Self-Employment

My time off work over the last six weeks has led me to reflect upon my first module.

I found it difficult to express what my practice was, without my job being the main focus. I learnt to not define myself by my current job. For example, one might would introduce themselves as: "Hi I'm John, I work in marketing". Instantly, John has made his first impression to someone with his job title. Likewise, I would say "Hi I'm Serina, I'm a dancer". Now is this the right way to go about this? 

Eventually, after much reflection and critical thinking over theories and literature, I felt proud of how I wrote of my practice. Of who I was, and what I considered my practice to be. This is still an ongoing journey, where one may question oneself, have doubts or a change in career.

Since graduation from ballet school, I joined my company, Vienna Festival Ballet (VFB). This is a UK touring company,  that performs for two seasons a year. One winter tour and one spring tour. This means that for an average of four months a year, I am not dancing with my company. As most dancers are nowadays, I am self-employed. A year into my contract, I decided to apply for this degree course which has been a great addition to my life as a dancer. Whilst on tour, I took the initiative to apply for extra work on various websites. Extra work meaning being 'an extra' in films and TV. After weeks of getting NO's, I finally got a contract working on two scenes for The Crown BBC! I had a fitting in their studios, and two shoot days in various locations in London (which I am actually not allowed to share). I was sitting in my costume and makeup surrounded by people from all sorts of backgrounds. Freelancers, the retired and aspiring actors. I was partially excited, tired from the early start but mostly wondering what I was doing there. It made me think back to module 1, that I am not just a ballet dancer working for VFB. I am a creative artist, with many outlets and avenues to explore. If I was not open-minded enough, I would have never had applied for extra work.

I also organised a training session with a catering company and got the job. After an open class at Danceworks or Pineapple, I have been rushing off in a suit to places in London to glamourise up rooms, lift chairs and tables, serve wine, food to celebrities and organise cloakrooms. After one shift at St James' Palace, I wrote down some thoughts came to mind on my way home. Those were: tacit knowledge, teamwork, efficiency, organisation, lack of recycling.

I feel happy to be apart of a community that is not revolved around dance, and is a breath of fresh air to meet others that are not in the same industry as myself. As I was new to the job, I had to learn on-the-job. Subconsciously, I was using the tool of tacit knowledge from module 1 in my shifts. So much teamwork, efficiency and organisation had to take place to make the evening successful for the guests. These aspects relate to my work with VFB, and are vital for the performances to go well, and for the audience to enjoy themselves. As a conscientious environmentalist, I was aware that recycling is far from a priority in big organisations. This goes for extra work and catering, restaurants and hospitality. Everything goes in one bin bag, and heaven knows where they go to. I do not have the answer or solution to this problem, and in no superior position to walk up to directors and demand them to recycle... but it is an infuriating issue for sure.

I hope you have enjoyed this small insight into my life, and what I have been up to. In fact, I am back to rehearsals and then my fourth tour with VFB in two days. Wish me luck!