Artist Collaboration

"If two heads are better than one, then what about double chins? On that note, I will help myself to seconds." - Jarod Kintz

Collaborating is an essential part of what we do as performance artists and in any given performance there are multiple aspects that require some sort of artist collaboration. In a dance performance the choreography is a given, but then you have sound, costumes, lighting, and any other media such as image or video projection. All of these components require collaboration between the choreographer or director, and each of the personnel in charge of them. 

In my second year of full-time study I did a choreography course and one of the pieces I created required artist collaboration. I chose to collaborate with a fellow student who was studying Music Theatre. He composed one piece of music and arranged another pre-existing song, I then delegated the collaboration between him and a singer, and I had gorgeous live music for my piece. However it did take a lot of back and forth to get the job done, as with any collaboration, and it would not have been possible without the help of the Internet. As we both had pretty crazy study schedules, most of the samples I heard were on SoundCloud. SoundCloud is a super cool website where music artists can create an account and post their music so that it can be heard by anyone, and it's completely free! In terms of collaboration, the most useful tool that SoundCloud provides is one that enables you to make a comment on a specific section of the track. For me it meant I could be really specific about sections that perhaps didn't have the right feel and needed little adjustments, especially since we weren't always in the same room to discuss the sound. The concept of this site is really awesome, my brother who is a DJ and electronic composer gets a lot of his stuff out there on SoundCloud and he can get feedback not only from his target audience, but from other composers. But I digress. 

Photo from http://nyaaaa-n.tumblr.com

I think having the opportunity to collaborate with another artist is a really special thing and it adds a sense of greater involvement to your work. In most cases it also means that each separate entity of the finished product is completely harmonious. However, this is not always the case. Collaborating with other artists can prove to be difficult if each party has different ideas about how something should look or sound. Now this might be hard enough on a face-to-face basis, but in a virtual space things can be misunderstood and more often than not it can take more time to make adjustments. This was the biggest problem I had with my collaboration. I would make a comment on something and it would take my composer time to either receive the comment, make the change and then let me know when I could listen to it again, or for him to disagree with me and then it would take extra time to come to an agreement about what it should be. When we met up in person it was much easier and the conversation was much more open. But most of the time if both parties are open to suggestion and a little bit of give and take then it's easy to compromise. 

Sometimes artists collaborate without being in the same place and this is where Internet tools become vital to the process. If you are creating a work and your composer is in a completely different location, then sites like SoundCloud are a really great way to share music and ideas. If you have two musicians collaborating on the same piece of music then perhaps SoundCloud isn't for you, but since this was not the case with my collaboration it did a very nice job and provided the platform for sharing that was exactly what we needed in our busy and technologically driven lives. I highly recommend it for anyone who is trying to share their sound and receive feedback as well as collaborate with a musician or composer. 

Cafes, Encyclopaedias, and the Peanut Gallery.

“Can we go back to using Facebook for what it was originally for - looking up exes to see how fat they got?” 
― Bill Maher

There are a multitude of spaces on the internet that are used for a variety of purposes. We use various types of social media every day to communicate with each other, make sure our friends know what we had for breakfast, and sometimes to stalk our exes. Although these are all perfectly valid uses of this wonderful tool we call the Internet, there are far more constructive uses for it. As artists, we have access to so many different web spaces to further our careers and slowly step closer to being discovered and employed. 

Anyone who is trying to break into the arts industry knows that exposure is so important and in most cases, incredibly difficult. However, the internet can help us get our name out there and show our prospective employers what we have to offer from the comfort of our homes. Websites like LinkedIn and StarNow are incredibly handy when it comes to displaying your artistic profile to anyone who is interested, but they have their pros and cons. 

I use both LinkedIn and StarNow, and the process is pretty simple. You sign up, upload your resume with a little bit of information about yourself, upload some photos and video clips for arts specific sites such as StarNow, list your skills and attributes, and say a little bit about yourself. From here, employers can create job posts or audition calls which site members can search through and electronically apply for, or employers can search through members using key words such as 'dance' or 'singer'. Now it could be argued that we all like to try and make contact with our prospective employers by handing a resume to the manager in person, or at the very least going in and asking for available positions. The Internet obviously doesn't allow for this, however in most cases in the dance world this isn't an option anyway. Most auditions start with a headshot, a CV, and a showreel. And when you are applying for an audition for the new production of The Phantom Of The Opera with a theatre company in Germany, face-to-face isn't a viable option anyway. So it's nice to have this platform provided either free of charge for a basic membership: only allowing a few photos or video clips, or for a low fee for a premium membership: more media allowed on your profile, enabling you to show more of what you're made of! 

This sort of web space could be compared to a cafe in a library. Employers and site members can peruse the wide variety of profiles over a cup of coffee, and once they find something interesting, the conversation starts. One of the major downsides of these sites is that it's not always entirely clear how legitimate some of the contacts are. For example, if someone contacts you and you can't view their complete profile it doesn't really scream, "I'm going to pay you properly and my photography business is completely legitimate." However if you can sort through that and try to do a bit of extra research about the companies or people who you are in contact with, these cafe libraries are an excellent way to network, apply for auditions, and gain invaluable exposure on an international scale that might otherwise be impossible. 

A couple of high resolution and professional quality photos on your profile can make a huge difference.

More Internet Tools!

"If television's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who won't shut up." - Dorothy Gambrell Cat and Girl, Volume I

The above quote has to do with...something...but it's not this post. I just thought it was fun. Today I will actually be discussing more of what I talked about in my first post, exploring Internet tools that we as artists can use to add value to our art. 

In my last post I covered what I consider to be the most important part of the arts value chain, being of course Marketing. So this time I'd like to mention what I believe to be the second most important part of the chain: creation. For me personally this is the hardest part of the process. This is not to say I don't enjoy creating and exploring ideas, and I have created works from scratch for assessment in a Choreography unit, but here I refer to the creative portion of being a company dancer. As I may have mentioned before, part of being a contemporary dancer in today's industry requires a lot of creative input (yes, requires. This input is not optional). This year I have discovered and continue to discover that I am not a big fan of the 'having your say' side of being a contemporary dancer. I'm sure lots of people would say that they would love to have more say in what they do and that I take this opportunity for granted, however I find tasking very difficult and I always feel like my material is not good enough, a feeling I'm sure we all get sometimes. So how do I find inspiration so I can fulfil my role as a dancer in a choreographic process? This, my friends, is where the internet once again swoops in to save the day. There are plenty of websites and resources on the Internet that I use for inspiration when I get really stuck, or even to help me get started on a certain task. 

Something I find useful for inspiration in many facets of life is a lovely website called Pinterest. Upon first visit to their website, the tag-line actually reads "Join Pinterest to find (and save!) all the things that inspire you." It speaks for itself really. The website began it's development in December of 2009 and launched in March 2012. I could go on about its history but I'd rather not so if it interests you, feel free to follow have a look at the Wikipedia page on Pinterest. It is a type of social media that allows solely for the sharing of pictures and videos and relies entirely on its users to generate content. The basic mechanics are as follows: You have your profile, on which lie your boards, each of which are comprised of a collection of images that relate to the title of the board. These images are referred to as pins. Finding pins is as easy as typing key words into a search bar and if you find that what you're looking for is not preexisting on the site, you can Pin from other websites as well as upload pictures or videos from your computer, phone, or tablet. 

These boards can be on any topic imaginable; I have boards for travel, food, fitness, designing my dream home, planning my wedding etc. (Yes, that is incredibly sad given that I am a 20 year old girl who has been with her boyfriend for less than 2 months. Furthermore, this board started well before him while I was single. It's ok, I've come to terms with it). More importantly though, I can use Pinterest for artistic inspiration. Every time we have a task that requires research or inspiration, Pinterest is the first place I go, followed by Google images on the rare occasion Pinterest doesn't deliver. Sometimes all I need is an image or a quote to spark inspiration in myself and this wonderful website provides exactly that. By sparking creativity in myself, I can give something worthwhile to the creative process of the choreographer, instead of showing something that is uninspired or below my capabilities. 

I've always thought that my job as a dancer is to inspire the choreographer. It makes their difficult jobs much easier if they have a cast of dancers who spark their creativity and offer ideas that enable inspiration or spark thoughts that might lead to more exciting things. And so by enabling my own inspiration I can present myself as a dancer that is both inspirational and creative, adding value to the process and to the arts as a whole. 

Internet Tools for Marketing

"Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing but nobody else does." - Steuart Henderson Britt, Marketing Management and Administrative Action

In my last post, I briefly mentioned various tools that we use to add to the arts value chain. Over the next few posts I will be looking at a couple of those tools in greater detail. The Internet is so handy for so many things!  A point I briefly brushed over in my first post was that marketing is arguably the hardest and most valuable part of the arts value chain. This week, I want to take a closer look at using social media as a tool for marketing. 

My personal favourite social media tool is Facebook. I'm big on the multiplicity of it, you can use it to tell people what you're up to or where you are, share pictures, blogs and videos, integrate it with Youtube, Instagram, Twitter (not that I have a Twitter account. Call it ignorance if you'd like but it really serves no purpose for me personally right now), virtually any sort of media sharing or social media platform that tickles your fancy. As an artist, I find it incredibly helpful when trying to spread the word about shows I'm in or trying to fundraise for. This year I have been studying a Bachelor of Performing Arts in Dance with LINK Dance Company, the honours program at WAAPA, so I will use that as an example of how Facebook can be used. Facebook has been an extremely helpful tool on the marketing side of things. LINK has it's own Facebook page which we use to share information about who we are, upcoming shows, the annual European tour, and any fundraisers we have. Not only can we post these things on the LINK page, but each of the company members along with our likers can share them on their personal Facebook profiles. We achieve a lot of promotion this way and Facebook made promoting our Pozible fund for Europe much easier and quicker than word of mouth or printing flyers. Sharing these things not only allows us to spread the word, but also gives our viewers a behind the scenes look at what goes on in a dance studio, creating interest in us as a company and the industry as a whole.


The company members use a private Facebook group to share information with each other and have conversations about organising upcoming events. This is incredibly useful because when we are all together in a room we are either working with the choreographer or taking class, which really leaves no room for talking about fundraisers. The group means we can bring up important topics like fundraisers or even remind each other of things like, "Don't forget we have ballet today" or, "Remember to bring an object for that task." 

LINK also has an Instagram hashtag. Any photos that have anything to do with the company and its activities are posted to Instagram with this hashtag, these photos can then be shared with our Facebook audience with the touch of a button! 

Our presence on the Internet helps us a great deal when it comes to Marketing, and by the way if you happen to be in Perth between the 16th and 18th of October, pop down to the West Australian Ballet Centre to see LINK's new show Surge with new choreographies by Liesel Zink, Matt Cornell, and Artistic Director, Michael Whaites. 

See what I did there? 

The Arts Value Chain

Photo from Walking Around Blog

"Art communicates beauty and emotion. Sometimes the message is clear and understood, sometimes new messages are transmitted. Art provides an expressive release for the artist and a sensory delicacy for the consumer. As long as it provokes the senses or either artist or observer, it will never go out of style."

The above quote is a comment that was made by a man named Robert Gallwa  in a TED discussion thread. It demonstrates what art contributes to today's society. At its roots, it is a form of expression for both artist and observer. I have been dancing for most of my life now, and I have always found respite in the ethereal folds of movement. What I have learnt is that dance is a platform on which artists replace their voices with their bodies in such a way that still allows them to be loud and be heard. For me, dance has always added immense beauty and a sense of freedom to a society that is otherwise rigid and unchanging. But what do we, as dancers, add to the art form? How can we contribute to the process and do our part to add value to this incredible expression? The Internet is becoming a more and more essential part of the arts value chain in a time when people are constantly glued to their phones, tablets, or computers. As participants in this process, we can tap into the Internet and use it to help us add value to dance. 

There are four basic elements in the arts value chain of dance. These are creation, rehearsal, production, and finally performance. The Internet can be used to enhance each of these stages, and here's how.

Creation

Now there is no one way to create a piece. One thing I have experienced coming from a ballet world and moving into a contemporary one, is that the creative process for the latter requires a lot more contribution from the dancers. This often involves researching the subject matter or thematic concern of the piece, and this is where the Internet comes in. Nowadays, we have access to all sorts of information on just about any subject; a simple Google search places a plethora of information at the user's fingertips. 

Rehearsal

Photo from the Sydney Dance Company Instagram page

Most rehearsal is taken out in a studio with the entire group of dancers present. In this case, a useful tool for both dancers, choreographers, and any stage, design, or production crew involved is taking film and sharing it privately among the group online. This allows all personnel access to the movement so that time outside allotted studio hours can be utilised for necessary work to be carried out. There are a multitude of websites that enable this including collaborative websites such as Wrike: a site that allows efficient collaboration for a small fee. Wrike also allows for synchronisation with applications like Gmail, Google Plus, and your Google, Outlook, or iCalendars. A free alternative to this is Dropbox, another website that enables simple and user-friendly media and document sharing. The plus-side of Dropbox is that it is completely free of charge for the first 2GB! The downside is that if you want extra storage, you have to pay a monthly fee. You can't get a lot of anything for nothing these days! But if productivity is a concern, the small fees on these sites are worth it.

In cases where not everyone is in the studio together, video conferencing/calling is an incredibly handy tool. Applications such as Facetime for Macintosh users or Skype are fantastic for this purpose. The downside with these applications is that the quality of the video can be unreliable. I myself have used Skype for learning choreography and it became very difficult when we couldn't quite see what it was we were learning due to the poor quality of the video. There is a website called Blue Jeans that enables high quality video conferencing as well as the ability to record the conference and a plethora of other collaborative tools. This too costs a bit, but for the quality and collaboration it's worth it.

Marketing (Production)

Marketing is arguably the most important and most difficult part of production. Without an audience, the show becomes somewhat of a moot point. This is where social media comes in. Yes we can put up posters and hand out flyers 'till the cows come home. But realistically, social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are the most useful tools when it comes to spreading the word about your performance. It's as easy as sharing a picture of the show poster, or sharing a 'sneak preview' photo with a blurb about when and where the performance will be. You'd be surprised how far sharing a photo on Facebook and Instagram will get you.

Performance

There is much conversation at the moment of making arts more accessible to the public; how do we get more people watching dance? Video streaming can be a useful tool when trying to share your art. If you are just starting out and the main goal is to reach as many people as possible to get your name out, it might be worth providing a live stream or video of the performance to guests who cannot attend a performance. If you are more established and need some return in the form of box-office, you could consider charging a fee that is slightly less than the cost of a ticket for log-in information where patrons can watch the performance from the comfort of their own homes. Websites like Veetle allow for live streaming as well as instant recording to a private cloud space. Single use log-in information for access to this private cloud could be provided for a small cost. "Oh, but Maddie, aren't you worried about losing theatre patrons to the ease of the Internet?" The answer is no, primarily because the theatre experience is unique and watching a performance anywhere but live is just not the same. This option would be for people who cannot attend for whatever reason, a position I myself have been in many times and would have enjoyed this option. 


As we can see, there a multitude of ways the Internet can add to and enhance the existing chain that is involved with arts value. Many of these solutions require no more than organisational skills, a little bit of know-how, and in some cases a little bit of extra money. But the solutions they provide are worth gaining those skills and resources.