Capstone Essential Questions and Key DataFinal draft

Please use the boxes provided to insert your responses:

Name:
Leila E
Project #:
1

Your projects essential question:

How can the field of dance be nurtured in order to survive long-term and to provide
sustainable careers for dancers and others working in dance?

Your projects primary research question:

How can we as members of the community contribute to ballet in a way that careers in
ballet become viable occupations for others in the future and how can ballet reach more
people so that it survives for future generations to pursue and enjoy?
More Specific To Boston Community:
How can members of the Boston community (BLS/BPS, even more specifically) and Boston
Ballet engage and interact in a way that more members of the community are exposed and
able to enjoy ballet with the company still being able to maintain financial security for the
well-being of its dancers?
What if you combined these as indicated in boldfaced red below? We think that the two
questions are good but could be combined. Your project could focus on Boston and
BLS/BPS/Boston Ballet but the essential research question places that study in context.
How can members of a community and ballet companies engage and interact so that
more members of the community are exposed to and able to enjoy ballet while the
companies are able to be sustainable and support the careers of their dancers?

Your projects secondary research questions:

General Question:
Is ballet [as a discipline/a profession] dying?
Life as a Ballet Dancer:
What are the obstacles in pursuing a career in ballet?
What is it like living as a ballet dancer?
Do dancers ever consider their audience? Or do they desire a broader range of audience
members?
How do they feel/do they care how people perceive ballet?

Prospective Students:
How many of City Dance kids continue ballet through the school?
Have they ever seen a ballet?
What do they think of when they hear the word ballet?
How much would they pay to see a ballet? How much do they pay to see a movie?
What is the most recent/relevant thing that has a connection to ballet that youve seen or
done?,
Audience Perspective:
Have students ever been intrigued in ballet? Why? Why not? Whats stopping them?
Who goes to see the ballet? What percentage of the audience is students? adults?
What is the economic background of the audience?
Are there economic obstacles that hinder students (specifically highschool / college
students) from seeing ballets?
Would students be interested in seeing the ballet?
Financial Perspective:
What will the financial cost of allowing/encouraging more students who possibly can not
afford to start ballet/watch the ballet?
Can a plan be formed to solve this cost?
Future of Ballet:
What will be needed to be done in ballet in order broaden the scope and range of audience
members?
Will the perceptions of ballet change?
What can be done to create an understanding and appreciation for ballet?
What can I do to interconnect the community and the ballet world together so that they are
mutually supportive and integrating?

A concise description of your project:

I want to become the intermediary, the person who connects the general public, not only the
people who can afford or who have preference of seeing ballets, but everyone with the
ballet world. I wanted to get a two sided view on the ballet: from the artists themselves and
from the audience and general public.
You need to insert: I want to focus on the Boston Ballet within the Boston Public
Schools/Boston Latin School/Boston community.
I would interview a wide variety of the general public (age, race, economic class, gender). I
would ask them questions that I think may have influence on their perception and exposure
to ballet.
With that information, I would want to transition into a sort of montage/ day in the life of a
ballet dancer. I would want to show the contrast of peoples perception [pre-conceived
notions] of what ballet is by documenting the pain, tiresomeness, stress, athleticism, etc. of
ballet. I would be hoping that these aspects of ballet would come as a shock or realization

to the members watching the documentary.

After getting background information from both sides of the story, I would want to pose to
the audience a question such as have I changed what your perception of ballet is?.How
would you do this? Would you show them the footage you shot? How would you measure
their responses? More importantly for both the ballet world and the public: What can the
ballet world do to be more welcoming and what can the public do to be more supportive?
so would you address that in a discussion post screening of the documentary montage?
In the end, I hope to initiate a program with BPS, BLS or another youth program that allows
more students to take ballet classes and see ballets: a plan that for every program that the
ballet does have a day of reduced ticket pricing so that students who cant afford the regular
prices can buy these tickets or have a day for BPS students to attend a show in each
programs for free.
Why does your project matter? How does it make a significant contribution to our
body of knowledge? (1-3 sentences)
There is a disconnect between the world of ballet and reality. This project will not only show
the effort and beauty of the arts, but it will demonstrate the lack of knowledge of ballet and
the communitys need of enrichment. This project will hopefully initiate the bridging of the
two worlds and in the end create a stronger relation between the two.
Well, what you are doing is:
1. Educating the general public about the rigor and complexity of ballet and
performance.
2. Dispelling many of the pre-conceived notions that people have about ballet.
3. Making ballet more accessible to the general public.
All are absolutely good reasons that this project matters. You may want to state these more
clearly in the why does this project matter section. Right now, what you have here is too
general and doesnt really capture the significant, noble effort that you are pursuing.

(Notes For Myself)

ABT has a program called Project Plie (says it has connected with several ballet
companies to diversify each respective company/school population)
Boston Ballet
Boys & Girls club program directors
City Dance managers
Talk to Misty Copeland, soloist at ABT working to broaden spectrum of ballet into the
community with Boys & Girls Club
50 Congress Street. Suite 730 Boston, MA 02109. (617) 994-4700
info@bgcb.org
Boston Ballet Taking Steps talladin@bostonballet.org
Boston Ballet City Dance
ycassell@bostonballet.org
Leila--

Most of our feedback is embedded above. We think that the project needs to be spelled out
more clearly, as does the why does it matter.
From Ms. McKenna: she thinks you are in a good place with the project. She did some brief
research about the Boston Ballet and its outreach program and found that it appears that
they do have things in place to help stimulate young peoples interest in performing arts. Is
it working? What schools do they partner with? Is their partnership sustainble? You may
want to talk to students in the program and get their perspective. All good suggestions
from Ms. McKenna.
In addition, Ms. McKenna suggested, If/when you talk to a ballet dancer, how will you
structure your questions so that you make your audience say, Whoa, I have to listen to to
this! You have so many good ideas, but I caution you not to get stuck in your own nicheYou are trying to get the general public interested in ballet, and it might be a
challenge. Picture your complete opposite- How would you capture that person into
believing what you say is worth it?
BSO Community Outreach- Is a WONDERFUL program that reaches TONS!
Keep plugging on this. This project is worth it. We look forward to seeing more clarity in the
first version of the research proposal.
Mr M and Ms. F