Inquiry

In my childhood I discovered that I had a love for dance and wanted to pursue it as a career. I decided to attend a secondary school that offered Dance as a GCSE subject and Performing Arts. I found that I was exceling in dance based subjects, but being pigeonholed in the genre by the institute where I studied. This for me was a challenge because I also loved to sing and act as well. I learnt that musical theatre would allow me to combine my love of dance with song and drama.

After a few years working in the industry I have built up a resume which consisted mostly of dance based jobs. I think my agent found it easier to market me in this genre as well. This is slightly frustrating as when auditioning for roles I have been told on more than one occasion that my resume reflected a lot of dance, bearing in mind it may be a vocal role that I am being considered for. I should probably not interpret this as a negative statement; as the person could possible mean that I am multifaceted. Due to events like this I am constantly trying to evolve and make steps to change how I would like the world to view me. I have added a formal email address that does not consists of any words pertaining dance. A theme I have noticed that seems to emerge is that I don’t like to be type casted, I like to define myself.
From my experiences, as a motivational tool when teaching performing arts I constantly make students aware that in life the more skills they procure, the more they increase their potential for choice when seeking employment.

I am really interested in the ability of how people reinvent themselves to compete in the current economic climate. One of the people that I have always admired is Oprah Winfrey, an “American television host, actress, producer, and philanthropist” (Wikipedia). Oprah Winfrey is historically the first woman to own and produce her own talk show. She has used her influence to help others and used her skill of presenting as a stepping stone to enhance the rest of her career. She has channelled her challenges into interpersonal skills enabling her to connect and empathise with her guests and the public. I have researched how she uses her skills to create opportunity; I hope to also create many opportunities for myself to advance my professional practice. I have watched Oprah Winfrey present her day time television talk show and interview guests for many years. She also co-stared in the film The Color Purple as Sofia directed by Steven Spielberg and later became a producer when the film was adapted into a Broadway musical. I was fortunate enough to see the end product of the show on Broadway where she codirected the original cast and on US tour in Boston.




I also admire Sir Alan Sugar’s entrepreneurialism. He like myself was born and grew up in Hackney east London. I regularly watch a show that he stars in called “The Apprentice” where he demonstrates his ability to reflect from Concrete Experience and pinpoint contestant’s strengths and weaknesses. He also discusses how he would act in a high pressurised business situation.

My ideal job is an arts managerial post on a creative team as my experiences have given me an insight into various arts posts, allowing me to have a deeper understanding of what it takes to achieve tasks. I would like to work in settings such as festivals, arts organisations, projects and events. I hope reading how these people achieved their goals will bring me closer to a better understanding of how to achieving mine.  I have a reading list with authors who address the subject of management and arts management, some with modern progressive views and some with a more traditional outlook. These will hopefully aid me to craft my style.

I will be making inquiries into:

·         How to be a good leader?

·         How to work with a team?

·         How to manage a team?

·         How to bring the best out of other individuals?

·         How to achieve productivity?

·         What are my personal management strengths and weaknesses?