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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