searcher. In my first real ethnographic experience, I was unsure of how to gain the trust of the people I was researching. I was afraid of seeming like a false friend if I created relationships with the people I was researching, then used our conversations for the benefit of this research. I kept thinking of relationships in binary terms, the binary being the cold, impersonal, self-benefiting researcher and the warm, friendly, selfless friend. Due to this concern, for the first month of class I did not share with anyone other than the instructor that I was going to be doing research, and I used that period of time to create relationships before I began this research. I found that as soon as I shared my research goals and informed them that I would be using all observations and con- versations from the class in the research, the dancers were excited. Regardless, I continued to feel nervous and uncomfortable. Of course, I had to address my worries and realize that the two roles did not have to be opposing binaries, but rather could complement each other.
Another challenge presented in this research involved obtaining full participation from all members of the dance class. There are few members of the class, and several either declined to participate or approached me excited to participate but never followed through. Another difficul- ty encountered with the participants was scheduling the interviews. Due to complicated work and school schedules, members of the class would come and go, and finding a place to meet proved difficult. One student in the class has already had to change to private classes because of her work schedule and another student drove several hours to the dance school every Saturday from Athens, Georgia before leaving the class entirely mid-way through this research. I employed me- thods other than face-to-face interviews with some of the participants, such as interviews through e-mail and over the phone. The e-mail interviews proved especially arduous as they spanned weeks in order to continue with follow-up questions and further probing. With the help of some creative scheduling, I was able to break up interviews into small chunks of fifteen minutes or so
over a couple weeks during one participant’s lunch break at work, without compromising the time of her break.
There are two main limitations that I found in this research. For one, I could only focus on one flamenco school in particular, even though there are several in Atlanta. I would have en- joyed the opportunity to participate in several flamenco schools and get a wider population of dancers to work with and observe; however, in order to do so, I would have needed to enroll in the schools to allow myself the necessary amount of time with those people. Since the classes are relatively expensive, I was not able to participate as widely as I would have liked; however, I am confident that the group of individuals from the dance school with which I worked is sufficient. The flamenco community is interconnected, with our instructor (as a principal organizer of the online community) being at the center of the interconnectedness. Both she and the dance students interact with other members of the community at events. The other limitation to my study is that of time. Classes are held only once a week and while that will be acceptable exposure I would have preferred to have had more extended exposure and time with the group of people I was studying. However, as the flamenco community extends beyond this research period timeline, I anticipate continuing flamenco dance studies, and I am open to the possibility that I will be able to conduct more research over a longer period of time with more in-depth exposure in the future.
Despite some challenges and limitations, when I began this research there were certain strengths that contributed to the work on this research. Those strengths include my prior know- ledge of flamenco, the open atmosphere of the dance school and the non-invasiveness of this study. Since I am already familiar with much about flamenco culture and I have taken flamenco dance classes before in Spain, I felt comfortable enough in class to be able to observe the other students and take mental notes on the dynamics of the class, rather than being focused solely on
myself and my own movements. The prior knowledge allowed me to take my attention away from me and give it to the other students, since I would not be concerned with how I looked or how I was moving. Also my prior knowledge allowed me to assist other students who struggled, and it gave me an opportunity to create a more personal relationship with those particular people. The atmosphere of the dance studio was also beneficial for this research, because it allowed people to feel comfortable and created a level of trust where dancers could share their own expe- riences and talk about their lives. The opportunity to participate in certain self-disclosure creates bonds with the other students. It encouraged more openness in our conversations, which carried through to the interviews. Last but not least, the non-invasiveness of the research was also an ad- vantage because, even though the interviews have the possibility of bringing up sensitive topics with people about their identities, it is research about people, and about flamenco. It allows the students to talk about themselves and something that they love to participate in, and the risk for harm is low.