3b: theory of connectivity

social constructionism

The key quote that stood out to me when exploring constructionism was that 'through interaction we make meaning'. The idea that through social interaction humans construct meanings of the world and their experiences in it seems very vast but this led me to read more into the idea of networks being 'made' and not predetermined.
'All knowledge is contingent upon human practices'. The idea of our understanding or knowledge of a situation or 'thing' being dependant on our exploration really interests me as people within the performing arts industry all have such a wide range or experiences and therefore personal opinions which is considered knowledge within our networks. This also ties in with my view on connectivism.

connectivism

“Experience has long been considered the best teacher of knowledge. Since we cannot experience everything, other people’s experiences, and hence other people, become the surrogate for knowledge.'

As previously discussed in regards to social connectivism, we are now heavily reliant on technology to gain information and learn. We rely on others opinions in our social networks as knowledge when we have not experienced something ourselves. The idea that the way in which we learn needs to be modified saddens me and yet strikes me as true. The classic classroom teacher has been taken over by the internet, in particular google, which can give you the 'answer' (someones opinion?) quicker than a human being could probably respond. Further thinking into this led me to worry about how much we rely on online sources as being fact as I feel we take for granted that if google says it then its true. The online era we are in doesn't encourage us to think outside the box or to even question what we are told. This is true within the media as well as online, as a 'technology nation' if its on google or on the tv - its true, just because someone else said so? We do of course use online networking to learn but this all relates back to how well we trust the particular network or whether they are using 'game theory'. Definitely food for thought!

communities of practice

After reading about communities of practice I feel as though a few of my networking circles are in fact, this. When I listed in a previous blog my circles of networks who were equal to me  the majority of these I would also consider a community, the idea being that everyone shares information and ideas equal for the benefit of all involved with no hidden agenda or 'game theory' involved. The idea of a community of practice also links back to the idea of a human need for affiliation as this community allows people to have the support system in place that they require for advice or guidance. I would say that within my networking circles, my communities of practice are my performing arts friends from college and my 'work girls' who are on the same work level as me. Within these two groups we discuss our mutual interest in a relaxed, conversation manner, normally via text or private chat on facebook, both relaxed ways of communication. 

Ethical considerations for networking

Having explored the fore mentioned points in regards to the networked professional, the ethical considerations that became clear to me are as follows:

- networking via web 2.0 returns back to the beginning of this module when we discussed how we are perceived online. Online networking leaves you open to be viewed and judged.

- when discussing cooporation, it made me wonder if there was ever a time to justify being selfish? How much knowledge within the performing arts industry should be shared and what should be kept to yourself? A ridiculous example of this occurred when I was at college. People in third year would buy sheet music with their own money and then students in younger years would ask if they could photocopy it for their own rep.  Eventually the majority of the older year got fed up with paying out for the benefit of the rest of the school and started to say no! So I argue, is there ever a right time to be selfish and withhold information or resources?

As always, thoughts appreciated!

LL x

3b: concepts of the professional network

Cooperation

cooperation - the action or process of working together to the same end

I found Robert Axelrod's 'game theory' extremely interesting as so much of the networking in the performing arts industry, I feel, is done for personal gain. When working in an industry that is widely regarded for being 'dog eat dog' it makes me wonder where the line is between cooperation and competition. Cooperation and therefore game theory can be seen in so many aspects of my working life as a performer and not only in my circles of networking. You only have to stand in a queue for an audition for five minutes to see game theory in action, there will always be people who are lovely and kind, chatty and helpful until you get in the audition room and then suddenly the elbows come out!
 I was once told that in order to succeed in this industry I would need to be prepared to walk over a lot of people to get where I wanted to be and I made the decision in an instant (being a firm believer in karma) to do no such thing. If we have some rehearsal time in an audition and some one needs help with a step that i've already got, I will help, and hopefully one day someone will do the same for me when I need it.  Networking can also fall foul of game theory as people in your friends and fellow performer circles may choose to keep audition information to themselves in order to give them a step up. This in turn often leads me to question my circle of friends. Who is really a friend and who keeps in contact simply to be in the know?

Within the concept of online networking I am definitely aware of having a stategy, and there are clear patterns to my interactions. If I meet someone important within the industry I would most definitely chat to them and then may well add them on facebook if we had spoken to a point where they would remember who I was! I don't think any performers can take meeting with people who have the potential to influence our careers as chance or see it as random. Grab it by the horns and make it count! (There are obviously boundaries, no one wants to look like a stalker) but I feel due to web 2.0, these boundaries are often very blurred with sites such as facebook and twitter being so popular. As for my friends, I share all my knowledge on up and coming auditions and opportunities. In my opinion, anyone that has been through the rigorous training we have deserves a shot and its so important to remember that we are all unique, I may not be right for a role which my friend would be perfect for, so why would I withhold that information? Again, this cannot be said for everyone, but like I always tell myself...karma, karma, karma!
 

Affiliation

Affiliate - to attach or connect

To me, the whole nature of whether you succeed or fail in the performing arts industry comes down heavily on our preferred levels of affiliation, and therefore our need for privacy. Being an only child I find that my need to affiliate myself with others isn't as great as someone who comes from a big family or who has lots of brothers and sisters. My own company is more than satisfactory for me and therefore affiliation and essentially networking is something I have had to train myself to do. The implications of your preferred levels of affiliation are obvious within many of my networks. No affiliation and people forget who you are, you aren't a recognisable face, you don't find any information out that will benefit you. Too much affiliation and you annoy people, leading to them not wanting to work with you or choosing to ignore you. Everyone 'enjoys and benefits from interaction' but I think understanding and respecting peoples boundaries is very important in order to remain 'professional'.

I found the extract from Crisp, J and Turner quite eye opening and it lead to me asking many other questions. Am I more private because I am an only child? Does what country we are from alter our need to affiliate? Maybe there is a difference in the level of privacy required between the working and middle class? Surely nature vs nurture plays a big role in this as whether we are introvert or extrovert must alter our ability to affiliate successfully?
This is definitely something I want to look into further and I would love to hear other peoples thoughts on my many questions!

3c: sources of information

My 5 main sources of information and their importance in regards to my professional practice:

My Agent
Thats what she's there for! My agent sources auditions for me, gives me all the information I need in regards auditions, deals with my contracts, makes sure I get paid and that everything runs smoothly, is there to answer and questions I have...I could go on!

My iPhone
My phone allows me to email my agent, check tube directions to get to an audition, check the weather to see if i'm going to be queueing outside pineapple in the rain, listen to any music, google lyrics just incase I forget, source backing tracks, source sheet music and call my mum to have a moan when i didn't get the job!

The Stage
Even though my agent is very on the ball when it comes to auditions, I still check the stage just in case any crops up that wouldn't be a typical job I would go for. I think its really important to get used to doing this daily anyway, I may no have an agent forever, and I need to be used to being self sufficient if that time ever comes.

Facebook
By liking any companies pages you can see when auditions are coming up as well as who is attending. My friends are always chatting via private messages about jobs and auditions coming up so its another good way of keeping in the know.

The Hustle
A page on facebook, dedicated to jobs for people in the performing arts industry, posting about classes, headshot deals, massage deals, jobs for people out of work which fit with auditions, auditions for agencies, auditions for companies, auditions for cruises and shows, everything performing arts related all on one page on facebook. The added bonus of this is that it works are a huge network in itself. People can ask everyone out there questions. If you want to know what its like working for a particular company for example, leave a message on the hustle page because there is bound to be someone on there that has worked for them before.

Looking forward to reading everyone elses!

LLx

3a: Current Networks

The term 'networking' was something I wasn't familiar with until dance school and then all of a sudden the word was everywhere, all the time. My college always welcomed guest teachers on a weekly basis so I was fortunate enough to work with some incredible people who I was immediately encouraged to engage with to 'make yourself known'.
since leaving college 'networking' has become a much broader term and I now have many more networking circles.

After considering my current circles of networking, I have come up the following list. I think it is important to not only distinguish your networking circles but also where they are on the ladder in comparison with you, in order to decide the correct way to address said circle.

So to begin with, networking circles that are my equal:
-friends
-family
-fellow dancers
-fellow singers
-fellow teachers


Following this there are networking circles that I would correspond with more formally:
-my agent
-my bosses
-people who are highly regarded in the industry who I have worked with
-my teachers

I engage with my professional networks in many different ways and these alter depending on who I am talking to. The circles on the same step of the ladder as me I am most likely to text, call, facetime, skype, facebook message or tweet. Where as if I were to contact my agent I would most likely email as I feel this is more formal.
I don't feel like networking online is particularly professional, however as technologies progress, we are left with little choice. I personally think that the way in which we contact our networks is irrelevant now and whats more important is the language we use, hence why I am often more inclined to email as it can be structured correctly.

Networking is so important in the entertainment industry as so much of getting seen for an audition or even getting a job depends on who you know. This goes back to my point about there being numerous females in the industry all fighting for the same jobs, sometimes the only was to get a step up is to 'network' with the right people. I feel this is really quite sad and I wish we worked in an environment where jobs were given on talent rather than who knows who,  but rarely does it work that way.

Would love to hear others thoughts!

LL x

2D Inquiry

1. 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 feel enthusiastic?
I am interested and enthusiastic to find out more about so many different things which I will discuss in more depth in this blog;
-the role of women in the performing arts industry
-the balance between home life and a career in the performing arts industry
-life after the performing arts career, peoples plan B
- why is drama not a valued subject in schools
-how styles of teaching change depending on the society you are working in
-why does musical theatre become uncool as you grow up

There are probably more to be honest. But reflection really has opened up so many questions for me, many of which link and I am really excited to delve deeper into a few of these. I

2. What gets you angry or sad? Who do you admire who shares your feelings or has found a way to work around the sadness or anger?
When children are cruel to other children in regards to their effort in class. A school I teach at currently has a mix of kids who want to be there and kids who don't and I am constantly having to encourage the kids who want to sing to do so because they are fearful of what the other children might say. This is not an environment I am used to teaching in and I get minimal support from my boss when it comes to working ways around this, which makes things even harder. Luckily the girls I work with who teach dance and acting at the school, understand this issue fully and together we are always finding new ways between the three of us to improve this as it occurs in their classes as well as mine.

3. 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?
I love knowing that my students enjoy and benefit from their lessons with me. Like Lois-May Hunt, I feel that seeing a child's appreciation is one of the most rewarding parts of the job.
http://lois-mayhunt.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/task-2d-inquiry.html
I really admire my previous boss who welcomed me as a young peripatetic within his school and went out of his way to recommend me to other schools in the area, he was truly passionate about giving his students to best school experience and genuinely enjoyed his work.

4. 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 don't understand why more roles aren't made for women is a female dominated society. I have written about this a lot in my diary as I am always auditions and the advantage of being male is insane to me. please see a later link when I write in more detail about this.
I don't understand why drama in school is not a valued subject. I have recently been asked to record a short clip for my high school drama teacher who is putting together a video for the principle in an attempt to save the drama department, at what was a specialised performing arts school, so I dread to think whats happening in other schools around the country. Who doesn't feel the same way as me? If I had to pin point one person I would say my high school drama teacher as he is actively trying to defend the arts and fighting to keep it.
I don't understand how musical theatre becomes uncool when most children grow up and love disney. I have previously blogged about this, but as a children's entertainer it fascinates me how the kids can go from loving what is essentially musical theatre and knowing every lyric to growing up and deciding music, singing and playing an instrument is uncool. My boss and colleagues of the party company feel the same, as just like me, they still love it!

5. Hows do you decide the appropriate ethical response to a given situation? To what extent are disciplinary responses different to what you would expect in society? 
Disciplinary responses has only recently become a topic that really applied to me because until moving to London, I had never really had to deal with a 'naughty' child. I taught in three high schools, an early stages class, and private singing lessons before moving and (luckily) never had an issues...I don't know how this is possible but its completely true, the children all loved what I was teaching, all joined in enthusiastically, all my students in schools always learnt their songs and practised, all my early stages class used to sit down when I asked them to, line up in a neat line for the toilet when I asked them to, would be quiet when I asked them to, and I never had to give a warning or even raise my voice. Having taught in an under priveleged area of London for nearly a year now I actually feel quite silly typing what I just typed. I find that the primary school aged children are wonderful, a little lively at times, but its all good fun and they work well together. But my senior classes (high school age) are for want of a better term, hard work. Three teachers had quit in the space of sixth months before I started and I was so conscious when I first started the job that I had to approach these kids right because there wouldn't be a second chance at gaining their respect. I found that by going against who I normally am as a 'teacher' and being extremely down to earth, honest and verging on blunt occasionally with them has done wonders. There is still a clear boundary of teacher and student but by making sure that i'm lauren instead of miss, and stepping up and singing myself in class to prove I actually know what i'm doing as helped massively. I am all for the rule book, but sometimes keeping a few pages and then chucking the rest of the book away is the only way to go. Obviously this is different when you work in a school, because most schools have a way in which they 'discipline' children. But when you are forced into a situation where anything goes, I don't think there is any harm in writing a few pages of the rule book yourself.



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As I continue to progress with my journal writing there are some clear themes that seem to be re occurring that may well lead to my chosen line of enquiry which I am very excited about.

The first theme that I seem to be writing about frequently is the difficulty with balancing a 'home life' as well as working in this industry. Having just been offered a cruise contract a lot of my journalling has been focused around the changes that I predict will happen and are already happening within my relationship with my boyfriend, who I live with. He is completely supportive of all career choices I make and knows that a career in this industry has been my dream basically since day one, but of course my decisions have many implications on him. I seem to constantly juggle between leading my 'career lifestyle' and the 'usual stuff'. As a couple we have got into a routine, as Alex is the main earner and commutes to work so his hours are long, I have taken on the audition all the time, work part time, make sure the house is spotless, cook, look after the puppy, stay at home mum with no child role! Suddenly Alex is going to be alone in a two bedroom house, with a full time job, a dog and no help. Did he actually have any idea what he was letting himself in for? Did I? Whilst training I took class with numerous female teachers in their late 30's early 40's, all of them exceptionally talented and all of whom had had successful careers. But, as I have discussed in previous blogs, all of whom had faced the fact that a dancers life is short and therefore had taken the plunge and gone into teaching, full time in most cases in order to afford the rent in London. And the most noticable observation of the vast majority of these women, they were single. Having the dream career had come at a cost, and they made no secret of it. One of my teachers used to talk daily about the fact that her students would probably be married with children before she even got asked on a date! These women are all gorgeous, singer dancers, skinny, leggy, all of whom have worked, travelled, lived the life they had always dreamt about. But what happens after that? This is why when listening in on a coffee shop chat last week with a few module 3's I was so struck with the quote 'a dancer dies twice, so a dancer must live twice', I am only 23 and have zero intention of getting married and having babies any time soon, but I do want that, eventually, and I am constantly reminded that my decisions now may come at a cost to me later.

Another theme that comes up constantly in my diary is being a woman in this industry. After every audition I have been to since journalling I have made some comment on the quantity on women in the room compared to men, and yet there are equal or more job opportunities for males than females. I am constantly surprised by who is selected for a call back or given the job, as I find nine times out of ten it is the most attractive getting selected rather than the most talented. This stems further that just being a singer or dancer, across the entertainment industry directors, stage crew, lighting technicians, set designers, writers, you name it, the men out way the women ten to one.This creates so many issues further down the pyramid as so many girls are so incredibly focused on what they look like and not about working to perfect their practice. Men can turn up to an open audition with the wrong clothes, the wrong sheet music, haven't learnt the words, don't quite pick up the steps, and are forgiven, because the industry is desperate for men. But women have to be perfect, and because of the quantity of us the panel can be even pickier when it comes to selecting the chosen few. This leadsyoung women to think they must lose weight, must cake their face in makeup, must dye their hair, must wear the smallest most revealing outfit for the dance call...the list goes on.
I do of course appreciate that this doesn't count for every audition, panel or job. But there is definitely a gender issue within this industry.
I found the following article very interesting and relevant to many factors I had already commented on in my diary.

http://theodysseyonline.com/uni-tulsa/its-time-to-talk-about-the-misogyny-in-theatre/379651

The final theme that has played a significant role in my journalling is the 'Plan B'. I work part time as a singing teacher, a dance teacher and a party entertainer, and this course has really got me thinking about what I would do if I had to give up the 'dream job' and fall back on something. I have always thought I would open my own school at some point, but when things seem so far in the distance its hard to know that if I was forced to make a decision whether this would be the one I would go with. I've known for a while that the end goal for me definitely involves being my own boss and creating something of my own, but through thinking deeply into my professional practice I am no longer sure what route this would take. I'm very interested in finding out how other people have made this decision, or whether it was made for them.

coffee shop chat

So its been a few days since our coffee shop chat and i'm starting to process some of the information that I was admittedly at first completely lost by. As there were only three of us in the chat, and I was the only module one, Danny and Jessica both had a lot to discuss on module three while I sat and listened and panicked for the most part!
Although the module three girls were miles ahead of me on the course, some of the things they said still hit home with me and so I thought i's share these with my fellow module one's!

'The answer is in your own experience'  this really resinated with me as it was only in a recent skype chat that we had discussed the need to stop searching for the answers and simply focus on understanding the questions. As the module three girls had chosen their lines of enquiry they had to create the questions and answers by themselves and so our topic of reflection is still so important to them as they come to the end of the course, because they are still having to use reflection to develop their enquiry.

'A dancer dies twice, so a dancer lives twice'  I have been writing my 2d inquiry for a few days now and one of the themes that has really cropped up a lot in my journal writing is the 'what if' or the 'plan B'. Having a lot of friends in the industry on social media I an constantly reminded that things go wrong, friends have broken a bone, or have got sick and are suddenly thrown into the world of the plan B and I think its something we all have to consider. The above quote really struck me as being so poignant as a dancers career is a short one, but instead of focusing on the negative, maybe trying to focus of the positive is key. We get a chance to re invent ourselves and take a new path.

Transition or progression?

transition: the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another.

progression: the process of developing gradually towards a more advanced state.

This links to the quote above but I think we all need to stop seeing the phase between the end of your career as a dancer to becoming 'the question mark' as a transition and more of a progression. We are so aware even when training that a dancers life is short and I feel progression is a much more positive way of viewing this time of change. We don't simply go from one state or condition to another, we develop.

would love some thoughts as always!

LL x

2c: Critical Reflection

So far, this course has really opened my eyes and got me asking a lot of questions in regards to my practice and also reflective practices. Having now done some research into the theory of reflection, I am actually quite embarrassed to admit that before I embarked on this course I had never considered or been aware of reflective practices within my profession, or even examined my job as a career or a field. To be honest, I don't think i'd even contemplated my profession at all. Having left college and taken the expected route of moving to London, auditioning for everything and teaching on the side, I haven't ever really taken a breath and thought about what I was doing and why I was doing it, it was simply, what you do. As I have discussed in previous blogs, this course is already allowing me to find the time to consider my practice and then articulate what I want to do within my practice.

Kolbs learning cycle makes so much sense to me as I am very interested as a teacher in the ways people learn and am conscious of different styles, although I had never labelled them into categories. I enter the cycle as a reflective observer but am definitely prone to active experimentation. I like to watch and learn in many situations but when necessary I can be quite hands on in my approach and 'give it a go' in a trial and error fashion. As I teach children and young teenagers I often see reflective observation in practice as the more reserved students tend to lean to this style of wanting to watch someone else do it before they do. I find it interesting that as a teacher I am constantly encouraging students to just get up and give it a go and yet in practice I take the same approach to something new. This in turn has made me change the way I view my classes and taught me to be more understanding of the subdued or even some what reluctant children.

Schon's theory of reflection in action and reflection on action is something I had never thought about before and made me realise how often I do subconsciously reflect during the day. As a performer reflection in action occurs a lot and I would usually refer to it as 'thinking on your feet'. When dancing or singing on stage you are always making adjustments to your rehearsed version to make your performance work in the current situation. For example, if another dancer has gone wrong and is in your path, you may have to change the steps to work around them, or as a singer you may have to adjust you mic if the levels don't sound right or as an actor you might have to prompt another person on stage if they forget a line. The possibilities for reflection in action are endless and constantly happening. Schon said that reflective practice is 'a dialogue of thinking and doing through which I become more skillful.' and I really agree with this. Even the small amount of journal writing I have done so far has allowed me to reflect and develop my skills and make significant changes in the classroom. 
I found Kottcamp's idea of one being more difficult than the other depending on your profession very interesting. As I have already shown, having a background in performance, reflection in action comes quite naturally, where as Kottcamp points out this is not the case for an academic.

Having read (and already blogged my initial thoughts) about the extract from David Boud's 'Using journal writing to enhance reflective practice' I found particularly helpful the list of benefits of journal writing, written by Moon, as when I first began thinking about journal writing I struggled to see the quantity of benefits that journal writing has. The suggested chapter really helped me grasp an initial understanding and allowed me to then take certain ideas further.


references:

Donald A. Schön, The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action (New York: Basic Books Inc., 1983) at 31.
David Boud, Using journal writing to enhance reflective practice.

Further Inspirations...

After considering my inspirations within the world of musical theatre, I found it interesting that one of my biggest inspirations doesn't actually fit into a category as a singer or dancer, and yet he has probably had more influence over me than anything else.

When I was three years old my Mum took me to see a stage production of Beauty and the Beast and I was mesmerised from beginning to end (She takes great pleasure in telling this tale) but as the curtain closed to mark the interval, I turned to her and said 'Mummy, what do I have to do to be on the stage?'

...and that was it. From that moment my whole life revolved around fulfilling my three year old dream. I have never wanted anything else and all of my after school clubs, hobbies and time went on either dance class or singing lessons or rehearsals for a show.

And what captured me at three, like it does so many children? The music. The music used in disney films has captured the heart of children all over the world for decades and like so many, I was brought up on disney films, and more importantly, music written by Alan Menken. His scores for animations such as 'Beauty and the Beast', 'The Little Mermaid', 'Hercules', 'Aladdin' and 'Pocahontas' have had children fixated and more importantly singing along word for word since they were released and they are still loved now. As a self confessed disney fan, I can't watch a disney film without commenting on the wonderful score and how amazing the music would sound in a theatre with a live orchestra, and this has been proven to be true, as ''Aladdin', 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' ,The Little Mermaid' and 'Beauty and the Beast' have all been released in theatres. 

There is such a fine line between disney and musical theatre. Menken works along side Tim rice, who is also Andrew Lloyd Webber's right hand man. As well as Menken having written the scores for numerous stage shows such as 'Little Shop of Horrors', 'Newsies' and 'Sister Act'.

As a childrens entertainer I am constantly amazed by the knowledge young children have about the characters in these films. When I turn up to a party I always make sure I do my homework first because there are always character related questions and there is always another child that knows the answer!

Alan Menken inspires generations of children to love music and to sing. But what I find most interesting is why this suddenly seems to become 'uncool' as we grow up. If you create a generation of children who love disney (i'm generalising but most kids do) what is the age where singing and musicals become unacceptable? I found out pretty early on in primary school that singing or being in a choir was not deemed 'cool' and I ended up going to a high school that specialised in the arts because my passion wouldn't have been accepted elsewhere. Why are the kids that play instruments, or go to school band, or choir considered the 'geeky' ones? We all grew up on the same stuff right?

I would love to hear other peoples thoughts and experiences!

LL x