Trust the process!

 As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I have been telling myself to “trust the process” multiple times in the past week (and I think I will a few more times to come!) I have to remind myself that this course isn’t just, ‘write and essay on things you know”, it is a learning process and therefore completely natural not to understand everything straight away. 

The thought that has been swimming round in my head constantly though is “what even is my practice?”. This first module, from what I’ve gathered, is all about establishing what your practice is, however the battle I’ve been having with myself is, ‘is this something which I’ll discover in the conclusion to this module, after researching within myself?’ Or, ‘is this something that should be really clear and obvious to me now?’

I know my discipline is dance and I have worked as a dancer on cruise ships the past 4 years. However, during our induction Skype call we were told that our professional practice isn’t defined by jobs (particularly in this current climate with the Coronavirus Pandemic) but how we see the world through our art form and what it feels like to us. The handbook says we are to ‘look at your Professional Practice in terms of what you have learnt from doing your practice’ (Page 9).

I created a mind map to jot down different themes I’ve learnt during my time on cruise ships (I can see myself doing a few of these overtime, as I find them beneficial to physically visualise my thoughts). As I did so, I realised more ideas were springing to mind than I initially anticipated and I’m hoping to add to it and discuss them further later on.

I’ve always considered myself someone who actively tries to learn from those around them; these relationships between cast members and how we influence each other has always interested me, particularly because cruise ships are such heightened, emotional environments. 

So is this what my practice is? Looking into these relationships between dancers; how we influence each other/ network/ what motivates us? This week I’m concentrating on continuing to work through the handbook, researching Web 2.0 and reading some of the suggested texts. After discussing it in our most recent Skype session, I may look into intrapersonal/ interpersonal experiences as it’s something that interests me and sparked a few topics to discuss.

I know on this course there is no right or wrong answer; I’m just cautious whether or not I’m even heading down the right track and the energy I’m putting in is beneficial. However I have already found my thought processes changing and thinking more critically, even in general conversations with my friends- so that’s something! Hopefully, if I continue to ‘trust the process’ with the work I’ve set out this week, I’ll be back on the straight and narrow soon!