Professional
Network: “a work related community held together by either close working
affiliation or more distant but common work interest or needs. So a
professional network is a group who have common interests…” (Reader 3, page 4).
In my current case , the common interest is dance , and being more specific my
professional network is divided in smaller groups; the ones which the common
interest it is more about classical dance , contemporary dance , choreography and other dance related issues. By reading the Reader
3, I was able to get a better knowledge about the relationships that are
developed on those networks and recognized which way of engagement I currently
have with my current contacts and which way of engagement I would like to
develop better.
I believe both
Cooperation and Affiliation are fundamental for an artist career. However I
think it is a hard task to recognize your relationships and achieve a benefit
from it. Cooperation always happens on the dance environment: Choreographers
need dancers to perform his/her work ; dancers need to improvise with other
dancers in contact and improvisation works , as well as corps of ballet works;
theatres need dancers and directors to build up a company; some dancers need
agents to promote themselves. Cooperation is “working together with somebody to
achieve something; help that you give by doing what somebody asks you to do”
(…). However the strategy to get an advantage from this cooperation to your own
benefit and to know when is the limit of this cooperation it is extremely
important for a full enjoyment from it. I believe that cooperation needs to be reciprocal. For example, a dancer can get
into an agency to get a better promotion, but the achievement of the final goal
doesn’t depend just on the agency. The dancer should also do his/her job to be
on the best shape for this agency. A dancer can work for a choreographer to
promote his/her work; however this work should also bring something to the dancer
(contacts, curriculum, professional experience…). In the dance career, I
believe it is hard in the beginning specially to know if cooperation will worth
it or not. After graduating most dancers are desperate looking for jobs (and
not just after graduation, in other moments as well) and any opportunity paid
or unpaid, short or long contract, enjoyable or not enjoyable that appears,
without thinking twice you compromise yourself. It is important to analyse the
offer and conclude if this opportunity will bring you future benefits and how
long will you take an advantage from it. It is one of the reasons why you
shouldn’t audition everywhere. However I have to recognize how hard it is to
reflect about this issue.
Affiliation:
“(…) a successful career requires effective
professional networking. The concept of Affiliation suggests however that we
have an innate need to network professionally, in our personal lives, at play,
indeed, across the range of human activities. (…) This means whatever our
status or need professionally, we will engage in affiliation. Whether we are
new entrants into professional field, or well-established practioners, we have
the same needs in terms of affiliation.” (Reader 3, page 7). Through
affiliation we produce a network of support that will help us when we are in
need (“Essential Social Psychology”, Crisp, Richard J. and Turner, Rhiannon N.;
Chapter 11:“Affiliation and Attraction” page 323). Those definition shows how
necessary is affiliation and I believe it is not just in a professional work
but also for a personal way. Our work environment is a place where we spend
most of our time of the day and especially in dance, we really interact with
our work colleagues. Affiliation then it is important to avoid loneliness,
isolation and to achieve a better enjoyment from your work. I think also that
is important to keep good relationships and your work environment for your
professional position and involvement with the company. Negative behaviours may
complicate your professional position. Absence of social interaction can
compromise you own work. I founded interesting what the “Affiliation and
Attraction “chapter explains about culture differences, levels of privacy and
differences about people. As a Brazilian, I believe that my culture is more
extrovert and look for social relationships. We usually have more physical
contact compared to other cultures and we are usually louder as well. I had to
be careful once I moved to other countries to recognize those culture
differences and achieve better relationships. Each country that I lived I had
to pay attention to their culture and respect it. This doesn’t mean that I
changed mine however, I think is important to respect the differences and get
better results at your relationships. Learn from their cultures and show yours
as well. In the UK for example, I was the only Latin American at my school and
I think it would be impossible to achieve good results from my training in
total isolation. Looking from a more professional way usually closer relationships
happen with ones that have a similar professional position, however it can also
happen “upwards”, with ones that are in other level of hierarchy. I believe
this second one begins to happen more frequently once you are out of school
environment (for example: corps of ballet member with soloists; dancers with
teachers). However I strongly believe that in dance world, professional status
might affect affiliations. Not knowing the ideal level of privacy or even not
recognizing if the relation is an affiliation, or cooperation or not any of
those two, might affect not just your relationships but also your career. Some
relationships are for the work time only; some others will be for any moment.
Some will be able to help you when you are in need, some others not, and of
course this trust needs to be reciprocal. I don’t think however that this
situation is exclusively from dance world; it is for all human beings in any
professional field.
It is interests to
reflect about those concepts in such an egoist and predominantly non cooperative environment such as dance. This “non cooperative” reaction may happen a lot
during competitions, auditions and even school time. However, I found those
relationships (cooperation and affiliation) not just necessary but fundamental for
future results and also happiness. Culture is a social concept; it involves the
customs, ideas, and beliefs of a society. Social relationships therefore are
fundamental. Even if a total freelancer dancer , who choreographs for him/herself
, promotes, performs, directs it he/her will have at some time to cooperate or
affiliate with someone to achieve a greater result or promotion for it. Even if
the relationship will be only with his/her audience.
The definition of
Social Constructionism focuses on meanings, values and ways of engaging into a
network to build up a large social process. The statement from the Chapter 3
“Constructionism: the making of meaning” from “The Foundations of Social
Research: Meaning and Perspective in the Research Process” really got my
attention: meaning is not discovered but constructed. An actual meaning emerges
only when consciousness engages with them. How important it is then to be fully
engaged into a work, relationship, research and to build up a meaning to it and on this process,
contribute selflessly. How important is to recognize what are the values and
ways to achieve what is being looking for. It made me reflect about building up
a new project in the dance scene. How important it is the full engagement of
all the ones involved to create a meaning for it , which can be a whole new and
innovative choreography , a new concept of a traditional and old ballet , a
revival from an old piece , a whole new company… and the values and ways
involved on it: a really expensive production , a small and experimental
production , a classical company , a contemporary company and so on. This engagement made me think about some
companies that surprised me once I watched them: I had the feeling that the
dancers were fully engaged with the movements, they really understood the
meaning of the choreography even if they created a meaning for themselves. But
it was a conscious engagement. They really knew the values from that company.
In a personal way, I think is an important reflection to recognize all how all
this interaction is bringing a contribution to yourself and if you are actually
part of it.
Through all
discussion about trends in learning and the concept of Connectivism at
“Connectivism: A learning Theory for the Digital Age” (George Siemens, December
12, 2004) it is possible to recognize how the process of learning has changed
in the past few years and the theories of what is and how to achieve knowledge,
a change that my generation might not even realize about it. The technology
provided nowadays made the access to information much easier and to share your
personal information as well: “Informal learning is a significant aspect of our
learning experience. Formal education no longer comprises the majority of our
learning. Learning now occurs in a variety of ways- through communities in
practice, personal networks, and through completion of work related tasks.”
Internet allowed this process to be easily done. All theories of the process of
learning focus on how the individual must have the experience to acquire
knowledge; Constructivism suggest that the attempt to understand the experience
it is the beginning of the process of knowledge; others view knowledge as external,
the act of thinking is actually an internalization of the knowledge. However
those theories always address the knowledge with the experience of the
individual. In the digital age, theories have changed. The knowledge is
achieved by looking to other experiences as well: “(…) we can no longer
personally experience and acquire learning that we need to act. We derive our
competence from forming connections. Karen Stephenson states: Experience has
long been considered the best teacher of knowledge. Since we cannot experience everything,
other people’s experiences, and hence other people, become the surrogate for
knowledge” (“Connectivism: A learning Theory for the Digital Age”, George Siemens,
December 12, 2004). This is what Social Medias allow most of the time.
Experiences are shared. Communities create a meaning for themselves and form
connections. Connectivism then is “the integration of principle explored by
chaos, network, and complexity self-organization theories. (…) Learning (…) is
focused on connecting specialized information sets, and the connections that
enable us to learn more are more important that our current state of knowing.”
(“Connectivism: A learning Theory for the Digital Age”, George Siemens,
December 12, 2004). However, using a sentence from the previous theories (Constructionism, Behaviourism, Cognitivism…), learning is about behavior change. I agree with
this sentence and I believe is important on this process of sharing experiences
to acquire knowledge. That means is important to keep yourself updated, be open
minded, internalize the others and yours experiences, create a meaning, be part
of the group (which reminds the concept of social Constructionism) and reflect
about it, especially nowadays, when information is spread out so fast. This behavior can be linked to some
principles of Connectivism: Capacity to know more is more critical than what is
currently known; Ability to see connections between fields, ideas and concepts
is a core skill; Decision-making is itself a learning process; creating , preserving
, and utilizing information flow should be a key organisation activity. The
personal motivation and knowledge is the start point to be part of a network, organization. The capacity to integrate will
provide a feedback and learning to the individual. How important it is then to
be updated, to realize that knowledge doesn’t exist in the mind of just one
person, to be open to listen to others experiences and to know your current
relations and connections. “The ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is
more important than what we know today” (“Connectivism: A learning Theory for
the Digital Age” , George Siemens , December 12, 2004).
“A community of
practice is a set of relations among persons, activity, and world, over time
and in relation with other tangential and overlapping communities in practice.
A community of practice is an intrinsic condition for the existence of
knowledge, not least because it provides the interpretive support necessary for
making sense of its heritage. Thus, participation in the cultural practice in
which any knowledge exists is an epistemological principle of learning.”
(“Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation” , Chapter 4:
Legitimate peripheral participation in communities in practice , page 98, Lave,
Jean and Wenger, Etienne). The idea of participation and how the experience of
sharing knowledge is fundamental to learning were constantly worked through all
concepts presented on Reader 3. Without the interaction a person can’t be
involved in a community and this will affect your process of learning. Before,
on the concept of Social Constructionism , was possible to notice how important
is to be fully involved on the theme worked. This involvement will contribute to
the community and the same, can also contribute for the person’s knowledge. In Connectivism,
the idea of sharing experiences as a fundamental part for the development of
the current state of learning is constantly highlighted. More than that though , during the
explanation on Reader 3 , the elements of what defines a Community of Practice
were presented: What is about , how it functions and what capability it has
produced. Those elements made me think about my situation as initially a
classical ballet dancer. I was graduated in a classical ballet school, had more
experience with a classical repertoire and nowadays would like to go more into
the contemporary dance field. If the contemporary dance is a Community of
Practice with many communities inside of it, in order to achieve a better involvement
with it, I need to be aware of the mutual interests on this area, achieve
experience to be able to share it with others, how it works and on this process
understand what make me part of this group. So , again the ideas of
participation and fully involvement come: more than to know what contemporary
dance is , I need to achieve experiences , further knowledge on it, to be able
to be fully part of this particular community.
By reading the
Reader 3 and all other sources involved
, I gained knowledge about the different relationships at the professional
environment. I was aware about them , however I didn't know how to define and
getting a better understanding on it , I am able to have a better
self-reflection on my work. Even in an independent activity and egoist
environment like Dance, affiliations, cooperation, communities of practice are fundamental for the success of the
practice.
