Alys May-James BA Professional Practice Blog

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 a few weeks it’s been. Corona Virus is everywhere. It has started taking over our lives so quickly. Many people are concerned and rightly so. Our livelihoods are at stake. With the announcement today, of schools closing on Friday, I won’t be teaching dance for a while. My other jobs have also been cancelled which I won’t be paid for. I know of many other people in the same position as me, if not worse. It’s very easy to get caught up on the negatives and the worries, but I’m doing this post to try and lift some spirits and help in times of need. Sometimes things get overwhelming and this is an overwhelming situation for society. I have put this together for anyone and everyone to use. It has tips and ideas which you can all expand on to suit your own situation and needs. These are things I use myself from the lessons of many wise and wonderful people in my life. Set out a plan for your day Get a note book or sketch book and write down or draw 5 things you want to achieve in ...

‘Art has the power to upset, to disturb, to make us question our assumptions, to change us.’  (Berys Gaut, 2007) Working in the arts there are a lot of ethical considerations that need to be taken into account. We are creating things for an audience, whether it be a dance, a song, a play, a painting… With this comes responsibility. By creating this ‘art’ we are having an impact on people around us. But is this a good thing? Upset Art can and undoubtedly will upset some people. People can be triggered by many different things that can lead to sadness. An example for me, is Damien Hirst and his use of animals as ‘art’. Personally, I don’t believe work like, ‘Mother and Child (Divided)’ are ethical. He has used real animals, in this instance a cow and a calf, and used them for his art. Sometimes he keeps them whole and sometimes he bisects them. He then puts them in glass cabinets with formaldehyde (Biography, 2014). Consequently, many innocent animals lost their lives...

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...

Web 2.0 is a very important feature of this course. The fact we can even do this distance learning course is down to Web 2.0. Before reading the handbooks I had never herd of it before. I had no idea what it was or that it was even a thing. To me the internet was just the internet and I didn’t think much further into it. Having researched it, I am amazed I hadn’t come across the term before seeing as I use it so often. So what is Web 2.0? ‘The second stage of development of the Internet, characterized especially by the change from static web pages to dynamic or user-generated content and the growth of social media.’ Oxford Dictionaries What does this mean? Tim O’Reilly has spoken a lot about Web 2.0. Online we are now able to communicate with each other. Someone can put a piece of information on the internet and people can interact with the information. The creator and the people reading and interacting to it are in conversation. They can discuss, debate and exp...