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About Me!
About Me!
Hey! I’m Katie G and like the rest of the people in this class, I am also a freshman. I’ve lived in Darien my whole life but my second home is the Darien Arts Center. I have been dancing ballet there since I was three and this is my fourth year in their company. While I mostly focus on ballet, I also dance some jazz and contemporary. I love activism and think it’s very important, especially for my generation, to help others and stand up for what's right. Additionally I have always loved writing and making stories ever since I was little. That is why my project was born!
What is my project?
What is my project?
For my project I plan to write a series of biographies all together in one large book documenting the lives and struggles of dancers who face in discrimination. I will be focusing on discrimination because of race, body type and gender. Additionally there will be some small parts of the book that tell my experiences, why this discrimination is happening, other facts about it and what we can do about it. I think this is an important topic to focus on because it is not taught about that often. Without education about it, there will no way to fix it. Not only does this project embody what I love but it also will help make the world a better place.
My Mentor
My Mentor
My mentor's name is Louise Foerster. She has a bachelor's degree in English and has some published pieces of writing. She will help me figure out how my planning and writing process will work. I also will need her help to learn how to organize my research. Her daughter danced when she was younger so she has some background in dance.
Final PRoject Video
Final PRoject Video
Zoom: The Dark Side of DanceReflection
Reflection
This project was a very, very cool experience. I learned so much about discrimination in dance, a lot of the stuff I did not know before. It's so cool to know that now I can talk confidently about this topic and feel like an expert. Besides the obvious stuff about my topic, I also learned a lot about managing my own time. It was difficult at first, but I had to learn how to set my own deadlines. I am usually very used to teachers setting deadlines so this was very different. I also had to make my own rubric and set my own expectations. I have never written a book of this length, this genre, or without a rubric given by a teacher. I loved this aspect of it because my book would always be good according to me, not anyone else. My involvement in the decorations committee for Achievers' Night also taught me how to organize groups of people to work together.
My advice for rising 9th graders is to pick something that combines everything YOU love. It is not worth it to pick something someone else likes or something that's easy. Not only is it worth it at the moment, but it's also worth it after. I now have all this information about something I'm genuinely interested in and I have a book to show for it. Having something very cool that you can show off at the end makes you feel very special. I also highly suggest setting deadlines for yourself, especially in the last few months of the project. Its very helpful to relieve stress over the project.
Work in progress Presentation #3
Work in progress Presentation #3
My third mini-goal included a lot of writing. After months of research, I finally started the writing process. First I created an outline for the book and then I wrote the book in the order from the outline. The book has A LOT of information and has a very personal tone to it. It came out to be 25 pages long and I finished it just before the deadline for Mini-Goal #3 and it is in no shape to be read yet, I am still very excited to share it with everyone.
What is Mini Goal #4
What is Mini Goal #4
My 4th mini goal is to cite all of my sources. I am using an application called Noodle Tools to do this. After I do this I plan to revise my book and read through it many times. I also plan to have some of my friends and family read the book to help me revise it and make it the bets it can be. I will also be adding pictures to my book which means I will also have to cite my sources for those pictures. Towards the deadline I plan to just read the book over and over and over again.
Work in progress Presentation #2
Work in progress Presentation #2
For my second mini-goal, I completed more research, except this time it was much more specific. I started by narrowing down and choosing 4 dancers: Misty Copeland, Raven Wilkinson, Kathryn Morgan, and Alexandra Danilova. I planned to do 6 but I could not find enough research about male dancers that face gender discrimination. I researched A LOT of different sources and also chose my mentor (see above). Some of the main things I learned that surprised me is that Raven Wilkinson encountered the KKK and Misty Copeland was the only black dancer at ABT in a group of 80 dancers. Overall I feel ready to plan and write my book, I also have backup sources that I can research if needed.
What is Mini Goal #3?
What is Mini Goal #3?
My 3rd mini goal is to plan and then write my book. At the moment my plan is to make a table of contents of my book at first. This table of contents should include an introduction, small nonfiction chapters, a chapter for each dancer, more nonfiction chapters, and then a conclusion. If time permits I may add an opinion article towards the end of the book. Next I will write my book in the order of the plan I make, I think writing it in order is important because then I can know what the reader does or does not know.
Work in progress Presentation #1
Work in progress Presentation #1
For my first mini goal I began my preliminary research. Before I begin to research specific people for my project I needed to get a better understanding about discrimination in dance. My goal was to research the cause of the discrimination, how this discrimination happens, what we can do to stop it and other basic information. My mini goal changed over time due to the fact that when completing my basic research I found many people who I could possibly write about. This was supposed to be part of my second mini goal but it became part of of the first one. When completing my research I learned many new facts such as how eating disorders are a large part of the dance community. I also learned that there are ballet classes specifically for men. One of the most shocking facts is that black dancers sometimes have to "white-up" themselves using makeup. Overall I learned a lot about the topic and found some amazing people along the way.
What Mini-Goal #2?
What Mini-Goal #2?
My second mini goal is to choose and research the dancers for my biographies. This means that I should research their lives through dance and just their normal lives as well. Many of the dancers have websites, YouTube videos, Instagram accounts about them, I will use these for my research.
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