3a. The current networks

I have decided to approach this task by blogging under the questions asked in the reader. This is a good way for me to clearly research and reflect, as well as think about my current network from a lot of different angels.

What are the current and different ways (tools) that you have/do/engage with your professional network?

I started to think about this question by creating two lists; one with my current networks, and one with how I engage with them. However, I realised that a lot of elements linked together, and questions quickly started arising. To make my thoughts clearer I have created two spider diagrams.

When reflecting upon these diagrams I noticed a couple of things. Firstly that a lot of my networks link up to 'friends'. I think this is largely to do with my personality. Although I have a professional attitude when it comes to work, I like to have a personal relationship with people were appropriate as I believe it can only enhance the quality of your collaboration.  I am highly aware though that the point in which your professional and personal relationship blurring is sensitive and you should always be careful how far you let your colleges into your personal life. Crisp and Turner talk say that a strong network will provide support that will help us when needed*, and I believe that by having a friendship with people in your professional practice will enhance this support. I also noticed that 'family' is the only one not connected to another network. I use my family as part of my network in a very different way to any of the others. They provide me with advice and help where needed and listen to my ideas, as well as help my draft important e-mails to professionals and help me think of ways to constantly enhance my professional network. 

When reflecting on how I engage with my networks, I noticed several things. Firstly I noticed how many of my tools are linked to a computer. Although I rely on the computer daily for my career, I am someone who likes to interact with people face to face where possible, as I believe that I give a better impression and am able to elaborate and explain things clearer. I then took this thinking further and realised that I actually have begun to network with people face to face more and more now that I am slightly more established. Although I still have a long way to go, I now feel more confident to ask people personally for their details once I know them, rather than find out their agents details on the internet. I am given the opportunity to meet them through having a larger network of contacts that I am working with. The rectangular boxes with the questions in are a way to encourage me to think about how I acquire these contacts, so I can track how this may change over the course of my career.

I also noticed how a lot of these methods of engaging mean you can contact the person directly and very quickly. Personal numbers, e-mails, Facebook and Twitter accounts are an amazing way to directly get in contact with the relevant person in that exact moment, rather than a letter which may take several days to be delivered. Again, a lot of these 'direct methods' are because a computer, and more specifically the internet. This demonstrates to me how prominent Web 2.0 has become in our networking and professional lives.

What are the established (and different) ways that others use their networks, especially if they are more established or experienced practioners that you admire?

The main distinction I can see between me and experienced professionals is that they use their network to maintain their reputation and contacts rather than create them. For example, a lot of big choreographers that I admire have their own website with contact details on, allowing people to get into contact with them, rather than the other way around. In addition to this, they are able to use their social network to inform people of projects they are working on, and to advertise castings, jobs and opportunities. The internship I recently got was advertised on Twitter and because the person who posted it was a very well established performer, I was confident that the job opportunity would be amazing. This opened my eyes to the fact that at the moment I can't use my network in a way that promotes myself as such a confident polished package, as I have not yet had enough experience or built up such a strong reputation.

Another way a practioner could use their network is through working somewhere and then hiring the students. While I was training at Urdang, a lot of people from the industry came in and taught us. Occasionally they would then ask certain students to audition or work for them once they had graduated. In reader 3, Alan Durrant explains that your professional network is a highly important part of your current and professional life. This idea of creating contacts in college that might help your career in the future is a clear demonstration of this.

When you reflect upon current networks, can you think about the motives of others to be in the network and what values and purpose they have in mind?

I found this question quite difficult to answer, so in order help me think I have given three clear examples of people in my network focusing on how we both benefit and the purpose and value they have.

Since January I have been doing a work placement at the Chickenshed Theatre under the direction of Chris Niering, head of dance. My relationship with Chris is very much geared towards my experiences and career as she is very conscious that I get the most out of my time at Chickenshed. However, it is also beneficial for Chris to have me there as I am a regular volunteer who is working for her for free and has good relevant experience. I would like to think that we both value each other equally as we have a great working relationship. Because of the thesis of Chickenshed, my network here is linked directly to the communities of practice theory talked about in reader 3, as I am constantly learning in the process of engagement through social relationships. I am so grateful for the opportunities that Chris is giving me, and would love the opportunity to work for Chris in the future. 

Dale Rooks, director of education for the Chichester Festival Youth Theatre is someone who I have known and worked with for many years. Dale has taken great interest in my career and has provided me with opportunities, even when she could have given the job to someone more qualified. I believe over the past few years Dale and I have build a good level of trust between us, and have a fantastic relationship. Dale always expects everything to be delivered to the highest possible standard and so through allowing me to have a mixture of learning and doing, she has influenced me to work to a standard similar to hers.  When reflecting on our relationship, I believe it is fairly well balanced, however there is still so much I can learn from Dale. Whenever we work together the level of respect is mutual, but I will always look up to Dale and seek advice from her.

Finally, the relationship I had with Andree Bernard for the 42nd Street Gala I helped with was extremely different. I met Andree through Twitter and so for the first week of us relationship we hadn't even met! It was quickly established that we were working together solely for the purpose of the Gala, and so spent many unsociable hours speaking on the phone, e-mailing and texting to make sure the job was done. However, when I finally met Andree in person, she realised how passionate I was about choreography and so went out of her way to given me extra opportunities. Andree had never had an assistant before, so she was keen for us to get on well, and has kindly asked me to work for her again in the future. When thinking back on our relationship, it was a great way for me to gain experience in something I have never done before, but also beneficial for Andree, as without me she wouldn't have had enough time to do all the tasks required of her to get the Gala ready in time.

What would you ideal network look like and why?

My ideal network would be well balanced between people I learn from and people who learn from me. This is because I think in order to get better at my craft I must constantly be learning. It would have a wide pool of choreographers, directors, producers and teachers, as well as assistants and interns. I would also like to build up my pupil network and depending on their age, have a good relationship with their parents. The reason for this, is because I believe the parents always express to you their outcomes and desires, and so you are able to plan your lessons in the right way.

What realistic things could you do to work towards developing your ideal network?

I am currently feeling quite happy with the way I am developing my network. However, when reflecting on what I currently do, I think the area I could improve on is promoting myself as a choreographer and teacher. I sometimes don't have enough self confidence and so sell myself as an 'aspiring choreographer and teacher', but when I look at my jobs I am actually doing it!

In order to make my ideal network closer to the one I described in the previous question, I think I would need to get in contact with more directors as well as choreographers so that I open up to a wider spectrum of people. In addition to this, I think I could do some feedback forms for my students at the end of term so that I find out their opinions of the class and what they would like to do. By doing this, their opinion of the class would go up and hopefully their word of mouth would increase my students and therefore my network.

What tools and methods do you need to use? What do you know about your current and intended networks, and importantly, what do you not know?

To sell myself as a product I need to improve my social media skills. I need to use my Twitter account a lot more, as I am quickly learning how popular it is amoungst the Musical Theatre industry. In addition to this, as my career progresses I could create a website for myself as this would be a great way for people to see my CV, photos and appropriate details. However this is something that I know nothing about so would have to research into how to create it.

I have quite a good knowledge on various choreographers,but my knowledge of other people in the industry is not as good. I feel it would be beneficial to me to spend some time on this research as it would help to improve that spectrum of professionals that I want to achieve. I could also maybe write to some explaining my interests and see whether work experience may be an option. Work experience has always been a fantastic way for me to broaden my network as it gives people a chance to meet me and see me at work.

And so...

As I take my research into my network further, I already feel a lot more confident on this area of my career. Through reflecting on this task I can clearly see where I could implement simple ideas in order to improve my network. In addition to this, it has been good for me to see the areas that are working well. It has also given me a clearer sense of what specific areas of my career have a stronger network and I am beginning to question why this is. I believe my teaching network is slightly stronger because I have regular teaching work  and my network is incredibly strong. Combining both the Chichester Festival Youth Theatre and the Chickenshed Theatre allows me to develop my teaching skills on a daily basis. Although I am also given choreographic opportunities in both places, my network is slightly weaker when it comes from other sources, and this is something I want to focus on improving.




* Crisp, J & Turner, R (2007) Essential social psychology

The art of reflection...

I have decided to do this post after the comment that Adesola posted on my blog- 2d. The Inquiry task.

Adesola writes the following...

Looking back at what you wrote what does it tell you about you? Are there things that come through in that you are surprised to notice about yourself? In this part of the module is re-looking at things - re-flecting. What reflects back at you when you look at what you wrote?

The first thing that I have learnt about myself through this module is that I am quite self critical. During the first few weeks of starting the journal I discovered that I actually spend the majority of my time doing things relevant to my career. I am being given amazing opportunities, of which I am so grateful for and can honestly say how happy I am to be working on such incredible projects. However, it wasn't until I started keeping a regular journal that I realised that I can end up focusing on the things in my day that I haven't achieved, rather than the things that I had. Although I have always been hard working, the journal task highlighted to me that sometimes I need to be proud of what I have done, and not focus always focus on the negatives. A belated New Years resolution maybe...?!

When reading and researching Reader 2, I quickly learnt that I use critical reflection a lot. I wasn't surprised by this, but I was very surprised by the difference in the way I approach critical reflection when it comes to teaching and choreography. Looking at my critical reflection essay, I think it is very obvious that I am constantly learning from my own experiences as a teacher as well as learning from others. Although I feel like I am good at my job, in experience is still relatively small. I first became aware of this when I read the section on reflection- in- action and reflection- on- action. From there, my awareness of how I approach different tasks became more and more obvious. But I very much stand by what I said in my essay... 

I believe that my reflection- in- action self is not yet as confident yet in terms of teaching as I haven't been doing it as long...

And so I have every faith that through experience and time I will learn to trust my instincts more and develop the skills and confidence to be able to help my ability to be a choreographer that doesn't need to plan as much before hand, but can go with her instincts.

Finally, by answering the questions in the inquiry task, I was forced to really think deep about myself and others that have an effect on me. When reading back on my post, I realised how many people I admire, and how much I learn from all of them. This didn't surprise me because I think I am someone who learns a lot from others, but it also really made me think about the people I teach and how they could be learning from me. Not literally learning the steps, but learning from my approach and personality. I hope that everyone I comes into contact with me can learn something about themselves, whether it be a step that they couldn't do before, or that they enjoy my class and may want to try teaching for themselves.

I was a little surprised by how much I am unsure of. I am such an organised and dedicated person that I thought I felt confident in what I am doing because I always plan it thoroughly and throw myself into the task. However, when writing the blog, I discovered that I don't tend to go on instinct as much as I would like and can be incredibly cautious. I think this stems from the fact that I can let the 'worried side' of my personality over power. But I am determined that this will not stop me from taking up opportunities that will further my career. It's like my dad always tells me... This isn't a rehearsal for life, it's the real thing!
 

2d. The inquiry task

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?

From a very young age I have loved teaching, and have wanted to be a teacher in some way. Now that I am a dance teacher and choreographer my enthusiasm is driven from many different angles. First and for most I love watching people develop from the beginning of a class or routine to the end. I love helping pupils that want to learn develop their skills and technique, and it makes me incredibly proud watching them leave at the end of class with something they didn't know about before or knew they could do. 

I also get enthusiastic about watching other teachers and choreographers work. Whether its a top West End choreographer who is teaching professional dancers, or a dance teacher at a school teaching 5 year old children ballet, there is so much to learn from people. I recently sat in on a rehearsal for a Gala happening at the London Palladium. The choreographer was Paul Robinson, and it was fascinating to watch how he worked. Although it was obvious that he had a sense of how he wanted the routine to look and feel, he developed the choreography there in the room, totally based on his instincts. This is completely different to how some choreographers work, who have the routine all planned before they enter the studio. I would like to become a choreographer who uses their impulses and instincts more. I believe that through experience and age this will happen for me, but right now I am learning a great deal from people like Paul work. You can check out Paul's website here.

I also admire people who use dance as a way to get messages across, and who teach purely for the enjoyment of others. I will never be able to put into words how much I admire Christine Neiring and all the Chickenshed Theatre staff. Chickenshed is a place where performing is totally selfless. It is not about one person and how well they do, but about letting everyone how the opportunity to reach their full potential. The shows performed at Chickenshed are powerful and beautiful, and I truly believe the work they do there is incredibly special. Please check out the Chickenshed website here.

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

Sometimes I get frustrated or worried because I don't know if this is the right path for me. I feel proud of everything I have achieved, and have been given some amazing opportunities  but because this profession is so fickle, it's always hard to tell how far you will go in it. However I am not giving up and will continue to do my best and work hard for as long as this makes me happy. I would like to believe I am an incredibly motivated and hard working person, but it makes me angry that unfortunately that may not be enough to give me a long lasting career. A lot about this industry seems to be about who you know, and what you look like. Your talent can be taken as a given, and so on top of that you need to have so much more. Also you can be the most passionate person, but if you are not presented with the right opportunities to show this passion, then it may get buried or lost. 

My best friend Hannah is someone I will always admire, not just from a career perspective, but in general. Hannah is a beautiful performer and incredibly talented at what she does. Not only that, but she is determined, outspoken and very driven. The path into performing since leaving the Urdang Academy has not been easy for her though. She has had to do jobs that she has not enjoyed and are unrelated to her career, as well as self motivate herself to write letters to agents, go to auditions and have countless meetings. When Hannah got her first job in One Touch of Venus in Walthemstow I was so proud of her. Her hard work had paid off and lead her onto the first step of her career. Although Hannah is still fighting everyday, I believe her determined attitude and talent will lead her on an amazing career path. I have the privilege of living with Hannah and will always look to her as a source of inspiration.

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?

The thing I will always love most is watching something start as nothing and develop. Whether it be a piece of choreography, a show, or just a short class. I love getting involved and being part of a team, and will never mind from what aspect I help from. Over the last couple of weeks I have been working as a Production intern for a charity Gala. Although this is something I have never done before, I have loved every minute of it. I feel so happy to be part of such an amazing team, and can't wait to watch the performance this Sunday. I really hope that I get an opportunity like this again as I feel this could be a way I may want to develop my career. 

Since I was a teenager I have been very involved with the Chichester Festival Theatre, and more specifically in the Youth Theatre side of things. I used to be a member myself and now have the privilege of teaching and choreographing for them. The Youth Theatre Director Dale Rooks is someone who I am so glad I know, and can now call my friend as well as my teacher and boss. Dale is someone who lives for the Youth Theatre. You can tell just by speaking to her how passionate she is, and how proud she is of each individual member and the shows and performances they do. Not only that, she is incredibly loyal. Dale has taken an interest in my career for many years. Although I moved away from Chichester for four years,this has never affected anything between us. She has put her trust in me and encouraged me in so many ways, as well as giving me countless opportunities  I believe I will always learn from Dale, and know that she shares the same passion as me in terms of watching a project or person grow and develop. You can read more about Dale and the Chichester Festival Theatre here.

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?

There is so much that I don't understand. In terms of my career I am learning everyday as I am recently graduated and am keen to soak up information from all different sources and people. But in general life, I also have a lot I don't understand. There are times where I have felt life to be quite challenging and tough and go to seek help and answers. My dad is someone who I will always go to for this. He has a very similar personality to me, and yet his attitude is so admirable. My dad will never give up hope of getting an answer. He is incredibly knowledgeable and wise, and is always keen to learn from other people and improve. I will always admire my dad's attitude and hope I continue to learn from him.

And finally...

I would also like to briefly talk about choreographers who have inspired me. Since I was a teenager I have been aware of different choreographers styles and work. Stephen Mear will always been the person who first got my interested in choreography. I love that he choreographs for such a diverse range of shows style of shows, and the way he allows character and personality to be central to his work. It would be my dream to meet Stephen one day, and to work with him would be the biggest honour of all! Mark Smith is an inventive and dynamic choreographer. I had the honour of being his assistant for the Chichester Festival Youth Theatre Show 'Noah' and have since worked with Mark on other projects. Mark is deaf and so his style of movement is often influenced by sign language. I love Mark's fun personality and find it shines through in everything that he does. Finally I will always love Bill Deamer's choreography for Babes in Arms at the Chichester Festival Theatre, and Andrew Wright's for Singin in the Rain. Both these choreographers are so classy and create beautiful images and lines. 

2c. The critical reflection

Hello lovely people. Please follow the link to my critical reflection.

Thank you,

much love x

2b. The journal writing experience

So... After trying out all 9 of the different journal writing techniques individually, I decided to keep a diary for a week combining a few that I naturally liked. The techniques I used were the following:

* Initial
* Description
* Evaluation
* Reflection
* List

I found I tended to write my day in chronological order, summarising and describing key events. This naturally developed into me reflecting on what was good and bad about my day, and whether I had achieved all that I wanted. I developed this further by writing little lists at the side if things that were important to remember for the next day i.e. things I must do or research and the deadlines in which they had to be done. I found by combining a few different styles allowed me to not feel restricted to writing in a particular way. Depending  on what happened during my day, different writings styles became more prominent.

Monday 4th March- Friday 8th March 2013

During this week I started working as a Production Intern for a Charity Gala that is happening at the London Palladium. My job was very computer-based with a lot expected of me in a very short space of time. I found my writing style was very list based as I constantly had different deadlines and so organised my thoughts. I also had to plan four dance lessons I was covering at the weekend. I found I naturally used Kolb's Learning Cycle whilst planning which was something I had never been aware of doing until then. But Boud explains to us that journals enable learners to understand their own learning process. This definitely happened to me this week!

Saturday 9th March 2013

This was the day in which I covered various dance classes for a dance school in Teddington. My journal writing styled completely changed, becoming a lot more descriptive. I talked in great detail about each individual class so I wouldn't forget my experience. I found I also evaluated and then reflected a lot in this entry as I always learn a lot about myself when I teach a new class. 

Monday 11th March 2013

As I have an extremely busy week this week preparing for the Gala, I have used a chart in order to break down my week. This allows me to clearly see how many hours I am designating to different tasks, and keeps me ordered and organised. I also have to document a lot of choreography through writing and filming so this week my journal is full of notes and videos. But J. Moon encourages that journals come in any shape, size and form, so it's good for me to have variety.


Through the journal writing experience I have found that I have learnt a lot about how I approach tasks and see them through. I tend to write in a very organised way, and only waver from this style if my day has been fairly relaxed or not a lot has happened. I have also realised that I reflect and evaluate most when I am teaching as I seem to learn so much about myself and the students, as so constantly want to document my findings. The different writing techniques I use are a great way for me to reflect on my achievements and struggles, whilst challenging me to think about why certain things have happened and what I could do to improve or alter a situation. Overall a beneficial task...

2a. The 9 different journal techniques

So for the last couple of weeks I have been keeping a journal, using the 9 different journal writing styles suggested to us. I thought I would talk a little bit about how I have been getting on as some techniques I found really helped me, and others I found I didn't relate to as easily.

Description

Description was the first style I started with and was probably the one I found the easiest. It is how I naturally keep a diary and it allows me to write freely about me day as well as highlighting the important/ key events. I found I simply tended to break down my day chronologically describing what had happened. However, this technique didn't really challenge me in terms of developing my thoughts.

Initial   

Initial seemed to suit me well, as it allowed my to expand on description in a way that made me think about how I felt during certain points of my day. I don't always take the time to think and I write down how I feel, so this was a really good task for me to do. I found certain thoughts and feelings kept reoccurring if a particular event was prominent in my life for a few days.  

Reflection

Reflection allowed me to analyise why I might be feeling certain things towards different activities. It forced to me begin to really self reflect, which is something I can struggle with. It also helped me look at how much I had achieved in a day, and ask myself questions. I believe that reflection will feature a lot more prominently in my journal writing from now on.

List

I am constantly writing or forming lists! It's how I organise my life. So this technique was a positive as well as a negative for me. It allowed me to organise my thoughts and my day, as well as break things down into sections. For example I don't usually make a list of 'Things I'm glad I did', or 'Thing's I wish I knew more about', but by doing this I was able to clearly separate what I needed to focus on, and what I felt confident in. However sometimes I found the lists made me panicked as it seemed like an impossible task of things that I needed to do. I like the idea of incorporating lists into my journal, but I definitely shouldn't use it as my soul technique.

Evaluation

Evaluation was a great way for me to have an overview of my day and to not focus to much on specifics that can sometimes scare or worry me. It also helped me to work out reasons as to why certain things were happening and gave me a sense of perspective. I found it linked in with reflection but concentrated more on practical elements of my life, for example things I should be avoiding, rather than how I feel about them happening.

Graphs, charts and diagrams

I didn't click with this technique as much as I thought I would. It didn't help me to remember anything I did, it just allowed me to work out what emotions were more prominent in a day. I tried a few different styles of charts and graphs. I did a graph of my feelings that day to see how my mood changed, and then I also constructed a pie chart to break down how much of my time I spend on my career, uni work and other factors in my life. It was good to use a visual tool, but I found I still wrote a little note to myself describing my day as I felt I hadn't allowed those feelings to come out.

What if?

I tend to use the what if? idea a lot when I am planning my lessons for teaching, so this technique was interesting for me to put into a journal context. It allowed my creative mind to explore imaginary scenarios which was nice, but also made me think about how I really wanted my career to go, as I found myself dreaming about certain jobs. This put into perspective for me what I need to do in order to make these dreams happen. I also had a couple of 'Sliding Door' moments, where I imagined my life if just one tiny factor had changed in the day. This was generally just a really interesting idea, and one I enjoyed!

Another view


I found this experience really hard. I did a journal entry from the point of view of my i pod dock. I found I couldn't switch off my own voice and really imagine just what the i pod would have seen. I kept bringing in other factors that I happened to know as I had experienced it too. However it did allow me to reflect on my day from a more outward perspective which allowed me to think about how the children I taught that day may have viewed my classes. I feel that I should give this technique another go and try to develop it further.


In general though I have really enjoyed trying out the different styles of journal writing. I am quickly learning that in order for me to maximize the journeys reflective potential I need to use several different writing techniques. I am now going to try a week of combining different styles and see what comes from it!