Inquiry continued

hey all!

I hope you're all well and excited for Christmas :). Due to the fact I'm currently in Florida it doesn't feel so Christmasy to me here, more so, the fact I'm away from my family makes it harder to believe.. I'm here at the mall today, grasping onto the wifi and trying to do 1000000 things at once!

I feel awful that I've slacked on the blogging front, I admire all who consistently can provide feedback and advice and generally share with us all their work. It's indeed very helpful for people like me who doesnt know what day it is never mind where I'm up to with my work.

As you can probably tell, I'm in a bit of a fluster with trying to organise my work and time management to schedule the study in.

However, something I did recently as part of my inquiry was my focus group with the performers in my cast, this included all 14 dancers and 2 production singers.

I will post screen shots of some examples soon.. Just a bit of info on my responses for now:

I was pleasantly surprised by all the feedback and received 100% participation from my cast, I made clear from the beginning that they were more than able to opt out of participating in my inquiry.

I decided for this aspect of my inquiry, to do a short questionnaire, limiting it only to 4 questions per performer. The questions were all based on performers and performances.

It was well received and I've learnt so much from the responses.. I highly recommend using the survey/questionnaire technique to build your inquiry around :).

Posting soon 😝 watch this space

Eve
Xxx

Progress, help and assistance

Hey all!

How are we?

I'd just like to see what point you're all up to, if anyone needs any assistance or things answering for their inquiry, and any ideas that you have for the professional artefact. Have we thought about how were going to present it?

Just a little on my topic:

I am a dancer onboard Carnival cruse lines, I'm very interested in finding out a universal opinion on producing the best performance. This is to help myself and my cast onboard the cruise ship, and anyone else interested on bettering their own performance. I want to produce the best shows we can so that the audience receives a fantastic experience and so that we ourselves develop and become the best we can be.

I've already started getting together my research, I'm asking passengers sailing what they think makes a great show, why they come to a show, what the best part of a show is.

I'm also putting together a focus group that involves very cast member and my dance captain, to discuss opinions on who they admire as dancers, what they think produces the best shows, what they push for in a show.

I'd like to open up the discussion to you guys also if you'd be willing to help, as a dancer, actor, musician, teacher, whatever field you're in, or your interests, I'd like to know what you think creates a great show.

Thank you in advance and I hope you'll be able to assist me, likewise I'm more than willing to help every one of you in any way I can.

Literature struggle

Hey bloggers

Discovering that my next step with my module 3 work is to gather some rich literature that I can use and gain some serious knowledge from, I've been trying to research my literature examples.

I'm finding this a tough process, however, I may have sussed the root of my problem, I keep typing into google what my inquiry question is, this as I've found out is serving me no purpose, I'm trying to find information that will ASSIST me with my research inquiry, I'm not trying to find the answer as it won't really be found, hence the purpose of an inquiry. I'm researching into something that is extremely opinionated. Once realising this, this afternoon I decided to put into the search engine:

'Greatest dance performances of all time'

This helped me far better than just merely researching others opinions, I've actually got some information on what these professionals did that created the greatest performance..

Here for you to check out is the website: http://listverse.com/2013/05/12/10-greatest-dancers-of-the-twentieth-century/

It's a very interesting article. I think this is helpful to all aspiring artists.

If anyone could assist me further with any literature examples they would deem useful, be sure to lend a helping hand :)

Hope you're all doing well with your studies so far!

Peace and love

Start Up for Module 3 and Skype with Adesola

Hey all

I hope you're all well and had a relaxing, enjoyable summer break from Uni work!

Sorry for the delayed update on blogging, I haven't had the smoothest of start ups for Module 3 due to being extremely busy...

Before my Skype session today with Adesola I felt very uneasy and overwhelmed as to where to begin with Module 3, as we all know its our final module and requires the most work. However, having now spoken to Adesola and got to grips with what my proposal for the next three weeks are, I now have some aims and targets to focus on and achieve.

It's pretty simple, I have to now get on with my proposed inquiry, carry out all my intentions and inquiry plan and from there on I can start to analyse and really sift through all my collected info and begin to create my work for Module 3.

I think the best thing is to stop shying away from this, as Adesola said to me today 'you just need to get on ASAP with your inquiry. To be honest I struggle to find the motivation at first to start it all as I find this daunting if I'm not on a roll, know what I'm doing and feel confident with how I'm going to achieve it all.. It's hard and I wonder if anyone else feels the same? As we all do so much with our lives its easy to forget and push things to the side, but I'm sure once I get going and schedule my uni work into my working week its going to be achievable and even enjoyable!

Just to let you all know of my inquiry question/interest:

I am going to focus on finding out producing the best performance you can create for yourself....

I am going to source opinions and ideas from both a professional cast, a dance captain, guests/audience from the shows I perform on my current cruise contract..

Any additional help and assistance or point of views on this subject would be greatly appreciated!!

Likewise, I will happily return the favour :).

Critical Reflection on Professional Practitioner Inquiry

Module 2 has taken me on a completely different path than what I first proposed. My initial thought for my topic was Yoga; as this was a keen interest of mine and something that I thought I’d like to integrate into my learning and development as a dancer. However, due to my work based learning environment, I naturally stubbled across an area of study which I thought was important and interesting to follow through; bettering performance. 

My first blog ‘Initial ideas for Part 4’ expresses some of my earlier ideas and also an experience during my first week onboard where I noticed a shift in my thought process. A couple of other blogs followed, again expressing some experiences I’d had onboard which sparked an inquiry topic: ‘Ideas from audience viewing’. It had all started piecing itself together and led to my collection for lines of inquiry, I decided to blog post my own thoughts on “what makes a show successful?” this post was named ‘Reaching out to you’ as I wanted to target my fellow BAPP arts students and see what their view was. 

As the module continued I began to search for literature examples, articles and extracts where I could start to learn a bit more about performance and your role as a performer. The following blog talks about my personal transition from my first to my second/current contract, and the literature example which helped me to understand how working as a team is vital in performing: ‘WBL experience and lines of inquiry’.

Once proceeding onto Part 5 of the module, I posted a blog which set about explaining what I do on the ship and in the shows that conforms to ethical standards. I also talked about what I’d noticed in the shows which made the audience react differently depending on race: ‘WBL experience of Ethics’. I also posted a blog which set about showing the ethical standards noted in my contract: ‘Contractual agreements’. Shortly after this experience, I began to research into ethics in theatre. I came across an article from theguardian.co.uk which set about explaining the coming of the revolution and the acceptance of non caucasian performers on stage, you can view the article in my blog ‘Article on the coming of the revolution’.

Sticking to my line of inquiry I decided to research further into performance and how we as artists can better ourselves on stage. Here are some blogs that I thought to post to aid the help of other performers wanting to improve and develop their performance: 

‘How can we better our performance?’

‘Tips for performance’

‘Tips continued’

Entering into Part 6 made me realise the importance of my inquiry, it was not just about me and conducting this inquiry solely for the purpose of helping my own performance. This inquiry proposal is going to benefit my colleagues within the BAPP network and my cast members. Included in this blog is my proposal for the inquiry and the finalised plan: ‘Benefits for others and ideas for proposal’.

For my last blog I decided to share my pilot interview. This formulated my definite thoughts on conducting the research across a varied, multiple source of participants and how I discovered after reflecting back, how I shouldn’t reserve judgement or try to guess the response from one interviewee to the next: ‘Recent observation’.

As you can see my proposal plan has come together at a steady pace and once establishing where my inquiry was heading it began to piece together. This inquiry topic is a general interest of mine and it has been a pleasure to learn and develop throughout this module. 

Part 5 Ethics

I would describe ethics as what is seen as right and what is seen as wrong. It is our behaviour towards our values. The importance of implementing ethical considerations aims to treat the people with whom I am affiliating with in a moral, equal and fair way.

Some ideas I've put together are as follows during rehearsal times:

To listen, respect, apply corrections, attention to detail and others, attention to space/setting and application of health and safety procedures, being helpful and working as a team, engaging and giving time to each member of your team. Keeping dignity in your workplace, a sign of respect for your working environment, job, colleagues and yourself. Taking care of your body and your colleagues as these are whom we work with and are affiliated with, this is our support system so we must pay attention to them, look after and include them, they are so important to us.

This raises thoughts for me, to think about composing ourselves, we should always be mindful and aware of others and ourselves.. Be careful what we say, and what we do= this always has a reaction and consequence.

When conducting my inquiry there is a lot to think of in terms of my responsibility as a researcher. Thinking in terms of ethical considerations, I would have to let the guests know why I'm conducting this research, ensure their confidentiality and validity, choose a range of people to conduct my research on by using a varied, random pick of participants. Allow the participants freedom of speech, do not interrupt, try to manipulate answers or show reaction to answers given.

Some points to remember from Reader 5:

-Plagiarism. Honesty and working within the law when presenting ideas. Do not use others work and pass it off as your own.

-Only ask questions relevant to your inquiry. You must validate reasons for questioning anything other than your inquiry.

-Covert-vs-Overt. Do people know your observing them? What are the risks? Will it change their behaviour/relationship with you?

-Make sure I present ALL data, don't cherry pick to support my preferred notion.

-Let everyone know why your conducting the research this includes participants and professional bodies within your place of work. Remember to get permission from a parent/guardian if participant is under 18 years of age.

WHEN INTERVIEWING:

-Respect every participant and treat fairly and equally.

-Do not go off course, stay within the topic and keep within boundaries of research. 

-Let participants know how to contact you if needs be.

-Give participants the option to leave/abandon the interview.

-Report any project related problems to appropriate body.

-Provide accurate, truthful and complete reports on conducted research. 

-Uphold confidentiality.

-Enusure that I collect, store and present both positive and negative statements given.

Recent observation

I would like to share a recent experience that occurred last cruise whereby I compared this occurrence  to another that was presented to me when I had first started the shows onboard my current contract.

Myself and the cast onboard the 'Carnival Paradise' have now been performing the shows for 4 weeks, we do approximately 8 shows a week. A while back, just as we had opened our shows I'd asked a guest who was in her early twenties, white, american and single about her reaction to the previous nights performance. I'd gotten my hopes up for a complimentary, enthusiastic reply as myself and the cast felt we had done a good job. To my dismay her reaction was quite timid and unenthusiastic, her choice of words being: 'Yeah it was nice'. Although a little disappointed at her reaction, I told myself that everyone is entitled to their opinion and findings. It may have been that I set my reaction too high, she may have been tired, caught off guard or perhaps her mind was elsewhere. Whatever the resigning behind her response, I still have to take this as a valid source for research.

In contrast, to my pleasured surprise, last cruise I was waiting in line to get served food, my body language was more closed than usual as I was very hungry and tired from the days rehearsals and duties, I didn't feel like socialising and interacting with guests until my mood had been lightened somewhat. A guest that was also waiting in line had sparked conversation with me, when she saw from my name tag that I was a dancer her eyes widened and she immediately started praising me and the rest of the cast on the 'awesome, broadway style shows we always give'. She told me it was the reason why she and her friends come and cruised, it was her favourite event on the ship and she comes to every show when she cruises. This lady was a mid twenties, african american single who enlightened my mood more than sleep or a full stomach could have done that afternoon.

It brought to my attention how people show and formulate different findings and views of performance. There is no right or wrong, good or bad, its all perception. Reflecting back on these cases, it raises my questioning of whether the data I collect will be valid and mutual... Is there going to be a definite formula for a great performance or is it matter of opinion? Perhaps I shouldn't try to predict this or force a more likened response, I have to conduct my inquiry and utilise my research whatever my results may be.

Part 6 Benefits for others and ideas for proposal

I believe my inquiry will not only benefit myself but also my work colleagues and fellow BAPP arts students who are performers themselves. I will do this by researching, identifying and providing knowledge and information on how to become a successful performer, how to develop yourself and also provide entertaining and memorable shows/performances for an audience.

I have noticed within my WBL corporation that we as performers on the cruise are frequently reminded of our job as 'entertainers', our job is to entertain the guests. Since cruise ships is a vacation industry. we have to provide broadway style shows and make sure the guests feel like they are enjoying themselves.

During my inquiry, I aim to research and respond to my findings, my goal is to better myself and my cast onboard the Carnival Paradise if I can accomplish it, set up investigating and find a successful formula for creating memorable performances. I hope to develop good practice by carrying out my investigation and also hope to empower and give suggestions and inspiration to my colleagues and associates. I hope to build a shared vision of great performance and entertainment to my cast onboard my ship.

The ideas for conducting my inquiry are as follows:

Using my hosting qualities that are encouraged within my workplace, I would like to follow through with some Qs and As to guests pre watching our shows then follow up afterward. I would like to conduct informal interviews and ask them:

-What makes a show entertaining for you?
-What draws the most attention to you when watching a performer?
-What makes the show most enjoyable for you and your family?
-Why do you come to shows?

After watching the shows I would like to follow up with them and ask what they though, what entertained them the most, who they watched the most, what drew attention and what their overall experience was like.

My inquiry is a genuine area of interest, it is real and it is sustainable. I may not be able to get a right or wrong answer, or something that is definite or mutually felt/agreed upon. I believe that this is going to be an extensive research programme, and a lifetime inquiry, for me, I will never stop learning and growing as a performer. I will seek to continue learning and researching on this line of inquiry throughout my career as a performer.

I plan to conduct my research by capturing evidence and being stimulated within my workplace. I will plan to build/utilise real life ongoing activity and experience whilst conducting it in an ethical way. This will act to inform my professional practice.

Reading through the material for part 6 I believe my research will be conducted in a more qualitative sense. It will be 'interpretivistic' in its nature and be led by social and individual perspectives. Although my research is being situated as it is specifically going to be monitored in my place of work (onboard a cruise ship) I hope that this will not hinder my results or limit them in any way. I do not intend to create a hypothesis and determine an answer or theory; my research will be non bias and free in its nature. I do not intend to prove or predict a theory.

During my research I will use observational methods that will involve me being a participant of the event being studied but I will also act as an outsider and be a freestanding/sideline viewer. I will be observing and collecting my research by noting reactions given by the audience during our shows, both collecting reactions that are verbal and non verbal. I will not only be asking them physically face to face their views and opinions but also observing their reactions and behaviour during the performances themselves.

Its important to note the diversity of age, culture, religion, values and group types of both crew and passengers. This is a widely diverse ship that welcomes and supports many different backgrounds and ethnicity's. This is good for my research as I can work with a very broad array of people that can assist greatly in my results being not only fair, but perplexing and interesting due to the diverse sourcing.

I would like to direct my interviews formulating a mix of techniques using:
-a semi structured interview
-informal interviews

I would like to conduct open questions and also topic questions giving my participants a wide scope for response and opinion. Towards the end of the interview I would like however, to pose a leading question to connect to my main line of inquiry.

I would like my questions to be quite open to allow the opportunity for interviewees to speak on behalf of their own free will, although directed by myself, I would not want my participants to feel as if they can only give me a closed response. I would casually introduce them to the topic of the shows and then direct some questions on performance and entertainment in an informal way this is so that my participants do not feel any pressure or under any stress to give an answer they may think I want to hear as a researcher.

I will take written notes afterwards so that my interviewees do not feel under pressure to create an exact response or formal answer. I would also conduct my interviews face to face as I like to take a personal approach.

I will make sure I draft and send an email of my intent and purpose of my inquiry to my department head which is my Cruise Director, I will ask him to sign in agreement and ensure I am under the supervision and permission of a professional body.

As well as interviewing the guests onboard and conducting face to face informal questioning and observation, I would like to construct a focus group utilising my cast members for further development and research into my line of inquiry. I would set up a specific seating plan and will want my focus group to be organised in a formal way which will differ from the informal questioning posed to the guests. Questions will be answered individually, one at a time by each and every member of the group. This would be formal, specific and the terminology used to pose the questions will be relevant to our professional practice. I would have both myself and my dance captain record all responses. I would like all cast members to introduce themselves, their role, age and experience before answering the questions. The focus group will be monitored and managed by both myself and the dance captain to ensure the validity and control of the group.

Contractual agreements

Looking through my contract agreement with Carnival, I thought I should pinpoint the conditions which I feel raise the issue of ethical consideration. I thought it would be a good grounding for exploring ethics in a professional work place, trying to analyse and research into the ethics part further I found the following:

7. a) ARTIST agrees to comply with and be bound by all shipboard rules. Acts of misbehaviour, malfeasance, illegality, immortality, violations of the ship's articles, rules or regulations and artists failure to perform duties to the satisfaction of CARNIVAL will be considered grounds for termination of contract.

With regard to British citizen artists, should any disciplinary action be taken by CARNIVAL toward the artist, the British Actors Equity Association will be furnished a copy of the performance evaluations and/or termination notice. CARNIVAL will be receptive to comments received by British Actors Equity Association regarding performance evaluations and/or termination notices.

9. a) ARTIST expressly gives and grants CARNIVAL the right to photograph ARTIST during the term of this agreement and to make use of and to permit others to make use of ARTISTs name, voice, pictures, photographs and other likeness for the purpose of promoting and publicising CARNIVALs vessels in any and all media.
 b) ARTIST agrees that any photos or video taping shall be for the sole purpose and use by CARNIVAL. ARTIST shall not use zany video/photo of any CARNIVAL performance of any kind for any purpose other than with the express written consent of CARNIVAL. Violation of this provision may result in termination of the agreement and damages against ARTIST as provided by applicable law.
 e) ARTIST and CARNIVAL understand the ARTIST is hired based on requirements for particular shows and as such, appearance and grooming are an important aspect of the hiring process.

13. ARTIST is required to be fluent in the English language as per CARNIVAL safety regulations. The ARTIST acknowledges his/her separate and independent duty to abide by all other oral and written rules, regulations and standards of CCL and/or the vessels operator and/or the ships command.

...Tips continued

Good afternoon all

Continuing my research into what makes a better performance, I came across this page giving good advice and food for thought, we should all try to install this into our practice and performance. Enhancing our performance will create better shows, this is my line of inquiry. I'm investigating into what makes a great performance for an audience...

Working on performance

I was also looking on a public speaking page and ideas and advice on how to 'wow' your audience, although all the pointers didn't associate with shows, I managed to pick out some key points that could transfer into my profession:

1.Know your audience, I believe this is important to your performance, not knowing what an audience is wanting could result in a failure of performance, in order to create successful shows we must provide for our audience.

3. Keep your eyes focused on your audience. 

7. Stay focused on what is happening in the moment. Humorous situations are much more humorous when they evolve. Similarly, you will be a much better speaker if you truly focus on what you are saying and how your audience is reacting. You will also be less nervous if you dig down into the content of what you're presenting rather than thinking about how nervous you are or how much you'd like to get out of there. Experts advise people with performance anxiety in music or sports to get into the "flow" and the same is true of public speaking. It's also helpful to find your maximum level of arousal so that you're not too scared, but not too laid-back either. Similarly, don't allow yourself to suffer from "imposter syndrome" in which you convince yourself that you don't know enough to be up there talking. No one would have asked you to speak if they didn't think you had something worthwhile to say.

10. Practice, practice, practice. If you're not a natural entertainer and feel overwhelmed at the thought of public speaking, you can buy yourself a great deal of extra confidence by going over your talk in front of a sympathetic audience of people who you trust.  Allow yourself to accept their feedback, which I'm sure they will do very gently if they truly care about you. If you want to go the extra distance, make a video of yourself, and then force yourself to watch the video. If you don't like the first attempt, do it over. You don't want to make yourself too self-conscious, so I wouldn't advise obsessing over every imperfection. However, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised when you realize you did a pretty darn good job.

Public speaking isn't so much an art as a science, yet there is some art to being able to win over an audience. Following these rules is a great start to becoming a great speaker in any situation, but it's your unique personal qualities that will ultimately make it all come together and have your audience coming back for more!

A few other pointers I would like to present are some thoughts I've had from reading some other sources and piecing some things together...

-You should never dance alone, even in a solo, you should always engage your audience.
-Make eye contact, direct your energy to one person, respond to the energy that others give you.
-Truly see, look and take in the world through your eyes as you dance.
-Dance outside your kinesphere, break the fourth wall and push through your bubble.

After reading these various pages and articles, I think it is very important to understand who you are, discovering yourself may not have already happened and we are continually learning and growing, but becoming mature and demonstrating this in performance takes you to a whole other level. Dance just isn't about the steps.

Tips for performance

I like this page of answers for various opinions on what makes a dancer stand out, the first answer is probably the one that drew my attention most; I think it is very important to understand and start discovering who YOU are. This may not happen as we are continually throughout our whole lives learning and growing from experience, but attaining a degree of maturity and being able to demonstrate this in dance, takes your performance onto another level. Dance isn't just about performing the steps.

What makes a great dancer?

How can we better our performance?

Basing my inquiry on finding out what makes a performance successful, exciting and entertaining for an audience I have found this article on how to make your performance super. It has naturally occurred to me that I want to base my inquiry on this as my WBL has led me in this direction, I have found that this is a big learning curve for me, contrasting my current second cruise dance contract with my first, I am focusing becoming a better performer with the audience as my goal and target.

Here is a literature example that I am getting to utilise:

Super performance formula

In particular I like the line: 'Truly see, look and take in the world through your eyes as you dance'. For me this fits into being mindful, I like to read and research into mindfulness, I think this is very good practice for everything that occurs in life. Being mindful of everything around you helps you deal and develop into a better person I believe.

I also like the section on musicality, I find that I respond and pay far more attention to the live band that perform throughout the shows, they bring a true depth and rhythm to the show that simply makes me dance with compassion. Listening to the band and interpreting beats really adds a different dimension to your performance. Its good to notice this and use it.

I really like the following quote from the article describing how we as dancers must incorporate ourselves as actors into performance:

 Long experience has taught me that the crux of my fortunes is whether I can radiate good will toward my audience. There is only one way to do it and that is to feel it. You can fool the eyes and minds of the audience, but you cannot fool their hearts.
~ Howard Thurston ~

Article on the coming of the revolution- Ethics

Similar to what I posted in my last blog about literature for part 5, here is an article on diversity on stage and how we should accept it and that the coming of the new revolution is here and how we have to deal with it. I agree! Thoughts?

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2014/mar/03/theatre-middle-class-white-male-diversify

WBL experience of Ethics

Using my place of work, the ethical standards and boundaries that are applied are to show equality and respect to every guest and crew member regardless of age, ethnicity, religion or sex. This happens on a daily basis as I go about ship life. We are formally trained with Carnival in equality and respect for both crew and guests, we take training in becoming a 'family' and having to learn to live with our team for our time onboard, this is very important and is compulsory training for all team members. We are told to treat the ship as our home, and the people as our family, we are told to greet and be pleasant to all whom we pass and come across during our day. We are trained on what is going over the top and across the boundaries of what is acceptable with treating male and female crew and guests.

However, during shows and conducting choreography I have to remember and adhere to respects for all cultures and religions, we have to remember to always salute under our hats as a verification of US standards and also make sure we never make crude/distastful/disrespectful moves on stage, its easy to mix up a two finger point to the audience, mistaken with a gesture that would imitate a gun.

Its interesting also to note, the audiences reaction to two of our cast members, as their races are both black, one is south african and the other is from the islands, I notice that the male from south africa which is our Dance Captain, gains a lot of support from the audience when he does a dance where he showcases his cultured roots of dance, he looks fantastic and as a result, the audience really encourage him. I notice however that in some parts during the show, our female singer who is from the Islands seems to lose respect from the audience, as some songs are not originally sung by her race, for me, this doesn't take away from her talent and how she sings the songs, but I feel the audience show some dismay at her, compared to when I watch other singers perform the same songs. However, with that being said, when she sings 'Motown' songs, the audience go wild. Its interesting to see how the audience perceive what may seem right and wrong and how it causes a reaction and a feeling.

The more I perform the shows the more I notice a difference in reaction comparing the white people to the black. A simple and easy observation, it happens almost every show, our audience which consist of the white people do not hoot, holla, cheer or encourage us half as much as what the black audience do. For me, they are our best audience, I love and am grateful for the encouragement and enthusiasm from our black guests, they even dance in the shows whilst were performing, they always applaud us the loudest too. This makes a difference to MY performance, if I know someone is enjoying my performance, I try and strive even more to perform the best for them. 

Motivation

Hi all

Came across this very brief blog on actingcoachscotland again, Mark's blogs are very good and can be applied to anyone in any vocation. Anyway the following article contains the message of motivation, don't set yourself up to fail. Whether you can apply this to your inquiry or just simply to yourself at this very moment to your uni work or day.. I like this very brief pick up:

Failure? Don't set yourself up...

WBL experience and lines of inquiry

During my time with Carnival Cruise Lines I have noticed a development and change between my first and second (current) contract. The way in which I approach other members of my cast, my rehearsals, dedication to ettiquette and fitness, health and well being, application of corrections and the will in which to produce entertaining, memorable shows has now advanced and I feel better as a dancer and a person for this.

As well as a definite feeling that I have progressed in all areas within my work, guests have pinpointed me as a charismatic, watchable dancer and have personally approached me to pass this on to me. This has reinforced my confidence and thinking on my progress as a performer. I feel far happier and healthier than I did in my first contract.

A point I raised before about noticing the shows as a team effort to producing successfully is noted here in Acting Coach Scotland in an article about 'Its not about you'. The very first line itself reiterates my thoughts on how I feel I've become a more advanced professional due to noticing, appreciating and respecting that the show isn't just about my part. The confidence I now feel shines through in performance where I am now genuinely interacting and connecting with the audience. I will take in the mass of people, look for their attention and spot their eyes and actively engage with them. In the article Westbrook advocates 'when we are insecure, unsure and anxious, we focus on ourselves' he goes on to say that 'when we are self focused, we are clumsy, defensive and tense' 'when an audience sees the truthful exchange taking place beneath the surface of the lines, they become drawn in and they are affected by it on a gut level'. Something I've discovered most recently is that keeping within company choreography, I find that when I dance 'me' and give my personality to the dance, I find myself being the greatest dancer I can be. It gives me a real buzz and true sense of appreciation and pleasure.

Reading through various blogs the person that caught my attention was Gabrielle Fairhead. Instantly I noticed a connection and shared interest on her thoughts for inquiry. I particularly like her light bulb post about stimulates dancers, and why do dancers dance?

I'm heading my line of inquiry with a mix of this, I'd quite like to research how we can make the best of what we hold tacitly within ourselves as dancers. A mix of our genetic make up, backgrounds and formulas for success. This could range across points of view from both dancers/performers and audience viewers. What perhaps stimulates/entertains us as performers and the comparison to that of an audience member. Which is more important? What is more valuable?

I like Gabrielles use of words for describing ourselves as performers' 'I believe the vitality of a dancer is what is key to the utmost enjoyment of this demanding yet most exciting lifestyle' and 'generally dancers dance because of enjoyment' if we ourselves are not enjoying our work, how are we supposed to show this to an audience? We must find a balance, which means finding ourselves. The obstacle we face however is at which point do we find ourselves, when do we discover our niche? Or will we forever be on the journey to finding and perfecting it.. Thoughts fellow BAPP's?

Reaching out to you

Morning all

Hope everyone is doing well and feeling like they are all heading in some sort of direction with lines of inquiry. I would like to ask you all to assist me with the following question:

Depending on your background, whether you are a performer or not; what makes a show successful and entertaining for you?

Hope you can all post your comments below, just a quick answer from my part:
for me, a successful show is about diversity on stage, a sense of real individual passion from every performer. It is an artist who gives 100% of themselves to the audience. Even though i specialise in dance, I have complete and utter respect and time for any sort of performer who possesses an outstanding quality. An example in my work placement here onboard the cruise ship is that we have a fiddle player which does a solo set mid show, he blows the audience away each time, has them under a spell, gets them up on their feet with a standing ovation, he steals the show every time, and although i feel i will be working 3 times harder and shown a lot more on stage throughout the show, i have utter respect for him, he works the audience and he transforms them. Another example within my work place, is our dance captain Collin, he does a small solo which is really cultured at the beginning of a number, he is south african and his body relinquishes this soul and passionate culture. Its fabulous to watch and is rooted within him.

Whats your answers?

Ideas from audience viewing

Hi all

Just a quick blog about my perceptions and discoveries from watching the shows aboard the ship...

Focusing on knowledge and understanding of the arts, it has been interesting to see that the audience were most impressed by the least technical number in the show. A number that uses simple/basic puppetry made a lady sitting in front of me go out aloud 'wow thats fantastic!' she was genuinely enticed and entertained by something that seemed so simple to me. as a dancer myself it was interesting to see a propelled reaction from what I would see as the easiest number in the show. It is all about perception. To a non dancer, entertainment value is key to a successful show, and to be quite honest, it is all about the audience. If we as entertainers do not do our job to fulfil the audience needs, then we have failed no matter how technically trained we may be. Our number one priority is to entertain the guests whether that be top dance critics or a clueless dance audience- it is all relevant and important to fulfilling your job within the arts.

Thoughts?

Initial ideas for Part 4

Hello everyone, firstly I must apologies for my bare blog that has been sitting here for a long time now. For the past 5 weeks I have been in America, and the past 2 have involved my big move onto the Paradise ship as a dancer for Carnival Cruise Lines. So I have been extremely busy with rehearsals, this also means I have limited Internet access. Thankfully I have been finding the time to read up on the literature and managed to screen shot some pages when I have been able to access the net. Through doing this, which has seemed like such a long process, I've finally got a few posts I can put up for our benefit!

So getting into the work for module 2, initially before starting on the contract, whilst spending time in the US I really liked the idea of perhaps finding a niche into my inquiry being based upon yoga. As a general topic, not being sure quite what I want to research about yoga but I've been on a very inspiring, life changing journey since experiencing my first yoga class last November.  Yoga has literally transformed my life, I don't know if any other fellow students are on the same wavelength as me? For me, yoga has taught me to calm down, to look at life as a whole, to listen, to understand, it has been both a mental and physical breakthrough. It has even improved my dance technique and performance skilled and has helped with many aspects in my lifestyle. I only want to keep this yoga section brief as I have a lot to post today and little time on the net, but if people would like to share and expand this as an SIG or just something got a small connection and genuine interest, feel free, I would love to hear from you. I met Melanie canon in a Bikram yoga class held in Liverpool in December last year, it was great to meet Melanie. Bikram yoga has definitely been my favourite yoga class so far!

Having started with Carnival, I have now changed my thoughts on yoga being my primary focus for my inquiry. Relating to issues based on audience reception, the following lines of inquiry I have had are as follows:

- how do we get an audience to appreciate dance?
- does our audience have knowledge and appreciation of dance training and career scope?
- comparing an audience appreciation to that of a dance/entertainment knowledge based group/individual to that of a non knowledge based group/individual.
-the difference between someone with no knowledge of dance, small understanding and greatly skilled/definite understanding of dance.

Watching the shows during cast change the first show I watched from the front of the auditorium and had a clear, focused view of the dancers from stage left and them only. The second show of the night I watched from afar in the upper circle amongst the guests and the view and experience was totally different. Not only from a dance perspective but I was looking at the show as a whole. My seats were directly behind the lighting  and sound booth, I could see the tech guys working hard and distributing their attention and efforts from backstage to the floor. I could see the band pit where I watched the live musicians sometimes for a whole number in the show noticing their commitment, dedication and teamwork. During the show a fiddle player comes on stage for a 10-15 minute solo piece, his talent, precision and passion blew me away! After noticing these aspects which I'd never done fully before it came to my attention that each role which contributes to the show as a whole is equally important to my own role as a dancer. We should commemorate, support and appreciate each other every show. I find that whenever on stage doing my bit, my focus is solely upon myself. It has now occurred to me that I form part of a team, working together to create entertainment whether that be visually, technically or musically.

The following link is to Dancers Career Development about the 'Transition within your career and your Identity' this is a YouTube clip, please scroll down to find it on the following page. I particularly find interesting Isabel Mortimers speech on how she's perceives dance and what it did for her and the point at which it all became apparent and definite to her. If this is not based upon your inquiry, it might be of interest anyway as I like the expression and notes on our lifestyles and what dance can do. DCD.

Feeling a little better now that I've loosely been able to tell you all my lines of inquiry I hope you will assist me and support me as you've all done already. I just want to say that reading various blogs, some people are really inspiring and interesting individuals, I like that although you can trace similar lines of inquiry, we can all be inspired by one another.