The Search for the Operatic: Bridging the Gap Between the Spectatorial and Performer Positions Through Sketch-making and Embodiment Techniques

The exhibition was of sketches and a photograph from my PhD practice research. The practice-research was comprised of observing opera singers in rehearsal and sketching them as they moved. As well as records of body position, and to some degree dynamic flow, the exhibited sketches were regarded as kinaesthetic responses in and of themselves – responses to the environment of the rehearsal, in particular responding to the sounds of the orchestra. These sketches were, in part, generated through an embodiment of the music, which was occurring in the same moment as the singer was engaged in embodying the music. These sketches were then used as tools that therefore contained kinaesthetic information which could be unlocked through a process of Butoh derived embodiment techniques alongside reference to the sketched image. This ultimately allowed me to move from a spectatorial position to a performance maker position, bringing a sense of the operatic into the non-singing body, whether that was my own or the bodies of other performers. In this way, and combined with rigorous observation of the corporeal restrictions of singing operatically, choreographies were created that employed operatic ways of moving in non-singing bodies and the operatic was extracted from opera and employed in movement based practice. The aspect of the practice-research exhibited is the correspondence between sketched documentation of the singers in rehearsal and photographic documentation of the dancer (researcher) in performance.

Exercise Prescription for Patients with Non-specific Chronic Low Back Pain: a Qualitative Exploration of Decision Making in Physiotherapy Practice

Background: Providing an effective exercise prescription process for patients with non-specific chronic low back pain (NSCLBP) is a challenging task. Emerging research has indicated that partnership in care and shared decision making are important for people with NSCLBP and calls for further investigation into the approaches used to prescribe exercise. Objective: To explore how shared decision making and patient partnership are addressed by physiotherapists in the process of exercise prescription for patients with NSCLBP. Design: A qualitative study using a philosophical hermeneutic approach. Methods: Eight physiotherapists were each observed on three occasions undertaking their usual clinical activities (total n=24 observations). They conducted brief interviews after each observation and a later in depth semi-structured interview. Iterative hermeneutic strategies were used to interpret the texts and identify the characteristics and processes of exercise prescription for patients with NSCLBP. Findings: The findings revealed how physiotherapy practice often resulted in unequal possibilities for patient participation which were in turn linked to the physiotherapists? assumptions about the patients, clinical orientation, cognitive and decision making processes. Three linked themes emerged: (1) I want them to exercise, (2) Which exercise? - the tension between evidence and everyday practice and (3) Compliance-orientated more than concordance based. Conclusions: This research, by focusing on a patient-centred approach, makes an important contribution to the body of evidence relating to the management of NSCLBP. It challenges physiotherapists to critically appraise their approaches to the prescription of exercise therapy in order to improve outcomes for these patients.