Ah,ha - it clicks!
The penny finally drops !

No blog entries for a while but I have been really busy researching and getting my head around Web 2.0 and the functions that are available. I have been experimenting with fonts and layout and some of the other functions that are available. So I have changed the presentation and hopefully it reflects some of my individuality and personality. I have opened a “Flickr” account where I have saved a selection of professional pictures so you can now access and see me in some action and profile shots. Some are a little old and I’m conscious I need to get some updated photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mileyrose/show/

I have also been busy following other BAPP bloggers [“BAPPers”] and have made some comments on their blogs and hope they will follow my progress and feel free to comment and help me on my BAPP journey as I am somewhat of a novice. I have also added some links into this entry to the web and to “You tube”.

I left Alisia a comment about her plans to integrate African dance into schools. I think it is really great she is so committed to raising awareness of the African culture through dance in schools. I was introduced to African dance through a workshop at the National Youth Dance Finals in 2006 and I found it great fun, lively and enjoyable.

A lot of people don’t realise that the beat and core rhythms that form the basis of African – Caribbean dance also form the basis of dance forms such as the Charleston, Swing and Black Bottom as the slaves brought those rhythms with them from Africa to America.

I think it’s fascinating to learn to use the body in a different way from conventional dance and a wonderful way to learn about diverse cultures.

Wherever I am on holiday I always join in the dance lessons on the beach – I had great fun in Jamaica trying reggae – actually think I got the hang of the moves by the end of the fortnight. Being classically ballet trained it was a whole new concept of how to use my body. I suggested Alicia may want to add some links to African Dance websites to her blog.    

I now feel much better as I think I have formulated a “cunning plan” and got my head around what I am doing. I didn’t have a real plan before this weekend how I wanted to progress and learn and develop from the process but I’m even thinking of setting up my own website and I’ve begun to think of the pros and cons of networking sites for personal and professional reasons.

My phone was my lifeline to me living away from home from the age of 16 and of course I accessed the internet for research for college work. I have used “Facebook” as a social networking site to keep in touch with friends and it was used frequently to post details of changes to timetable, notifications of parties etc by fellow students at college.
However even though I used Facebook, I have never been a regular “obsessive” user and often I wouldn’t access the site for a week or two at a time preferring to keep in touch with my mum by phone or text messages which to me is far more personal and private.

Often after a 12 hour day at college, I’d get home tired and hungry and all I wanted was a hot shower and a hot meal and then sleep, I couldn’t be bothered with “Facebook” but for a lot of people I know it has become “addictive” and they constantly check for updates several times a day when they should really be doing something else and they become disconnected with reality and miss time that could be spent with actual people , which actually impedes their social life rather than enhances it. That is a personal concern of mine as I like to go out and meet people face to face and have physical interaction rather than live a virtual life but I think you can strike a happy medium if you use social networking sites with care and are aware of the possible dangers and don’t substitute a virtual life for a real life.      

I also used a personal “blog” to record and track my progress whilst doing my Solo Platform Performance in Year 3 at college but it was more like a diary/journal with my own personal performance journey from conception to performance with my thoughts and feelings, the highs, the lows [in fact all “the good, the bad and the ugly”] so I could use it as an evaluation tool to reflect at the end of the project. I found that really useful and quite therapeutic to discuss my very personal feelings along the way but it was not available for others to comment upon. My tutor thought it was a very imaginative and interesting way of tracking my Solo Platform Journey. I had actually got the idea after watching the film “Julie & Julia” with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams and thought it was a cool way to record information.

So I suppose this is going to be a similar process but I will be interacting and collaborating with fellow “BAPPers” along the way, hopefully sharing information and ideas and debating the pros and cons of using tools such as Web 2.0 to it’s best advantage to promote us in our professional lives as entertainers/artistes as well as documenting professional practice.

I’m sure Adesola will put me on the right track if not.

I think I got off on the wrong foot a little as I thought my blog was also my journal but I have learned from following other blogs that it is probably better to keep this separate and so I am keeping a journal separate to this.

I also commented on Alana’s blog, she seems to have got a head start on the first module and understands the pros and cons of Web 2.0. I thought it would be quite cool if she could network with me from her cruise.

I was interested in her comments about the use of “Facebook” and “You Tube” to showcase ourselves as dancers/singers. I too am a member of “Spotlight” and I think that is a great way for casting directors and agents to look at us – I have only just realised though through looking at this module that I could promote myself so much more and so much better – so I will definitely re visit my Spotlight Account and update it although I can also see some very obvious drawbacks too which I intend to discuss in a later blog.

I have a bit of a success story to tell about the use of “You Tube” that I hadn’t thought about till I was reminded reading Alana’s blog about her singing gig.  

I have danced with the Momentum Youth Dance Company from 2004 – 2010 and was selected to represent Yorkshire in The National Youth Dance Finals with a contemporary dance duet, “Grayscale”. The artistic director show reeled the dance on “You Tube” and Momentum’s Web Site and through that we were head hunted to perform the duet at the “Move It” Dance Event at London’s Olympia 2007 and at a small theatre in Paris. This is an example of the power of the internet and the advantages of using it as a promotion tool. I don’t think we realise just how many people do look at sites on the internet – I’m always amazed at how many people comment on things. Even Arlene Phillips commented on “Grayscale” – that is like awesome to think that someone like Arlene has watched some of our work !!

This is not without its downside as can be seen from the link if anyone should want to check it out that people do leave derogatory comments as well as good and anyone has access and can freely comment. It’s obvious from those comments they did not really understand the theme and creation of the dance or that we were not professional dancers at the time, just two 14 year olds and the dance was filmed during the early stages of rehearsal but for myself and my dance partner it did end up with a positive as we got to perform at Move It in front of thousands of people and it promoted Momentum Youth Dance who were granted further funding from the Arts Council for further development.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glJ5L6eeEJ8

  

Having looked at all the tools available I realise I can have my own original, cool and personal blog that says something about my personality and individuality and I am experimenting with making it say something about me – it’s early days yet but let me know what you think as it changes along the way what it says to you about me!

I will have to ensure that any web site or promotional things I create is under my professional name of “Miley Rose” and not my birth name of Emily Rose. It came as a shock that Emily Rose already existed when I tried to join the agency “Spotlight” having been a student member of Equity for 3 years using the name Emily Rose and that she was actually a very famous American actress (ER and Haven) but she was easy to track down via her web page.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Rose_(actress)

I was very interested in other “BAPPers” discussions about the pros and cons of using social networking sites for either personal or professional use  and I intend to fully debate the issue myself during this module but my first reaction to the debate is that whatever the pros and cons are, and whether as individuals we love or loathe it, it is indisputable that technology has changed the way we all communicate and influenced the way we run our lives and because of that we have to accept and learn to use it to our own best advantage within safe and secure parameters where possible.

The most obvious advantage for us as dancers, actors & singers is it gives us a communication tool to promote our work and to showcase some of our talents. I think I agree with Adesola’s advice to Melissa and that is to keep a personal site and a separate professional site. That way you can control what people can know and see about you as it should be different people who access each different one. Family and personal friends would access your personal site whilst hopefully casting directors, agents etc would access your professional site. Lets face it a casting director shouldn’t want to know your meeting your mates at Frankie and Benny’s on Saturday!!!   

I have been following Adesola’s blog entry of 10th October and I will comment tomorrow on that as I am going to try and work out how to load my CV as a pdf file for then too.

So on a light note to finish this entry – has any other “BAPPer” seen the advert on TV featuring  “Harvey” a multi-talented dog who uses TV to showcase his amazing talents to potential new owners, which include being able to play chess, make the bed, do the ironing and take the kids to school among other things. Harvey's own ad ends with the line ‘Every home needs a Harvey’ and is set to the sound Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s 1974 classic ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’.

Wow the power of showcasing eh?! He’s amazing but as we all know dogs can’t really do the ironing because if they could my mum would’ve got a “Harvey” years ago !

This as I have realised looking at the power of using web sites and networking sites such as “Facebook” and “You Tube” etc is the power of promoting ourselves using the technology tools at our fingertips…….. if you’ve not seen Harvey you can catch him on the attached link , you’ll be amazed……………………

http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/news/1027364/Thinkbox-creates-dog-ad-promote-TV