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:

• 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.

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.

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. 

Who do I admire who keeps their cool?

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. 

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. 

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

2C Reflective Theory

In this blog post I will be discussing reflection, others theories of reflection and how they compare to my own.

Recently I found myself in a work situation where I had to critique and analyse myself and the work I was doing very meticulously and thought it would be a perfect situation to really break down and compare my thinking to theorists works such as Dewey, Schön and Kolb. The piece was a pas de deux between myself and a fellow female soloist in the company. The piece involves a lot of difficult lifts, precise timing and unusual approaches to choreographic steps and interpretation. As I do with all new pieces that I learn, I have an initial process that I go through when learning new choreography. I watch any video footage that might have recorded with a previous company, I discuss different approaches towards difficult steps or lifts with my partner or other work colleagues who are in the piece and I always seek critique from the choreographer who is working with us. I know myself that I am definitely a Kinesthic and Visual learner so this approach always tends to work with me to grasp the basics of any new choreography that I am given.

My initial approach to a particular lift that we were struggling to master was the approach I take with all dance works "practice makes perfect" but due to complexity of the work and its unusual style, after many tries and a little frustration I had to take a minute to myself and evaluate this work in a different light. Without even realizing, I called upon John Deweys approach to reflective learning. Dewey thought of reflection as preoccupation or dwelling upon things that puzzle or disturb us and saw reflection and reflective techniques as a forward thinking towards action. I think this approach fits well with my own thinking as if I run into any difficulties I do tend to see them as a puzzle and will approach the solution the same way I would a an actual puzzle, to survery and overview before taking physical steps towards improving and fixing. Before I began working on my degree I wouldn't have given thought to particular learning techniques of theorists who make understanding a learning process so much easier by breaking down and publishing thoughts and processes that we all use to learn. For example David Kolb. David Kolb is an experimental learning style theorist who has this brilliant learning cycle diagram that without knowing I have been using in my professional working life for years.  


As I look at the diagram I assess myself and how I approach different situations and it is an extremely accurate diagram for how I work. From "reflective observation" which would be me referencing to a video, to "converging" which is me putting my thoughts and discussions with my partner on specific difficulties into practice as we "think and do". 


Donald Schön's theory presented the concept of 'reflection in action' and 'reflection on action' and that there are two types of reflection, one during and one after an activity or event. I think that this is a viable approach of reflection and learning when put in regards to dance especially. Whilst reflecting "in action", I don't often find myself with enough time to remember every detail I have thought out in my own head before starting that dance. My mind will be concentrated on other aspects of that dance such as breathing patterns, the next steps, eye line, performance quality and my partner. Often small details will be forgotten or missed which is why "reflection on action" is also extremely useful to me as once I have made it through a particular dance, I can take time to reflect and think about what I would do differently next time and how I can improve my actions with reflective thinking. Reflective techniques by these theorist have been such a large part of my learning experience as a professional dancer and I was completely unaware. 

Having been a dancer for a very long time, it amazes me how many different theorists opinions I agree with. I use parts of all of the theories I have quoted to try and better myself as a professional dancer and also as a person. As people, we are constantly growing and constantly learning and reflecting. No matter if we are reflecting on something very specific like one particular lift in a ballet or if we are casually reflecting on our day, we use reflective methods to improve ourselves and how we approach any situation we are faced with our day to day lives.

Reflection is just a realization of something we have learnt and are learning and it is a powerful tool to take something we are doing or have already done and improve upon it.