Oral presentation - the final hurdle!

Hello bloggers!

So close but yet so far to the finish line!
However after today a huge weight has been lifted and I can finally breathe again haha!
So for the oral presentation, I have read the hand book and reader 7 which I found had some useful tips;
Only 1 min per slide - I didn't know this but it will help the audience stay engaged.
Not much info per slide - a tip I did already know but it's good to be reminded - so the audience doesn't feel overwhelmed with info
Main key points which is to be put into the presentation are
 
"introduction, evaluation of the inquiry tools, your main findings, andthe critical reflection of the whole process; both the Critical Review and theProfessional Artefact can be used as content for your presentation." - took from the handbook :)

I will use powerpoint to create my presentation and have notes in which I can follow so I don't have to keep turning around to see the bullet points.

Hope this helps someone!

Jess x

Artefact

Hello Module 3 :)

So I feel like  there is alot of people panicking about the artefact and not having a clue what to do for it. I had a skype call with Adesola on Sunday 4th and she said a phrase which has stuck with me as it was very useful and feel like everyone needs to hear ...

"If the artefact has anything to do with paper and writing then it won't be as strong as it could be. Think of the artefact as a piece of art."

Adesola gave me this example ...

As one of my key themes is about body image she suggested to get a mannequin and stick things on it e.g. the quote off my mum about love and support should be stuck on the heart and the bad things on dance should be stuck on the stomach because it makes you feel sick.

This example really did make me think about what I could do ..

Taking Adesola's example of 'enlarging' one of my key themes, I took a look at my other key themes I could base my artefact around. Throughout my interviews it came to light that money within the dance industry is very short so I thought I would use this as my base theme. I am going to make (somehow) a large, open wallet (i'm thinking maybe cardboard and paper mache). Where the cards in a wallet go, each one will have easy to read points about a theme. Each 'bank card' will have a different key theme. Where the money notes go will be a couple of pieces of paper one about how I conducted my interviews and other about how I analysed my work.

I hope this helps someone! I think I have my work cut out over Christmas :)
And if anyone has any tips on how I could create this, please feel free to share! My artistic skills aren't the best haha.


Happy bloggin!

Body image surrounding dancers

Hi bloggers,

Just thought I would share the link below as I think it is a really interesting article and argues both points well.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/11/body-image-dance_n_5798654.html

I know I don't fit the 'mould' as a dancer, I'm 5ft 2" with hips because of this, I know I have missed out on job opportunities. Is this fair? Who knows! It is still and I think it will be an ongoing argument for near future as I believe, our shape is changing as a whole.

Take this for an example:
In the early 1900's, a lady who was curvy showed they were wealthy because they could afford alot of good food. Also being pale was attractive because wealthy people had umbrellas to keep the sun off them and their jobs properly wasn't outside laboring for a someone.
However, in today's society, wealthy means slim and tanned. You can afford the expensive healthy food and the gym and personal trainer. Tanned skin is also a sign of health and wealth.

The world is changing constantly without us realizing and as this article states ... "beauty and self expressions exists in many shape" which I couldn't agree with more.

Just some food for thought!

Happy Saturday night :)

Interview with Justin Bieber's dancers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mGMgioqlIg


I'm not sure why I enjoyed this video so much but I could feel myself smiling all the way through. It is a video of an interview with Justin Bieber's dancers but they are on tour together. The video just is filled with laughter and love and you can see just how tight they have become through that experience. This is one of the main reasons I love dance, you find yourself with a new family when rehearsing and performing a show and you realise after you have made friends for life.

The interview asks the positives and negatives about tour life. I think the postives are just as important as the negatives as this makes them who they are as a person and a performer. This is something I am going to take away and put into my interviews as I feel like a lot people focus too much on the negatives in life.

Module 3

So I'm currently sat at my desk at work realizing I haven't blogged since I started back on Module 3. I feel like I have been so worked up and worried about the work load and my focus has been on interviewing and literature equaling in blogging going out the window.

I moved out again over the summer meaning I have had to take on more hours at work and overtime in the evenings at teaching. This situation plus the fact I'm in doing module 3 where I feel like it is the most challenging module has meant I feel like my life is crazy busy. With this in mind, I have had to be extra organised and do this I have to create myself a schedule for myself each week, planning in when I can get my work done.

If I'm totally honest, I was dreading come back for the final term as I was disappointed with my work in module 2 and felt completely lost in what I was actually doing for my inquiry. After a call with Adesola - we stripped my inquiry idea right back to the most simple form, had a discussion about my practice and what I do and we went from there to come up with my new inquiry title 'What does dance mean to different types of people in the industry?' 

Feeling more confident after this I came up with my interview questions and got on with them now I am onto my literature review which again, in Jess Boswell style, I feel confused and lost. After an hours session with Paula on skype, again I felt like I was back onto the right path. The skype session made it clear to me that I was mixing up my literature review and my analysis of findings. 

I ordered a book last week which arrived last night which I'm excited to read! Blog to follow about the literature I have found :) 

Happy blogging!

Task 6b

Hello bloggers :)

Before deciding what tool I needed to use, first I learnt the difference between quantitative and qualitative research: 

"Quantitative researchers collect facts and study relationship of one set of facts to another." (Bell, J and Waters 2005)

"Qualitative research not only uses non-numerical and unstructured data but also, typically, has research questions and methods which are general at the start, and become more focused as the study progresses" (Punch 2005)

Comparing these two quotations taught that qualitative research is the style I need to use. I am not looking for facts and figures, I want to find out about peoples views and opinions and how they feel about different topics. 

Interviews

I think that doing some interviews with dance therapists would be a good idea as I can leave my questions as open ended so it would be more like a discussion. I can find out the methods they use and find out their own personal opinions and views on Dance Movement Therapy. I can also talk about their side of the argument relating to the surrounding topic of whether or not it is just the music which helps the patient or whether the movement helps as well. I would also record the in interview if they allow me so I can concentrate on getting the correct information which I need rather than trying to scribble all the info down. I would then transcribe it later. I would try to get a face-to-face interview if they are local as you can watch body language too however if not, over the phone or skype will work just as well.

Observations

Watching a dance therapy session would be very useful as I could see the methods they use first hand and I could watch how they bond with the patient to become 'their friend' before starting therapy. However I think this would be extremely hard to get involved with because patients with depression, anxiety or eating disorders will have low self esteem/confidence and I feel like may presence may interrupt the therapy. I could ask in the interview if they have anyone who wouldn't mind and if they allow me, I think it would be extremely useful to watch.

Questionnaires

I think the main negative about questionnaires is that it is restricting for the Dance therapists. I would be asking open ended questions and it will be harder for them to write down in small blank box than discussing it with me. However the positives of a questionnaire are that my opinions don't influence their answers as everyone is asked exactly the same questions and have to answer in the same way so it would be very standardized. 

I do feel like interviews are the way for me to go at the moment because I can go follow up on their answers and ask more questions about the answer they have given me. 

A few ideas for my inquiry ...

Hello bloggers :)

So I have known for a while I have wanted to do my inquiry about dance therapy but I didn't know what specifically I wanted to write about. I have been doing some research on dance therapy in general in search to find some inspiration which will help to lead me to my final question in which I would answer in my inquiry.

I have come across two topics which I think may be interesting .. 

1.) I personally find history quite an interesting topic and I had a sudden thought while I was reading an article that I could talk about how therapy for mental health patients has evolved since the 1930's when they used Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) (basically sending electric shocks through the brain) to contemporary therapy like DMT (dance movement therapy). I can question many different things like:

Did ECT actually work?

What were the long term effects it had? Was this the reason why they have stopped doing?

Does DMT actually work?

What exactly is DMT?

2.) My second chain of thought is 'what are the effects of dance therapy in comparison to people how just have standard care/therapy.' I could look at different case studies for both and compare the results and see if DMT does actually have a positive effect on people with mental health. 

Please comment your opinions which you would think would make a better inquiry. Maybe I could combine the two questions? 

Thankyou :) 

Task 5c

Hello Bloggers :)

After reading Reader 5 several times, my mind still feels slightly boggled if I'm totally honest. Ethics is a much bigger topic than I ever realized covering from law to religion - two major roles which effect different peoples ethics.

Case study 2: Ethics in photography - I found this small section endearing leaving me questioning a few things. If you were in his shoes, what would you do? I find it very difficult to understand that someone could just walk away from the poor child struggling for their life but do you put your own life at risk (in this case, the photographer feared the contagious disease which was going around at the time)? But also, on top on that, he knows as a photographer his ethical role is to observe and not interfere - 2 major facts as to why he left her. As a dancer, not a photographer, I would of have to of helped this poor girl but I have to put this situation into something I can understand ... If I knew someone was dancing on an injury and I was concerned about their health and the show, I would probably talk to them first but still after that I was concerned, should I tell the choreographer? If I think it will effect the show (might not be able to go on stage ect) or should I keep out of it? The dance world is a very small and I wouldn't want to be standing on peoples toes and making a bad name for myself. I think ethical wise, I probably share my concerns to someone. So going back to the photographer, I think there are many different opinions and it's hard to please everyone. If he had saved that girl and he died from the disease, who knows what the press would of said. You can never win!

The quote above is targeting a different aspect of ethics. I feel like it talking more about passion and attitude. It's implying that if you don't work hard, if your not reliable, not trustworthy (low work ethics) then your not going to be successful which I fully agree with.  

Everyone has their own personal ethics as well - each individual has different ideas as to what is right and what is wrong - people can be very opinionated which I think has an effect in any situation like the photographers for example. Some people may think he did the right thing by walking away, other will think he did the wrong thing.


My next step is to start planning my own ethics release form using the guidelines in the Reader but I'm also still struggling to find the question I want to answer for my inquiry .. suggestions welcome! I want to write about dance therapy and how/why it helps people with mental illness.

Thankyou x  

Task 5b: Dance therapy code of Ethics and Professional Practice

Hellooooooo :)

http://www.admt.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Code-of-Ethics-and-Professional-Practice-PDF.pdf

The link above will take you to a contract for ADMPUK which is a company which supplies DMT's in many different areas in the UK.

From my 'educated guesses' I think I managed to cover some of main points like 'Best interests for the clients' 'Data protection' 'Professional Relations' 'Confidentiality' and 'Use of Touch' however I didn't have a clue about how much detail it went into.


- "5.1 Referral and assessment 5.1.1 Dance movement psychotherapists offer treatment after a formal referral/self-referral and assessment procedure (including contract, consent and risk assessment) has been completed."
This is a good point which I completely missed out! I had a feeling the person would have to be referred first so it's good to know for definite.

-"4.12 Dance movement psychotherapists are guided to keep clinical records for eight years after the termination of therapy and stay aware of relevant current legislation and organizational policies."
8 YEARS?! WOW! hahaha .. I never really gave this point a thought but my initial assumption probably would be that you would have to keep in on record for 3-5years after, 5 years at a push. How wrong was I?! haha ... very surprising.

-"2.5.2 Dance movement psychotherapists have a duty to refer concerns of suspected abuse or risk of abuse to their supervisor, child protection/safeguarding officer or line manager within their organisation and, if necessary, to their local child protection organisation, Children’s Social Care or the police."
This also surprised me as I thought if a child tells you something like this but tells you confidentially, you can't tell anyone but you can urge the child to tell someone else who can help them. However, in this contract it uses the words 'concerns of suspected' so this makes me think that this means if I have noticed something like brusies/marks then I can tell someone that I am worried that something might be going on at home. However, later on in the contract in states "4.2 Dance movement psychotherapists are aware of and comply with national laws regarding confidentiality and data protection" ... this makes me think that my first point about the child telling me something might be written in the national law contract.


Overall, DMT have a lot to bare in mind when taking on a session as I have gathered today :) !

Task 5a: My thoughts on code of practice/regualtions

'Take your place of work/professional community which is familiar to you' .. when I read this in my handbook, instantly I am most comfortable with the performing industry as I have been doing that for the longest.

My initial thoughts about codes of practice/regulations of performing are taken from the way I have worked/taught in the past when I have been in shows. I think some of my thoughts are maybe 'unwritten rules' and wouldn't be physically be wrote on paper in the code of practice but here they are anyway ..

-To ALWAYS be on time or early.
-Never turn up to rehearsals not knowing what you are doing (even if this means working at home after rehearsals.)
-Apply health and safety regulations in any space you rehearse or perform.
-If the choreographer asks for it 'full out' .. do not mark it.
-To respect everyone you work with from directors and the producers to the dresser and the stage crew.
-Ensure all audience members get the same performance (performing to the best of your ability in every show)
-To respect other performers after the after half an hour call - everyone gets 'into show mode' differently
-Performers to have good stage awareness
-To have hair and make-up correct in every show
-To warm up correctly so prevent injuries from happening.



For my inquiry I want to look into dance therapy, I have no experience within this field so I don't really have a clue about the code of practice so here are my educated guesses:

-If you are working with a child under 16, do you need some one else in there?
-Always respect the persons needs
-Be professional, whatever the circumstance may be
-Depending on age and sex, are you allowed to touch/move them?
-Data protection - anything the person tells you is confidential
-Can't take pictures/videos without their consent

That's all I have for now!? I will add more if I think of any ..

Jess xx

Task 4d ... My first bit of literature

Hello Bloggers .. :)

I have found an article which I think is an important piece of literature which I can use as solid evidence that dance and movement therapy (DMT) does help with mental illness, in this case, ian experiment was carried to test how DMT helps people with anxiety. I was hoping to put a link on here so you could have a look but I have it in PDF form and don't know how to attach it, if anyone knows please tell me??

This article tells me exactly what they did in each DMT session, it tells me how the people were selected, what tests were done before and after and of course the results. It also informs me with lots of knowledge about anxiety.

I think one of the most interesting thing about the experiment is that all the exercises they performed were tension releasing based, body focus/self awareness and converting feelings/thoughts to body movement. Another interesting fact was the age ranged from 19-44 so this is already starting to answer my question of  'is there a specific age range in which DMT works better?'

There is a lot to get my head around so i need to re-read it and analyse it in more depth however I do think this is going to be a very important bit of literature.

Jess x

More questions I have for my inquiry ...

So I have started doing basic research for my inquiry, mainly reading articles and started with my dance therapy idea and a few more questions have come to mind ...

How does it help mental health illness?
How does it help people with disabilities? 
Are the theories different? 
Does dance help more with one than the other? 
What are the theories for both?
When did dance therapy first occur?
Is there a specific range in which is helps most?

... as I carry on with my research I will add to the list :)

First Skype session back/Module 2, Task 4a

Hello bloggers :)

Feels like a long time since I have done one of these!! ... So, when I first read Reader 4 I felt quite overwhelmed and didn't have a clue where to start (I feel like I write at the start of every new task haha) and I didn't really have the confidence to start until I had a skype session to talk the task ahead. As always, I figured that it was okay to feel like I don't know where to start and that people on module 3 felt like that and people on module 2 feel like that now.

I have been having a think about what I should look into for my inquiry and I have two topics to choose from:

1.) Should I work for free? I mentioned this is task 2d and in my critical reflection along with a list of questions I thought of ...

Should we work for no pay/less pay?

If we do, does it undermine the industry?

Who's to blame?

How can we stop this from happening?

How much should we pay?

Employers want people experience so how do you get your first job?

Are employers promising paid work at the end of it?

How does it effect people's emotional state?

I do feel quite passionate this because I know as a graduate from a Musical Theatre college, I have had to face this situation and relates to work based learning. Because I have had personal experiences of this, would this make my inquiry stronger? This brings me onto my second option ...

2.) How does dance help children with disabilities and mental health issues?

What are positives?

What are the negatives?

How does dance help children to deal with feelings?

How does it work physiologically?

Is there evidence of it improving the child's mental health or disability?

What is the therapy?

Are there any studies already out there?

These set of questions are just ones I have thought of without any research so I know that the more i research, the questions I will have. Dance therapy really interests me but I have no experience in this field at all so it worries me to go into this for my inquiry. Do I need to get some work experience in this before I do my inquiry? As it is a WBL course?

Please leave any comments you may have, it would be very useful! Thankyou :)

Task 2d Inquiry

Hello Bloggers :)

1) What in your daily practice gets you really enthusiastic to find out more about?

The thing that really does keep me going as performer is that applause (if your lucky, a standing ovation haha) at the end of a show. It makes me feel so proud of what I do and makes me feel so happy that I have made someone feel something for however long the show has been on for. You don't know who is watching and what anyone is going through so they can come to theatre and just take their mind of any problems/stress their may be encountering and just enjoy! As performers, our aim is for the audience to feel what we are portraying on stage which could be many things; happiness, sadness, love, hatred, hope ect. and the claps and cheers show their appreciation of our hard work and this keeps me going! 
On a teaching level, when you see a child improve on the things you have been teaching and you know that your the one who has helped them is such a great feeling. This could be technically or even emotionally - One of my students started as a very shy, self conscious girl. I look at her now, she has her own friends and she's laughing and really trying things I never thought she would. I know that it's not all down to me but to be apart of it is a wonderful sense of achievement. Both of these elements keep me enthusiastic about my practice.

Who do you admire who also works with what makes you enthusiastic?    
I see other students who I either trained with in the past or done a show with who are doing other great things with their own practice and I admire them for all their hard work and it makes it evident that I can do the same thing and make my own goals come true. 

Me and my beautiful year on graduation - Admiring all their hard work and their success.

2.) What gets you angry or makes you sad?
There are two main things that really make me mad. One being when audience members are being disrespectful. I have seen it when I have been an audience member myself, people checking their phone and texting during a show! It's so rude! If its an emergency, they should leave quietly and sort it out and come back in but i'm sure the majority of the time it is't - we have worked so hard, more than they will ever understand and we haven't done it for them to come and sit on their phone. For another example, I was dancing in a 1920's show a couple of weeks ago at a 1920's car racing event in the evening. A couple of drunken men decided it would be funny to get on stage with us a try and copy what we were doing - taking all the audiences attention off us and onto them - I was in shock! 
The other thing which makes me a little bit annoyed when people are unprofessional in rehearsal, for example; I have a show in Liverpool on Tuesday, our choreographer called a rehearsal on Sunday as that's when we could all make it and one girl text's last minute and says she can't come 'because she forgot about the Sunday train timetable and by the time she got there, there would be no point' letting us all down. We accept it if it's the first time but it's starts to get annoying when it happens a lot. 

Who do I admire who shares your feelings or has found away to work around the sadness or anger? 
I have a very good friend who I trained with who understands me like no one else does. We share the same emotions and opinions on almost everything so talking to her always makes me feel a lot better about any situation I'm in which has made me feel sad or anger, Don't know where I would be without her!

3.) What do you love about what you do? 
I feel like this question relates back to the first one - If your enthusiastic about something, it probably means you love it too! I love that sense of achievement at the end of the show - when everything has gone right and you know you out everything you could into making you performance as best as it can be. However, even if the show didn't go as well as it could of, you should still feel that sense of achievement because of how you handled it; Donald Schon's reflection-in-action comes into play and you have to make the show work and carry on - most of time the audience won't even notice it!

Who do I admire who also seems to love this or in an example of what you love?
When I was in training, my Head of Dance teacher always talked about the passion and love he had as a performer and you could feel it when he told us - even though he didn't perform any longer, the passion still flowed through his veins, and for this, I admired him. He wanted to help you and become the best performer you could be - I saw him like this for 3 years until my graduation and he said to me "even if you walk out of these doors and never dance a single dance move again, as long as your happy and have love then you have succeeded". This took me by surprise, over the last 3 years as my dance teacher it was always about dance, dance, dance - I guess as his teaching role, that's what he has to do. But this was more a friend to friend advice and for this, I admire him more, he really opened my mind to think how right he might actually be.

4.) What do you feel you don't understand? 
I don't understand employers who think it is ok to advertise a job which pays minimum wage, or sometimes less, and say 'this job is great for experience' - they are aiming for fresh graduates who will do anything to get where they want to be. This is NOT acceptable! Fresh graduates have trained the same as any other professional! They deserve to be paid for a highly skilled job just as much as anyone else. Employers think they can get away with it and save money by doing so. It's not fair. 

Who do I admire who does seem to understand it?
I admire anyone who stands up for this - there are always posts on The Hustle or articles in newspapers about this current situation .

"Graduates could be exploited low pay/no pay doesn't grantee a job after. This just legitimates cheap labour end undermines the industry." 

I also found this which made me laugh but puts things into perspective:

http://shouldiworkforfree.com/ 

Line of enquiry: 
I didn't really know what I could write for this put I just did abit of research on what I was talking about for question number 4 and I think I could go further with this idea.
Should we work for no pay/less pay?
If we do, does it undermine the industry?
Who's to blame?
How can we stop this from happening?
How much should we pay?
Employers want people experience so how do you get your first job?
Are employers promising paid work at the end of it?
How does it effect people's emotional state? 

Task 2b: Reflective Writing (Journal Writing Experience)

Hello Bloggers,

So when I first read task 2b, I thought it was going to be quite a challenge, especially the last one 'Another View' but I actually surprised myself. 

I felt like Description and Intial Reflection kind of went together so I did this for the same day, natural order told me to talk about my day then reflect on it - my brain didn't like the thought of doing it on separate days, not totally sure why! I found the description writing easy as I think this is way I have been writing in my journal - described what went on in the lesson then evaluated it. I also felt the same for List and Evaluation. Using a list to describe my day was good to do, I had never thought about doing it this way but I write lists all the time e.g. what I need to get when I go to town, food shopping list, things I need to get done (phone calls, post things ect) so writing a list about my day felt like second nature. 

I didn't really understand the graphs and charts way .. I made a graph on how my mood changed from hour to hour then also did a chart of comparing my week to last week. I don't think I learnt much from this form of writing.

I REALLY enjoyed writing in the 'what if..' style! My day fantastic! One point I wrote

 'What if .. a customer walked into the shop and told me I had won the lottery'.

 This did make me laugh! I also really enjoyed writing in the form of another object. I choose to write my day from my mobile's point of view; I wrote it in the way my phone was making remarks about me and mumbling to itself. One sentence was

 ' I wish she would buy me a new case, the crack in my back keeps catching her pocket everytime she takes me in and out, it's really starting to get sore'.

 This way of writing made it alot more exciting! 

I have started my reflective journal however these writing exercises have opened up my mind to try new ways of writing and I will try to bring these into my journal.  

Jess x 

Wed 28th Oct Online Session/ Task 2a

When I read Reader 2 I felt a bit overwhelmed by it all and didn't completely understand what I was reading. This session made everything so much clearer, I re-read Reader 2 and thing's are making much sense!

After researching into all the different theories of learning which were mentioned in Reader 2, I am now 100% certain that I fall into Howard Gardner's theory. He believes people have different ways of learning also know as 'multiple intelligences'

Garnder says "these differences  challenge an educational system that assumes that everyone can learn the same materials in the same way and that a uniform, universal measure suffices to test student learning" 

I fall into a couple of his learning styles, I researched for more of an explanation for each style and these are the ones I think I fall into:

"Bodily-kinesthetic - use the body effectively, like a dancer or a surgeon. Keen sense of body awareness. They like movement, making things, touching. They communicate well through body language and be taught through physical activity, hands-on learning, acting out, role playing. Tools include equipment and real objects."
"Musical - show sensitivity to rhythm and sound. They love music, but they are also sensitive to sounds in their environments. They may study better with music in the background. They can be taught by turning lessons into lyrics, speaking rhythmically, tapping out time. Tools include musical instruments, music, radio, stereo, CD-ROM, multimedia."

These are quite obvious as they link straight to my professional practise (dance.) However, I can link these back to when I was at school studying for my GCSE's. I definitely remember things when they have been put into a rhyme; I used to make up silly words and poems and songs to remember the important stuff which falls into the musical style of learning. I know I also learnt a lot more if there was a real object in front of me which I can touch and move about e.g. science experiment at school because later, when I  came to an exam, I could replay and visualise what I did which falls into the kinesthetic style of learning.

The online session gave me a few ides for my reflective journal which I'm very grateful of as I had no idea what I was supposed to be writing in it before the session. Here are a few of my ideas:
- Write my lesson plans for each week then highlight what I got done and what I didn't do.
- Write about how each lesson went; what could be changed, what I could of done better as teacher, what went well and what didn't go so well, how my mood affected my teaching and interaction with the children, did I handle a certain situation correctly.
- Write about how my rehearsals go each week, what I need to work on as a performer, what choreography I couldn't get and what I could get (Did I use the Donald Schon method of 'reflection-in-action'?)
- Write about how my shows go; did I perform as well as I could? If not why? Did my mood effect it, did something go wrong, was the space not as good as I hoped for?

Overall very good online session! Now onto my reflective journal :)
Hope this helps someone :)

Task 1d: 2D images

Hello Bloggers :) 
I always upload my pictures to facebook and instagram however there are so many on there now which I have accumulated over the many years I have used them that I decided I would just pick the most recent and the ones which best described me in just a handful and uploaded him into a flickr album - thought it would be much easier for you! If you want to look at more my name on facebook is Jess Boswell and my instagram name is jessbos1.

My flickr album:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/137296755@N07/albums/72157659862982488


You will mainly see dancing pictures (because that's all I've known!) Pictures of my mum, dad and brother (this is the entire 'Boswell' family so they mean a lot to me!) My best friend, my boyfriend and my beautiful year which I graduated with, my three pets; my dog Fudge who's getting on a bit now and my two pet turtles. I uploaded my 21st birthday cake which is a minion - one reason because I simply love cake and the other reason because I love minions, they are so cool! - I can't believe I just admitted that on here. 


I had a think as to why images and pictures are important and I came up with a couple of ideas:
1.) I mentioned this in my last blog but i'll say it again. People judge; judge what you look like, what you wear, what you do. First impressions matter!
2.) I know that from when we are first born, our brain processes images and pictures like the familiar faces we saw everyday and the familiar surroundings probably being our homes so looking at images and pictures is second nature to us as humans. When using images within our work will help make things clearer (as long as the image is connected to the text in some way) because the brain is so used to processing them. 
3.) "A Picture is worth a thousand words" .. this quote is just perfect! If i described an image of something to you, you would never grasp the true beauty or truth. If i showed you the picture, it just says it all! 
4.) Pictures can be very personal and hold special memories which you can go back to whenever you like. They can hold all kind of emotions, some good and some bad. I know i'm really bad for hoarding pictures! But they help you to not forgot the memories you created. So many times I've looked back at photos and said 'Oh my god, I totally forgot about this!.' We should be more grateful that we basically carry a camera about with us on our phones nowadays and that we can capture any moment in life and keep it with us forever, it takes us seconds! My mum and dad barely have any pictures of their childhoods! Something we take for granted today.

Writing this blog has actuallly just reminded me that I need to start using more images within my tasks and blog! It makes it a lot more interesting too!

Task 1b Professional communication technologies

Hello Readers :)

When I read the slides a few days ago i didn't actually know what Web 2.0 was, initially I thought it was a program  I could download, oh how wrong was I! I googled the definition and this is what I got:

'Web 2.0 is the term given to describe a second generation of the World Wide Web that is focused on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online. Web 2.0 basically refers to the transition from static HTML Web pages to a more dynamic Web that is more organized and is based on serving Web applications to users.'

Web 2.0 is something most people and I use every single day but I just knew it as the 'internet', I did not have a clue there was two versions of it?! (hope I'm not by myself here)

When it comes to social media I think there are huge positives and huge negatives. Personally I think there are more positives and here are my opinions:

1.) Facebook is great if you have your own company/running a buisness; it's a brilliant form of free advertising and you can stayed connected with your pupils/parents by putting up updates for all to see. For example 'Class next week cancelled' or 'we are still open half term!' 

2.) I know people love uploading their new headshots or dance portfolio pictures (myself included) onto your facebook page or instagram and things can travel so fast around the internet nowadays! At a click of a screenshot and into your whatsapp conversation, or copy and paste a link into a facebook chat which pops up onto everyone's phones, you just don't know who is going to get hold of your new pictures. A casting director or choreographer perhaps and you look like the perfect part for what they are looking for leading to a potential audition/job opportunity. 

3.) Many many many auditions are advertised on facebook! We probably all know about The Hustle .. I got my first major overseas dance job from  The Hustle, I know a friend which saw an open audition for a cruise which was advertised on there and got the job. Pages like this are so so so useful for performers which is a massive positive for social media.

For me personally, the major issue of social media is what you upload on your page. Almost every company nowadays will check your facebook before they employ, even companies which you don't think will. I worked in a bar/nightlcub in London while I was training. Even my manager was going on people's facebook for a bar job before they got offered an interview and I know for certain there was one call which didn't get an interview because of her facebook page and if a bar in London does this then I'm pretty other major companies will. You have to be so careful what you write; you can't hear the way people say things so something could be taken the wrong way. You could offend someone with what you write if your not careful and last but not least, your pictures!! People judge. Even if they say they don't, it's human nature to do so. My fiend works of a big company in London doing something to do with business, they have told her she can't even upload a picture of herself holding a drink which looks alcoholic!! If they don't like the person they see in the pictures, you won't get hired. Scary, I know!! 

Does the web help us understand global issues and local issues?

I think it does to a certain extent! It's so easy to google something and find videos and images from the other side of world to just round the corner from you. However I think you can never fully understand these issues we see unless you personally experience them (which I hope none of us have)

If everyone just stops and thinks before they upload anything onto social media/Web 2.0, we should all use it help our professional practice. Use it to show off your positive energy then everything will fine :) 

Task 1a. Professional CV

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx5D6Cno1pAnUDR4UTljTFRQREk/view?usp=sharing

So I'm not sure if the link above isn't going to work, I have followed a website which told me upload it in my GoogleDrive then post the link, I'm praying it works otherwise I have NO idea how to upload a document to this blog thing!

I already had my CV, CPA Studios where I trained ingrained it in our heads to always keep your CV up to date because you never know when your going to need it. However, there was a bit of tidying up I needed to do to it so this was the perfect opportunity.

Onto task 1b :) if the link works, fingers crossed!

My first blog!

So .. Finally got round to writing my first blog after the first campus session which really helped clear up everything I was worried about, especially after talking to a Module 3 student :)

I was really worried about writing my first blog; I guess as performers we feel like we are always getting judged and want everything to be perfect. As performers, well from my experience, I'm used to getting text and reading it rather than writing it and letting other people read it. All of these put together was a little terrifying.

At the first campus session we learnt a lot about reflecting upon ourselves, reflecting on what we do and what we have done. When I applied for the course, I already knew what I wanted to learn about and what I wanted to write my enquiry about however, after listening to module 2 and 3 students and hearing their ideas on what they want to do, it has made me more open minded on what I may end up doing. Being open minded is one of the qualities you need for reflection along with wholehearted-ness and responsibility.