1.3 Outlining the Structure

In this section, I discuss how the concept of assemblages functions as a key conceptual tool in shaping this commentary. The commentary is structured as a Storyboard choreography that reflects the framework of my dance pedagogical practice. Finally, I delineate the six interconnected segments and propose practical guidelines for engaging with the work.

1.3.1 Assembling the Thesis as a Storyboard

The concept of assemblages, as introduced by Deleuze and Guattari (1987), serves as a central lens that has enhanced my understanding of the organisation of bodies, matter, and diverse agential forces in dance pedagogy and research. Similarly, the content of this commentary can be understood as an assemblage of pedagogy, practice, and philosophy that materialises through a multimodal assemblage of text, sound, video, photography, and drawing, where audiovisual materials are not supplementary but embedded within and inseparable from the written text, functioning as equal agencies. In this way, the agential voice becomes distributed, as expressions ‘do not “belong” to individuals, but to an assemblage of becomings’ (Jackson and Mazzei 2023, 12). Deleuze and Guattari (1987, 3) reflect this idea of multiplicity in their description of their own writing process: ‘Since each of us was several, there was already quite a crowd.’ Similarly, although the name Tuire Colliander appears alone on the cover of this thesis, this work emerged from multiple encounters among numerous agencies—thinkers, bodies, histories, communities, institutions, and materialities—that collectively constitute the conditions under which this text was written (Jackson and Mazzei 2023).

I strive to present the research as a dynamic and relational experience, respecting the heterogeneous nature of knowledge production. I do this, for instance, by embedding a rich variety of multimodal working diary entries, which I refer to as research stories. These stories situate the research within its context and convey the flows and intensities that shaped the processes of knowledge production, making visible the entanglement of the mundane, taken-for-granted aspects of everyday life with my research process.

My aim is to share the events and becomings of this research in ways that, despite my inevitably partial perspective, acknowledge its inherent complexity and honour the multiplicity it embodies, deliberately resisting fixed conclusions or closure. This is an approach that foregrounds qualities such as incompleteness, messiness, and situatedness, in alignment with my intra-active, posthuman, and postqualitative theoretical, artistic, and methodological framework. As the research was conducted through dance, it is important to offer opportunities for embodied engagement by inviting the reader to engage in brief, movement-based explorations within the text, in the sections ‘Tuning-in’ to Intra-active Early Childhood Dance Pedagogies and ‘Reflecting’ through Discussion and Openings.

Structurally, this commentary unfolds through six segments, based on the Storyboard Method, which constitutes one of the central practical findings of this research. Using this approach, choreography develops as ideas for dance activities are mapped onto a pre-drawn grid, supplemented with symbols or words as necessary. Each storyboard segment in this thesis constitutes an assemblage of an academic focus and my artistic-pedagogical dance practices. I narrate the research process through the stages of an opening circle of mutual encounter, progressing through phases of preparatory movement and shared exploration, and culminating in a reflective re-encounter during the final circle.

1.3.2 Navigating the Work

Outlining the Pieces of the Storyboard

In Introducing in the ‘Opening Circle’, I introduce this work by situating it at the intersection of early childhood dance education, artistic and postqualitative research, and an intra-active pedagogical orientation embedded in agential realist and posthuman theorising. I also outline the commentary’s structure and invite the reader into this work.

In ‘Tuning-in’ to Intra-active Early Childhood Dance Pedagogies, I present the theoretical framework of my study. I outline how intra-active theory and relational perspectives inform and underpin the research. Furthermore, I discuss the ethico-onto-epistemological grounding and assemblage thinking that guide my approach to inquiry as a response-able and emergent practice of dancing–teaching–researching, whereby agency is understood as relational and inclusive of more/other-than-human dimensions.

In ‘Warming Up’ with Methodology, I situate this research within the landscape of artistic research and in dialogue with postqualitative and posthuman methodologies. I conceptualise artistic research as a process of translation and articulate my methods of inquiry, introducing pedagogical documentation as research data alongside the diverse formats of research material that were created, encountered, and collected during the process. I then outline my approach to diffractive reading as an analytical method for engaging with the research materials and discuss how embedding the concept of play within the research supports the creative and improvisatory qualities of dancing–teaching–researching. Finally, I describe how research ethics are enacted as relational practice throughout the research process and specify the ethical considerations involved in working with and researching with children.

In ‘Exploring’ during Fieldwork, I re-turn to the practical phase of the study, conducted in a Helsinki City daycare centre. I describe my practical research approaches, deep hanging out and generous research, both of which aim to cultivate an ethical and relational mode of being-with during research. I narrate the fieldwork through research propositions rather than traditional research questions, thereby disrupting linearity and challenging separations between theory and practice.

‘Sharing’ in the Pre-Examined Artistic Component Käännöksiä – Transpositions entails my narration of theartistic–pedagogical event, which I position as a dis/continuation of the Fieldwork. I approach this work through the concept of translation and analyse the event diffractively, drawing on pedagogical documentation and relevant theoretical texts.

In ‘Reflecting’ through Discussion and Openings, I present the study’s main contributions as the openings that emerged through the process of diffractive reading. These include the dancing–drawing assemblages and my conceptualisation of intra-active dance pedagogy as a practice of dancing-with. Finally, I examine the possibilities and future directions arising from this research and offer a critical reflection on the overall process.