Artefact done!

As I came to an end, finished my Artefact, my last piece of the module. I realised how much I'd learnt.
I created a flip book, with helpful tips to communicating as a Dance Captain, whilst in the learning process. I was able to take everything I'd learnt from my research and interviews, and write it up into something very simple, but effective. Now I know when I am in the role and having a difficult day or not quite knowing how to react to a certain situation, I can flick through my book and find something useful to help me solve the problem.

Blogging more

A week ago, whilst emailing Adesola about my work, she mentioned to me "keep blogging as much as possible and getting involved". I think I had forgot the importance of the Blogs and how much feedback you can get from people, so now realising that once again, I am on a mission!!

When I look back to our first module, I remember how much everyone used their blog, and I know, I was on as much as I could, but now I feel like I read all the blogs but I never write a comment anymore. The whole point of a blog is to interact, so that is exactly what I much do more of.

Thoughts from analysising my data

I created a survey aimed towards dancers to discover how they felt towards becoming a Dance Captain. Whether they wanted to become a dance captain in the future or had already held the position, or the reason's behind not wanting to hold the role at all.

I made the survey quite general with regards to then holding interviews with people after I'd collected the data and sorted out who I wanted to speak to future.

One of the main things I realised Id overlooked, was how personality traits can come into being successful in a management role, not just our communication skills. One of my collegues made me aware of this, mentioning that she was the kind of person that liked to take charge and doesn't mind the responsiblity. It also became apparent that most of the people in my survey that didn't want to be a dance captain mentioned the didn't want the extra stress or responsibilty.

As I continue to hold interview with people I am future extending my knowledge of people's thought's and creating my own views on what I feel make a success manager.

New survey... please fill out!!!

Here is my new survey, it is tailored towards dancers, so please only fill out if your a dancer, however I will be doing another survey with a focus on management in any profession.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CSWQL5G

Review of inquiry plan and where to go next.

After having a long break from last term and our last module, I feel a little bit out of it and don't quite know where to start back up again. There seems like so much to do, that when I initially looked at our reader I got a little bit scared! But then I remembered to just do a little at a time and start from there.

Firstly I thought Id look over my inquiry and the feedback i got from last term. My first thing to look at is the fact that I havent really got a research question that really sums up my inquiry. I had a little think about this and thought about: "Is it possible to manipulate situations by the use of communication".
I am looking at how we can positively or negatively affect a situation through the way we communicate, particually dance captains and how they communicate with their team. It is amazing to me how a situation can arise from one "wrong" word or a mis communication. This is where I will be focusing my research and looking at other people's opinions and ideas and past experiences. Everyone reacts differently but is it possible to be understood ad not offensive with how you communicate something, even if it wasn't something positive?

I feel I need to be more clear on what exactly I will be analysing... I will be comparing different stories from past experiences professional dancers have had and looking for any common themes. I also want to hear different people's opinions, as I feel there is no right or wrong answer, it is more to learn from other people's experiences and knowledge and put it into use for myself.

Another main thing I need to focus on is setting a timeline, as I start intensive rehearsals at the end of November, and from last years experience, I have VERY little free time to focus on my degree work at that time. I am going to start on this timeline as much new "thing to do" on my to do list.

New things to check out... =)

So with all the time we have had off since our last module, I decided to go back to some of the beginning tasks we did and see if I could improve them.

Firstly I looked at my Flickr account, and thought about what new picture's had I had done that could help me update my profile. I've had some wonderful picture's taken from the last contract I did, both from guests onboard and from friends and colleagues. So firstly I uploaded them and then also some new shot's that I have also had taken since being home.

Please have look and let me know what you think.. =)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/melissagreenhoughdancer/

Next I started to look at the YouTube channel I set up and uploaded two video's of me dancing that I put together. One, of a talent show I did onboard my last ship, performing a piece from "SYTYCD", and another of me doing a few aerial, and partner work tricks.

Check it out too...

http://www.youtube.com/user/melissagreenhough?feature=mhee

Critical Reflection and Summary: Digital Portfolio

Melissa Greenhough

M00334238

Critical Reflection and Summary: Digital Portfolio

As I began this module, I found my attitude towards making enough time to study was not right. This was because of lots of work related issues not leaving enough time for studying or leaving me exhausted. I realised that I needed to make a study plan and tackle the tasks one by one to see what each task could teach me.

Firstly I set up a special interest group on Facebook, (see Appendix A ) to share and exchange thoughts with others on different topics that interested me and see who shared the same interests. A lot of people on the course made groups and I found that with so many different topics it was getting hard to get around each one with a helpful discussion, therefore we blogged about the idea of cutting down the different topics and making them slightly broader. This seemed to help and it brought many more different views into each of the discussions. It made me more aware of different topics on a much deeper level that I could relate to my chosen line of inquiry.

Next I started to look into the Ethics section. Conveniently I was also called up to renew my Ethics training in my workplace so that refreshed all my personal code of conducts for my workplace. I found this helpful as it was exactly what I was researching and it boosted my thoughts into our personal virtues. My training manager was suggesting how our own personal virtues really make what kind of employee we are. I hadn't previously thought of this side of Ethics, mostly thinking on a one dimension level of the “rules” of our workplace, but I went back and re looked at our personal virtues in our workplace too. If you compare your personal virtues to your professional ones, they should compliment each other. I realised how important both sides of the code of conduct are, professionally and personally, and how important it is to understand this for when I am researching my line of inquiry. (see Appendix B)

When I moved onto the tools of inquiry, I found trying each method the best way to discover what worked best for me personally. I found the survey to work well, but only if you knew the exact questions to ask, when you interview someone you have the freedom to open the conversation up and move freely from question to question where ever the conversation starts heading, but with the survey, there is not much freedom to develop other questions that the other person has. With the survey I made on surveymonkey.com, (See Appendix C) I got all the answers I wanted to the few questions I'd asked but I didn't feel satisfied knowing that no other questions arose from my original basic set I started with. I think that using a combination of different methods to help me collect research will be most beneficial as I can gather as much information as I need to help me best understand communication and the power of our communication which I will hopefully discover from my line of inquiry.

REFERENCES:

Appendix A – http://www.facebook.com/pages/BA-Professional-Practice-Arts-Middlesex-University/145821545478191?sk=app_2373072738

Appendix B – http://melissagreenhough.blogspot.com/2011/03/4a-ethics.html

Appendix C -  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Y9WDCYK

5c - My developed thought on professional ethics

After looking into professional Ethics, I have come to the conclusion that it has as much to do with your own personal ethics as anything else.  We are given the guideline of what is expected of us in our workplace and rules that cannot be broken without consequences, but mainly I feel it all comes down to what we know is right and wrong as a person.

Virtue Ethics explains how I feel, focusing on what kind of person you are rather than how to react to situations and how you should act. If you compare your personal virtues to your professional ones, they should compliment each other and there should also be many similarities. Honesty, loyalty, confidence are all things that apply to both yourself personally and professionally.

I was very interested when I read Ross Dunning's blog about his thoughts on lying and when it is acceptable as a "little white lie" or whether it shouldn't be acceptable at all. I have never lied on my CV, although I would probably change my height to get me into an audition if required. I am 5'2" and alot of auditions have a minimum height of 5'4", and I don't think I would give a second thought about changing my height if it managed to get me through the door so they could see me audition. Is this wrong? As I am lying, but what's the worst thing that could happen? They see me, I'm too small and they send me home?  I feel like it's worth a try...

There is also another point that Ross made that I found very interesting, about teacher's in college's suggesting certain people that are performing well are more likely to get jobs straight away. Although this isn't always a lie, it's more their personal opinion, but is it giving students a false sense of security? Most of the "under dogs" from my college have worked constantly since leaving and have really thrown themselves into auditions attending as many as possible after being told they would struggle to find work where the students with the better grades haven't attending as many, and some aren't even working very often. So are teacher's setting people up with the hope that they will walk straight into work after college without giving them a realistic view on how hard you really have to work, and how many auditions you really have to attend until your finally successful in one?

Are teacher's being ethically wrong by lying and telling students they will have no problem getting a job, or is this just their personal opinion? I feel as a professional now, my personal virtues would be telling me it is wrong to suggest someone will have no problem finding work, as you just can't be sure how many people will actually find work as there is so many dancers and performers now. So I would much rather promote persistence and how to deal with rejection and picking yourself back up ready for the next audition. If you really don't have anything to worry about I guess you will walk straight into your first job but for just about everyone else it would be much more useful to promote hard work and persistence with auditions, don't you think?

Within my workplace, on a ship, I feel ethics are quite a big deal. Both professional and personal ethics. Our professional ethics and our code of conduct are probably just the same as any other professional theatre but our personal virtues really need to be strong on a ship. Since normally everyone comes together and leaves together as a cast, it's important to build good relationships and be trustworthy and compassionate to each other. You literally spend almost 24/7 with these people as they're the people you work with, but also the people you socialize with too which can sometimes also be a bad thing. If there's tension between people or bad atmosphere it's harder to separate as you never really get a break from each other. There's rarely somewhere you can avoid people on ships. So this makes personal virtues every more important to me on ships, it is important to treat people right, and be reliable for your cast and also your friends.

I feel what I've learnt about ethics with relate to my inquiry as I'm looking into communication and what makes a successful Dance Captain. Someone that has authority over the rest of the cast and can also be someone people turn too in personal situations must have strong professional and personal virtues. Hopefully I can successfully research what people believe are great qualities to have and to express to other performers.

6a, Survey

Hi everyone,

I just uploaded my survey on surveymonkey.com and would appreciate you taking 2 minutes to fill it in!!! Its primarily targeted at dancers....

Here's the link:  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Y9WDCYK

5b. Codes of conduct in my workplace.

Luckily just the other day I was called up to do my annual training of Business Ethics. It was perfect timing and really helped me when I thought in depth about my code of conduct in the workplace but also the standards that Royal Caribbean expect outside of the theatre too.

The main thing I find very different about working on a ship is the fact that you are never really "off" duty, unless your in crew area. If you are anyway where guests may see you then you must always be acting appropriately and look presentable. Working in a theatre on land is different since as soon as the show is over and you leave, your done for the day and you can dress and act however you please. So I had to also consider some of the codes of conducts that relate to my job outside of the theatre too.

- Always arrive one hour prior to show time and 15 minutes before small events.

- Sign in on the arrival sheet.

- Receive notes from Dance Captain.

- Check notice board for schedule changes /extra rehearsals

- No cast members are allowed in the audience once house doors are open

- No audience members allowed backstage at anytime

- No smoking backstage

- No food/drink backstage unless it's water.

- No eating/drinking in costume

- Always look presentable when in guest area

- Smile and greet the guests

Since Royal Caribbean is such a big company they have set up guidelines on how to interact with the guests too and really try reinforce it upon there employers. There called the Gold Anchor Standards.

G - Greet and smile all guests

O - Own the problem

L - Look the part

D - Deliver the wow

This is another part of my job that doesn't necessarily relate to my job as a dancer, but an extra part that goes into performing onboard a cruise ship and how they would like us to act. 

5a Ethics

Ethics in the workplace.

Although I wasn't at the campus session, I tried to use the same approach with finding words that I felt explained the meaning of  Ethics. I found that many of the words weren't just words to describe work ethics, but also words that I also use in my personal life too. The right and wrongs of the workplace, and the code of conduct we work by, but also your own personal values, like honesty and loyalty. These all come into play in your professional work as well as following the rules of your work place and what is required from you in your profession, making you a better employee.

I recently had some personal issues within my workplace with regards to another cast member. Although it wasn't anything to do with work initially, the effect of her actions to me personally made it difficult to work professionally around her. It made me think a lot about how our personal attitudes and our personal values can come into play within our workplace and affect the overall mood. The fact that my cast member had no compassion or loyalty and definitely did not treat me the way I hope she would want to be treated made me realise that our personal values towards people we work with can then affect the whole balance of the team we work in. 

After realising this I wanted to look at the work place ethics but also a more personal side of code of conduct as I feel  that this also brings a lot to being a better employee.

Work Ethics.

*Attendance - Firstly, an obvious one is attendance. Making sure you attend all scheduled rehearsals and performances.

*Punctuality - Always being on time. Making people wait is not professional, arriving at least 5 minutes before your call time is a good start. "Early is on time, and on time is late"

*Wearing correct attire - A uniform, or turning up to rehearse in suitable dancing attire.

*Being responsible for your body - Warming up, and giving yourself extra time if required to make sure you've warmed up and cooled down after a show.

*Have a good attitude - Be ready to learn in rehearsals and pay attention to what is happening around you.

*Be professional - Be on stage when your meant to be, don't fool around on stage, and be conscience of others on stage.

*Respect the theatre - Be respectful of the other people working with you, stage staff, production manager and understand the importance of there jobs to. 

* Always give a 100%.

Code of Conduct.

* Respect - Respect the people you work with.

* Honesty - Be honest, if you can't make a rehearsal, tell the producer, or dance captain. Never just miss rehearsal.

* Loyalty - Most of the time you will be working with the same people for a while, so have loyalty to one another.

* Treat people how you would like to be treated.

* Be helpful - Help out with extra tasks if possible, help people with quick changes, help a stage staff if something is going wrong.

* Reliable - Be someone that can be relied on.

Developing a line of professional inquiry.

After thinking over a few topics for my inquiry I couldn't find myself focusing on one particular question or idea, and it took my longer than I thought to settle on something. Not being able to attend the campus session I've been looking through other people's blogs to get information and help from what different people took from the campus session.

One thing that has always interested me in dancing is how versatile dancers and performers can be. Even if your "labelled" as a Dancer, or thats primilairy where most of your work comes from, there are many more factors to what makes you a great performer. Recently a work colleague and me, were discussing a dancer we have both previously worked with in the past and even though we both agreed she is not the best dancer technically, she will always draw your attention via her stage presence and her ability to express emotion when she's performing. My colleague mentioned her previous training was also in Acting too and perhaps this previous training brings an extra quality to her dance performance. This got me thinking, her ability as an actress, brings more to her dance and therefore makes her a better dancer overall. Maybe if we have a broader training and focus, it can enhance our professional practice. I emailed my colleague to ask her a few questions and if she felt her background in Acting helped her connect with her performance easier. She explained to me that where she trained they really pushed the importance of acting to enhance there dancers performance skills. This got me thinking again how different the approach to training can be all around the world. 

Main question....

How different is the approach to training a professional dancer in various parts of the world?

Sub questions.....

What is the most important factor when training as a dancer?

What makes a dancer a great dancer?

What are the differences and similarities between training approaches across the world?

Who has the most successful approach to training? 

How did we get to where we are today?

What does it take to keep ourselves physically fit for our profession?

What/who inspired you?