Task 3a: Current Networks

What is Networking?

- connect as or operate with a network.

-interact with others to exchange information and develop professional or social contacts. 

Nowadays there are loads of social media sites that people use for networking.  It is expanding more and more each year as technology becomes more advance.  I think it is a great way to keep in contact with people and are great for discussions.

I personally use Facebook and Twitter but I use them for different reasons.  Facebook I use for my fairly close friends who I don't talk to very often but still keep in contact with.  I also joined a group called "the hustle." This group is a great example of professional networking.  People in the industry would post information daily containing news of auditions, recommended photographers and even housing possibilities.  This group has been very useful to me as I have found auditions that I probably wouldn't have found anywhere else.  I use Facebook to post personal statues and photos which I know are only viewable to my friends. I like the group option that Facebook has as it connects people and allows them to discuss relevant topics which no one else can view.

I use Twitter as a promotion tool.  I have a soundcloud channel where I record myself singing and I post it on twitter so friends and members of the public can listen, like and comment on my channel.  I use twitter instead of Facebook as I feel it is more accessible and I can add hashtags and tagging so more people can search me.  However I do not put anything personal on twitter as I am aware that everyone can view it.  I also use twitter to follow casting directors and choreographers so that I am up to date on their latest shows.

The great things about these sites is that not only can we use them on our computer but also on our smart phones.  As the speed of technology is growing rapidly, the internet is getting more accessible which allows more people to get connected.

There are so many ways to get connected with people.  Face to face, email, phone/text, email, social media sites.  For me social media sites are so quick and easy to use but I wouldn't say its most effective and you never know when the person on the other end is going to reply.  I try and get to know as many people as I can as I believe this is the best way of finding out information.

I feel that there should be a website used for people in the performing arts industry.  This site can be used for discussions with people wanted to know more information about a job or  information about auditions.  I feel that this would also help with networking as more people with the same interests would talk and help each other.  There needs to be sub categories of different topics so that members can click on the topic and hopeful find or ask for information about it.

Task 2d: Inquiry

At the moment I am working part time at my local primary school as I am thinking of being a primary school teacher.  What excites me about this job is seeing children learn and progress over time, to me this is really rewarding. The teacher who I normally work is only recently qualified but has worked as a teaching assistant for seventeen years.  I really admire her as the way that she teaches is really inspiring.  She is really enthusiastic and deals with situations really well.  I would like to work with more teachers in the future so that I can learn from another teaching style and gain more experience.

What made me sad at college is that not the hard working consistent student will get the job.  I very rarely had the day off and I was always on time for classes but that never really got me anyway.  There were a few people who, without a doubt are very talented people but they would never turn up or were late for class and still managed to get a principal role in the college shows.  After a while I did feel like giving up as I would work so hard to practice my songs and dances to know that I would never get chosen, so I thought what was the point.  I did feel like this for my whole time at college and it made me lose my self confidence.  It wasn't until I got my first job at Disneyland that I felt good enough to do what I love.

I love musical theatre in every shape and form.  I see shows far too regularly and listen to musicals every day.  The reason I would love to be in musical theatre is that I enjoy becoming another character as well as having to sing, dance and act.  My idol is Lea Solonga, the original Kim in Miss Saigon and the voice of Mulan and Jasmine in Aladdin.  The reason I admire her so much is that she is very modest and in her own cabaret nights, she invites a guest to sing with her.  I would love to be as successful as her in the future.  

I got told from a teacher at college that 'if you can do something else then do that' I know that this is a hard industry and you have to truly love it and be determined to do well.  It can also get very hard at times as you get rejected more times than you are successful.  My aim is to remain positive and motivated as I may get lucky some day.

I feel that I don't know the industry as well as should.  I know a lot about musical theatre, composers, songs etc but I don't know much about agents and how casting works.  I am currently looking for a new agent having lots of problems with my last one.  I am finding it quite hard as I am currently not performing in a show to invite an agent to watch.  I started by getting "contacts" a book which has lots of agents, photographers etc.  It was a recommendation and I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone in the industry as there is a lot of useful information in it.  It has taken me a long time to read and research each agent to see what kind of people are in their books but I am still a bit clueless of how to approach them.  I unfortunately do not have enough content to make a showreel and as I am currently not performing this is impossible to do.  I think this would be beneficial to do in the future and hopefully will be an obstacle I will overcome.

I do reflect more on myself nowadays as there thought had never really occurred to me until now.  I do think it is a useful force and I am now using it to grow as a performer. I am learning to reflect in many different ways such as photography and sketching. I do write in my journal everyday but I feel that the more resources I use the more useful it will become.  I have used the idea of multiple resources to find different ways of reflecting.  I know that I am more musical and bodily-kinaesthetic but I also enjoy taking photos and drawing.   

Task 2c: Reflective Theory

Before starting this module I have kept a diary but haven't really thought about how useful it is until now.  Looking back I feel I could have expanded more and added more depth but it was still an interesting read and I learnt a lot.  I haven't really been aware of using reflective practices in my profession until now as I have never thought about using it.  From learning of different ways of reflection I do believe that it is useful and I will use it in the future.
This module has inspired me to try out new ways of journal writing and how it can be used as a positive tool of reflecting.

People come across new ideas by having an experience and then reflecting on those experiences.
John Dewey 'reflective thought an active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends' (Dewey 1933)

Action and Research

Dewey and Lewin have informed the work of David Kolb.  Kolb invented the idea of the learning cycle.  It has four stages:

• Concrete Experience - by doing something
• Reflective Observation - by watching people around them
• Abstract Conceptualisation - by working it out there head first 
• Active Experimentation - start learning when they start trying it out

Your entry point in the learning cycle is where you find meaning and start to learn.  This cycle is a tool for approaching experience and different ways of learning.

My starting point would be "choose a model or goal" for instance by aim is to become a west end performer.  I then compare it to reality, to me it seems unlikely but possible as there are many obstacles on the way.  I first would need to audition, pick the right song and make sure I am exactly what the casting directors are looking for. For instance I may not be the right look/height/ability that they are looking for.  I have selected the problem of style and appearance. Even though I cannot change my ethnicity/facial features I can maybe change my make up to make it more suitable for the role.  I could also change my clothing, maybe be wearing tight fitting/loose clothing or maybe wear brighter colours to make me stand out more.  I feel the best way to learn from auditions is to look around at other people.  I purposely look at everyone looking at their clothing, ability and looks so that when the casting directors say names of candidates for recalls I can tell what kind of dancers they are looking for.  Sometimes this may not be the case as they may want a variety of different people but usually companies normally cast dancers who are a certain height,build and look.

Multiple Intelligences, VAK

Howard Gardner looked into how people have different ways to understand and engage with learning.  He introduced the idea of multiple intelligences to prove that people are intelligent in many ways.

• Spatial
• Verbal-Linguistic 
• Logical Mathematical 
• Bodily- Kinaesthetic 
• Musical
• Interpersonal (e.g. friends and relationships)
• Intrapersonal (e.g understand the emotional life of yourself and others)
• Naturalistic (e.g find meaning the natural world)

This is a useful theory as it makes us aware when reflecting on your own engagement with experience and learning. Gardner also introduced the idea of Visual, Auditory and Kinaesthetic learners (VAK) This is the idea of thinking of multiple ways to view things.  Gardner uses the concept of multiple "lenses" to look through at learning and being a learner.  It is therefore a tool in which you and others learn and makes us engage in different ways to real experiences.

Multiple Intelligences, Artistic Vision

Peter Honey and Alan Mumford created four stages based on Kolb's ideas.

Dewey, Lewin, Kolb, Gardner, Honey and Munford all suggest that we have different ways to engage with experience. This in turn is valuable to us as it is important to find your own way of thinking that is beneficial to you.

Reflection-in-action and Reflection-on-action

Donald Schon introduced the idea of reflection-in-action (In the middle of it) and reflection-on-action (Looking back on it). Dancers use the concept of  reflection-in-action most as they need to respond what is happening when it happens.  For example in a dance routine and the dancer isn't in time with the music, the dancer will need to ask why this is happening and then change it almost immediately. I do personally think this is a good concept as it wastes no time and your ideas are always fresh and new.  Kottcamp's has also discussed that if a dancer waits until the evening to go over their routine it is much harder for them.  However if an individual is not used to this concept it may not be as valuable to them.

Task 2b: Reflective Writing

So far I am finding writing a journal very interesting.  I try and re-read my journal every week so that I can see what I have done and if I can change anything about it.

I have recently got a job as a temp over christmas so I am very intrigued to how my journal will change over the course of this period.

Different ways to write:

Description: What happened? where and when? main events? 
Describing what happened.  I found this style quite natural to use as I am used it however I never used to write about my feelings in my journal.  Normally I would just write about my day and what I did so adding feelings gave me another perspective. I would normally write about my day in the evening as I can then recall everything I have done but I think it may be better if I wrote about my feelings during the day before I forget them.

Initial Reflection:  How did you feel? thinking? mood? anything unusual happen? 
As an individual I am quite organised and like routine but when something goes wrong like my train is late or I forget my lunch, I feel like my day is ruined in some ways.  My feelings change from day to day but I have found that the busy I am the happy I am.  I think this is because I hate being bored so even if I have a day off with nothing to do, I always have to find something.

List:  Making a list of how you felt during the day? break throughs? glad you did?
Making lists about things I saw and what is going on my mind all day was quite challenging as I pretty much to the same thing every day. 

Evaluation:  Did it go well? what worked? Did you learn/discover/avoid anything? 
From starting a new job I feel that I have learnt so much in such a short space of time.  It is almost like to much information to deal with as we all got told everything we need to to know in one day.

Graphs, Charts and Diagrams:  Create a diagram or chart of your day.
I have drawn a graph in my journal but I am unfortunately having trouble putting it on this blog.
I decided to compare today with last week to see if there is any difference. I thought this was a good way of seeing where I spend most of my time and how I can be more productive in the future.

What If?: What could have happened? What would you love to/hate to have happened?
I know that I am a very distracted person so I always have to plan out my days in order to get everything done.  Occasionally not everything gets completed as a situation may arise that may change the course of your day.  In my mind I always imagine the day and I'm always positive but somethings just go to plan so I have to deal with it.

Another View: Write about your day from another perspective. e.g. person/object
I have found this style the most interesting as I have never thought of how my day is from another view.  One of the days in my journal I have thought of how the tills at work would feel.  I knew that I personally wouldn't like to be prodded and pushed all day long and that the till must be tired all day as it is constantly being used everyday. I then saw how the till would have seen my day, looking up and hoping that I don't break it.

Task 2a: Reflective Practice

Reflection - Learning from everyday activities which gives us experience.

I have always had a journal from as long as I can remember.  Although it has mainly been used to keep my life organised, I have included information from past experiences.  I have collected these experiences to remember them and looking back they are all positive ones.
I am looking forward to writing what I think and maybe a few negative events in order to learn from them. This has so far been a strange change in my writing as I am so used to writing all my positive experiences but I will hopefully learn from them and become more knowledgable.

Kolb has 4 different ways people begin to learn, they are:
Concrete Experience - by doing something
Reflective Observation - by watching people around them
Abstract Conceptualisation - by working it out there head first 
Active Experimentation - start learning when they start trying it out

I have to admit I did not know where to start when starting my blog.  It took me ages to even create an account let alone write anything.  I wanted to make my blog unique but had no idea how complicated it was.  I am not used to this kind of writing, I'd much rather write it all down on pen and paper.  I have found writing a blog useful as it is now becoming easier to navigate and I'm becoming quicker at writing so all in all it was worth all the time I spent. I therefore learn from Active Experimentation as I like to have ago myself and make mistakes but therefore learn from them. Each blog I do I must do around 4/5 drafts before I publish it on my blog.  It normally takes about a week as I find out more information I want to add and then swap and change the information I already have around.

Also inspired by Kolb's ideas Peter Honey and Alan Mumford created four stages that are adaptations of the four points in Kolb's cycle. (Honey and Mumford, 1992) 
These stages are:

• Having an experience
• Reviewing the experience
• Concluding from the experience
• Planning the next steps

Yesterday I was at a cruise audition and afterwards I had many thoughts of how the audition went.  I thought about how well I personally did and what I thought I needed to improve on. As an auditionee you never really know what the casting directors are looking for so for me I always give 100%, even if I didn't get the job I know that I did the best I possibly could and I would be pleased with myself.  
I always learn from every audition as no two auditions are the same.  I therefore believe that the more auditions you do the more confident you'll be.  After auditions I ask myself various questions like 'what could I have done better?' and 'If I could do the audition again would I change anything?' The answer would always be yes as I believe you can always be better.
I have used Honey and Mumford's ideas above to help me gain from my experience and I believe it has worked and I hope I learn from all my auditions I have in the future.