work – Lauren Warnecke

Twenty Days of Thankful #3

Day #3: Sweats at Work

Working for a state-funded university presents some series challenges, but I always knew that I wanted a job that would allow me to wear sweatpants. My uncomfortable summers at Ravinia moving minivan seats in a sundress informed me at an early age that dressing up every day isn’t for me. It’s come in especially handy this week while I’ve been commuting from an unrealistically far distance while I dog-sit for Mom. Getting up at 4 has zero perks, but when you change from PJ pants to socially acceptable PJ pants, it’s a little easier to swallow.

I’m Seriously Considering Moving to Wyoming…

Chicago is a beautiful city. I love living there and calling it my home.

But…

I’ve always said that I was meant to be a country girl, and my first week back in Gillette, Wyoming has pretty much sealed the deal. Drive-through liquor stores, rodeo, and the Camelot Pet Castle. What more could a girl want?!? But seriously, this place is strange, and beautiful, and random. It is simultaneously depressed and thriving, much like every other small American town.

Oh, you want to know what I’m doing here?

I would agree that Gillette, WY is not the ideal vacation destination, and I couldn’t be farther from on vacation. I’ve returned to my roots and am spending three weeks as part of the amazing staff of PAW (Performing Arts Workshop). I was extremely glad to leave children’s musical theatre when I did, and then almost immediately missed it. This job is hard, and not always as rewarding as one might hope, but you don’t always see the impact that you make as a dance teacher at a small community theatre.

The rehearsal room is intense, but the lives that some of these kids lead is far more so. Stories trickle down about kids who don’t have permanent residences, or kids who are resented and ignored by their parents. Our job is to create a relentless, realistic, professional atmosphere, not to provide recreational song and dance or all-day babysitting. Some of the kids are toughened by their home lives and thrive, and some fall apart in this program. But we tendu on, and, somehow, pull off a fully-produced musical in three weeks. THAT is a reward in and of itself.

Each day of the program is hard and presents both the kids and staff with new challenges to face, and then you leave the theatre each day greeted by this:

and this:

Yeah, if you saw that every day you’d want to move to Wyoming too…

What is work? and, the philosophy statement.

I’ve been thinking about the idea of “work” a lot lately. Is work what you get paid to do, what you’re passionate about, or are you one of those lucky people who gets to have both? I recently read this article on The Daily Beast that gives some thoughts on Labor Day and it’s origins. Apparently it’s not just about white pants and hot dogs as summer draws to its end.

For me, Labor Day is pretty symbolic. By that, I mean, it’s my ONLY holiday off. Working for a public university I get a lot of time off for the holidays and a lot of time off in the summer, and in between are two brutal sixteen week stretches.

Yeah. Brutal.

Maybe that’s why I’ve been thinking about Labor Day a month after Labor Day, because I’m in the middle of that stretch right now. Save two days for Thanksgiving, Labor Day and MLK Day are it for us.

But even more than this glorious opportunity to sleep past 5:30am on a week day, “Labor Day” has serious implications that we work too hard. So for us Americans, here’s a day (A day) to drink beer and barbeque.

Thanks for that.

I’m not opposed to work, I guess I’m just opposed to being forced to do something I don’t want to do just to make a buck. It’s not the work that I’m against, it’s the perpetual need to generate dollars at the expense of my time, my energy, and even, at times, my dignity.

What’s the difference between work, my work, and a job?

If you’re really lucky those three arrows all point to the same place. I’ve thought about this from the perspective all three of the things that I am: an educator, a dancemaker, and a writer, only one of which really generates any significant income for me. Finding the why of what I do, especially in the things I don’t get paid for, means figuring out what my Work (capital W) really is. The rest is just a time suck that helps me pay my rent.

Or not.

I’m fortunate of late in that I’ve been able to peace-meal together jobs (meaning, the things I get paid for) that are actually part of the bigger scope of “my Work”. All of this is wrapped up in a tidy little statement that I’ve been working on for my teaching portfolio (ignore the dust, it’s under major construction).

This philosphy statement was the hardest four paragraphs that have ever emerged from this keyboard, but nonetheless it’s essential in figuring out how all the puzzle pieces of my life, jobs, skill-set, and passions fit together. I think everyone should do it, even if you aren’t a teacher or and artist or particularly need a philosophy.

And, without further ado, here’s mine:

As an educator with professional experience in both the arts and sciences, I am convinced of the need for more integration of evidence-based practices in the arts, and more time-tested, somatic, experiential learning in academia. To that end, I seek out opportunities to collaborate with peers and mentors to develop curricula that is effective and efficient.

I am passionate about the health of the dancer, and the majority of my work lends itself to understanding and articulating the body as it relates to dance. Too often, the great work that is done in the scientific realm on dancers does not trickle down to its practitioners.

I believe it is my mission to use my experiences in dance and kinesiology to form an alliance between the two fields, with the ultimate goal of creating understanding and awareness around dance education and dancer health. I believe that principles of educational psychology and learning are ubiquitous and should be implemented in dance classrooms as well as academic classrooms. I believe that dance is a natural human tendancy, a healing art, and a means of discourse akin to any language.

Ultimately, my talent lies in my words, and in my ability to communicate, moreso than my ability to tendu. Therefore, I resolve to be the messenger between these two worlds and further bridge the gap between experience and evidence.

Tag: work