Describing you and your practise

Wednesday 16th September 

Describing you and your practise 

I thought I would start my journey by finding out some definitions…

What is a practitioner ?

noun

a person engaged in the practice of a profession, occupation, etc.

eg. a medical practitioner.

a person who practices something specified.

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/practitioner

-someone who works in a job that involves long training and high levels of skill:

‘He has years of experience as a senior practitioner in the financial service industry.'

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/practitioner

What is a practise ?

-verb (used with or without object), prac·tised, prac·tis·ing.

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/practise?s=t

-To do or play something regularly or repeatedly in order to become skilled at it:

'I'm quite good at tennis but I need to practise my serve.'

'She practises the violin everyday'

-'His written French is very good but he needs to practise speaking it.'

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/practise

So how am I a practitioner and what and how do I practise?

I decided to start and create a word diagram of my initial ideas and thoughts, about what springs to mind when I think about my practise.

When I think about what my practise is, I immediately think of being a Dancer / Musical Theatre Performer. That's how I identify myself….

As I kept adding to my word diagram, I kept finding that the points were all interlinking and many trends started to form. I have also thought deeper into how my practise is a huge part of my identity and has helped form me into the person that I am today. It has had a huge impact on my life. 

My practise was a hobby and a passion and now Its my career. I also met my fiancé on a performing job. He is a dancer and we work together on cruises; therefore my practise is even heavily involved in my relationship.

 

I remember finding it hard at first when I decided to try and turn my hobby into a career and how emotional I became. I realised that passion wasn’t always enough and that casting came down to height, hair colour, will you fit the costume?,  who you know; even if you have the talent and skills for the job. This is something that I am sure all fellow performers resonate with.

When looking through my two CVs, (performance CV and overall CV) I realised that every job related to my practise and my training, has given me transferable skills to contribute to my everyday CV when applying for other industries. This has been very evident during the current covid-19 pandemic, as I have had to find myself a non performance job.

In my job interview for a cleaning / waitressing position at a local pub, the manager said he was confused as to why I was applying for the position, as my latest job had been Dance Captain on a cruise line. I assured him I was hardworking, had great customer service skills (mainly through experience working on a cruise ship and from good old acting lessons) and that I am reliable. All these skills I learnt from a young age through the discipline of dancing / performing.

I respect anyone who works in the arts! I believe we all have such resilience and drive and are extremely passionate people. I think thats why we are so adaptable and employable across many fields, because we are used to fitting in and trying to tick the right boxes.

For me my practise is my income, my identity, my passion and a skill I wish expand on and a to pass on to other people!