#MAKEITWORK (and why it's important to understand)

A friend of mine, Daisy West recently shared her thoughts on freelancing in the performing arts industry on Facebook, and it inspired me to write my own thoughts on it. If you wish to read her post, here's a screenshot of it.

Freelancing is not as glamorous as most people might think it is. Behind all those free time lounging in cafés working on our laptops to organising your own schedule and time. On top of that, if you are living abroad away from your parents, adult responsibilities such as rent, bills, expenses comes into play. Like Daisy, I live at home with my parents, so I do not have to think about rent. I am currently teaching part-time across various dance studios (although some wished for me to go full-time with them).

Ever since I started earning my own pay, I slowly started to establish my own independence and offered to pay my own phone bills and expenses. At the same time, being an Apprentice with T.H.E Second Company allows me the opportunity to train professionally as well as performing opportunity on a frequency of at least 3 performances a year, on top of external projects.

Typing all of this out makes me feel incredibly lucky to be where I am now, even though my parents do not understand the concept of freelance. My parents are the traditional, conservative Asian parents that believes in a full-time, stable income job. Even till now, we often have 'discussions' about my future and "when I would move into full-time teaching". It's a conversation that most freelancers or people in the creative arts can sympathise.

One thing I admire most about T.H.E Second Company is that most of the dancers have day jobs - university students studying physiotherapy, law, business and working adults who are balancing work, family and dance. Whenever we have classes in the evenings, we would gather in the studio and be professionals - focusing on ourselves and allowing us that chance to practice and get better. It's very rare to find a dance company that respects and understands that.

The main difference between a company dancer and a freelancer dancer is that the company plans, organises the schedule for that season. Everything is pretty much sorted out, all you need to do is show up. You're guaranteed a certain amount of shows per year, and incentives throughout if you progress inside the company. Whereas as a freelancer, you are your own administrator, marketer and businessperson. You are your own product, and that is what you are 'selling'. I get some time off for myself to rest and recharge, spending quality time with friends and family. Once in a while sometime in July-August, I would make a trip to go to the UK or Europe for Summer Intensives. However, I am an ambitious person and I enjoy progressing at my own pace, as much as I do enjoy having someone push me when necessary. A typical schedule for me might look like this:

I would wake up at 8:30am-9am and either take company classes or go to the gym to do some cross-training, pilates and yoga. In the afternoon, I would usually have lunch at a food court and order my juice/coffee/tea to either park myself at a library or a café. If I have teaching beforehand, I will always go over my lesson plan to make sure that everything flows smoothly in the class. If I don't have any classes to teach, I will either be updating my CV, showreel, reading/researching, sending applications to auditions, negotiating with people regarding upcoming projects. More recently, I have been reading up on the hands and thinking about incorporating it into a movement exploration (refer to previous post - 'Hands - and why they fascinate me'). Company classes are usually in the evenings, and my weekends are occupied for teaching. I reserve my Saturday evenings for my family and my weekends are Wednesdays and Sundays. When I am in rehearsal period for a particular project, most of my days are pretty much fully occupied.

Now, what I just said might sound like 'mumbo-jumbo', and you'll go "Eh? That doesn't sound too bad, at least you have the flexibility to do what you like". However, it's a double edge sword. Along with this freedom for flexibility comes with responsibility and discipline. Working through the grind is not glamorous, which is perhaps one of the reason why most dancers try out for full-time dance jobs. When you're studying, the schools will always push for you to get into a company, and you are deemed 'unsuccessful' if you are not with a company. That mentality stuck through with me, and I was so adamant about finding a full-time company dancer job. I would fly to attend auditions (if it was within my means. Again, budget) and find myself getting into final rounds of auditions. But ultimately, not getting the job. Till this day, I struggle with what might have been the hindering factor/s. But these situations are completely out of your control and it doesn't mean that those opportunities might not come again in the future.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you're a full time company dancer, or a freelancer like myself, or someone waiting for something to happen. Balance is the key. Think about your priorities, and what comes first to you. We are all slowly figuring our way through this journey we call life, so I'm learning to enjoy the present moment. Helps to put everything in perspective.