Interviews

I had my first interview last week and it went really well!
I found an application that attaches to Skype so you can record your call and it saves it as a .mov file. This was so helpful!

Hopefully I will have my second interview on wednesday and it will be just as successful. My third one is going to be different as it is difficult for me to arrange a time to call my interviewee, so I have emailed her the questions and she is going to email me the answers back. I think this will be interesting as I will be able to compare the spoken interview to the written interview and see the positives and negatives of each!

Em :)

Interview Questions

Hi all!

I haven't blogged in a long time due to lots of things going on with work contracts. However, I am back now and ready to get my artifact on the go!

The fist thing on my to do list was to work out questions for my interview. I have chosen to interview 3 choreographers on how they transitioned from performers to choreographers. I did this and sent it to alan, with some improvements, these are the question/question topicsIi came up with:

Interview Question Topics

1)    What sparked your interest in choreography?

a)     What attracts you to choreography? e.g. the creative activity? Collaborating with choreographers? The freedom? Other reasons?     

b)    Did you study choreography whilst in formal training?

c)     Did your dance training impact you choreography or your self image as a choreographer?

2)    What was your first professional job as a choreographer?

a)     Where were you working?

b)    Who for?

c)     Did you already know them?

d)    What prior experience did you have? eg. Amateur or unpaid work?

e)     How did you feel about the job?

i)               Going in to it?

ii)             The outcome?

iii)            Was it in you preferred style?

f)     How did you gain the job?

g)     Where/how did you find out about it?

3)    Can you explain what motivated you to make the transition from performer choreographer?

-       Tell me about your experiences along the path from your initial decision to make choreography your career to the point you feel you became an established choreographer in the dance community.

a)     Why did you choose these paths? Were they the only option for you?

b)    In hind sight, with the knowledge you now have, would you have chosen a different rout to take?

c)     Which moment do you feel were your key turning points?

4)    What attributes do you think helped you to get where you are as a choreographer?

- Attributes: personal qualities, such as perseverance through the highs and lows.

a)     To make the transition from performer to choreographer?

b)    To gain work?

c)     To network?

d)    To choreograph?

5)    Do you still perform?

a)     Why did you make this decision/why not?

b)    Which do you prefer, performing or choreographing? Why?

c)     Do you choreograph on yourself or do you prefer to perform others works?

d)     If still performing: Do you think you will continue to perform for as long as you can physically?

If not: would you consider performing again?

e)  What is the impact of your continued dance practice on your choreography? And vice versa?

6)    Where do/did you find job opportunities as a choreographer?

a)     Is there a website that has job listings like ones for performing auditions?

b)    Was networking your primary tool?

c)     How did you start your network?

7)    Is there any advice you would give to performers aspiring to become choreographers?

            

Let me know what you think :)