Task 2d: Inquiry

I wasn't entirely sure how to tackle this task. I see a lot of people have put up numerous posts on it proving that we all come across unanswered questions and leads to further inquiries in our own professional practices. Thinking inwardly about my own reflection and professional practice I too like others have many questions emerging the more I look deeper. It seems like a couple of people already know what their future enquiry may be about but at the moment I am undecided so thought the best way to tackle this task would be to start at the beginning and answer the questions:

1) What in your daily practice gets you really enthusiastic to find out more about? Who do you admire who also works with what makes you enthusiastic? 

• The basis of my professional practice is performing. There are many things about performing that make me enthusiastic and that I love (which I will develop more in question 3), however the acting side of dance and the technical aspect is something that makes me enthusiastic and want to find out more. For example when dancing 'Clemence' in Raymonda, I researched some of the Russian technique as its different to the British training and it led me to notice even more differences between each style. It also helped me improve the role as a whole. Again in 'Thriller" I danced the part of Dirty Diana so as you can imagine the role required a specific manner. I had a lot of fun portraying this as it was different and I could step outside of myself and having been given a character it encouraged me to find out more, reasearch, watch videos in order to help me develop my own portrayal. Someone who I admire for portraying a character well is Marion Tait. She is incredible at acting on stage and you can truly follow her storyline. Desmond Kelly is another, a former director and teacher of mine who without his support I would not be a professional today. He always made a huge point of how important facial expression and communicating your love of dance was. "You can do all the pirouettes and penchés you like but it means nothing if you haven't got that extra something".

• Music is another factor of my daily practice that makes me enthusiastic. Without music, I wouldn't want to dance and when a piece is inspiring I literally can't not dance to it. We have been undergoing Nutcracker rehearsals and in an excerpt from my journal I wrote "Just hearing this music again brings back so many happy memories and gives me shivers even in the studio. I can't wait to dance this onstage again". The huge composers such as Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky are people I admire although when choreographing myself Ludovico Einaudi was whom I absolutely loved to create movement to. His music is beautiful and I urge you to have a listen on youtube or itunes. Here is a link to his website: http://www.ludovicoeinaudi.com/. I also love creating movement to minimal music such as Philip Glass as its strong and creates a lot of emotion.

• When I am given something new to work on it makes me enthusiastic to do so. This could be a new role/solo/correction etc. It makes me enthusiastic to try it out and hopefully become as good as I can be at it. When I feel improvement I become happy with myself and it spurs me on to continue and there's a huge satisfying feeling of achievement when I do so. Over the years I have been lucky enough to have some amazing teachers who inspire me one of which is Gloria Grigolato. She was one of the first teachers that really believed in me and subsequently made me believe in myself. She coached me in such detail that my biggest improvements happened with her. 

• Choreography is another part of my profession that I love to both watch and do. As part of my diploma I did a dissertation and named some choreographers who really inspire me. Christopher Hampson was one of these and when I attended the Prague Masterclasses I was lucky enough to learn some of his work. I loved dancing his choreography and find it to be imaginative and resourceful, using profound classicism but finding new means and making it his own. His ensemble pieces create excitement with use of diverse patterning, interesting entrances and exits and such musicality. After a Q&A session with him there he inspired me not only in choreography but also in becoming a dancer. Another choreographer who I admire is actually a friend of mine George Williamson. His individual movement style is so unique and he alike Hampson is a very musical choreographer. Here is a piece he choreographed a few years ago for the ENBS choreography competition which he won first prize for: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VooO5JFUNVc

• Something else that am enthusiastic about is leading a healthy lifestyle alongside of dance and this is a part I would possibly like to find out more about. I go to the gym as often as I can as I find it both beneficial and enjoyable. I do lots of strengthening work originally because my job requires me to do so but I actually gain a lot for myself from putting in the work and gaining results. I also enjoy cardio like running as I find it a good way to de-stress and I eat a healthy diet that gives me the right amount of energy for high impact work but also keeps me in shape.

2) What gets you angry or makes you sad? Who do you admire who shares your feelings or has found a way to work around the sadness or anger? 

I'm sure you other dancers will agree with me that a life in professional dance is a pretty tough one. Day to day routine can be strenuous, there are pressures put on you all the time and criticism comes from every angle. Not to mention your job is never fully safe and in the current arts climate, they are scarce and very hard to come by. By nature I am quite a fair person and it can frustrate me when this is not the case (yes I know, a profession in dance isn't that best choice in that aspect).

• Casting can sometimes make me sad and I think it's safe to say every other dancer will share my feelings on this. When the sheet goes up and you scroll the list for your name it really can make or break you (not necessarily your career but how you feel for the next few months). There have been times in the past when such things has upset me but the way I work around it is to remind myself that this profession is based on people's opinions, not fact. Just because you weren't picked this time, doesn't mean you won't be next and it doesn't mean you're not good enough either. On the other hand sometimes it is because you're not good enough in which case work until you are.

• Being a bit of an organization freak, I find it very stressful when things aren't organized well or managed to a sufficient standard. Often having a busy schedule things can be forgotten about that shouldn't be and this is the thing most likely to frustrate me. I often come across lack of communication in the arts and dancers are always the last to know things. This can be hard going sometimes although we do have to just grin and bear it.

• A dancer's image is very important, especially for classical ballet. We have to be able to sustain a healthy sleek and toned physique in order to look good on stage and still eat well enough to give us energy. Something that does make me angry is this pressure for girls to look anorexically thin in order to get a job/role/promotion. There are so many companies out there who promote this idea of dancers eating well and looking strong yet you only have to look at their corps de ballet to see some of their dancers almost on death's door. I agree that you can not be overweight and really must keep that sleek, toned look (many who are naturally born like this have an advantage) however it is dangerous for dancers not to eat properly and unnatural for all dancers of the same height to be under a specific weight. We are all built differently and I sometimes wish ballet companies would appreciate that more and show off their dancers for their individual beauty. Matthew Lawrence former BRB star and now a principal with Queensland ballet wrote this article investigating eating disorders within ballet pointing out the difficulty in diagnosing it due to denial and how without honesty and openness there can be no improvement:
  http://www.dancing-times.co.uk/features/item/830-thecomplicatedtrutheatingdisordersinballet

3) What do you love about what you do? Who do you admire who also seems to love this or is an example of what you love?

• Performing is primarily what I really love to do. Nothing beats that rush when you're up on stage dancing in front of hundreds (or thousands if you're lucky) of people. It is the reason I get up in the morning and why I can safely say "I love my job". Being able to do my passion as my career is so rewarding. There are many performers that I appreciate however the ones that I admire are the ones who give you their everything on stage and really let you into their world. Maureya Lebowitz from BRB is somebody I love to watch dance due to her presence on stage. She makes everything look effortless and always portrays the role beautifully. Another dancer I love watching is Daria Klimentová from ENB as her technique is stunning and she too really brings out the character. 

• Working with others is another aspect of my job that I really love. I'm naturally quite a social person and I love the communal feeling when we have all worked hard together and put on a really good performance. The community feel in my company is great as everybody really wants each other to do well. It makes work so satisfying and enjoyable and you feel a real sense of pride. For this I admire my colleagues at the Vanemuine Theatre.

• As part of my professional practice I have had many opportunities to travel the world. In my graduate year of school I was picked to go and perform in Tokyo, Japan. It was an incredible experience that without dance I would be unlikely to get. Unfortunately the number of jobs in Britain are quite limited so inevitably me and my old classmates ended up auditioning abroad for jobs. I am so lucky to have the life experience of living and working in a different country and experiencing the new and different culture. It has really made me grow as a person.

4) What do you feel you don’t understand? Who do you admire who does seem to understand it or who has found a way of making not understanding it interesting or beautiful, or has asked the same questions as you?
There are lots of things in life that I don't fully understand. I guess we all come across such situations when reflecting on our own experiences and when we come across that gap we try to fill it. I found it hard thinking of specific things in my own professional practice that I don't understand and I didn't know which angle to take. A small detail that I don't really understand (and many of you other dancers may think alike) HOW do people manage to get their legs behind their head?! We have been having this discussion at work and have placed it down to both strength and flexibility (which will get it to a certain height) but actually mainly natural ability and the way your hip joint is. For years I have never had the highest adage although as both my strength and flexibility has improved, it got better. Now it is at a reasonable height, my hip will physically not let it go higher! If anybody has any miracle solutions to this I would be very grateful to know!

On a slightly bigger scale something in my profession I don't understand is the public's perception of it. I think it stems from history and that going to see the Ballet was something royalty and the upper classes did. Now it seems that a large amount of the publics opinion on ballet is the same: "it's only for posh girls/gay guys", "they all have eating disorders", "its a snobby environment" etc. (to name a few). By all means you find all of these within the ballet world but you also find them in everyday jobs too and thats not what ballet should be defined as. The film black swan did not help such stereotypes and Deborah Bull (former Royal Ballet star) stated that it had put the publics perception of ballet back 50 years.

Despite this, I do think more people are now beginning to look at it in a different light and with the help of promotional commercial work that classical dancers do, we can change the majority of the populations perspectives. A small and fun example being the Bailey's christmas advert thats doing the rounds on facebook and hopefully soon our tv screens. Starring Royal Ballet principals Steven McRae and Thiago Soares and Staatsballett Berlin prima Iana Salenko they reenact a modern and new version of the Nutcracker:

5) How do you decide the appropriate ethical response in a given situation? To what extent are disciplinary responses different to that you might expect more generally in society? For example, what level of physical contact would you deem appropriate (and not) from another professional that you would find unacceptable more generally? Why? 
A big part of reflection is being aware of it. Being aware of the experience you had, aware of the outcomes and aware of ways that you can learn and develop from it. Deciding on appropriate ethical responses to given situations is the same. You have to be aware of what is/isn't ethical, aware of the kind of situation you are dealing with and aware of the specific consequence you are aiming to gain by your response. Often in life we come across confrontation, which when it happens on the most part isn't very nice although it is up to you on how you react to it and whether you take something from it and move forward. 

The example given "what level of physical contact would you deem appropriate" is an interesting one. Dance as a profession is very 'hands on' as everyday you are working physically with them which involves a lot of contact more than in academic jobs. Firstly we are often in minimal tight fitted clothing in order for us to see and sculpt our bodies. Already this would be deemed inappropriate in certain jobs. I believe a level of physical contact where both parties are quite obviously comfortable and it has a purpose to help you both move forward with the choreography/correction is acceptable. I don't believe affectionate contact is necessary in the studio/work place even if you are emotionally attached to your working partner as this can be distracting and stop you from working to your fullest. In terms of teacher-student contact I believe it is necessary for the teacher to take a hands on approach in correcting the student in order for them to improve and feel what is needed of them. In an academic school, teachers would almost never have physical contact with a student unless of an emergency. It is quite a scary thought to think about the history and how children would be caned in class for not adhering to rules. This would never be acceptable nowadays in either dance or academia. 

Another ethical consideration in professional practice is hierarchy. In every workplace there are people who are on different levels or who have been employed there for a longer shorter time and often you work your way up through the hierarchy. In professional dance there is specific dance etiquette which is like an unwritten rule on how to behave towards others. For example a lot of dancers who take company class everyday have specific spots in the studio where they stand. Being a corps member or better yet a student, never would you go and stand in the place of a principal or a member of the company whose been there for several years. You move out of their way and respect them and the fact that they are a higher level than you. In years to come you should receive the same respect of newer company members. Sometimes it is known that dancers on that higher level abuse this power and speaking from experience it can be very intimidating but on the most part they don't. Despite this it is just etiquette to respect them in this manner anyway. Often in society there is more of a standard etiquette across the board and less 'bowing down' to older/more experienced members although the respect is still there.