I've thought long and hard about this potential problem and wondered if by writing a quick blog post about it, some others might see it and have some helpful opinions.
When constructing my Award Specialism Title Form I asked for my title to be in "Dance Physiotherapy". Now I know what you're all thinking and I know, I'm not a physiotherapist, but having the word "Physiotherapist" in my title is very important to me as it is the area that I wish to pursue not only for a potential MSC, but for my career after dance.
I wonder, what do others think? Should I be allowed "Physiotherapy" in my title? Is there another title that seems more appropriate?
All of my interviews, surveys, literature, research, inquiry.. everything is based around physiotherapy and its affect on dancers. By having a very keen interest in this subject and deliberately focusing all of my time and research power towards it, I don't think it is degrading or insulting to the profession for me to have it in my title, after-all.. It is the field I wish to pursue in the future.
I guess all I can do is sit and wait for an outcome
Hope everyone is doing well and got all of their forms and drafts in?
Good luck to everyone
Wednesday 30 November 2016
Monday 14 November 2016
Professional Ethics.. What have I learnt?
After reading and re-reading the Professional Ethics paragraphs in my reader I have started to piece together personal ethics, professional ethics and employer expectation ethics.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, dancers ethics are a little on the grey side of things. I discussed where our hands have to go and what attire is deemed ethically and professionally appropriate, but as I delve a little deeper I can start to touch on ethics which apply more strictly to my own topic of physiotherapy within my profession inquiry.
So what have I learnt? Whilst reading through the reader I came across a paragraph written about professional norms and how they have developed their own ethics. Dancers definitely have a set of ethical norms but rarely are these norms challenged. Recently in my workplace they were though. We currently have an outside choreographer working with us on a piece that will be premiered in March. The style of the piece is Street Jazz/Hip Hop. Already when seeing the cast sheet and researching into the choreographers previous works I knew this would be a problem.. and here in lies my ethical dilemma. As a professional and someone who takes great pride in their work I want to perform his choreography to the best of my ability but doing so will endanger my body greatly. Is disappointing my boss by refusing to dance dangerous steps unethical? Should I just take the risk and hope for the best? We are (as stated in our official employment contract) Classical Ballet Dancers in our company. The steps he is asking us to do are those that would be done by a street dancer. Within just five days of rehearsals, four dancers are already injured.
This ties in with physiotherapy in my own dance company. By not having an on-sight fully qualified professional physiotherapist, injuries have occurred. If we did have one, would it be ethical for him/her to step in and raise awareness about the concern of dangerous steps? Would it be taken more seriously coming from someone qualified/ more experienced? What I'm learning is that dancers need to have a stricter ethical stand point on our own bodies and choreography that could endanger that. Most of the time people are injuries are because they are expected to just "get on with it" or "suck it up". Then I delved a little deeper, would others feel ethically right about voicing concern? It's this concept of "right and wrong" that surrounds ethics that I am trying to distinguish within my own working environment. Reading through the reader and doing these tasks is definitely helping me understand the ethics within my company.
When understanding the ethics when conducting my own questions within my inquiry, I will have to take many things into account. Confidentiality being a big factor. What happens between physiotherapist and dancer during a treatment session is under the same roof as a doctors confidentiality agreement (something I learnt whilst reading through the Reader material). Fair analysis of information obtained is another huge part that will play in my inquiry. It would be very easy for me to "cherry pick" information that would support my claims, but it is ethical to take both sides of any story into account to make a fair inquiry.
After discussing with different members of my SIG group I will now start to prepare drafts of my Ethical Release Form and my Employer Support Form with special attention focused on the ethical dimension of them. As discussed above, I have a lot of ethical situations to take into consideration whilst in my preparation phase that will tie in closely with my future inquiry.
Wednesday 9 November 2016
Codes of practice
As some of you may or may not know, fellow BAPP colleague Ben Roomes and I work in the same professional ballet company so this post might be quite similar to his. I spoke at length before about my own personal ethics when it comes to my working environment but in this blog I'm going to discuss the ethics from the other side of the fence, looking at it from my works perspective. My only solid point of reference which ties those two together is my personal contract that I have signed and is what legally binds me to my work.. sounds a little ominous when you think about it.
The largest paragraph in my contract is the "Content of Work". A particular example of something I have always done but had forgotten it was a contractual obligation is "independently master the repertoire on the basis of video materials". It is a common understanding amongst dancers that if there is material that has been previously created in earlier years or on another company that you learn it before hand, but I was unaware this was written in our contract.
Another point that I wanted to touch on was something I discovered whilst looking through the very small print of my contract, "Employee is obliged to notify the employer at least 3 months beforehand of any private life matters which have an effect on the Employers repertoire". As this is all it says, it leaves me with a few questions. Death? Emergencies? These are not things that can be predicted or known 3 months prior. Our Theater has always been accommodating with illness or family emergencies but it does seem unnerving that they do in fact have the power to contractually cause issues. This seems like an ethical problem to me
Requirements of myself as a dancer base a lot around what I wrote in my previous blog post. Being punctual, not being intoxicated, professionalism and honesty are all written into our contract. One thing I didn't know but makes sense that is written in our contract is "a good command of at least one international foreign language". As English is my mother tongue I never really think about it as it is known as the international language of the world but for other dancers from other countries, it is an important aspect, as all of our rehearsals are taught in English. "Acquiring all necessary repertoires on time" is another common understanding but frames an ethical understanding also. It is respectful to not only your workplace but your other colleagues to come prepared to a rehearsal regardless if you have to work in your own time for it using video footage or not. It stipulates in our contract that we are to have a "higher or secondary choreographic education". This is not what I would assume as dancers are not required anywhere else in their work place or in the contract to choreograph any material. It actually states a few paragraphs later that we are employed specifically as a "Ballet Dancer".
Overall there have been a few surprises whilst reading through my contract. A few assumptions that I have as a professional are stipulated specifically in the contract but a few surprises came up whilst reading about private life matters. Do these apply to anybody elses contracts at work? I'm sure teachers have much stricter rules and requirements? Would like to hear some feedback and thought from others.
The largest paragraph in my contract is the "Content of Work". A particular example of something I have always done but had forgotten it was a contractual obligation is "independently master the repertoire on the basis of video materials". It is a common understanding amongst dancers that if there is material that has been previously created in earlier years or on another company that you learn it before hand, but I was unaware this was written in our contract.
Another point that I wanted to touch on was something I discovered whilst looking through the very small print of my contract, "Employee is obliged to notify the employer at least 3 months beforehand of any private life matters which have an effect on the Employers repertoire". As this is all it says, it leaves me with a few questions. Death? Emergencies? These are not things that can be predicted or known 3 months prior. Our Theater has always been accommodating with illness or family emergencies but it does seem unnerving that they do in fact have the power to contractually cause issues. This seems like an ethical problem to me
Requirements of myself as a dancer base a lot around what I wrote in my previous blog post. Being punctual, not being intoxicated, professionalism and honesty are all written into our contract. One thing I didn't know but makes sense that is written in our contract is "a good command of at least one international foreign language". As English is my mother tongue I never really think about it as it is known as the international language of the world but for other dancers from other countries, it is an important aspect, as all of our rehearsals are taught in English. "Acquiring all necessary repertoires on time" is another common understanding but frames an ethical understanding also. It is respectful to not only your workplace but your other colleagues to come prepared to a rehearsal regardless if you have to work in your own time for it using video footage or not. It stipulates in our contract that we are to have a "higher or secondary choreographic education". This is not what I would assume as dancers are not required anywhere else in their work place or in the contract to choreograph any material. It actually states a few paragraphs later that we are employed specifically as a "Ballet Dancer".
Overall there have been a few surprises whilst reading through my contract. A few assumptions that I have as a professional are stipulated specifically in the contract but a few surprises came up whilst reading about private life matters. Do these apply to anybody elses contracts at work? I'm sure teachers have much stricter rules and requirements? Would like to hear some feedback and thought from others.
Tuesday 1 November 2016
First Tuesday of the month Skype call..
I thought I would just write a quick blog post after coming off of Skype with Paula.
I feel like maybe I've been looking at this all wrong. Ok, well maybe not ALL wrong, but definitely not from the perspective that I should have been. As my interest and questions are all focused around physiotherapy within a dance company I have managed to pigeon hole my mind set into thinking like a physiotherapist, and not as a professional dancer, which is what I am. I had become so fixated on almost a scientific/medical approach to my questions that it was only when Paula opened my eyes to a different approach that I started to understand properly the angle that I need to look at my questions.
This inquiry is about "learning research". Learning, that's where I think I started to look at this wrong. In my everyday life, if someone approaches me with a question, I like to have an answer but in this instance I'm not supposed to have an answer yet. The inquiry and research IS the learning. Maybe some of you are reading this thinking "well.. obviously" but honestly it has only properly sunk in to my brain now. I have been trying so hard to think of these questions and research like I am already a professional physiotherapist which isn't right and is actually hindering my learning on this BAPP course.
It was only when I gave an example to Paula of how a specific physiotherapy situation within my dance company effected me, that I realized how I should be approaching my research and questions.
I think that I'm on the right lines and am excited to continue with my work but I just wanted to put my thoughts on paper for myself and also, so that maybe if someone else is reading this who is in the same situation, that they have the same mini epiphany that I did.
I feel like maybe I've been looking at this all wrong. Ok, well maybe not ALL wrong, but definitely not from the perspective that I should have been. As my interest and questions are all focused around physiotherapy within a dance company I have managed to pigeon hole my mind set into thinking like a physiotherapist, and not as a professional dancer, which is what I am. I had become so fixated on almost a scientific/medical approach to my questions that it was only when Paula opened my eyes to a different approach that I started to understand properly the angle that I need to look at my questions.
It was only when I gave an example to Paula of how a specific physiotherapy situation within my dance company effected me, that I realized how I should be approaching my research and questions.
I think that I'm on the right lines and am excited to continue with my work but I just wanted to put my thoughts on paper for myself and also, so that maybe if someone else is reading this who is in the same situation, that they have the same mini epiphany that I did.
Monday 24 October 2016
Ethics in my place of work..
My best example of this is physical contact. I know many of my fellow colleagues on this course are teachers and must have very strict rules on what is "appropriate" contact with students and what isn't. Dancers in a professional ballet company on the other hand, don't really have those rules. Because so much of a male dancers career relies on being able to partner female dancers efficiently from all areas of their body, there will be times where you have your hands in places that don't seem appropriate to people who aren't dancers. This is just part of our job.
Another good example of differing ethics is professional work attire. Most office jobs require you to wear smart suit like clothing, dance teachers are usually required to wear at least a t-shirt representing the school/organisation they work for. My work attire for example ranges from full one piece dance leotard to a Ramones t-shirt with pajama shorts. For dancers (especially female dancers) the less worn on the body the better. That way ballet masters can see the lines of your body and male dance partners have an easier time partnering and lifting women. A pet peeve for many male ballet dancers is partnering girls who insist on wearing massive amounts of baggy clothing as it is much more difficult to grip, lift and maneuver the dancer.
Personal preparation and responsibility is the biggest ethical task of my day because it encompasses so many different aspects. It is my responsibility to have my body prepared for the days rehearsals or show to be able to dance to the best of my ability and to not injure myself unnecessarily. It is my responsibility to know the choreography that I am meant to as to not waste the companies time nor endanger who ever else I am on stage with. As my body is my profession and without it I don't have one, self maintenance is such an important part of my daily work schedule. Everything down to making sure I eat right, sleep enough and wear appropriate clothes.
Something that I really love about my profession is what I mentioned above, my body is my job. I know that in some workplaces people can run into some ethical problems when others will try for example to take credit for someone else's work, in my profession that is impossible. You get as much as you give and your employer will notice that because it is shown in your work through your own body. Another important point that other work places would run into is people using company time for personal business. When you are partnering or dancing, your 100% concentration has to be in that moment you are working. If you lose sight or concentration for even just a second, someone could get very badly hurt. So in some respects, that is an ethical problem that I personally don't have to worry about but could be disastrous if it became an issue in my workplace.
Even after trying to condense my thoughts, I still feel like I have waffled on a bit. Apologies for that. I would be really interested to see what other ethical problems people have in their own workplace and compare whether some of them could relate back into my own. It's a subject I am interested in and would love to get a discussion going in the comments below.
Literature findings...
So this part of the task has been a struggle for me. I've been searching and searching but considering how prominent dance physiotherapy is in a professional ballet company atmosphere, there is surprisingly little literature on the internet about it regarding my specific set of questions. After exhausting google, scholar, summon and asking friends for their library cards, I finally found a few pieces of literature that are important to my line of inquiry.
As it is the broadest question of mine, there seems to be a lot more information on the 'treatment' aspect of a physiotherapists presence in a ballet company, as apposed to budgeting and ratio of physiotherapists to dancers. Injury prevention has a more literature written and one article stuck with me the most.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3871955/#__sec3title
This article is all about prevention of injuries for dancers and approaches many different important points in rehabilitation, prevention and why dancers get injured in the first place. It is by far the most in depth and useful piece of literature that I have come across in my hours of searching. An interesting quote which I felt related to my own inquiry was "Participation in dance is not sufficiently intense across long duration's to substantially improve aerobic capacity." I thought that this was an excellent observation and led me to ponder on how it could be in-cooperated into dancers lives and what effect it would have on recovery times of dancers and general well being in regards to injury prevention. Would having better long term aerobic capacity help prevent injuries? As someone who works hard on their own cardiovascular stamina I would have to disagree with this statement in a professional atmosphere. Professional dancers must have the stamina to do full length ballets, sometimes twice a day for weeks at a time without picking up injuries, I would say that we have incredibly good "aerobic capacity". Whether that comes specifically from ballet training alone or whether we obtain a lot of that strength from gym work is something that would need research and testing but another interesting question that I have thought over a lot. I felt like this section of the article linked well to my own questions as the subject they are discussing has a direct correlation with how a physiotherapist would give the knowledge to treat a dancer.An article I found that was less formal and much shorter than the above was this, written by Dinah Hampson.
http://www.iadms.org/blogpost/1177934/208418/Physiotherapy-with-the-heart-of-a-dancer--a-personal-history
I am learning that my interest in the questions I have asked pointing strongly towards my initial and broadest question "Does treatment from a physiotherapist shorten recovery time?" Something I really liked about this article was the personal touch it gave. She writes directly about how it is important for a dancer to have a physiotherapist with a dancing background as it "is important for recognizing subtle alterations in normal movement, changes in motor patterns and compensatory muscle activity. If left unaddressed, these subtle changes in movement are risk factors for delayed recovery and future injury". To me that screamed the importance of having someone who understood how dancers moved inside and outside of the studio. I feel it would help the physiotherapist monitor how a professional dancer would recover from an injury, looking at it from a dance professional background.
I find that as I continue searching for articles related to my questions, I am learning that most of my information that I am trying to acquire will come from interviews, discussions and brain picking with professionals, as apposed to written research related articles. I was unable to find a single article written on whether treatment from a professional physiotherapist actually shortens recovery time. I found that astonishing. Perhaps it is just a known thing to go to a physiotherapist when you have an injury, but has anyone stopped to write an article with an apposing opinion? That's the reason I have only included two pieces of literature in this task, I am determined to find a third that will directly answer my question. Perhaps from there I will learn more about the questions I am asking.
If anyone happens to have stumbled across any literature that answers my questions I would extremely interested in reading it. Would also love to hear from others who are interested in this topic of inquiry as we always have space for more in our SIG groups.
Look forward to reading responses.
Friday 14 October 2016
Questioning the professionals...
So this is something I've actually been excited to do for a long time. Often in our working environment we are so busy that finding time (or a genuine reason) to sit down with your bosses and/or professional colleagues and talk about your professional life can be very difficult. So I reveled in the opportunity to be able to pick their brains.
At first I decided to go in big and sit down with my boss and her responses were "interesting" to say the least. I found that asking my questions in a conversational manner actually opened them up to lots of questions within questions that I hadn't properly considered. Just one example, I asked my boss if she thought that the amount of money budgeted for physiotherapy treatment had an impact on recovery time? She actually said no. Which surprised me a lot. She responded with questions like "do you think just because you throw money at something that it gets better?" Of course I had appropriate responses trying to explain that better equipment could mean more accurate results, faster recovery time and equipment to help prevent injury in the first place, but it did open my eyes to seeing things a little less black and white.
After much deliberation on this particular topic and a 45 minute meeting something incredible actually happened.. She told me she was impressed with my questioning regarding budget management and amazingly I managed to negotiate more funding to be put into injury prevention in our theater! Yesterday we received our first ultrasound treatment machine into our physio suite. I was most pleased with myself as initially I had only intended to interview my boss to develop my questions and understand the opinion of something from a senior position in my company. The copious amounts of notes I took and voice recording of our conversation and the many many questions I asked will be imperative in helping me develop my questions further.
Interviewing my now very happy physio was a breeze. She and I had extremely similar opinions on many of the questions I brought to her and as she was a dancer herself before studying physiotherapy she understood even more than I did about the importance of having a dance background when treating professional dancers. She really helped me develop my own questions and gave me a clear insight into a professional physiotherapists perspective. When asking her specifically if she thought whether the ratio of physios to dancers has an effect on the severity and amount of injuries, she gave me some useful insight. She spoke at length about how most of her job is educating us dancers rather than treating us. I found that interesting as of course she is employed to "fix" dancers but believes that it's more important to educate to prevent injury which seems almost like a conflict of interests... No dancers to fix, no work her. I guess she is looking at the long term/bigger picture. She herself had studied at length what the effects of not having enough education on your own body whilst dancing can do and gave me some good pointers to think about. As someone who knows more about their own body than the average dancer (due to interest in physiotherapy from a young age) I'm starting to consider a more specific set of questions around myself to get answers that will relate and help me more in my own professional practice.
Last came the dancers, my fellow associates. This was of course the most informal discussion by far. The conversational process actually took place on our main theater stage before a show. As none of us are professional physiotherapists but are all professional dancers, the conversations were much more personal and specific to our everyday working practice and daily steps that we take to prevent and manage injuries. A lot of emphasis was put on the importance of warming up properly, a healthy diet and even down to what clothes you wear whilst performing. This broadened my line of thinking also. Of course their knowledge on budgeting and the the science behind physiotherapy treatment was limited but they could speak of the first hand and direct effects it has on their everyday working life.
Having interviewed all of these different members of numerous positions within our company, it has been more helpful than I could have ever imagined in developing my inquiry. Getting answers and having an open discussion with all sorts of different platforms within my company has given me more knowledge in how I wish to develop my inquiry further.
After taking some of the responses to my SIG groups on different platforms their responses were a little overwhelming. A lot of questions have been emerging and the open dialogue between professionals and people who are in the same position as I am has been very insightful. I'm looking forward to finding some literature that are related to my topics and bringing that to the table.
At first I decided to go in big and sit down with my boss and her responses were "interesting" to say the least. I found that asking my questions in a conversational manner actually opened them up to lots of questions within questions that I hadn't properly considered. Just one example, I asked my boss if she thought that the amount of money budgeted for physiotherapy treatment had an impact on recovery time? She actually said no. Which surprised me a lot. She responded with questions like "do you think just because you throw money at something that it gets better?" Of course I had appropriate responses trying to explain that better equipment could mean more accurate results, faster recovery time and equipment to help prevent injury in the first place, but it did open my eyes to seeing things a little less black and white.
After much deliberation on this particular topic and a 45 minute meeting something incredible actually happened.. She told me she was impressed with my questioning regarding budget management and amazingly I managed to negotiate more funding to be put into injury prevention in our theater! Yesterday we received our first ultrasound treatment machine into our physio suite. I was most pleased with myself as initially I had only intended to interview my boss to develop my questions and understand the opinion of something from a senior position in my company. The copious amounts of notes I took and voice recording of our conversation and the many many questions I asked will be imperative in helping me develop my questions further.
Interviewing my now very happy physio was a breeze. She and I had extremely similar opinions on many of the questions I brought to her and as she was a dancer herself before studying physiotherapy she understood even more than I did about the importance of having a dance background when treating professional dancers. She really helped me develop my own questions and gave me a clear insight into a professional physiotherapists perspective. When asking her specifically if she thought whether the ratio of physios to dancers has an effect on the severity and amount of injuries, she gave me some useful insight. She spoke at length about how most of her job is educating us dancers rather than treating us. I found that interesting as of course she is employed to "fix" dancers but believes that it's more important to educate to prevent injury which seems almost like a conflict of interests... No dancers to fix, no work her. I guess she is looking at the long term/bigger picture. She herself had studied at length what the effects of not having enough education on your own body whilst dancing can do and gave me some good pointers to think about. As someone who knows more about their own body than the average dancer (due to interest in physiotherapy from a young age) I'm starting to consider a more specific set of questions around myself to get answers that will relate and help me more in my own professional practice.Last came the dancers, my fellow associates. This was of course the most informal discussion by far. The conversational process actually took place on our main theater stage before a show. As none of us are professional physiotherapists but are all professional dancers, the conversations were much more personal and specific to our everyday working practice and daily steps that we take to prevent and manage injuries. A lot of emphasis was put on the importance of warming up properly, a healthy diet and even down to what clothes you wear whilst performing. This broadened my line of thinking also. Of course their knowledge on budgeting and the the science behind physiotherapy treatment was limited but they could speak of the first hand and direct effects it has on their everyday working life.
Having interviewed all of these different members of numerous positions within our company, it has been more helpful than I could have ever imagined in developing my inquiry. Getting answers and having an open discussion with all sorts of different platforms within my company has given me more knowledge in how I wish to develop my inquiry further.
After taking some of the responses to my SIG groups on different platforms their responses were a little overwhelming. A lot of questions have been emerging and the open dialogue between professionals and people who are in the same position as I am has been very insightful. I'm looking forward to finding some literature that are related to my topics and bringing that to the table.
Thursday 13 October 2016
SIG's and developing questions..
This section of the module has been a bit trickier for me than I initially thought. I have found it much harder to establish some kind of SIG on the programme than I have within my own professional company. Luckily Grace (gracehume.blogspot.com.) and I are coming at this from a very similar angle in regards to physiotherapy, so it was nice to establish contact with her through blog comments and Facebook to discuss different questions that we both had on the topic.
We were discussing the importance of physios within dance companies and how their knowledge on dance is just as important as their knowledge of treating injuries. We discussed that at school we had a fantastic physiotherapist who specialized in sports injuries but that sometimes she would treat our injuries how she would treat a footballer or rugby player (those were her main clients) and so sometimes small details would be lost because of that slight lack of dance specific knowledge. I think maintaining an open conversation with Grace and others throughout this module will be really beneficial and help me understand and establish exactly what I want answered and how to approach it properly.
We were discussing the importance of physios within dance companies and how their knowledge on dance is just as important as their knowledge of treating injuries. We discussed that at school we had a fantastic physiotherapist who specialized in sports injuries but that sometimes she would treat our injuries how she would treat a footballer or rugby player (those were her main clients) and so sometimes small details would be lost because of that slight lack of dance specific knowledge. I think maintaining an open conversation with Grace and others throughout this module will be really beneficial and help me understand and establish exactly what I want answered and how to approach it properly.
Rebecca (rebeccajones387.blogspot.com) posted a very interesting comment that left me thinking for a while which was "Are dancers given enough support and guidance to prevent injury as well as support when recovering?" It's a question I took to my professional colleagues and amongt all of the people I spoke to, our answers were all no. It's something that definitely needs to be addressed from an early professional education age. I posted before that injury is an inevitability at some point during a career, so understanding how to deal with it is something that should be taught during training, not learnt as it's happening or happened.
As well as communicating with other BAPP members, I have also started following many different esteemed physiotherapists on multiple platforms of social media, but mainly Facebook to hear what they have to say. A lot of them post about situations which involve ethical choices which I found interesting as it is something we will learn more about further into the course. My favorite that I have come across so far is a physiotherapist called Adam Meakins. He posts a lot about others unprofessional opinions on social media and the differences between a physio and a PHYSIO. It's been interesting to read his blogs as they are the first physiotherapy specific blogs I've read.
Thought I'd write a quick blog post just to see what everyone else thought and if anyone has had similar experiences with their own SIG's? Look forward to reading some responses :)
Tuesday 4 October 2016
Skype session with Adesola - 04/10/16
After coming off of my Skype session with Adesola and fellow BAPP students I thought I would blog straight away as everything is still digesting, but fresh in my mind.
The skype session was extremely useful. Before the session began I had a whole list of questions that I thought I wanted answering, but as time passed and we discussed at length more about the process of learning, those questions seemed to pale into insignificance. As I mentioned in my first blog post of this module, it's very easy to get wrapped up in your own world of BAPP and forget that there is a whole community of people who are in the same ship.
Something that really stuck with me from this skype call was the sense of community. The questions I had initially wanted answering were all based around SIG platforms, whats the best approach of creating these groups etc and it wasn't until Adesola pushed me to answer my own question, as apposed to relying on the answer from others, that I found the answers I was looking for. It wasn't until I used my own knowledge and experience to help a fellow BAPP student with an question that I understood that it wasn't so much the question he needed answering, it was the sense of community and reassurance that helped the most. That lead me to think that developing SIG groups and finding people who are interested in the same subjects that I am will be hugely beneficial to bounce ideas off of, share research methods and help with my own reassurance.
Adesola talked about 'trusting the process' and using 'different types of intelligence' to help us with our work and I definitely agree. If we already knew what we were going to learn about and had the answers to the questions we are asking.. What would we actually be learning?
Thursday 29 September 2016
Module 2 - 4a
After having read through numerous blog posts, reading and re-reading the handbooks and pondering over the direction I wish to take my own studies.. I have finally constructed my own questions that are relevant to my personal interests and practice. Physiotherapy and more specifically, the impact and correlation it has in a professional ballet company, has always been a huge interest of mine and one that I hope to delve much further into during my BAPP course. As someone who has been lucky enough to avoid any major injuries during my career it has always been intriguing for me observe through the looking glass as friends and co workers deal with injuries, prevention and rehabilitation.
1. Does treatment from a physiotherapist shorten recovery time?
Now I understand that reading this you may think "well yes, obviously" but it is something that I would like to research much more in depth to get a proper understanding of. For example, perhaps your physio thinks your ankle is sprained and treats it accordingly but in fact you could have ligament damage or a fracture, this in turn could prolong your recovery or possibly worsen your injury all together. Equally, what if you just ignored that niggle in your foot, or that ache in your lower back? A trained physiotherapist would spot the problem immediately and treat it accordingly. With further research I could look into different types of treatment performed by a physiotherapist for example: yoga rehabilitation, acupuncture procedures or cupping and compare the differing benefits.
2. Does the ratio of physiotherapists to dancers in a professional ballet company have an impact on the severity and amount of injuries that occur?
For this question I would need to conduct a lot of interviews between different companies for comparison. When doing comparisons I would use my own company which has a small room and 1 physiotherapist to a company like Birmingham Royal Ballet which has at least 3 on sight physiotherapist and a huge on site physio center specifically for recovering dancers. I think the comparisons would be very interesting to study and could provide some extremely useful statistics for not only my personal BAPP learning but for companies all around the world. It could also raise other questions like "Should physiotherapists be mandatory in a ballet company?" or "Should dancers be given basic training of physiotherapy to help prevent and manage injuries"?
3. Does the amount of money budgeted in a ballet company for physiotherapy have an impact on recovery time and treatment accuracy?
This question I think would be a difficult one to address as I'm sure ballet companies wouldn't disclose financial records to me, but understanding an approximate percentage of a ballet companies budget that is designated to its physiotherapy department could answer my previous question. Also, if a company spends a vast amount of its budget on physiotherapy equipment, could that improve the recovery rate of its dancers? Could that equipment help maintain healthy dancers and help them avoid injuries? So many questions, but ones that I am excited to delve a little deeper into.
Is anyone else interested in physiotherapy? I have been reading a lot of blog posts about dancers minds and teaching but haven't stumbled on anyone addressing physiotherapy yet. I hope that we can get a good conversation going in the comments as would love to hear others thoughts on this topic.
Back to it..
I have a mixture of emotions continuing on my BAPP journey. Most of it is excitement for the upcoming journey ahead but there is definitely some apprehension that goes along with it. Having the re-introduction Skype session definitely helped me get my mind back on the right track and gave me a good insight on what I hope to achieve with Module 2, but also left me with a lot of questions I had to ask myself on exactly how I will approach this study time and how I will cope with the logistics of it.
Paula and Adesola encouraged us to personally look back and reflect on what we had learnt from Module 1 in order to aid us during Module 2. One thing that stuck with me the most from the skype session was the sense of community. As the large majority of this course is just me, my laptop and my own ideas it was a very refreshing reminder that I'm not on this course by myself and I really liked that as I read through the handbook, more of this course seems to be based around group thinking (SIG's, blogs etc) and interaction closely with others with like-minded interests.
After reading through Ben's blog post on this topic and speaking with him at length in person, I also find time management to be an issue. A sense of routine and an allotted time during the week to address my tasks at hand will be imperative to me in order to stay on top of my work this module.
I enjoyed the re-introduction session and found it to be a very useful step forward to getting everyone prepared for the upcoming module. Good luck to everyone and look forward to reading others blogs soon.
Tuesday 19 April 2016
Task 3c - Sources of information
What are my 5 most important sources of information in professional practice? I've never really had to think about it but I will definitely address them now and learn something from it.
1) My Phone
Like most people my age I have a smartphone and it is definitely my top source of information during my working day and for my professional practice. My phone allows me to access all kinds of things that aid me during my working day. On there I have my daily work schedule which tells me which rehearsal room I need to be in at what time and what rehearsals I need to prepared for. I use my phone also to record videos and take pictures of rehearsals to help when I need to reference them later, either at home whilst looking over material or straight away after I have finished a specific dance to correct the steps to make the piece look better. My phone also helps me keep in contact with fellow workers if rehearsals change or if they have overslept and running late which happens more often than you might think.
2) The Internet
The internet is the most obvious and broad source of information as it is so useful and so accessible by everyone. Aside from using www.google.co.uk like millions of us do to receive information, my other source of internet information comes from YouTube. I use a wide range of other sites to get information and whilst taking copyright restrictions into account, these websites are all public so I am able to post some of my most useful and not so common references of learning:
Using the internet, especially on my phone at work gives me access to my emails which I am regularly sending and receiving to my boss. Uploading the videos and pictures I take using my phone to the internet is also a great source of information for myself and colleagues as I can upload the videos I have taken of rehearsals so everyone can be more informed when approaching the next rehearsal by learning the materiel off of the video I have provided.
3) DVD's
As the majority of work is done learning and rehearsing material in a ballet studio getting it ready for stage, a large proportion of my information comes from DVD's. As I mentioned in post a month or so ago about my "day to day life", learning from a DVD is a very useful tool for me to quickly pick up information quickly. The DVD's range from both my own performances to other companies new material to learn to exercises and strengthening videos. I mentioned also in an older post that I am a visual learner and tend to learn best by either doing things hands on or surveying material via DVD, this is a reason why DVD's are a major source of useful information in my professional practice. When I first joined the company, one of my big breaks came down to how quickly I could learn a ballet off of a DVD. A dancer mistakenly bad mouthed a company worker, was removed from the ballet and left a baby faced, fresh out of school Lawrence to learn an entire ballet over night off of a poorly recorded DVD. Needless to say I prevailed and earned some major brownie points in doing so.
4) Notice Board
Right next to our main rehearsal studio is a huge notice board where most of the yearly information is put. There will be casting for the current season and next, peoples birthdays, weekly work schedule, union information, upcoming shows and galas. It is like a physical homepage to our working lives. I've read in Louis-May's post about sources of learning that she has basically the same concept but just with a staff room board. I feel like having a whole load of information in one specific place is a little overwhelming but very useful at the same time as it is a good reference point for basically anything you need to know with work. She writes a little about a fire alarm test on the white board, I am glad that is not something I have to worry about during my working day.
5) Word of mouth/Gossip
A lot of the time information that we should, and sometimes shouldn't' know about comes from dancers themselves. As we are such a tight knit of company members, there isn't much that doesn't get shared around. Now in some respects this is good if it is information on shows and upcoming repertoire, but unfortunately more often than not it can be gossip and things which not everyone should know. This whether it is good or bad, is still a source of information and part of my professional practice as sometimes it can have an effect on my working environment. From class and rehearsals I am given daily corrections on how to improve my technique, working with others is a great tool to communicate ideas on improvement and dance as a whole also. I learn from watching others perform similar choreography to better myself all whilst absorbing this information that is right in front of me.
1) My Phone
2) The Internet
The internet is the most obvious and broad source of information as it is so useful and so accessible by everyone. Aside from using www.google.co.uk like millions of us do to receive information, my other source of internet information comes from YouTube. I use a wide range of other sites to get information and whilst taking copyright restrictions into account, these websites are all public so I am able to post some of my most useful and not so common references of learning:
- http://www.networkdance.com - For upcoming auditions and general news about the dance world
- http://www.vanemuine.ee/ - My theaters homepage. Used for keeping up to date with shows
- http://balletnews.co.uk - Another site with interesting information on ballet and dance
Using the internet, especially on my phone at work gives me access to my emails which I am regularly sending and receiving to my boss. Uploading the videos and pictures I take using my phone to the internet is also a great source of information for myself and colleagues as I can upload the videos I have taken of rehearsals so everyone can be more informed when approaching the next rehearsal by learning the materiel off of the video I have provided.
3) DVD's
As the majority of work is done learning and rehearsing material in a ballet studio getting it ready for stage, a large proportion of my information comes from DVD's. As I mentioned in post a month or so ago about my "day to day life", learning from a DVD is a very useful tool for me to quickly pick up information quickly. The DVD's range from both my own performances to other companies new material to learn to exercises and strengthening videos. I mentioned also in an older post that I am a visual learner and tend to learn best by either doing things hands on or surveying material via DVD, this is a reason why DVD's are a major source of useful information in my professional practice. When I first joined the company, one of my big breaks came down to how quickly I could learn a ballet off of a DVD. A dancer mistakenly bad mouthed a company worker, was removed from the ballet and left a baby faced, fresh out of school Lawrence to learn an entire ballet over night off of a poorly recorded DVD. Needless to say I prevailed and earned some major brownie points in doing so.4) Notice Board
Right next to our main rehearsal studio is a huge notice board where most of the yearly information is put. There will be casting for the current season and next, peoples birthdays, weekly work schedule, union information, upcoming shows and galas. It is like a physical homepage to our working lives. I've read in Louis-May's post about sources of learning that she has basically the same concept but just with a staff room board. I feel like having a whole load of information in one specific place is a little overwhelming but very useful at the same time as it is a good reference point for basically anything you need to know with work. She writes a little about a fire alarm test on the white board, I am glad that is not something I have to worry about during my working day.5) Word of mouth/Gossip
A lot of the time information that we should, and sometimes shouldn't' know about comes from dancers themselves. As we are such a tight knit of company members, there isn't much that doesn't get shared around. Now in some respects this is good if it is information on shows and upcoming repertoire, but unfortunately more often than not it can be gossip and things which not everyone should know. This whether it is good or bad, is still a source of information and part of my professional practice as sometimes it can have an effect on my working environment. From class and rehearsals I am given daily corrections on how to improve my technique, working with others is a great tool to communicate ideas on improvement and dance as a whole also. I learn from watching others perform similar choreography to better myself all whilst absorbing this information that is right in front of me.Task 3b - Theories relating to networking
As I have been flicking through Reader 3 I have found that there are vast amounts of depth specifically on the different theories within networking itself. As I write this post I will touch on each theory and how it has a personally affects me and how it in cooperates into my professional practice.
Cooperation - The will and way to win
According to the Reader, cooperation is a theory of networking and learning predominantly used by mathematicians. This theory of Networking seems almost opposite to how I view my own networking in my professional working environment. As I understand, this theory is almost like a competition between fellow workers for one to "succeed at the other expense". If this was applied to the dance world, it would be incredibly counter productive to your work. As I mentioned in my previous blog, when you are part of a dance company, you should all have the same goal which is to make sure the production looks good as a whole.
This theory would possibly work in a huge cooperation where you can think of work relationships as "single use" or "disposable". Robert Axelrod's quote of "cooperate until maximum benefit produced and the defect" is smart in a business sense, but goes against that of an Arts environment. On a managerial role in our professional world Axelrod's theory of networking would prove more beneficial as our boss or bosses boss have to manage a mass group of dancers and make decisions and sacrifices where necessary. When applied to myself though, regardless of my roles or position in any given production, the underlining goal is always to have a clean, together performance and not to treat fellow colleagues as only a stepping stone to my own success.
As much as I don't agree that this theory is productive to my own working network, I have definitely experienced it from fellow dancers and from people higher up the networking ladder. For example, being someone who considers themselves a very reliable company member, I am often turned to in times of desperation. Whether that be teaching new people choreography quickly, stepping for a part that is not mine due to someones injury or going above and beyond my contracted work for the greater good of the production. I am more than happy to oblige with the above as I am all for having a clean performance but it becomes very evident that some dancers will only engage with you when it benefits themselves. I guess it's similar to a child who goes to school with a big bag of sweets, everyone is your best friend until there aren't any sweets left.
Affiliation
Affiliation is a networking device that is almost the opposite of the Cooperation theory and one that works much more in line with my professional field. Developed as a concept in the psychology field, this touches on the premise that we, as human beings, enjoy and somewhat need close affiliation and "close relationships". This falls in line perfectly with my own workplace because my job as a dancer is to work with a large team to make a production great.
A quote from (Crisp and Turner) is that affiliation with fellow humans in and out of the work place provides us with "a network of support that will help us when we are in need". I think that particular quote sums up perfectly exactly the relationship dancers do and should have with one and other (to an extent). As a team, we have to support one and other not only with dance steps and difficult choreography, but with emotional support after something has perhaps gone wrong, two partners are clashing artistically or a production has been cast unfairly.
Of course we must find a fine line or a balance so to speak to make our working environment as productive as possible. As much as being supportive and having an affiliation based network amongst dancers is important, we must also keep a professional and occasionally abrupt mentality. By this I mean, I am happy to console someone if something hasn't gone their way in the working environment but I am forced to sometimes change my mentality if it conflicts with my personal work or inhibits my learning space. Although this may sound harsh or somewhat cold, at the end of the day, this is our job. After reflecting on different theories, I have learnt that I definitely have different relationships with people in and outside of work. There are not many company members that I wouldn't have fun going to a party or having a drink with, but a lot of the same people I enjoy having out with outside of my working hours, I have very little respect for within a working environment perhaps due to their bad work ethic or unreliability.
Summary
Even though I find that my line of professional work does coincide much more with an "affiliation" style of networking. On reflection, I do think that some degrees of "cooperation" networking are definitely necessary to keep everything afloat on a day to day basis. Both forms of networking are very important in any line of work, but when your work colleagues are also your close friends outside of work, I think that maintaining a professional network amongst those same friends/people is important. Keeping a work mentality intact and maintaining professionalism at all times in the work space is key to development.
Cooperation - The will and way to win
According to the Reader, cooperation is a theory of networking and learning predominantly used by mathematicians. This theory of Networking seems almost opposite to how I view my own networking in my professional working environment. As I understand, this theory is almost like a competition between fellow workers for one to "succeed at the other expense". If this was applied to the dance world, it would be incredibly counter productive to your work. As I mentioned in my previous blog, when you are part of a dance company, you should all have the same goal which is to make sure the production looks good as a whole.
This theory would possibly work in a huge cooperation where you can think of work relationships as "single use" or "disposable". Robert Axelrod's quote of "cooperate until maximum benefit produced and the defect" is smart in a business sense, but goes against that of an Arts environment. On a managerial role in our professional world Axelrod's theory of networking would prove more beneficial as our boss or bosses boss have to manage a mass group of dancers and make decisions and sacrifices where necessary. When applied to myself though, regardless of my roles or position in any given production, the underlining goal is always to have a clean, together performance and not to treat fellow colleagues as only a stepping stone to my own success.
As much as I don't agree that this theory is productive to my own working network, I have definitely experienced it from fellow dancers and from people higher up the networking ladder. For example, being someone who considers themselves a very reliable company member, I am often turned to in times of desperation. Whether that be teaching new people choreography quickly, stepping for a part that is not mine due to someones injury or going above and beyond my contracted work for the greater good of the production. I am more than happy to oblige with the above as I am all for having a clean performance but it becomes very evident that some dancers will only engage with you when it benefits themselves. I guess it's similar to a child who goes to school with a big bag of sweets, everyone is your best friend until there aren't any sweets left.
Affiliation
Affiliation is a networking device that is almost the opposite of the Cooperation theory and one that works much more in line with my professional field. Developed as a concept in the psychology field, this touches on the premise that we, as human beings, enjoy and somewhat need close affiliation and "close relationships". This falls in line perfectly with my own workplace because my job as a dancer is to work with a large team to make a production great.
A quote from (Crisp and Turner) is that affiliation with fellow humans in and out of the work place provides us with "a network of support that will help us when we are in need". I think that particular quote sums up perfectly exactly the relationship dancers do and should have with one and other (to an extent). As a team, we have to support one and other not only with dance steps and difficult choreography, but with emotional support after something has perhaps gone wrong, two partners are clashing artistically or a production has been cast unfairly.
Of course we must find a fine line or a balance so to speak to make our working environment as productive as possible. As much as being supportive and having an affiliation based network amongst dancers is important, we must also keep a professional and occasionally abrupt mentality. By this I mean, I am happy to console someone if something hasn't gone their way in the working environment but I am forced to sometimes change my mentality if it conflicts with my personal work or inhibits my learning space. Although this may sound harsh or somewhat cold, at the end of the day, this is our job. After reflecting on different theories, I have learnt that I definitely have different relationships with people in and outside of work. There are not many company members that I wouldn't have fun going to a party or having a drink with, but a lot of the same people I enjoy having out with outside of my working hours, I have very little respect for within a working environment perhaps due to their bad work ethic or unreliability.
Summary
Even though I find that my line of professional work does coincide much more with an "affiliation" style of networking. On reflection, I do think that some degrees of "cooperation" networking are definitely necessary to keep everything afloat on a day to day basis. Both forms of networking are very important in any line of work, but when your work colleagues are also your close friends outside of work, I think that maintaining a professional network amongst those same friends/people is important. Keeping a work mentality intact and maintaining professionalism at all times in the work space is key to development.
Monday 18 April 2016
3a: Current Networks
Networking huh?
'Networking' is a very important part of my profession. Whether it be relationships with company members, self promotion via social media or keeping everything together and organised in a crazy work environment. So what actually is 'networking'? In my line of work, I personally believe that networking with individuals or companies is more about how you approach a situation, rather than what the specific situation is. After reading through a few other peoples blogs there is a common consensus of "it's not what you know, it's who you know" and mildly cliche quotes like these, and I couldn't agree more. A lot of opportunities and a lot of situations boil down to either who you know or "being in the right place at the right time". I have friends who work in extremely prestigious ballet companies all around the world just because of having "the right friends" or "being in the right place at the right time".
The only thing you start off your working life with is your reputation from school and your CV. As you develop as a dancer and as you work more, your CV will adapt with you. I posted about my CV before but I think it is important to notice the comparisons of both my school CV and my professional CV. When you are in school you want companies to notice everything you have done. Coming from school, you don't really posses any real experience as a dancer, so as time progresses and you start to perform more with a professional company, you notice that a lot of smaller things you have done at school will start to be replaced with more prestigious roles that you have performed. This sort of development is key as in our line of work, the more you have done, the more employable you become.
I believe I have two different networks in my life and this creates some what of a hierarchy in my professional life. I have my social network and my professional network. As I spend most of my waking hours at work, these two tend to intertwine a bit. When it comes to a ballet company, all dancers are on the same level. It doesn't matter if you are fresh into the cour de ballet or whether you are prestigious principal dancer, we are all in the same studio and all working towards the same goal; to get the job done that is given to us. One step up the ladder from us is our bosses and people on a management scale like Ballet Director, Choir and Orchestra Director and Repateurs. These will be the people who will decide just what roles you get, how the rehearsal day will pan out and your general weekly structure. Finally at the top of the ladder are senior management or the "big wigs" if you will. These are people like board members, Head of Theater and Culture Ministers. These are the people who decide how much you get paid, the direction of the entire theater and everything in-between. Using Networking, it is important to maintain some form of relationship with every step of the ladder. I find that if you are liked by everyone and respectful, you're going to have a much easier ride than if you are a diva.
Networking yourself successfully to people outside of your own professional company is key in growth as a dancer. I was lucky enough to have an American choreographer come to our company to create a ballet on us with myself dancing the lead male role. Establishing that good relationship with the choreographer has definitely allowed me to explore more options in the future with him, inside and outside of my current workplace. Even creating good relationships with people who don't have much to do with the dance world can be beneficial to your own networking expansion. We have a lot of very prestigious political members who attend the Theater in Estonia such as the prime minister, President and other important delegates. From various meet and greets and Premiere party gatherings, just by performing well and being polite and courteous, it has allowed me to perform in other Theaters in Estonia just through connections made whilst networking on and off stage.
I think in an ideal world, every members of every step of the network ladder could have at least some say on how things are done. Obviously some form of hierarchy has to be in place, but a lot of the time the people further down the food chain end up getting the brunt end of the deal. Of course the only real way to grow in any work environment is to expand your personal network as much as you can. Being punctual, being reliable, being polite, putting in the extra work.. These are all ways to get yourself noticed and to network yourself through the means of other people. You are far more likely to successfully network yourself by other people noticing how good of a job you are doing, than approaching someone further up the ladder and having to tell them yourself. I think that people underestimate just how important it is to be considered reliable, especially in the professional dance world.
The physical communication through networking differs depending on who I need to approach. If I need to get in contact with a fellow worker then any form of communication is acceptable, be it phone call, text message, Facebook etc. Speed and efficiency is very important in our company so even on step up the ladder I take the same approach, perhaps minus the Facebook as I don't think my direct boss even uses social media. It becomes a little trickier when you need to network or stay in contact with the top of the ladder. Usually a formal email will suffice, but the great thing about my personal work space is that if I have a real problem that needs to be addressed quickly then my Theater Manager is just down a few flights of stairs for me with a "my door is always open" mentality.
Networking outside of my professional company is slightly different. Now I feel that a much more formal approach is necessary. When I was 18/19 and auditioning I would only make contact with potential companies to work in via email, usually very carefully thought out emails and only sending them after proof reading it about 100 times. I think I only truly understood how important networking really was once I was thrown into the situation of auditioning. You literally have to sell yourself and hope that they like what they see. I think that certain forms of social media can be quite dangerous to your own image and your own network reputation if you are not careful. For example friends who part of their job is to find people to work for their company. Whats the first thing they do when considering someone for a job? They type their name into Facebook or Twitter or even Google. Now if you live a lifestyle of debauchery and drunkenness then this could reflect badly on you when someone is considering you for a job. I think that a company would much rather hire someone who portrays a calm and sensible image than one who posts more along the lines of partying. Obviously everyone is free to do what they like in their free time but this goes back to networking, having companies see evidence of unprofessional or taboo behavior could be considered poor networking
I have learnt a lot since I have left school on networking myself and even from this course. Having to write things down has raised a lot of questions on how I approach my professional and social networking which hadn't occurred to me, I kind of just did my thing but apparently there is a whole cycle of things that I subconsciously do so writing it in blog form and understanding it for myself has been a really useful tool and something I have definitely learnt from.
Thoughts? I know that this is a long post and I addressed more of a broad concept of networking but Id be really interested to hear some thought from others.
'Networking' is a very important part of my profession. Whether it be relationships with company members, self promotion via social media or keeping everything together and organised in a crazy work environment. So what actually is 'networking'? In my line of work, I personally believe that networking with individuals or companies is more about how you approach a situation, rather than what the specific situation is. After reading through a few other peoples blogs there is a common consensus of "it's not what you know, it's who you know" and mildly cliche quotes like these, and I couldn't agree more. A lot of opportunities and a lot of situations boil down to either who you know or "being in the right place at the right time". I have friends who work in extremely prestigious ballet companies all around the world just because of having "the right friends" or "being in the right place at the right time".
The only thing you start off your working life with is your reputation from school and your CV. As you develop as a dancer and as you work more, your CV will adapt with you. I posted about my CV before but I think it is important to notice the comparisons of both my school CV and my professional CV. When you are in school you want companies to notice everything you have done. Coming from school, you don't really posses any real experience as a dancer, so as time progresses and you start to perform more with a professional company, you notice that a lot of smaller things you have done at school will start to be replaced with more prestigious roles that you have performed. This sort of development is key as in our line of work, the more you have done, the more employable you become.
I believe I have two different networks in my life and this creates some what of a hierarchy in my professional life. I have my social network and my professional network. As I spend most of my waking hours at work, these two tend to intertwine a bit. When it comes to a ballet company, all dancers are on the same level. It doesn't matter if you are fresh into the cour de ballet or whether you are prestigious principal dancer, we are all in the same studio and all working towards the same goal; to get the job done that is given to us. One step up the ladder from us is our bosses and people on a management scale like Ballet Director, Choir and Orchestra Director and Repateurs. These will be the people who will decide just what roles you get, how the rehearsal day will pan out and your general weekly structure. Finally at the top of the ladder are senior management or the "big wigs" if you will. These are people like board members, Head of Theater and Culture Ministers. These are the people who decide how much you get paid, the direction of the entire theater and everything in-between. Using Networking, it is important to maintain some form of relationship with every step of the ladder. I find that if you are liked by everyone and respectful, you're going to have a much easier ride than if you are a diva.
Networking yourself successfully to people outside of your own professional company is key in growth as a dancer. I was lucky enough to have an American choreographer come to our company to create a ballet on us with myself dancing the lead male role. Establishing that good relationship with the choreographer has definitely allowed me to explore more options in the future with him, inside and outside of my current workplace. Even creating good relationships with people who don't have much to do with the dance world can be beneficial to your own networking expansion. We have a lot of very prestigious political members who attend the Theater in Estonia such as the prime minister, President and other important delegates. From various meet and greets and Premiere party gatherings, just by performing well and being polite and courteous, it has allowed me to perform in other Theaters in Estonia just through connections made whilst networking on and off stage.
I think in an ideal world, every members of every step of the network ladder could have at least some say on how things are done. Obviously some form of hierarchy has to be in place, but a lot of the time the people further down the food chain end up getting the brunt end of the deal. Of course the only real way to grow in any work environment is to expand your personal network as much as you can. Being punctual, being reliable, being polite, putting in the extra work.. These are all ways to get yourself noticed and to network yourself through the means of other people. You are far more likely to successfully network yourself by other people noticing how good of a job you are doing, than approaching someone further up the ladder and having to tell them yourself. I think that people underestimate just how important it is to be considered reliable, especially in the professional dance world.
Networking outside of my professional company is slightly different. Now I feel that a much more formal approach is necessary. When I was 18/19 and auditioning I would only make contact with potential companies to work in via email, usually very carefully thought out emails and only sending them after proof reading it about 100 times. I think I only truly understood how important networking really was once I was thrown into the situation of auditioning. You literally have to sell yourself and hope that they like what they see. I think that certain forms of social media can be quite dangerous to your own image and your own network reputation if you are not careful. For example friends who part of their job is to find people to work for their company. Whats the first thing they do when considering someone for a job? They type their name into Facebook or Twitter or even Google. Now if you live a lifestyle of debauchery and drunkenness then this could reflect badly on you when someone is considering you for a job. I think that a company would much rather hire someone who portrays a calm and sensible image than one who posts more along the lines of partying. Obviously everyone is free to do what they like in their free time but this goes back to networking, having companies see evidence of unprofessional or taboo behavior could be considered poor networking
I have learnt a lot since I have left school on networking myself and even from this course. Having to write things down has raised a lot of questions on how I approach my professional and social networking which hadn't occurred to me, I kind of just did my thing but apparently there is a whole cycle of things that I subconsciously do so writing it in blog form and understanding it for myself has been a really useful tool and something I have definitely learnt from.
Thoughts? I know that this is a long post and I addressed more of a broad concept of networking but Id be really interested to hear some thought from others.
Monday 11 April 2016
2D - More of a Q&A
So for this blog i'm going to try and approach it as more of a question and answer about my attitude towards work and my mood in work. I did a post a few months back about my general day to day life, but that was more about my routine as apposed this post which will be more about how I view work emotionally and professionally.
What in my daily practice gets me enthusiastic to learn more about?
As a dancer I would
say that I am very enthusiastic to better myself generally, whether that be my
musicality my partnering skills or my classical technique. I enjoy learning new
material, and challenging myself in all aspects as a dancer. One of my biggest passions aside from dancing itself, is music. I love all music from all different genres. One of my favorite classical pieces of all time has to be Shostakovich's piano concerto andante. Something about that piece of music moves me and literally makes me want to stand up and dance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlMHjo7Jwhk
A lot of my
success as a professional dancer has come through my competent Partnering
capabilities. It was through my partnering skills that I managed to land my
first big role in the company I am currently working in at the age of just 20.
Who inspires me? Erol Pickford. I was lucky enough to have him as a teacher for
many years during my vocational training. He definitely made me into the dancer
I am today as I referenced in my first blog. He was a principal dancer with the
royal ballet and had a fantastic career, one which I could only dream of
having. Whilst training he would always emphasize the importance of bettering
yourself throughout your whole career in many different aspects.
What makes me angry or sad during my working
day?
On the day-to-day basis I would say that I'm a
happy working individual and very content with my working atmosphere. Usually
the things that upset me or make me made are the people working around me. It's
very easy in a professional ballet company to have one person completely alter
the morale of a rehearsal or show. Frustration is probably the emotion I feel
most regularly at work. I set high standards for myself and for the work I do
so I can sometimes become irritated or frustrated if things don't go the way
I'd like them too. Things that irritate me the most are usually things that are
completely out of my hands, such as last minute rehearsal changes, cast
changes, miscommunication and unprofessional colleagues. This season for
example I feel like I have been lucky enough to work with a lot of dancers in a
very intimate environment. A lot of the roles I have done this year are pas de
deuxs, solos and small group dancers with other members of the company who are
reliable and eager to learn, fellow degree worker Benjamin Roomes included.
But
the frustration, anger and sadness applies when you are paired with company
members who don't share similar views of professionalism, work related ethics
and general manners. Dancers tend to clash quite a lot on specific steps and definitely with musicality when working in larger groups. I mentioned in an earlier blog that I
consider myself very laid back and easy going so I find it easy to detach
emotion when say someone is losing their temper over musicality, but when
someone more hotheaded than myself will clash with someone else who has a
problem then the mood in the studio or on stage come completely change. A recent frustration I have run into is with a repeteur, and her trying to change the core way I dance. I am not one of those people who is against receiving corrections, as I've said, I am always trying to better myself but there is a fine line between adapting to an artistic style for a specific piece be it; romantic, folk etc, and physically training the way you have been trained.
To be
honest, I really don't know. A lot of people have told me that they admire how
I keep calm in certain situations so to find someone who I admire is difficult.
I appreciate how dancers like Carlos Acosta have managed to keep their head
held high after racial discrimination etc but I can't think
of anyone in my close working proximity. There are definitely moments in my day where I am impressed with how someone kept their opinion to themselves over a certain situation but I feel like we shouldn't run into these problems as professional dancers if a select percentage weren't outspoken or bossy and everyone worked very much together on making our work the best it can be.
What do I
love about what I do?
As everyone in the professional dance world
knows, we don't do this for the money. Not even remotely. I love the rush I get
from performing onstage. The feeling you get when close to a thousand people are
cheering and clapping at you as you take your own bow after performing a
challenging lead role. I love the feeling of exhaustion after working a long,
challenging day where your muscles are shaking from being worked so hard but
you really feel like you have accomplished something at the end of it. I love
the emotion you can create in a single dance with a partner that leaves you
with a sense of accomplishment and joy, a feeling like you know that person a
little better after that performance. I love that dance is subjective. To be
a great mathematician you have to have the perfect answer that is either right
or wrong, dance is almost the opposite. You don't have to be the strongest
technical dancer or do the most turns to be a great dancer. You don't have to
have the longest legs or the nicest feet to be a great dancer. Our job as a
dancer is to make the audience believe what they are watching and feel real
emotion whilst watching you perform and if we can do that, then I consider it a
job well done.
Who else
loves this?
I think in this profession if you don't love all of the above then you will have a very short and un-fulfilling career. I read an interesting article recently from Dr Frank Lipman and his take on a broader look on why everyone, no matter who we, loves to dance:
http://www.drfranklipman.com/why-do-we-dance/
One thing I really don't understand is why dance in general such a small part of the general populations part of life? I am lucky that where I am currently situated in Estonia, dance and theater is regarded much higher than in the UK where I'm from. I personally think that dance should be a mandatory part of children s education. Not only selfishly so that more people would come to theater and more money would be invested into the arts, allowing dancers to perform larger performances, tour more and have higher salaries, but because dance is a brilliant form of exercise, it's a great way to blow off steam or frustration and a brilliant tool for self discovery. I apply a lot of my own daily practices through my discipline I have learnt being a dancer and I think it would be a useful tool for everyone to have. I think if it had been more involved in everyone's day to day lives from a young age everyone would love and appreciate dance.
One thing I really don't understand is why dance in general such a small part of the general populations part of life? I am lucky that where I am currently situated in Estonia, dance and theater is regarded much higher than in the UK where I'm from. I personally think that dance should be a mandatory part of children s education. Not only selfishly so that more people would come to theater and more money would be invested into the arts, allowing dancers to perform larger performances, tour more and have higher salaries, but because dance is a brilliant form of exercise, it's a great way to blow off steam or frustration and a brilliant tool for self discovery. I apply a lot of my own daily practices through my discipline I have learnt being a dancer and I think it would be a useful tool for everyone to have. I think if it had been more involved in everyone's day to day lives from a young age everyone would love and appreciate dance.
How do I decide the appropriate ethical response in a given situation? To what extend are disciplinary responses different to that you might expect more generally in society?
As my job requires me to judged a lot by not only by bosses and colleagues but by the public, I believe that discipline and self control are vital in being successful. When I say discipline, I don't necessarily mean being punctual and turning up on time (which obviously is a given as that is just basic respect). I'm talking more about a subconscious discipline that has been set with us our whole training. Now as a man, diet has never been a big problem for me. I am 6ft3 and would consider myself in very good shape. Of course I have to apply my free time to keeping my body this way by going to the gym and swimming etc but their is a massive added pressure on women to look a very specific way working in a ballet company. I think women have unbelievable amounts of pressure put on them not only during school, but leading into their working career. Obviously there are similar pressures on men to be able to perform taxing lifts and endure long performances with very little time to recover, but those pressures pale into insignificance when compared to what women are expected to look like. I consider myself lucky that I enjoy working out and tend to enjoy food more that is healthy so the whole dietary requirements have never been a problem for me but this of course is a very specific requirement of a dancer and wouldn't apply to the general public.
When it comes to ethical responses, I tend to treat work the same as I would any situations. I always try and be courteous and respectful to people whether that be in work or outside. As my job only requires me to look after "me" I find that discipline doesn't differ that much. This of course changes a lot of if you were for example a dance teacher. Even though I have done some teaching in my life, I have always taught adults. I was reading through Louis May Hunts blog post on this particular task and found it really interesting to read about how she has a completely different job when it comes to discipline than I do. Not only would she have to be professional and take care of her own discipline as teacher (similar to myself) but as she teaches in a school she has a responsibility for other children behavior as well. Maybe that's why I've only taught adults? As much as i love children and my younger siblings, I don't know if I would be very efficient at keeping myself cool all the time if a large group of screaming children were running haywire.
As my job requires me to judged a lot by not only by bosses and colleagues but by the public, I believe that discipline and self control are vital in being successful. When I say discipline, I don't necessarily mean being punctual and turning up on time (which obviously is a given as that is just basic respect). I'm talking more about a subconscious discipline that has been set with us our whole training. Now as a man, diet has never been a big problem for me. I am 6ft3 and would consider myself in very good shape. Of course I have to apply my free time to keeping my body this way by going to the gym and swimming etc but their is a massive added pressure on women to look a very specific way working in a ballet company. I think women have unbelievable amounts of pressure put on them not only during school, but leading into their working career. Obviously there are similar pressures on men to be able to perform taxing lifts and endure long performances with very little time to recover, but those pressures pale into insignificance when compared to what women are expected to look like. I consider myself lucky that I enjoy working out and tend to enjoy food more that is healthy so the whole dietary requirements have never been a problem for me but this of course is a very specific requirement of a dancer and wouldn't apply to the general public.
When it comes to ethical responses, I tend to treat work the same as I would any situations. I always try and be courteous and respectful to people whether that be in work or outside. As my job only requires me to look after "me" I find that discipline doesn't differ that much. This of course changes a lot of if you were for example a dance teacher. Even though I have done some teaching in my life, I have always taught adults. I was reading through Louis May Hunts blog post on this particular task and found it really interesting to read about how she has a completely different job when it comes to discipline than I do. Not only would she have to be professional and take care of her own discipline as teacher (similar to myself) but as she teaches in a school she has a responsibility for other children behavior as well. Maybe that's why I've only taught adults? As much as i love children and my younger siblings, I don't know if I would be very efficient at keeping myself cool all the time if a large group of screaming children were running haywire.
References:
http://lois-mayhunt.blogspot.com.ee/2016/04/task-2d-inquiry.html
https://www.google.ee/search?q=keeping+your+cool&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=595&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiPrL_FyobMAhWjIJoKHcMuCDIQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=angry+dancer&imgrc=pkqf8PcXEV3e8M%3A
https://www.google.ee/search?q=keeping+your+cool&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=595&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiPrL_FyobMAhWjIJoKHcMuCDIQ_AUIBigB#imgdii=D5bG0Xjy1KZkEM%3A%3BD5bG0Xjy1KZkEM%3A%3BXL8JTZnZpU9oZM%3A&imgrc=D5bG0Xjy1KZkEM%3A
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