Literature review #3

The person behind the mask: A guide to performing arts psychology by Linda H. Hamilton

The Blurb summarizes how Dr. Linda Hamilton takes her readers on a 'vivid journey into the performers private world'. This book gives a lot of insight into being a professional performer and the effects it can have on different performers in different situations. I feel like this is really relevant to my inquiry as to be a great head dancer I believe you need to understand the backgrounds of the people you are working with and there are various people within the company I work for who have dealt with the situations that Hamilton discusses. 

Contents: 

Introduction

Training considerations for performers

Weight standards for stage and screen

Personal relationships in the Arts

Focusing the spotlight on Performance

Occupational Injuries and Retirement

Performing Arts Psychology

An Overview of Narcissism

Resource Directory

References

Author Index

Subject Index

About the Author

The main section that I have focused on in this book is 'Personal relationships in the Arts', mainly because I have to look at the relationship that I have with my team and understand the situations where they have come from with other leaders in their work life. 

Hamilton discusses how performers home life can determine their reactions to authority. A study on the New York City Ballet company showed that eighty six percent of dancers idealized their director as a powerful father figure in their lives. Obviously this is based on a ballet company where dancers have performed for many years and I am working with a team for possibly just one season, however I do believe the information that Hamilton provides is useful to my development as a 'leader' in the entertainment sector.

I have had issues on my team with conflict, sometimes an attitude towards myself which then affects the performers learning or very often a conflict with another team member which affects how both members perform. Hamilton discusses 'Interventions' and talks about 'performers who exhibit conflicts with authority', this section is really relevant to my role as I would prefer not to have any conflict within my team, however when this is unavoidable it is essential to be equipped with the tools to deal with it. 

Getting it together!

Wow! I have had the busiest peak season! However I have managed to use some of the tools that I have read about in the leadership literature that I have acquired. A common theme I have found from the leadership books that I have read is that it is important as a 'good' leader to be able to empathise with your team and to also be able to differentiate between each person. I know now for example that each of my team members are motivated in different ways, some I can push harder than others and some are better at learning a routine and then having time away to practice on their own. It has been really interesting using the skills I have read about during my daily practice. 

My inquiry has got me thinking about the skills I have and the skills I need to work on, I know now that I take comments my team make very personally and their attitude towards myself can be quite hostile depending on how they are feeling that day and if they are having a good rehearsal or not. I spoke to the company choreographer about this situation and she told me that the person in charge will most likely be the one to recieve 'attitude' if a team member is having a bad day, therefore it is a good idea to quickly recognise when a someone is having an 'off' day and speak to them before rehearsals, however if you do not get the chance to speak to that person before you rehearse, it is then best to 'leave them to their own devices' and then speak with them after rehearsal. 

Whilst working on my inquiry I have been looking at the skills required to be a head dancer. My question to everyone out there is Do you have to be a great dancer to be a great head dancer? I have listed the skills required for both below:

Dancer skills:

Strong Core
Performance skills
Good elevation
Rhythm
Technique
Good at picking up choreography
Passion
Ability to interpret what the choreographer wants
Good memory 

Head Dancer Skills:

Clear communication skills
Rhythm
Ability to interpret what the choreographer wants 
Ability to motivate
Good memory Ability to criticize in a constructive way 

There are many skills required in both fields, however some skills overlap like rhythm and the ability to interpret what the choreographer wants, therefore although some may say you do not need to be a great dancer to be a great head dancer there are some skills required for both. 

This is something I am going to investigate further. Please let me know your thoughts! 

Literature review #2

Literature review #2

Career Transitions in Professional Dancers: Stanley E. Greben, M.D., F.R.C.P.C

An article where the author summarises his experience with 160 dancer-clients who are experiencing career transitions. It includes some psychological aspects of dance careers and of career transitions are considered.

This article includes

Introduction

Psychological Aspects of the Dance Career

Psychological Aspects of Career Transition

The Role of Psychotherapy in Dancer Transition

Clinical illustrations

Conclusion

The majority of head dancers in Parkdean have been trained in dance and so experience some of the challenges that Greben discusses. The change from being a performer/parkdean trouper, to then leading your team to performance success comes with challenges and accomplishments, however each individual with require different support when making that change.

The section on ‘Psychological aspects of dance career’, talks about how dancers in general become ‘accustomed to being instructed, directed, and corrected’. As a head dancer you have to team your team and therefore cannot rely on anyone else to guide your group through the different shows. ‘Conversely, they often do not feel autonomously competent, but depend too much on the leadership and opinion of others. My experience as a head dancer has revealed that although I do not rely on others to lead my team, I do get affected by others opinions and I also find myself second guessing choreography, if for example a member of my team has questioned a part of the show.

Greben discusses this theme of a lack of leadership further in his section on Psychological aspects of career transition. All the head dancers in parkdean have the support of their manager, choreographer of the company and the casting manager, however it is up to the head dancer to communicate with these authorities so they can feel supported. ‘When working with dancers in transition, they need to be shown that they are most likely multi-talented, and their intelligence is probably high, but that they have been under-developed. Many adult dancers fear, from the protected position of their life training and in companies that they will not be up to the outside world’s expectations and demands. Thus they require support, guidance, and training for more autonomous functioning. ‘I can really relate to this, the training I received at Dance College encouraged me to rely on the opinion of others and to be led by my teachers and dance captains.

Although this article focuses on the psychological issues that dancers face when transitioning into a new role I feel that a lot of the information provided relates to issues I have faced within my first season as a head dancer and therefore I feel it will benefit others in my situation. 

Literature Review #1

Literature review

Primal Leadership by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee

I was given the piece of literature by my Dad after discussing with him the nature of my inquiry. I explained that I wanted to explore the tools required to become a head dancer, manager and choreographer within a leisure entertainments facility. You can purchase the book on Amazon or similar sites.

Primal Leadership assesses the importance of emotionally intelligent leadership. Being a head dancer within Parkdean you are a team leader, you run the rehearsals and lead your team to be the best they can be in terms of their performance on stage. I feel the idea of being emotionally connected with your team is especially important within my job at Parkdean as we all live and work together and we are all working away from our families, which can make the job especially difficult. I also have to give constructive criticism to my team and inform them if they are performing well or are falling behind, again dealing with these sorts of issues it is important that as a team leader you are emotionally connected with your team.

Contents

Part 1 The Power of Emotional Intelligence

·         Primal Leadership

·         Resonant Leadership

·         The Neuroanatomy of Leadership

·         The Leadership Repertoire

·         The Dissonant Styles

Part 2 Making Leaders

·         Becoming a resonant leader

·         The Motivation to change

·         Metamorphosis

Part 3 Building emotionally intelligent organisations

·         The emotional reality of teams

·         Reality and the ideal vision

·         Creating substantial change

‘Throughout history and in cultures everywhere, the leader in any human group has been the one to whom others look for assurance and clarity when facing uncertainty or threat, or when there’s a job to be done. The leader acts as the groups emotional guide.’ This small section from primal leadership evokes a lot of ideas about how I should be acting towards my team. Already I feel like this information will help to develop my leadership skills. I hope to acquire skills from this literature and use them on my team to see if I notice a difference in their work ethic, performance and their reactions to constructive criticism.

Primal Leadership also discusses the difference between Resonant leadership and the discordant leader. ‘When leaders drive emotions positively (…), they bring out everyone’s best. We call this effect resonance. When they drive emotions negatively (…) leaders spawn dissonance, undermining the emotional foundations that let people shine.  A s a head dancer I want my team to shine, however it is very difficult always be positive when you work with a team of six people who you also live with and spend most of your time with. This book will give me some tools to help guide my team positively and hopefully help to achieve better scores from our guests who holiday with Parkdean.

In ‘The Neuroanatomy of Leadership’ section of the book there is a break down of ‘Emotional Intelligence Domains and Associated Competencies’, this information provides a practical guideline for building leadership skills.

I believe this piece of literature will help me develop skills in leadership within my role as a head dancer, I also believe it will coincide with the data I receive from my interviews. I will be asking my interviewees ‘What skills are required in the head dancer role?'.

Overwhelmed!

I have spent the last couple of days researching leadership, leadership in dance and also the requirements for a head dancer within a leisure entertainment facility. I have to say I am feeling slightly overwhelmed by the amount of work ahead of me, on top of this BAPP course its also the start of peak season. Peak season for parkdean means working a huge amount of hours with little time or energy to put into anything else. However with my inquiry looming its going to be important that I keep well rested and fuel my body with the right nutrition. Therefore I have also been looking at the best foods to keep your body fueled, my plan is to invest in lots of protein and energy filled foods like chicken, nuts, seeds, bananas and lots of fruit and vegetables. Last season I relied on energy drinks like red bull and monster, as much as these drinks gave me a short burst of energy they did not help sustain my body throughout the busy season. 

I am feeling very apprehensive so if anyone has any advice or wants to get talking (just for support) it would be hugely appreciated. 

Slowly summarising

So I have recieved the feedback from my inquiry plan and have began summarising my thoughts and ideas for my inquiry.

Inquiry Summary

From looking at my feedback that I received I have decided to change the title of my inquiry. My previous title ‘An investigation into career transition for women in dance: The challenges that come with change’ did not communicate the idea of dancers transitioning into leadership roles. Therefore I am changing my title to ‘Exploring the skills required to transition into a dance leadership role within the leisure entertainment sector’.  I am hoping this covers all angles of my inquiry.

I will be choosing two head dancers from parkdean who have experienced two seasons, two managers from parkdean who have also experienced a minimum of two years with the company and I will also be interviewing the casting manager and the choreographer of the company. I feel this will give me a strong basis for the skills required to take on a leadership role within a company like parkdean. I would like each candidate to have a minimum of two years experience within the job as I feel they will have more to offer than someone who has spent less time in the job.

Inquiry questions

What support did you receive in furthering your career as a professional performer?

What leadership skills do you have and how have you had to use these in your career?

Could you discuss your challenges and accomplishments that you have faced throughout your career?

If you were to employ a head dancer what skills would you look for specifically?

How would these skills differ, in your opinion to that of a entertainments manager?

What advice would you give a performer hoping to achieve head dancer/manager status?

Initially I was going to be looking at the retirement issues within the transitions in dance, however I feel that I would like to focus on the challenges and accomplishments faced in leadership roles.

The ethical issues I have addressed in my inquiry plan will be put into place when I begin my interviews. However I need to clarify my insider-researcher position with my tutor, which I will be doing this week. 

Head Dancer Role

I have to first apologise for leaving my blog empty for such a long time now! It has been a very busy couple of months. January 30th I began rehearsing five brand new 40minute shows choreographed for a five man show team. I have taken the role of head dancer so not only was I learning my own part but I was also learning another four parts. I have to say I didnt realise how much this job role would challenge me. Not only was I learning five different parts, cleaning shows, running rehearsals and dealing with four very different personalities but it was also part of my job role to ensure vocals were up to scratch, costumes and props were kept clean and in good condition and peoples hours weren't going over their contracts. 

My first week in the Venue was very stressful. After main rehearsals (which took place in Wales) I had to start putting the shows together, unfortunately not every one on my show team were strong dancers, my boys for example were stronger singers and struggled to remember choreography. I spent hours having one to ones with separate people ensuring they knew exactly what they were doing and were confident with each show. Once my team knew the choreography it was then time to start spacing everything on the stage, with set, props and microphones. I then had to go through costume changes and run dress rehearsals to ensure each person knew when their costume changes happened and if they could make them on time. 

My main issue has been with how I deliver a rehearsal, sometimes it can be so frustrating when you have spent hours with someone and they still cant remember the choreography especially when I find it so easy to pick routines up. I had to find a way to deal with this and not get too frustrated, I needed to realise that in time the routines would come and people would start to remember their own choreography. 

We are now 4weeks in and the shows are up and running so I have started to film each show and watch them back so I can start giving corrections. In my rehearsal yesterday  I filmed everyone and got them to watch the rehearsal back and take notes on themselves as I was finding that when I gave people corrections I would often get back chat. I have really had to grow a tougher skin as I am dealing with some very strong personalities all of whom are a few years older than me and have worked the job alot longer than I have. Regardless of how many years they have been working in the industry I had to remember that I was given this job for a reason and that I am more than capable of being in charge of what goes on that stage each night. 

Now that we have the main shows up and running I have been travelling to torquay to learn the new touring shows. Touring shows are made for two girls so I am only learning two parts and neither of the girls sing during the show, we are basically backing dancers so I dont have to learn any harmonies or lyrics. 

I hope this brings everyone up to scratch with what I have been doing for the past couple of months, it has been a challenging transition for me however I feel it will contribute massively towards my final inquiry.