3a My Networking

My Networking: 

Well i'll start where a few people have started which is Facebook, as I said earlier in web 2.0 about having a Personal and a Professional Profile. I have now done this and I have my family and friends on my personal profile and my professional contacts and audition/job groups I have joined. 

This has helped with my last job which was in Kreta Greece for season 2010 by joining a group called Lions Entertainment where I looked and got informed of up and coming auditions and I went to this audition and got the job. I am now doing the same and joining different groups and networking with people to find a Professional Dance job this year. 

I also use a site called Linkin (www.linkedin.com/) this is a very good networking site similar to facebook but a lot more professional its a Professional page, you can join professional people in your industry, groups and also the companies, the Profile page you make and display yourself on their is your CV, experience, website and recomendations, previous employment and many things of which you need to like me look for jobs or get Professional Contacts in your desired field. 

I feel that networking site like these are very useful to me as a person and me as a Professional. I am using these sites all the time and are valuable to me in my career. I need these Professional Contacts and have myself known as a Professional and keep interacting with future employers, also facebook very important to me where ever I am in the world as my Dance career can take me anywhere I can stay intouch with friends and family this is vey important to me 

March 2011 - Im back

Hello, 
I havent been able to get online for while and have been doing alot of offline work ready but without the interaction which is vital for this course an I have found not speaking about ideas and information quite hard. 
But I'm back now, currently working on posting my Utube Dance Reel to my Blog for you all to see and comment on so it will be coming very soon!
I also have some current job information as you can probably see my profile on my blog has changed slightly, I am no longer teaching at the moment due to that I am auditioning alot more again for Professional Dance jobs! 
So any information anyone can give me on their networking, contacts then I would appreciate it!


How is everyone getting on? hope everybody's ok? 

Journal Writing Experience

Journal Writing Experience

This is going to be a good day to write about:

I am going down to Cambridgeshire to do a Dance audition for a Dance Captain Job in the South of France for Siblu Entertainment.

I am very excited about this audition as it is going to be different from the others I have attended due to that they have asked to see a 2minute solo and each candidate has to show teaching skills.

I am a little nervous about this audition as it’s so different to what I am used to.

I turned up to Peterborough Train station where the hotel of the audition was opposite, by this point my stomach was turning.

We were welcomed very well by a few members of Siblu and went into a huge room to warm up and get ready. There were a lot more people there than I expected.

We had a Jazz class and a lyrical class, these classes were very technical and the routines were challenging but good. I found that I got myself right to the front of the room and picked up the choreography very quickly, as I learn from watching practical and find I can pick up quickly.

We then had a Performance/showgirl routine in heels and unfortunately we needed to change the lines round so everyone had a fair opportunity of being at the front. I did manage to pick the routine up but it was a lot harder for me to do the movement without seeing how the choreographer wanted the movements performed and from description.

After this we had to keep warm and stand and wait to be called into do our solos, mine went really went and they enjoyed it.

After everybody was seen for their solo, we had to teach everybody a little dance routine in our chosen genre one at a time and they watched and wrote down what they saw. I felt a little uncomfortable doing this to start with and as I went through it got easier.

I feel this day was successful I just have to wait for the outcome. I feel that when I do another audition I really need to practise auditory learning, because when we were asked to change lines I have to listen to what I have to do and this for me without watching and doing was quite hard to pick up and was a challenge for me.

2C Reflective Theory Task ..

Reading through the 'Reflective Practices' reader, Ive found myself using all the experiences, reflective skills, evaluating and learning skills without even thinking about using them. 
'Gardner' writes about the way we learn, VAK 'the idea of Visual, Auditory and Kinaestetic learners' (Gardner, reflective practices) this is a very interesting point, I am definately mainly a Kinaestetic learner, practical. I feel this has an effect on my Professional career and my teaching also where my memory of choreography and the way I teach is very practical and kinaestetic. This also then continues onto 'Reflection-in-action is often fostered in artists who respond to what is happening as it happens, (if you are dancing across the floor and something is not working you change the steps as you are moving) it tends to be a 'hands-on' way of working' (Donald Schon, The Professional Practitioner, Reflective Practices) This example in 'Donald Schon' section is very relative to me during my choreography and teaching experiences and career, as I use it everyday. I could choreograph something in my session plan for a class and when I get into the class the timing doesn't fit or it doesnt feel right so I will do it again and change it to something that fits and feels good in the movement. 
The reader also asks to think of ideas that we like? .. but the one in the reader about being a dancer is spot on for me, I always have seen myself as being a kinaesthetic learner because I have never been seen or seen myself as an 'Academic' and have always learnt and do learn through practical, or practical experience. When I thought about it and looked into this a little bit more through tests 'businessballs learning' and 'Identify your learning style' (websites for tests to see which you learn, take a look) I found that I am mainly kinstethetic and I thought about how much I used this but I also thought and found out how much I do use more Visual learning also, more than I realised. 
I thought about this more and thought about my dance teaching skills to improve my students I have to explain to them visually by correcting what I see (for example ballet correcting posture) or even demonstrating practical or giving an example through story/imagery (for example for my 6 year olds I say while doing a demi plie think about being in a toaster, if they stick there bottom out they will burn it, if they let there tummys go they will burn their tummy's so to stay straight) the use of imagery I use alot. 
I feel this works, reading the reader, I am also going to consider how my students learn and how I can relate it to my professional career through finding different ways and thinking about how I show and explain the classes to help them to keep improving. For example some things I explain I may have to explain in a different way or using imagery for someone else, this will benefit my teaching.

 Reading through the 'Using journal writing to enhance reflective practice by David Boud' I found myself realising that I dont actual sit and write a Journal, and who does? But I find myself learning and reflecting in this way all the time, making a note and persuing it, improving it in my next class and engaging my students, evaluating and thinking of my classes and always thinking of ways to explain and impove them. I am a journal myself I just dont always write it down. 

Reading through other peoples veiws on reflection I found that 'If during a performance you approach and audience member and start an improvisation with them you can't rely on anything pre-planned and you can't reflect after the event because it's too late. You have to consciously reflect in the moment and adjust your performance to match what the audience member gives you' reading this from 'Mark Iles' blog that this is also relevent to me as a performer, I have had experience in a lot of contemporary workshops and performances, this doesnt normally happen specifically in performance but is not unusual but in Practice, rehearsals we have to improvise to make the movement and choreography happen between us especially working as a duet or more people. We include tasks for example using specific parts of your body to make contact with which engages and start the movement off and flow, this also requires then the 'muscle memory' (Tharp's, Articulation of Reflective Practise) We must remember and muscles to re-do what we did and keep the movement flowing in the choreography. 
Often a use of video/dvd is required and we will evaluate and reflect on the practise to where improvement is needed

Task 1B - Professional Communication Technologies

I started reading the course reader and I found myself reading about web 1.0 and 2.0. 
Web 1.0 is where the creator is the only source of information, the only person who can contribute, create and change. 
Web 2.0 is where the creator and the reader can both contribute and interact, which makes the reader 'become the creator' (professional communications course reader) 

My thoughts on Web 1.0 and 2.0 is that it is a huge impact on our Professions and career progressions.
The use of Web 2.0 communicating is an understanding I never knew but I do use in my every day life, not only my dance career. Just going onto facebook on my phone, and checking emails and I was totally unware of what technology I am using. 

In the course reader under 'Remixable and transformations' it says 'Originating in hip-hop and rap music, the notion that materials can be reused and rearranged for a new purpose is central to Web 2.0, where we as users share photos, music, text, ideas and opinions and 'riff off' each other to maintain and nurture dialogues' I have done this myself in the past where using my facebook account, I have used it by changing my photographs, and allowing my boss to be a friend but only able to view my professional photo's and profile. 
Whilst reading other people's blogs I noticed that 'Hayley Bence' has made two seperate accounts 1 of which she uses for social networking and the other for her Professional Career. Ths is something I may consider myself to make sure I can keep my Professional career seperate.

'Harnessing Collective intelligence' from the course reader, In this section I read 'Social space for people, strangers and almost strangers with diverse backgrounds to come together as equals, as generators of ideas, ti deliberate and act collectively' (feenberg & Bakardjieva 2004, p.38) After reading this I now understand more about the use of the Blogs and how its going to help me to develope within this course. As the reader then goes on to say 'Web 2.0 platforms are designed to encourage social interaction, where you link your space with someone else's, where you data can be searched, indexed and positioned to allow you to connect with other people. These basic principles of interactivity evolve as the community evolves, encouraging and supporting collabaration (for examples wikis) and facilitating debate and discussion (for examples blogs).'
 

Professional Profile..

Hello, Im Laura!
After starting dance at the age of 3 along with lots of hobbies I realised that performing was the way for me. Along the way I did lots of shows, festivals, pantomines and many other performances with various different dance groups, many Harlequin Stage School. I then went onto Kidderminster College to do my BTEC National Diploma in Performing Arts Dance Level 3. From there I was successful after many auditions, and took a place at The Hammond School of Dance where I graduated with my National Diploma in Professional Dance Level 6 in 2010. 
I was then successful in getting a job and worked as a Dancer and Evening Entertainment in The 5* Appollonia Hotel, Resort and Spa, Crete, Greece for 6 months where performing was endless and experience amazing. 
All of this, including other hobbies and coaching lead me onto teaching. I am now a teacher at North West Dance Studios teaching RAD Ballet and ISTD Modern, Tap and Jazz, I love it and really enjoy the feeling of seeing my student's improvement and exam results. I look forward to learning on this course, meeting new people and furthering my knowledge, Also so that I can pass this onto my students in whatever Profession they choose.

About Professional Profile ..

Now I have wirtten a few Professional Profiles and I have a Profile which to me is quite a personal and way through my life briefly, but then I have another one which is just my CV in words so quite boring. Looking at Aby Martin's information on Professional Profiles I strongly agree that 'Personalisation is the key' I have looked again at my profiles and compared them, I feel that I need to look at the all round, and my improvements will be more of me, my personality and make me sound interesting and bubbly like my personality and just plain on paper. 

I have a few profiles and will post my improved profile on soon.. but this is my first profile website without my improvements, I have given many profiles to previous, current and prospective employers, take a look please, this has been improved since but any advice? 

laurawrightdance

Profile on soon :)