Alys May-James BA Professional Practice Blog

2020 has definitely been a rollercoaster so far- from starting this course in January, to being in lockdown and not being able to dance, to being a key worker in a pandemic…it has been a very weird time. If anything, it has enforced the need to be flexible and enhanced the use of transferable skills. On Friday I joined the welcome back skype. It was lovely seeing and hearing people from each module. We spoke about a few key areas which I found really useful to remind myself of as I start back for module 2. Blogs- When I started module 1, I found it very helpful to read peoples blogs who had already completed the module. I’m going to take some time to go back as I start module 2 and read blogs from other people. It can be reassuring and inspiring reading what others have to say, as well as helping build a network of professionals. I find it quite daunting posting blogs. To help I have a specific focus for each one which helps me plan, write and then post them. Handbooks- I printed...

I feel with the current situation, now is a good time to go into transferable skills. Things have changed drastically for pretty much everyone in the last few weeks. We have all had to adapt and change just to get by. Our day to day life has been turned upside down. It is amazing how we have all ‘settled’ into this new way of life so quickly. We have taken skills from our previous life/jobs and are now using them in completely new ways. It is incredible how adaptable we are. The past few weeks I have been reflecting on skills that people gain and how we are constantly learning. We don’t give ourselves enough credit for the amount of information we take on everyday and how we process it. Some information may come and go and we never need it again. Other information comes and we need it for a prolonged period of time. But certain information comes and at the time it doesn’t seem relevant so our brains discard it, but months/years/decades later that information becomes useful. Somehow, ...

On Wednesday 1 st April we had our second skype for all modules. We covered a range of topics in the meeting, including- finding your own voice, interviewing and integration. Below I have bullet pointed some of the main points we covered in each topic. Finding our own voice  How can we write in a way that isn’t too casual but without losing yourself? How writing on social media is different to writing an essay- How do we write blogs in comparison to essays? Keeping core intensions clear Having different documents open to write down different ideas. Write all your ideas down and then go about moving it around and breaking bits up. The process is messy; things don’t always go in a straight line. Interviewing Why do we interview? What is the point? What are we trying to achieve/gain? How interviewing in person is different from over the phone/ skype Silences are ok- what do the silences tell you Its not all about what people say, how do they say it, what do...

Earlier on in the week I joined my second module one focused skype. It was nice to have some stability and familiarity with the uncertainty of the world right now. We discussed 3 main topics- Diagrams, Ethics and Literature. Diagrams We spoke about how some of us were struggling to come to terms with the idea of what a diagram actually was. It’s not clear cut, like an essay that we could have had plenty of practice doing from time at school. At first, I was really confused about it, but actually its ambiguity is what I’ve really enjoyed. I have been able to create what I want that reflects me. It’s personal to me and my own practice. It’s very rare to have opportunities like that.  We also spoke about how it’s visual. We already have our essay where we use words and theories to explain and explore our practice. The diagram is a visual representation that goes along side our essay. The two should work together. Something that one person mentioned that I hadn’t thought about...

What is my Professional Practice? The past few weeks I have been looking into how to describe what my practice actually is. I have been finding it hard to describe because there are so many factors to it. I have done this word cloud below to help me pin point my specific practice. By just using one or two words, rather than a sentence, it has helped me see what is important and given me some clarity. As you can see in my word cloud, not all the words necessarily connect to dance or the performing arts. This is because as I was creating it, I found that there were words I really wanted to include as they are part of my identity and they felt important to me. It made me realise that my practice is unique to me because I am unique, and all these factors that may not seem relevant, are relevant because they have shaped me to be who I am today. Therefore, it affects how I approach my professional practice. The knowledge I have gained from all my experiences in differen...

Recently, I have taken part in my third skype session, but it was my first module one focus skype. It was lovely meeting new people and hearing all the different points they had to make. We started by introducing ourselves and how we describe our practice.  It led onto an interesting thought of ‘How do we define ourselves?’ and ‘What are our identities?’ This went on to talking about our ‘profession.’ Whilst introducing ourselves it became clear that we all had a variety of jobs, including but not limited to, actors, dancers and teachers of the arts. From the introductions it seemed that many of us classed our ‘profession’ as being something in the arts. However, through later discussions, it was revealed many of us have other jobs too, for instance, I cat and dog sit too. Even though many of us have multiple job roles, (maybe due to the nature of the arts industry) some of us still defined our practice as, for instance, a dancer. This got us thinking on the definition of profe...