Lessons learnt from dancing the data : performed research of beginning teachers' experiences

This paper discusses the power of performed research. Such power lies in assisting to research the whole human – thought, action, and emotion. The paper discusses the potential for research through the arts in the development of creativity and imagination, to facilitate social change, and to explore performance as a research process as well as an end result that presents findings. The experiences of Bagley and Cancienne (2001); (2002) guided the creation of the work, and assist to frame this paper. The dance work discussed in this paper is a recent addition to the performed research work ‘The First Time’. The dance work was crafted to bring together the comparable experiences of first year teacher participants, and similarities among the findings of research into their identity. The creation of ‘The First Time’ was employed as a tool to understand and analyse the data. The dance work was employed to highlight findings regarding beginning teachers’ transition to teaching. This paper explores the process of creating and presenting arts-based research to expand the avenues through which the results of research are made available to a relevant audience; of how this method might broaden and complement traditional ways of thinking about and doing educational research.