Kirsty's BAPP Blog

 As a Professional ballet dancer my practice can be moulded into any number of different things. Through looking at my practice from a wider angle I notice that one of the greatest things about classical ballet is the vast amount transferable skills you learn through your unusual education and career. This is something I have always been very grateful for as it has always been apparent to me that one day I will retire from performing professionally and move on to an entirely different career in another industry.  Working through module 1 and beginning to try to construct a "map" of my practice has almost made me resent how broad my practice is for the first time in my life. My initial thought was to create a mind map including all of the different things my practice involves and significant artists or experiences that have shaped my personal practice and identity. The problem with this is that my mind map became a kind of colourful maze linking all of the different aspects of...

 As a dancer I am a perfectionist and with that comes a lot of reflection. Reflecting on how I did in class, how a performance went, what went well and more often what could I improve on. This is deemed as reflecting-on-action since it's looking back at what I have previously done in an attempt to learn from it but what I didn't realise is how much dancers use reflection-in-action. Reflection-in-action applies in situations where one is responding to what is happening as it happens rather than after the fact. This is useful skill for dancers as we need to be adaptable. Examples of when we would use this skill would be during the creation of a piece of choreography, when rehearsing on a new stage for the first time or during a performance if something were to go wrong.  I can think of countless times when I have been on stage and things haven't gone completely according to plan. A slippy spot on stage, the orchestra changing the tempo, a lead corps member in the slightly wro...

Ballet is like an addiction. You know it's not healthy; it's breaking breaking your body and destroying your mental health and you'd probably be better off without it, yet the thought of ever leaving the industry breaks your heart and is truly terrifying. You can't imagine your life without dance, it's who you are and all you've ever known.   Young professionals and low ranked members of companies are essentially slaves to their art. Often extremely underpaid (if paid at all), and undervalued, recent graduates find themselves in a kind of battleground. They work their hardest with the hopes of one day being promoted or at least acknowledged for the part they play within the company but in the process lose their sense of self-worth and value. These dancers are essentially walking the line between student and professional- they are treated like students but expected to perform as professionals. They generally work longer hours than their higher-ranked counterparts...

 Web 2.0 is a concept that I was unfamiliar with prior to starting this course even though it is something I use everyday and have been using for years. As a dancer my practice is centred around live performances and events, however over recent years and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic web 2.0 has become a significant part of my practice.  The importance of having an online presence for the purpose of self-promotion was first highlighted to me during my graduate year at ballet school when we were encouraged to create an online portfolio. I decided that I would create a public instagram profile to use as a platform for self-promotion. This gave me the freedom to share my portfolio images and information and provided an easy method of communication between myself and any potential colleagues, employers and collaborators. Through sharing content on social media I am also increasing my exposure worldwide and thus increasing the possibility for new opportunities to arise....

On Monday I attended the Module 1 focus discussion group via Skype. I wanted to attend this Skype call not only as a way to connect with others in the same position as me but also to gain some other ideas and perspectives on the 3 lenses. The key ideas we discussed were Web 2.0 and ethical questions to consider in the arts and creative industries. One interesting point I took away from this discussion was the difficulty artists are facing in trying to find a balance between utilising social media as a platform for self-promotion and as a place to express themselves and their opinions as individuals. As many big shows now include Instagram/Twitter handles in their programs, performers are finding themselves unintentionally becoming influencers and end up receiving negative and degrading comments as a result of what they have or haven’t posted. Artists are now feeling pressure to keep up a certain persona on social media that may or may not allow them to be true to themself and their own...