Task 3a: Current Networks

                Looking to my current tools that I use to engage my professional network , I concluded that the main ones are: Facebook , “Networkdance” website , Dance websites (to keep updated) , mailing, my trips to other cities to visit theaters , take workshops, watch performances and socializing , which I believe is the most important one.

               

                For a long time I had a strong opinion that Facebook should be used just for social relationships. Like I said in the beginning of this course, when the concept of WEB 2.0 was explained, I was never really updated on social technologies; I was one of the last ones of my friends to get a Facebook and just now, I am beginning to be more aware of those social medias and their importance. Recently I began to notice that Facebook is an important tool for professional networking as well. Many companies and artists have Facebook pages nowadays; most people keep in touch through Facebook and it is a strong tool to promote yourself. Therefore in the last few years I began to have professional contacts on my Facebook and updated my profile, telling about my Education, my current job and my interests. I still communicate a lot through emails, especially for professional reasons, but Facebook became a good tool to keep more aware of what is going on in the performance world.   However, Facebook is still a social website and huge one: Facebook finished the year of 2013 with 1, 23 billions of users monthly. This number is equivalent with the India population, the second most crowded country in the world. Until the end of 2015, Facebook may have more users than the population of China.

The main point for many in using Facebook is to share social life and keep in touch with friends, differently from using others tools like "Networkdance”, or "DancersPro” which the main purpose is job search and personal promotion. It is extremely important to recognize who is a social contact and who is a professional contact; if you aim for a professional or social approach, or even both. It is necessary to take a special care of your ethical considerations and for this, I think Facebook is the one that needs most awareness. Once Facebook is not just a social website anymore but also has professional contacts , is important to be aware of what you are going to post public and the impressions that you are going to create for yourself, after all is not just your friends who are going to see it, but also important professional contacts. Ballet world is extremely small, and each day I am surer about that.

Many artists and companies have their personal Blogs, websites, Twitters or Facebook pages. It is a great way to keep updated. I also constantly see dance websites from different countries such as “tanznetz.de”, “danze.es”, “danceeurope.net” , “balletocompanies.com”... which are also good sources for keeping updated about the dance world. Those websites have also news, reviews, interviews which I enjoy and find important to read it. However, even with all those media technologies I believe that  the best way I found to keep updated and to build up my network, were with my trips to other theaters, watching performances and joining workshops. While I was in England, I joined many workshops of contemporary dance in London, watched many performances and also visited many cities. With this initiative I got to know better the English choreographers, about contemporary dance, Physical Theater and about small companies. I also met new dancers and got new contacts. I kept this habit in Germany. Nowadays as I have been performing almost all the time, I don’t have so much time to join workshops, but I have been to performances from other companies and visited other theaters. In Germany almost each city has a theater, which I find amazing, and there is a lot to see. Through those performances and workshops I got to know other people and I realize how much I still have to see around. I believe this independent initiative to look for the new and be updated is important for our job. When I came to Europe, I didn't know anybody and I think that was my way to get more into this dance world. It is important to know what is around you and out of your current place of study/work and comfort zone.

 Even if social media technologies help building a professional network, I believe the most important method is the famous “word of mouth communication”. Through social medias you can promote yourself however you can’t show your full personality, interests etc. This can be just well achieved through an actual talk. I also think that through talking you get to know much more about auditions , classes ,workshops , dancers and choreographers.

I believe my ideal network would be one that shows my personality as well my job. I think this is an important fact: to show your dancing of course but also your personality , what you aim , how you work and what you believe. It is hard to show all those sides of a dancer , however I think through my contacts I would like to approach this. I also think that my ideal network would be one that I keep constantly updated and brings me a big and deep knowledge about companies.  Those thoughts can be connected with what I would like to develop on my current network. I am a very shy person and not really aware of those social media technologies. Since last year, when I recognized that I needed to change, I have been trying to be more social and less shy to talk to important people and show them my personality as well. I believe I lost some opportunities because of my lack of confidence. I realized that my shyness could be seen as arrogance. It is important to show your admiration for a guess teacher , or ask him/her if you have questions. It is important in a social events communicate to people. Like a mentioned before , you get better informed once you communicate and take part in the conversations. In social medias , for a long time I didn't have anything about dance in my Facebook. I didn't use to post any shows or pictures. How would people know about my work if I never show it ?  How would I promote myself ? I realized I needed to change. I still don’t have much, as I said before , my main point on using Facebook is more socially than professionally . Therefore I got to know better websites such as DancersPro , NetworkDance and recently , with this course , Flickr. I believe I still need to travel, visit other theaters and watch more performances. Each year that I am in Europe I realize how many languages there are in the dance world, projects, choreographers , competitions…and I think if there is something that I would like to improve is to have deeper knowledge of the dance world.

The last question from this task intrigued me. What do I not know? There are many things that I don’t know or don’t understand in the dance scene. Like I said before, dance world is very small, so many might know me and I don’t have any idea about it. One fact that makes me reflect a lot is about the importance of certain events, the consequences of your actions. It is hard to know if you are doing the right thing, if you are in the right place and time. How important is a Premiere night, a Premiere Party, a social event from the company, a certain class, a first impression that you make on a guest teacher or choreographer. It is a subject that maybe not just me, but many feel insecure. When should we take a risk, when should we be patient? Maybe there isn't a right and perfect path to achieve a successful career (even because success is a relative concept for different people) and those questions will always follow us.