Chrysalis Countdown

First Campus Session

On Monday 6th October, I went to my first campus session. It was great meeting the other people on the course and to be reassured that everyone is in the same boat and we all have similar queries or worries about the course. We were put into two separate groups to create a power point presentation discussing the question ‘How do the principles and practice of web-based communication support or challenge professional (arts-related) practice?’. It was nice to be able to discuss all our thoughts and opinions with other people and share experiences we have whether we are dance teachers, performers or recent graduates. As a recent graduate it was good for me to hear from more experienced performers how we need to be more proactive and aware on social media and how to use it correctly to support us.

Some of the challenges and examples of these challenges we came up with were:

  False Advertising – If a company, agency or school were using pictures that were from another business to advertise theirs. People make assumptions and believe things they see on the internet so it is easily to be deceitful on social media.

Lack of privacy – Some people work in both the childrens industry and the adult industry and it is important to keep these two things separate. (By creating two different stage names) But sometimes this still isn’t enough. For example someone had a friend who worked in Cabaret but also worked for CBBC and when his name for the CBBC was googled, a photo of him in Cabaret came up.
'The Web is for everybody' - Tim Berners - Lee

Character Integrity – If you are working as a character (eg. At Disneyland), you can’t admit online that it is you playing that role as it is important for the character to be believed. So if a photo is put up of a person dressed up as a princess and someone tags the Actress in this photo, if she agrees to this then she could be fired for threatening the characters integrity.

Loosened Morals – If a photo is taken of a performer, it is not owned by the performer but by the photographer. This means that if a photo is taken that you aren’t happy to be shared over the internet, it is not your decision for it to be taken down. This means some photographers (obviously not all) can take advantage of this and have a lack of respect for the person/people in the photo.

  And now how social media supports the performers industry:

Ease of communication/Free advertising – Social Media has made it so easy to find auditions. Whether it is through a group on Facebook, or a retweet from a friend. It is also good for companies... Social Media is used by almost everybody and if a company needs to advertise a show, there are so many ways for it to be shown to the target audience. The internet can save keywords you have typed in which then creates adverts specifically for your interests so if you have googled a dance company and a show they are creating is being advertised it is very likely the advert will be shown on your screen.

Engagement with Clients – If a dance school has a facebook page, it is easy for them to contact most of their students/parents of students for any last minute changes and reminders. And if someone doesn’t have facebook, the word will get around so everyone finds out.

Builds reputation – If you advertise yourself in the right way on social media and create the right look or perception of yourself for your target audience more people will ‘follow’ you. It is also possible to buy followers….this is a challenge for the people following (Creates a false number of people supporting the act) but a support for the person building a reputation (More people will follow you if they think you have a bigger audience already). If the person buying followers is honest about themselves online and not creating a false perception then I don’t think this is a dishonest action.

Here is a link to a youtube video of both the powerpoint presentations. Our group got carried away with discussing the question as we found there was so many examples and stories we all wanted to share that putting it into a presentation wasn’t our main focus!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijwts5zP69c&feature=youtu.be


  I need to learn to put my opinions across and be able to speak when presenting a group project because I do want to be involved in the discussions but find it hard to explain my ideas or opinions.

ISTD Studios...

Since the rehearsals in Sadlers Wells, we have rehearsed at the ISTD studios in Shoreditch. The commute in and out of London is a nightmare I love working here as it’s in such an edgy part of London. Definitely a contrast from Tring! We are still working on the same piece which we are using for Move It and other projects and it is so interesting to watch Jodie choreograph and see the piece grow and change every week. We have had Rowan come in and teach us some crazy tricks which everyone worked so hard to get and a few people managed to get them…..I’m still working on it…although I am loving every rehearsal with Jodie, it is always fun to try new and challenging things. I’m glad he is giving us all these opportunities. We also had a Ballet class which was definitely a contrast to our normal class before rehearsals and really helped remind me about my posture. I had forgotten how painful it was though!

First week of London Rehearsals!

Our first weekly rehearsals (Sept 18th -19th) were at Sadlers Wells!!! I have seen so many inspiring dance companies there and we got to rehearse under the same roof as them :D

Here is a photo of the opening to the first piece we are creating. We spent a long time on getting it exactly how Jodie wanted it to look and it has been changed a lot since then! I love the fact we have the time to change things and work on certain sections for as long as is needed to.

The Start of Chrysalis London :D

We started Rehearsals with a week intensive in September at Tring Park School. It was weird going back for rehearsals with a professional company to the school I have spent the last five years training at. It was difficult to get out of the feeling of being a student to start with but the rehearsals were so mentally and physically challenging that this changed quickly. On the first day we met the other members of the company for the first time which was so exciting as we all felt like ‘This is actually happening’. We started the day with a class taken by Jodie. We did a few improvisation exercises…normally I feel uncomfortable improvising but being around people who are just as passionate about contemporary made me so much more comfortable as it was such an open and friendly environment. I now feel like improvisation really helps you become an individual dancer. Now I have left training this is more important than ever to not just concentrate on technique. Throughout the week, Jodie choreographed a group section which is a lot more challenging than his previous work. I love the fact we are doing new and different things with the company as it will make us stronger and more versatile. He also put us into groups of three (people he thought would work well together) and choreographed different sections. Each group had a very different way of moving and it was a really good way for us all to see each other dance in the ways we feel the most strong in. On the last day, Rowan (zoonation) came in and helped Jodie to create moves to every detail of the music which meant we all had to really listen to the music and the sounds within the music. Here are some shots from the section Rowan helped with.

By the end of the week we all agreed that we felt a lot stronger than we did at the start of the week. We did the same class from the beginning and we all felt and looked like different dancers. It was amazing to see everyone grow individually and as a company.

Task 1A Professional Profile

'My name is Maddie Shimwell and I am nineteen years old and currently studying the BA in Performance Practice (Arts) at Middlesex University. I started dancing at the Claire Dobinson School of Dance ten years ago and then when I was twelve, I was accepted to be an associate with New English Contemporary Ballet (NECB), a company in Nottingham which had associate classes on a Saturday taught by staff and members of the company. I was lucky enough to perform alongside the company in a contemporary adaptation of ‘The Nutcracker’ choreographed by Jamie Thompson. I then went on to train at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts at the age of fourteen. I worked very hard in the hope that I would become a professional ballet dancer. Whilst still training, I was also a founding member of Richard Chappell Dance where I performed in Devon and London theatres including Royal Opera House (Linbury Studio Theatre) and ArtsDepot. Whilst working with this company, I found a new love for Contemporary. I decided to change my path from Ballet and concentrate on gaining as much experience in the contemporary dance industry as possible so, I went to as many workshops and classes as I could. The companies were so inspiring and really helped me to grow as a dancer. I am currently a dancer for Chrysalis London which is a new contemporary graduate company based in East London. The director, Jodie Blemings was also my main contemporary teacher at Tring. He has been a huge support as I came to the end of my training and I am very excited to continue working with him in a new, professional environment.' I prefer my CV written in its original form as its easier to read and I didn't know which bits to cut out for the profile version so to me it seems very long and boring...I hope you don't find it the same! A good CV is so important in the Arts and I am constantly trying to improve it so any comments are more than welcome :) Here is a copy of my original CV I sent out to companies when I was auditioning.