Monday 12 December 2011

What IS your profession?



Something that really interested me in the lecture we had was simply the question of ‘What is your profession’ or what it means.  We got into pairs and asked each other these questions – something which in theory should have been very easy.  Here are a few basic things we shared with each other.
Myself
Actress Dancer Singer
Various part-time jobs – Teaching/ receptionist /Retail
Graduated from Millennium Performing Arts
Want to gain academic knowledge/credibility from this course

Nicole
Trained at London Studio Centre
Works at a bar/ Training to be a dance teacher and learning to teach syllabus
Trained at Arts Ed performing Arts school from the age of 11 which she found was too young.

Verity
Trained at Italia Conti from the age of 13, moved from Birminghm to  London
Teaches Dance at Stage Coach school
Went to college predominately as a dancer/changed to Musical Theatre
Studying – something to fall back on.

It was humbling to find that we all came from similar backgrounds and though we are completely different individuals our paths/choices all seemed to correlate in some way.  We spoke about how we all work ‘in between’ jobs to sustain ourselves and how we felt we are often acting/committing to  different roles each day eg one day I’m a receptionist, one day I’m a waitress, then a Bar Maid etc (something a lot of people in ‘normal jobs’ would not find easy to do) and we somehow learn how to multi role so well!  I believe our drive and determination to do what we love is what allows us to do this.
 

What do YOU do?
Through further analysis another issue we touched on was being able to explain what we do as a profession  to our best ability.
We spoke about how often when people ask us what we do we shy away from the question maybe due to feeling we may be judged, feeling our job is insignificant compared to what they do..or simply not being able to fine tune what it is that we do into a clear and concise manner.

How we over came this
We spoke in a group about our aspirations as Actress , Dancer, Playwright etc
We listed our jobs that we do to sustain ourselves.. Receptionist, teacher, retail worker
We spoke of general life  goals and achievements we have in mind.

I found the key is being able to speak about the skills you have positively.
If  you speak confidently (without arrogance) positively and charismatically about what you do these feelings will radiate through to the people you are talking to who in turn will be able to appreciate the sense of pride and certainty that you have for your chosen profession.
When networking it is very important to be able to be able to talk about yourself and leave the other person feeling good after speaking with you. The Performing  Arts  circle is a small one so Its important to make a good impression at all times!!  The profession is also hard due to lack of jobs, government arts cuts etc (we all know how painful this is!!)But when we are networking don’t want any of this resonating and bringing us down and making us sound dreary and dry!
When asked  What do you do ?I can now reply:
I’m a Performing Artist, I graduated from Millenium Performing Arts 2yrs ago. Since then I’ve been involved in various Commercial Dance work , I’ve also filmed various adverts and most recently I  was in a Play for 3 months in central London. I aspire to be An extremely successful Actress so I am auditioning whilst I work part time for Virgin Active where in administration and also I teach Zumba classes. I have a passion for teaching which I also get to exercise at ‘ The Funky Chick Academy’ where I teach Acting Singing and Street dance to kids AGE 3 – 16.  I am currently studying for a degree in performance practise at Mdx University. This is aiding my growth as an all round forward thinking artist.  Achieving a The BA honours degree is important to me in terms of creating future opportunities that may be open to me when becoming a graduate. I’m hoping for a big break soon but whilst I search and wait I have plenty of things to keep me focused through which are challenging me everyday
So obviously I would make this conversational and not just one big rehearsed paragraph!!! But the point I’m trying to make is that I would once hesitate when asked this question thinking I didn’t have anything creditable to say..it turns out I have lots!!! J