blogging, premiers und andere "verzettelungen"

It´s been 11 days since my last blog-entry and I think this one is overdue.
We had our premiere of "Magisches Kaleidoskop" this saturday....finally- after a never ending week of stage rehearsals and endless tiredness...all the costumes were ready (last minute) and save the minor glitch where part of the scenery got caught in one of the soap- boxes for the bubbles in "6 Tänze" thus flipping it by 180° and emptying the whole thing over the dance floor (big mess) in one of the intervals, everything went smooth. Even the revolving stage did not behave like a diva for a change and actually did, as the technical crew told it to ((O; (big smile)
Here´s a link to the web-site of the house....and of our program:

http://www.staatstheater-wiesbaden.de/?page=programm_detail&submenu=w3&eventClusterId=722536&language=de_DE

Other than all the buzz at work going on I´ve been spending a lot of time thinking and reflecting. As far as my blogging is concerned I feel I always just write, what pops in to my head...and not in a very academic manner...I guess that blogging is meant to be quite casual anyhow, but I have started to take notes on what I want to babbel on about, so at least I have a little sense and structure in what I communicate.
I´ve also been reflecting a lot on my sense of being a dancer, working in a theatre, being on stage, etc.
I was involved in a serious car- crash just over a year ago, which by some miracle I survived. However I sustained some injuries, that are sometimes making dancing literally quite a pain in the neck. I suppose all dancers hit a point in which they are in pain and in which they realize, that they cannot go on existing as a dancer for ever either. We all know, that one day we need to move from our more active careers to something less demanding on our bodies.
Many thoughts going on in my head about this right now. As they will mushroom into something a little more concrete I will keep on sharing them.

I´m also reflecting on my BAPP planning. I still sit down at the end of the week...take a look at what I was able to produce and then make a plan for the following week...printing an iCal document that sits on my desk, reminding me on what I need to do.
That works quite well for me so far...I only feel I need to spend more time catching up and commenting on other people´s blogs, as I literally have no time of that. I´m thinking to somehow get some internet device going at work (like an iPad, netbook like thing), so that I am able to use a free hour between rehearsals for such tasks. Another thought has been to set aside two days of the week to do this (going in my iCal right now). Of course the whole romantic thought of sitting under the tree in the sunshine in front of the opera-huose, with a coffee at my right, doing some course work, seems very appealing....especially as winter will be knocking on our doors soon ((O;

I have been looking into a wonderful book "The Study Skills Handbook" by Stella Cottrell. It is a wonderful, light- hearted book written in a way that makes it easy to dip into a chapter that you need at a time. (at least the German version is so ((O;)
It´s a book written for "normal" students of course, but also work-based learners like us can get their fix from it too, especially as planning, time management, reading and other study skills are concerned.

It also gave me this wonderful idea, that one should keep index cards on what you have read or whichever book you dip in to, in order to be able to make quicker references, when it comes to writing a text.
I got this wonderful piece of advice from a student of sociology called "Zettelkasten" based on the ideas and experiences of the renown German sociologist Niklas Luhmann.
It basically is a program which will save your reading, thoughts and ideas. I´m still getting to know it, so for now I will only post the link and report on how it supports my studying.

http://zettelkasten.danielluedecke.de/en/index.php

And here the wikipedia on Niklas Luhmann....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niklas_Luhmann

Another thing I would like to share with you today is a reflection I have had on the whole process of learning.
I like to be a person, who goes into the cellar to study and practice my steps without anyone watching and  then finally, when I feel ready I will go on stage, or better said let people into my "finished" product.
I have come to realize that in life nothing is ever finished...nothing is ever permanent....and even if you hand in a final piece of work to lets say pass a semester or so, or have a really good performance that you will remember for ever....you will always live beyond that and draw and improve from that experience.
I am also starting to realize that letting people in to the development of my thoughts and ideas not only provokes an exchange of ideas and allows for improvement of the unfinished.
So therefore I have shared this blog with many of my friends and family...I am not going home to poor over books and texts every night, but I rather spend time cooking and exchanging many words with people after work...and I am really, really happy for any form of feedback I receive!!
As an example...The last part of this entry came about from a discussion I had with my mom the other night. She is here to watch the premiere (ever so the premiere-junky and the most supportive mom I could ever have dreamt of) and as we were catching up on our lives I was anxious to tell her all about BAPP and the preparations for the premiere and so on.
So spending time exchanging ideas with friends and family (people, who know you best) is actually also a very productive thing to do!!

I also felt last week, like I was being chocked by the amount of time we had to spend at work. I realize the importance of producing an almost perfect premiere (nothing is permanent, remember??) and that rehearsing everything to perfection is vital, but art also needs to breathe and it needs space to develop into the magical thing it is. Spending time on other things to refresh and recharge the batteries is vital in any form of production and at the end of the week I personally felt, like I was actually just auto-piloting the steps I had rehearsed to death and I was almost completely missing the freshness and buzz of the new and unknown.

I´m feeling a little afraid, that reflecting on my current existence is making me extremely critical towards what I´m doing...on the other hand all I say is "bring it on"!!...and make the most out of it!!

Cheers!!

Tamagochi got stuck in web 2.0...some more thoughts on task 1b

Hey there,
it´s been 10 days since I last posted..I´ve been busy up to both ears preparing for our premiere on the 29.10...lots of stage rehearsals...and also lots of other things to do...however I was waiting in hospital so long the other day, that I got all the reading done, that I had set out to do for this week...just not much time for the internet..plus I find myself getting stuck on facebook a lot longer, than I wish for...hmpf...

Today I managed to update my flickr account....I´ve added two more pictures, fixed all the tags and added, who took the picture. As I am on almost all the pictures I need to use photos by others, but being a photographer myself I also value, when my photos are credited, so that´s what I want to do for fellow photographers too.

I´ve also had some more thoughts on task 1b...I penciled about half a page in my BAPP note book that goes everywhere with me now...basically thoughts, especially on recent developments on security issues concerning the internet here in Germany, about the "occupy" demonstrations, that are not only organised on the web, but also are turning into an "online" demonstration.
I also had this genius thought (ok...I just need to tap myself on the shoulder once in a while) that the web 2.0 is actually very much like these little electronic animals that were all the rage in the 1990s...Tamagochis....you needed to feed them and play with them and then they would get all pretty and fat...or healthy...depending on how much time you were spending with them....I feel that web 2.0 applications are the same...the more time you spend with them, the better you know, how to use them and the "healthier" your relationship is towards them. The more you feed them, the happier (better/informative) they are. If you say went on vacation or needed a time out to let´s say...go to school or smth ridiculous like that....you could- in the high times of the phase, have someone Tamagochi-sit your electronic pet for you and therefore give it some other input. Now we don´t have 24 hours of the day to take care of all the web 2.0 sites, but there is always someone out there looking out for the most interesting, informative and busiest pages, so they also grow happy and healthy, while were not looking.

Ok...so I´ve been having all these thoughts (productive or not) and have been adding the good ol´ ink to my beloved paper (I´m very passionate about life 1.0..the one before the digital revolution)...and I realised, that I´m not really getting anywhere fast, because I think I have to deliver some finished product (a bit like in school-times, where the written word was the one you got the mark on)...but then life is never a finished project and studying and learning certainly will never be, so I should just get on with it.

So...I´m not too worried about this...I need to get used to sharing my work-process more with people...and I´ll be really happy for feed-back and of course to keep on updating on myself...
Cheers for reading this far...
All the best!

fione's photostream

fionebapp's photostream on Flickr.

photos Task 1d

I´ve added some more photos to my Flickr account. Take a look!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rettenberger/
Cheers!

I´m still not so sure, what I want to do about Task 1c....I know I should not fret about it, but I really don´t want to film myself philosophizing about some ideas...maybe I can use my photographic skills to produce smth more exciting and appealing??

Task 1d- images of my work

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rettenberger/

Here it is...the link to my brand new flickr account.
Will update it more and more, as I go along...

planning module 1 !!

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B2ZRq69I3UkAODczY2VmNWMtNDM0My00NGRhLWFmYTMtYTE1NzNiODI3MzFm&hl=en_US
....and this is my 4 month plan for module 1...
This is actually I really good task!! I´m thinking of my future...maybe as a student, as a company manager....planning and thinking a little ahead to not get behind are invaluable skills we tend to forget about!! Fantastic!!

my schedule for the coming week

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B2ZRq69I3UkAMzM3MGExNzQtZDMyMi00YjRlLTliMmItYWU5NmNlNzU1Njdm&hl=en_US

In my induction Skype call I had promised to Paula I would upload my iCal calendars.
Now I´ve figured out, how to do this, so let´s get cracking!!
I work in a theatre, where our plan comes up about 12 hours before it is valid, which means, that some days I will be working solid 10am-6:30pm, other days I might get a long break, I might have an hour to grab a cup of java in the canteen and to get a breather of fresh air between rehearsals. (We work in the cellar ((O;)
So this fact actually makes studying part time not only a challenge, but also a logistical nightmare.
What I´ve done for now, is to take the complete module one into my iCal up until January. (I might still upload this)
I´ve added all our performances (days I might be able to do some reading, but in general I would like to focus on the performance on those days), our free days (which luckily were up until end of Dec!!) and my short term reading goals for this module.
Then I´ve taken next week (we always get a weekly plan, so we kind of know, if we will have an afternoon free and a stage rehearsal in the eve...or such) and allocated my real working hours for monday and my hypothetical ones for the rest of the week.
Then I have added times I could do some BAPP work (in pink-I believe). I say could, because I would like to see these as variables-depending on how far I get every day and to also have some free time for other nice things life has to offer.
I will always have a text for reading in my bag...for my coffe break and general waiting situations. ((O;
Hm....this is..like everything else so far...a draft, part of the trial and error process that life seems to be.
If anyone has suggestions....

My professional CV

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TKE-y6LOMxn5iOSaHEX2EGlqgM4uspQAq7ur29miI0I/edit?hl=en_US

Ok, so this is the latest version of my professional CV- dance.
Please feel free to comment and to help me improve.
Cheers!

no title for now

a little movie on how I´ve been feeling lately...trying to get started...

No posts...nothing happening here so far.
Well...I think I´m one of the last ones to join on the program. I´ve never written a blog before, I realize, that I feel quite scared of the internet (I really don´t want to become a transparent citizen), but I feel, the more I know about the web, the more I feel like giving it a try. I´ve started reading some "Theories about the Internet" by Martin Warnke- a very interesting book. I did not know for example that the web was originally commissioned by the US Military so science could advance at a faster pace in the 1970s.
Here´s a little quote by Eric Schmidt, that has been stuck in my head for quite a while-

The Internet is the first thing that humanity has built that humanity doesn't understand, the largest experiment in anarchy that we have ever had.
Eric Schmidt 


So let´s embark on this journey...and see, where it takes me.


Enjoy the movie by the way...our pianist told me about it and I felt it really hits a nail on the head!