I have been spoilt for chose to find a line of inquiry as there are so many questions I want to figure out. The performing world really is a mixture of confusion and mystification and this task will help me learn about a question that has always frustrated me. I was in London this weekend with friend who isn’t a performer and he asked about another friend of mine. I casually told him “oh she is really good, she is leafleting today” he looked at me with bewilderment in his face and asked “why”. Then I was confused and said “she is working” so then we were both frowning in silence trying to grasp if we were on the same page. Then it made sense, why would she be leafleting on the streets in the cold when she is a dancer?
The reason why I have chosen this as my line of inquiry is because this is an area that makes me frustrated and I want to look at other ways a performer can stay in work and feel happy and passionate about there profession. After leaving Italia Conti I went straight into my first amazing contract onboard the Oriana for 10 months however when I got back I felt miserable and generally lost. At college they teach you how to audition, how to perform but do they teach you how to cope with the reality of being unemployed? My answer is not really. When I was at college I was kept in a blissful bubble however valuable information could have taken me into the real world. Rejection, lack of finance and disappointment of not gaining employment has caused a lot of performers in the industry to give up their dream. I do find it funny when people ask me “so what do you do as a career” and I answer “I am a dancer” and they always look at me in admiration which is lovely but do they appreciate how hard our line of work is? Properly not, but then why should they? My favourite line is “are you on TV yet?” it makes me laugh (a little nervy) every time.
The passion I have when I am performing allows me to cope with the distress of looking for work but I do wish there was something we were able to fall back on. When I am in work I am constantly thinking about what my next job is going to be, will it pay the rent, how long will I be unemployed? It is an unstructured way of living; you are always not knowing what and where you will be. Don’t get me wrong it is stimulating and exciting, but I hate not having money and to have money you have to be working. I believe dancers are among the most passionate and dedicated of artists and we rarely take our work for granted.
So I have decided to research and find ways to enjoy getting work, and finding new hobbies!
Work for yourself- Start your own business- it’s the best thing I ever done!
Sell something, make something, do something!
Travel the world!
Exercise- You need to be fit to dance!
Teaching- Teaching is such good money and you are inspiring others!
Do a course- Maybe a BAPP course would be handy for your profession
Do some social networking
Promotional work
Find an agent- seeking out representation
Go to the theatre- get inspired and motivated
“If dancing were any easier it would be called football”
I was walking on the beach in Vietnam a couple of weeks ago with a friend, and just by coincidence we started talking about how people take different routes for their future. Normally your chosen occupation is something you are good at but also interested in. I can remember watching a dance film when I was younger and I can honestly say I didn’t sleep for days after as I just mesmerized at what I saw. I suppose even from a young age (without meaning to) you are reflecting on things you see, hear and that is how we learn. Then as I got older (thank god) I discovered that I was a natural dancer and that was the path I wanted to go down, however many of my friends took completely different routes. Howard Gardner says that “people are intelligent in a number of ways” I feel this is so true. I believe my intelligence is a kinesthetic and also a musical kind and how I found that out was due to my experience.
I am an experienced dance teacher and each day I expand my knowledge due to reflecting on my lessons. Reflection has been a substantial part of my learning and each day I modify my teaching to improve my work. I have made many mistakes at work, but I believe if I didn’t make those errors and reflect upon them then I wouldn’t discover new and better techniques. “Knowledge is not the same as morality, but we need to understand if we are to avoid past mistakes and move in productive directions. An important part of that understanding is knowing who we are and what we can do...” (Howard Gardner 1999: 180-181) Gardner also talks about the idea of Visual, Auditory and kinesthetic learners. I find it hard to concentrate and engage if I am watching something or listening to someone, so I most definitely learn better kinesthetically.
Margaret H'Doubler wrote and spoke about kinaesthetic learning in the 1940s. She defined kinaesthetic learning as the human's body's ability to express itself through movement and dance. I find this very interesting as I am a dancer and I find it easier to learn carrying out a physical activity.
Yesterday I watched a dance class (I was sitting down) and I felt uncomfortable. I was learning very little and I didn’t feel connected to what was happening. I decided to join in and automatically I felt at ease and I gained something from the class. I understand that I am not one type of learner but clearly find I have a predominantly kinesthetic learning style. Tomorrow I have decided to try and use Visual and Auditory learners and I will reflect on how I develop and what I gain from using these styles.
In the arts you are constantly experimenting with ideas and that again is how you learn. I can remember at college me and my tutor was trying to find the best style of singing that suited my voice the best. After we went through Jazz, Rock, Motown etc we decided Musical theatre was my flair! We only found this out by experimental learning and reflecting on what I studied.
John Dewey believes that “if people had full experience and therefore full engagement with their lives they would be better able to be part of society, fully engage with democracy and spend time solving worldly problems” I have faith in this as I feel the more you engage and reflect upon your everyday existence the more you can be involved with society as you have learnt from experience. I read the other day “Thinking is the method of intelligent learning, of learning that employs and rewards the mind”.
The learning cycle
Kolbs learning cycle is very helpful and dynamic as it offers both a way to understand individual people's different learning styles, and also an explanation of a cycle of experiential learning that applies to us all.
Kolb and Fry (1975) argue that the learning cycle can begin at any one of the four points - and that it should really be approached as a continuous spiral. However, it is suggested that the learning process often begins with a person carrying out a particular action and then seeing the effect of the action in this situation.
I watched some video footage of David Kolb explaining experimental learning which I found very interesting.
In the interview David Kolb talks about William James and what he said-
He said that as human beings all we have is our experience, and all knowledge begins in our experience, and the way we know something is true, is that it comes back and proves true in our experience, so experiential learning puts learning in the centre of a learning process. As a learner it’s my experience that guides how I learn and says when I have learnt something.
Its all about experience!
I found this very valuable as you do only no when something is true when you have experienced it. You can only learn when you have experienced it. You are in control of your learning; we are able to create our own experiences. We are at the centre of a learning process, we decide how and when. Everyone is individual; everyone can enter the cycle in a different point depending on what type of learner you are. I really like the “learning cycle” as it’s an organized way of learning!
I feel I enter the cycle at the abstract conceptualization because I am a “thinker” my point of learning something new is when I “work it out in my head first”. I talked to my friend Elizabeth and she said she enters the learning cycle at active experimentation as she believes that trying out what she has learnt is effective. I find it intriguing that everyone goes through all 4 modes of learning but everyone enters the dynamic process at a different point. David Kolb’s opinion is “it’s not the teacher who is the centre, it’s the learner” the focus should be on the learner as it’s the learner who is reflecting on the experience and they need to have the understanding of their observations so they can imply it to their work.
I am constantly reviewing all my classes, auditions and jobs. I really like Peter Honey and Alan Mumford’s four basic learning styles so below I have reflected upon one of my classes (where there was a problem) using this theory.
Having an experience-I get to the school and I realize the class has moved to a different hall. My class is big and can be difficult so all the children would struggle for space.
Reviewing the experience- I notice that the children are moaning, not really paying attention. So I decide that instead of dance we will play games instead. I try and think on my feet but I feel nervous as I feel unprepared.
Concluding from the experience- I start to reflect and I learn that feeling unprepared makes me feel weak. The class isn’t going well and I now realize that I should have voiced that we need a bigger space.
Planning the next steps- I e-mailed the school and said it won’t be possible to do a dance class again in that space. I learnt that smaller rooms could arise again so I need to be prepared with games or a more combined dance if this happened again.
Donald Schon introduced the idea of reflection-in-action, and reflection on-action. I started teaching when I was 16 and panicked if a class was struggling to learn a routine. I would teach slower but I would never change a routine on the spot. After teaching for 7 years I constantly reflect-in-action, I respond to what I see and feel and change it if I need to. I agree with Robert Kottcamp in that reflection-in-action is harder to achieve however the more experience you have the more effortless it becomes. “The actor must simultaneously attend to performing the action and observe and analyze his or her action, as if from an external perspective. Further, in reflection- in- action the actor is the sole collector of data on the event” I guess whilst doing the action you have to observe, reflect, conclude and try out all in one! Reflection-in-action is continually used in our profession as dancers we are use to adapting in seconds. If you were a writer you would use reflection-on-action as you can always go back and source other information at a much slower pace.
Muscle memory-in relation to Twyla Tharp’s explanation-
When I took my associate to become a qualified dance teacher a big section was on muscle memory. It really is amazing that our bodies retain so much information and can remember movements for a long time. Sometimes when I do a dance I can be thinking about what I am having for dinner as my body will naturally do the steps. I was doing some research on this topic and I found this quote on wise geek which I found attention-grabbing “Musclememory can best be described as a type of movement with which the muscles become familiar over time. For instance, newborns don’t have musclememory for activities like crawling, scooting or walking. The only way for the muscles to become accustomed to these activities is for the baby to learn how to do these things and then practice them with a great deal of trial and error. Gradually, as the baby becomes a skilled walker, he falls less, is able to balance, and finally is able to incorporate other activities into his life such as running”http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-muscle-memory.htm I like this extract as it gets you thinking “How do I know how to stand and walk” it’s actually your whole body that is involved, with muscle co-ordination and repetition. We don’t tell the body to walk; the body just knows how to do it, largely because neurons communicate with the muscles and say, “walk now.” According to neuroscientists, it’s the movements that become thoroughly mapped in the brain, creating a shorthand between thinking and doing. When I dance I don’t think about each movement individually, it’s the remembrance in our muscles that enables us to do the movements subconsciously. Muscle memory allows us to perform tasks without the same conscious thought that was required the first time we did it.
My blue eyes pricking with tears
Lips desiccated like a dry leaf
Chin quivering with a rhythm of a flapping bird
A lump in my throat ready to burst
Hands trembling with fear
The tears drop like a leaking tap
Salty water fills my mouth
I whisper I need you, I need you now.
I chose to journal about a very tough day full with mixed emotions. I decided that the long journey returning to England after being away from family and friends for six months would be the perfect day to reflect upon. I actually had no idea how I was going to be feeling and what direction my mood would be in which made the task more interesting. After the day was completed I brainstormed all my emotions and came up with one word after reflecting on the day- LOST
Journey part 1 - Walking away from the ship (in Singapore) I felt free with butterflies in my stomach. I was thinking that this is it, I have completed the (what I like to call it) prison sentence. I kept thinking about the new cast arriving and somebody else sleeping in my bed which made me feel a little uneasy. I noticed that some people found it awkward to say goodbye whilst others were very larger-than-life.
Journey part 2- At the airport I seriously had the giggles which I am convinced was to shadow how tense I was truly feeling. I was acting very silly and one of the main events was going into duty free and trying out every face cream on my face (don’t worry it was a tester).
Journey part 3- On the 14 hour plane trip I sat between my two close friends who had completed the adventurous contract which waged war on our emotions. I decided to write about this part of the journey from the perspective of one of my friends. She was very quiet and composed which is extremely out of character. She kept looking out of the window and when I asked her what she was thinking she said she felt no emotion and almost empty inside.
Journey part 4- When I returned to Heathrow airport my long term boyfriend was waiting in the arrival lounge and I felt a wave of tears run though my body. It’s strange as I didn’t know my body and mind would react like that. I was very surprised with myself as normally I don’t cry that often and I’m still not even sure why I responded like that. “ It is through the sensuous world of the body, though the eyes , ears, skin, muscles, and organs that we see, feel and respond to all that happens” (Tufnell and Crickmay,2004).
Journey part 5- In the car I was very quiet as I felt peculiar inside. Almost like I didn’t really belong anywhere which made me feel uncomfortable.I kept getting phone calls from friends and I struggled to speak as I felt apprehensive and not myself. “In the rush and pressure of our everyday lives we easily become numbed and cut off from our bodies” (Tufnell and Crickmay,2004). I tried to make sense of what I was feeling and I believe it is only natural to feel misplaced and anxious as I hadn’t seen my boyfriend, friends, family and English weather for 6 months!
After having done this exercise I learnt a lot due to reflecting on my day. I was counting down days to return home and I thought I would be in a state of ecstasy however I have learnt that change makes me feel perturbed.
I am back from the bumpy seas of Asia and I can frankly say I feel like I have been mislaid somewhere as it feels so strange to be home. I have been looking through everybody’s blogs for the past hour and I am so impressed and inspired that I am looking forward to getting stuck in with the second part of the course.
I have been writing a journal for the past two weeks which has had a positive effect on me and has encouraged me to make the most of each day. The contract I have just completed was rather tough and at times I felt like part of the machinery on the ship! Everyday was basically identical from the food to waking up looking at the same faces, so writing a journal and reflecting on each day was very motivating. I have been reading Cery’s blog on “Journal writing” and I can really connect with her statement that “Life happens so quickly and we are always looking forward to the next thing that sometimes we forget to take the time to look back” I am a prime example of rushing through life. On the ship I done a countdown chart which I would mark of at the end of each day, but after 50 days of doing this I realized I am actually wishing my life away. I am a massive thinker and analyze everything and I can remember thinking to myself why do I feel this way, how can I make my time on here better and what can I learn from this experience. So without even realizing it I was reflecting! Each contract is a new experience, another chapter in my life to reflect on to see what was right for me and where I should aim to go next. “Turning experience into learning.”? Boud (English and Gillen,2001) I completely relate to this as I believe everybody learns from their experiences and that is why (most of the time) you don’t make the same mistake twice. You are constantly learning because of experiences you have on a day-to-day basis. One of the schools I teach in I have a energetic but sometimes difficult child and I was very strict with him in my first class which actually made him rebel more. I reflected upon this experience and I learnt that maybe I should be calmer and praise him more and guess what this worked a treat!
I feel writing a journal is going to benefit me greatly, as after an audition or a class I always reflect on what happened but I feel writing it down will help for it to become clearer. Also the environment and kind of work that I do can make you think too much. I believe recording your feelings is very beneficial as I have had sleepless nights worrying about organizing dance events, auditions or thinking am I to fat or to small. Puzzling through my feelings on paper will make me have a deeper understanding of what I want, and how I am going to get it, instead of all my feelings being locked up in my head.
Do a course- Maybe a BAPP course would be handy for your profession 
