Dealing with diversions.........

After starting the BAPP course on a ship where I was for 7 months I made plans to come home and focus on my studies for a good month and have a little "Time off" (just taking class and no auditions etc) getting back into the swing of being on land. I wanted to get in contact with all my college friends to see what jobs they had been doing, what agents they were with etc and also spend some time with the family. However on my way into the gym, a friend who worked in membership pulled me aside to say they needed someone part time (cooperation- I wonder if he wants anything in return apart from working along side me (-; ), it would be perfect hours for me and I would get a free membership. He told me to hand in my C.V (which I had to quickly create mixing my Dance, Fitness and "normal" CV all together). With in one day I have a interview, I have the job and I start the next day. I get a week to be trained and now here I am, a bit stuck for time as there is a lot of sickness which needs covering which I am doing and a deadline for my critical reflection.

I have spoken to Paula today and feel a lot better about my situation.......this is just how my life will be within this career. I am sure there are people who are in the same boat. I am just going to use my time wisely (-:

2D – Inquiry

I wanted to answer these questions and make people go.........Oh My she sounds so interesting but I just decided to be honest (-:

               

What in your daily practice gets you really enthusiastic to find out more about? Who do you admire who also works with what makes you enthusiastic?

I am I little obsessed with positivity and energy and the effect it has on people, rehearsals, health, wealth. I love feeding off people’s positive energy. The feeling you get on stage when everything comes together, everyone has great energy, everyone connects and you become one! (however corny it sounds, it’s how it feels) I love reading about it. Peoples views quite often on self help books are quite cynical however I find them so interesting. Don’t get me wrong I do not follow and do as they preach but I like to take a little out of everyone and try it out.

/http://thesecret.tv/

I read regularly The Secret as I do like to practice their techniques. I think within this career you have to take a lot of criticism and knock backs and it is hard to keep yourself positive and motivated. Sometimes in rehearsal when you get a lot of corrections you can feel like you are being picked out and made a spectacle of however it’s just there and then. Once you have finished and look back on it you have another view. Positivity is the key!

What gets you angry or makes you sad? Who do you admire who shares your feelings or has found away to work around the sadness or anger?

A situation that has happened in my family, which I think evolves around money! It’s hard to put it into words on a page but this is one thing that makes me angry. A lot of peoples lives revolve around money and I have a greedy extended family that want more and more which resulted in my parents not being able to afford my colleges fees. I gained half a scholarship however had to pay the other £15,000 myself. While at college I worked in clubs dancing till early hours in the morning then in an office during the day. I survived on only 5-6 hours sleep a weekend and then did a full week at college from 8-6 and gave it 100%. Due to the stress my dad was put through he then got ill. In my dads condition he shouldn’t be working but has to for the mortgage. This all stems down to people being greedy over money. I never normally talk about this sort of thing, only to my mum. I am all about positive thinking and thoughts bring things (as you can see from the previous question) so I don’t like to talk about money negatively however the question “what makes me angry?’ has been asked! 

I would never change my situation as it has made me the person I am today. Everything I have, I have worked hard for and I have made things happen, however there are a lot of people out there who have had it handed to them on a plate and still are, I just wish they would appreciate it. The students who parents pay their fees, rent, bills, money to live, to go to class. I always remember how lucky I am and how there is always someone worse off.

What do you love about what you do? Who do you admire who also seems to love this or is an example of what you love?

This in a way contradicts my answer to the last question. I love how you can become someone else for a little while. I’ve always loved acting! The thought of dressing like someone else, adapting the characters habits, accent, style really excites me. When dancing I create a character for each routine. It helps with my performance and to also grasp the style of the number. One person I really do admire as an artist is Beyonce! May sound like I’m just another fan, but its more of a respect. The person you see on stage is what Beyonce refers to as Sasha Fierce. I’ve copied a link to an interview that explains her alter ego.

3.30min into this video-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mo-FfMe0Bi8

Short clip-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu4SHomEWT8

What do you feel you don’t understand? Who do you admire who does seem to understand it or who has found a way of making not understanding it interesting or beautiful, or has asked the same questions as you?

I admire people that can let go, that don’t seem to care what other people think to a certain extent. There is always something that holds me back. I noticed it when I was at college and I never 100% got rid of it then. I visualise myself being like that but then I don’t do it. I can see what looks good and most effective but applying it to myself is another challenge. For instance I will watch someone perform on stage and it works amazingly. Then I try and bring that to my performance and I cant do it how I visualise. It is hard to put into words how I feel. Is it to risky? What am I afraid of?? Neither of those things because if I did it how I see in my head, I would look great. I’m sure someone knows how I feel??

On my last contract a guy called Arthur was great at just letting himself go. Ok sometimes he would what we called “overachieve” and have to be told to calm down. But surely it’s better to be told to hold back rather than them wanted more??

Task 2c - Reflective Theory

Reflective Theory- Constantly changing as I learn and grow..............


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ca4UfFUNHeI_iWtxZphYTyoYE1JfQAepdWADQQoLwgs/edit

Task 2b- Journal Writing Experience

Task 2b- Journal Writing Experience

I’ve tried many different ways of writing my journal; all negatives from the day, all positives of the day, from different peoples/things perspectives, lists, story writing, critically, with diagrams, from different place etc.

I thought I would share with you one of the most interesting entries I have made was from my dance captain perspective simply due to the amount I learnt once writing the extract. I wrote this entry while onboard the Carnival Valor, now I am home. Reading through my journal I see it in a total different way, I think this is because I am now home and I have different thoughts of my journey. 

One of the female dancers was struck with G.I and it was a show day, she was unable to get out of bed or keep any food down. The dance captain had to round up the cast for an emergency re block. I at the time have to admit was on deck laying in the sun with a book (it was nice weather and I had nothing else to be doing ) however I decided to do my journal that day because of the reaction that the dance captain got from certain members of the cast.

I learnt that how I feel I come across to people is not always how I do.  When I was told that there was a rehearsal I did not moan I literally got up and went to change into rehearsal wear and got myself to the theatre. I know it can be stressful re blocking so I kept quiet and did what I was told. 

I had a good enough relationship with the dance captain that I told her the next day about my journal writing from her perspective. She was happy to discuss what I wrote and how she felt.  

The main problem with working on ships was relationships! Not the romantic type. It was hard for people to define talking to the DC in the crew bar of a evening with a glass of wine and rehearsals and show time. People could not define having a laugh and a joke and being professional. The DC said this was the one main thing that effected her emergency rehearsal. From what I wrote about myself and just getting on with things came across different once speaking to the DC, it came across that I didn’t want to be there and that she had interrupted my break however she knew me well enough to know this wasn’t the case.  I was so shocked. She explained that she can see that I am being 100% professional but in circumstances like that she would welcome ideas.  I guess in my case it is getting to know the routine a bit better and maybe asking the DC what she expects from the rehearsal at the beginning.  I wish for a day I could become someone else she see myself from someone else’s eyes.

(I would include an extract of the journal entry but it includes a lot of names)

Networking!

Just while on Facebook I dumped into this poster...........some of you may be interested!

Networking for the Dance Industry...................This shows a network advertising network meetings! Ironic!!!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=146591082133155&set=at.112831665509097.10560.104904646301799.511022570.510693753&type=1&theater

Like on facebook for details:
https://www.facebook.com/Awarenessthroughdance

Now I am back home in England I have just about found my feet and also a part time job in a gym. Now I know my shifts and I am full trained my main aim is to focus on BAPP!! I have been a bit slack of late but I am ready to get my head down and study!!

1C My YouTube Video

For Christmas I decided that I would save my money and treat myself to a Mac Air……….Oh My!! I am so glad I brought myself one, I like to think of it as an investment!!!! Without it I would not have had a clue where to start with this video. With the app IMovie I would have struggled immensely.

I am very grateful for this project, as it has made me experiment and has been a warm up for future projects i.e. my show reel! I hope you enjoy it! I had fun making it and I hope it makes you smile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2o7gxZ5EuA&feature=youtu.be

Professional Communication Technologies………1b!

When I first heard the term “Web 2.0” I FREAKED out!!!! The questions that entered my head were:

            What on Earth does this word mean??

How am I going to use/understand this new technology??

What have I got myself into??

The definition of Web 2.0, as stated in Reader 1 that "It provides the opportunity for the reader and creator to interact and more importantly, for reader to become the creator.”

Little did I know that I use Web 2.0 without out even realising it. Since being in school I have used Wikipedia for research, YouTube has always been helpful and inspirational, Google I have also used from a very young age. And however much I hate to admit it I am one of the many people throughout the world that contributes to the very large statistics of Facebook! Even though I may not use it (at the moment to it’s full potential) in a professional light, I am using it! The pressure was off slightly I was already operating what I now know as Web 2.0 yet apart from Facebook I have always been the reader and never the creator, until now!

On my first glance at Reader 1 again I panicked. It had lots of long words and phrases that I found were made more complicated than necessary. I had to read it a few times for it to get into my head and to simplify what it was actually saying. I also researched for a simpler explanation and found this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pe79kPh3hw&feature=related

I have only just discovered Web 2.0 and they are already moving into Web 3.0!!!!

Once understanding Reader 1 my head went from question to question, from one subject to another. My questions didn’t necessarily link to the subject at hand directly but I thought were all important.

Are these social network’s a help or a hindrance?

Is YouTube helping people share their thoughts and feeling or helping people to copy?

Is moving on with technology really helping the social skills of the new generation?

How many companies are finally going to go out of business?

Are people exposing themselves too much or in the right way?

Will Professional Communication Technologies prevent/help us getting jobs in our professional careers?

Are employees seeing things they would rather not?

Is it helping with communication or just giving people away to create what they would like to be but on a screen?

Is it making people less confident, social or able to communicate?

Are you able to advertise for free?

Is it affecting human social skills?

Are we in control of 2.0?

My developments with Web 2.0 to date……………………

The first social network I joined was Facebook. Initially I joined the network as a social basis, while studying I met a lot of people from all over England and I wanted to keep in touch with them. Facebook is an easy way to keep in contact and up to date with what people are doing. I only accepted people I knew and that I want seeing my profile.

When I then joined Bodywork my views on Facebook dramatically changed. Each week we would have a different guest teacher for a master class. The guest would already be in the industry. They were always willing to help with questions about the business and share where and what they had done professionally. We had teachers mention about classes they held and to add them on Facebook as they advertise and mention the classes on there. This was the moment that I realized that Facebook could be an amazing way of networking. My Facebook profile has developed over time to a means of my professional network.

Another thing that evolved from this for me was twitter. I created a twitter account and added Choreographers, Dance groups, Dance studios, Casting Directors and groups such and Dance cast. I find twitter extremely useful for finding out about auditions and classes.

Networking via Facebook is extremely different to communicating face to face. I have two contrasting thoughts; it is the easy way out to contact people and gives you a false confidence then on the contrary it gives the less confident people some help.

Are these social network’s a help or a hindrance?

It is easy to email someone and tell them that you enjoyed their class and if they have any auditions approaching to let you know, however doing this in the flesh is totally different. Emails can be miss read and there is no tone in the voice which determines how you are saying things. One thing that I like to have and I think you can tell a lot from is eye contact. This is lost through social networking sites.

Is it making people less confident, social or able to communicate?

I know a lot of people approach a panel after an audition for feedback, a lot of people would find it easier to email later. In this circumstance a lot of time the panel request that they don’t get approached and an email is sent instead.

Is moving on with technology really helping the social skills of the new generation?

You have the choice and control of what appears, who sees it and the information you give. Do employees check your name in Google? What appears? A drunken profile picture on Facebook!

Are these social network’s a help or a hindrance?

This is why it’s so important to be professional and aware of what the consequences could be. A friend of mine has once had to report a picture she found on Facebook. A friend of hers had been tagged in a picture of a night out, she was able to flick through the whole album. In this album she could see herself in the background of a few of the pictures, after flicking through a few she found a picture that had been taken up someone’s dress, once looking closely she saw that the picture was up her dress. She was not a friend of this particular person, the album was open for everyone to see. Does this push the limits? If she hadn’t have looked through the album she would have never known. How do we control what other people exhibit. After this happened I deleted my Facebook account, I felt so strongly that I did not want things like this happening to me. After removing my profile for a month I realized that whether or not I have a profile I am still not able to control what other people put on their profiles of me.

Are you able to advertise for free?

I was also missing out on information about class, auditions etc. Web 2.0 is evolving quick and is there any real way of controlling it? With Facebook we are not really the initial creator, we can’t control everything on there, we have options but we are unable to change the options we have. Maybe there should be a hierarchy i.e. Oringinal Creator (creator of facebook), Additional creator/reader (people with a profile who contribute to the site, Reader (people who have no profile and just like to look). Bruns (2007) argues that in fact there isn’t a step by step transition from reading and consuming materials to making and sharing them online, more that each of us as we participate are both producer and consumer (similar to the idea of prosumer suggested above). He calls the process produsage (which it a portmanteau of production and usage)

Are people exposing themselves too much or in the right way?

A lot of people I know have uploaded their show reels onto YouTube and this has contributed to them gained a job. When reading through other peoples blogs I noticed a guy who has gained a job overseas by sending the link of his show reel on YouTube.

Will Professional Communication Technologies prevent/help us getting jobs in our professional careers?

As you can see a lot of positive and negative issues raced through my head, which I have put down in words with a few quotes to back up my beliefs however everyone is entitled to their own opinions. I have also looked up what other people think about Web 2.0.

Quote from Internet (Anon 2012):

“Web 2.0 is transforming our society. Online tools that support collaborative communities are redefining how firms do business, how retailers engage customers, how politicians energize voters, how journalists inform readers, how teachers educate students, how friends maintain relationships, and how individuals shape their own identity.”

Quote from a Friend:

“Young people say they are really social but to actually hold a conversion with them is difficult. Having a Facebook profile with lots of friends doesn’t mean your social, I think it should be called cyber social!”

Freeman Dyson, physicist and principal architect of the theory of quantum electrodynamics

"More than 90 per cent of the technology that will affect our daily lives at the beginning of the 21st century has not been invented. This means that more innovations will be introduced in the next ten years than were produced throughout previous human history."

Shirley Malcom, Head, Directorate for Education and Human Resource Programs,

American Association for the Advancement of Science

"Technology is about connections--connecting people to each other, to ideas, and to possibilities. Imagine being able to sample the atmosphere of a planet millions of miles away and go hands-on with the universe--this is the stuff that gets kids excited about science! What's there not to love?!"

I admit Web 2.0 can be extremely beneficial and effective however if you use it carefully and with professional conduct. As Reader 1 says you have a choice, A choice of who you look at, follow, download and share. Make the right choice!

Even though Hamilton says that not everyone can either afford, have the time or the skills to use Web 2.0 I think that nowadays it is extremely accessible, affordable and basic. It only becomes as complicated as you make it.

“If people do not have the instruments by which they can participate then they will be unable or unwilling to participate in something (Hamilton 2000).”

From now on I will definitely look at what I am creating, saying, sharing and following online a lot more seriously. It does concern me what the evolvement on the Web will bring and what my children and grandchildren will be doing online in the future. For my career I think it can be a very useful tool.