate a personal connection into my mini documentary. With this research most ways were an interview but I noticed it wasn’t always someone who was the direct primary source. This is when my next idea was to interview my mom. I made this choice over interviewing someone like Mrs. Kretz in my later years of dance because when I was younger I am unfamiliar with my progress and who I was as a dancer. My mother was there through every practice and performance to watch me and see my development each week. I believe gaining this knowledge will help me achieve my overall objective in this project by reflecting on who I was opposed to who I am now on stage. I will be able to identify challenges and obstacles I have conquered in order to get to where I am today. My two next steps for this were to alter my original questions for Laurie to be in proper context for my mom and to research techniques used during interviews. I think that it is important for me to adjust my questions to my mom to make sure they are all directed at answers she can provide to get as much information as possible. Having this information is crucial so I can develop my understanding of who I was as a dancer when I was younger and reflect on how those moments shaped who I am today. Additionally I believe researching techniques from other interviews are significant to my success of the overall interview because this is my first time conducting something like this. Since interviews are new to me, gaining expertise from others who have more knowledge on the do's and don't when interviewing will help guide me while asking my questions to be effectively getting my information.

---

Original Questions for Laurie listed below:

1) What city and dance studio did you grow up in as a child?

2) What inspired you to become a dance teacher and how long have you been teaching?

3) Were there any obstacles when opening up your own studio?

4) What is your most memorable moment(s) with having me as a student in your classes?

5) If you could describe teaching me in 3 words what would they be?

6) What challenges did I have as a dancer or did you have teaching me as a child?

7) If you had to choose one of the most memorable dances you taught me, which dance would it be?

8) How has the studio evolved from when I was a child to the children taking dance classes now?

9) What were my biggest strengths and weakness' as a dancer?

10) What is your favourite part of being a dance teacher?

---

My NEW Modified Interview Questions for my mother listed below:

1) What inspired you to want me to dance?

2) What made you enrol me into Laurie Ewart’s Danceworks Studio?

3) Were there any obstacles getting me to want to go to dance when I was younger?

4) What is your most memorable moment(s) watching me practice? What would your most memorable moment be watching me perform on stage?

5) If you could describe me as a dancer in 3 words what would they be?

6) What challenges did I have as a dancer?

7) If you had to choose one of the most memorable dances you watched that I was in, which dance would it be?

8) How did I evolve as a dancer as the studio evolved?

9) What were my biggest strengths and weakness' as a dancer?

10) What is your favourite part of being a dance mom?

---

Tips To Conduct an Interview:

To gain the most amount of knowledge possible on what to do for my interview I researched a list of do's and don't from "Interview DOs and DON'Ts." | Career Services. Web.2016. This website interview advice was aimed at hiring people for jobs however I still feel like it was significant information that will help me. I then used this as an example to create my own tips for when interviewing my mother.