Task 3b: Theories relating to Networking

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.