Today, dance is no more just an art form. It is also a serious business for many people. The days of gurukuls are over and the system of teaching has now become much more cool and professional. There used to be days when classes weren’t limited to timings. Gurus would teach whenever they were in a mood, but now it is all about the class, its timing, days, batches and duration. A student now even pays per hour of class. In olden days, there was no money involved, it was Guru Dakshina at the end of the learning and the parents of the students would send tokens of love through food and jewellery to the Guru. Now it is all about the business of dance. So the back office work of a dance institute has also increased considerably.
Dance institutes have now given job opportunities not only to dancers as teachers but have also opened avenues for people from different administrative and technical positions. But many of us forget this when we work in a dance environment, which is considered a kind of fun and hobby class. We forget that this is a business too for many people, where bad working habits need to be kept away, and norms and good conduct maintained, all of which is important in this field as well.
There are many people who make common habitual offences at the dance workplace, and these offences may turn even the most amiable worker into an office tyrant. First on the list is whining. There are some people who keep on whining at every chance they get, which actually prevents colleagues from taking them seriously.
Another offence is low hygiene. There are people who leave an intolerable mess when they leave a toilet cubicle. They don’t clean up a meeting room either when they finish, and are, in one word, filthy.
A lot of shows, performances and even enrollment enquiries for a dance class are done through email. Here lies my next grouse — the poor email etiquette. This includes unnecessary screaming in capital letters, using words like “ur” and “gr8”, sending innumerable endless emails instead of using a phone, disregarding apostrophes, incorrectly spelling words and leaving out any semblance of courtesy at the beginning and ending of the mail.
Dance studio office gossip is another bad habit. If a rumour doesn’t exit, one will be created, anything to aid in the private belittling of a colleague. This is something that is very annoying for an artiste.
Then there are those who waste time. These people are either incredibly efficient or very good at doing nothing and they will come to your desk for a chat that lingers longer than is comfortable. Many of these people don’t consider their time to be more precious than yours, which is a consistent implication of their constant tardiness.
Almost similarly annoying are people who think your business is theirs too and are never afraid to ask personal questions. They have to know everything and must know it immediately.
Then there are those bad jokes. They are inappropriate not just because they are politically incorrect in an overly sensitive world, but also because, most often, they’re just not funny at all!
Constant maligning or insulting the employer does not earn brownie points either. This is most often committed by employees who have mentally resigned but still physically come to work and indulge in an unremitting verbal attack on the company; after a point, this simply loses its charm with the hard workers. So if an employee wants to quit, he or she should do so immediately.
Internet addiction is also a bad work habit. The temptation to go online and check up on things ever so often is quite overwhelming and workaholic colleagues who believe in “coming to work to work” are left enraged and with high BP every time they glance over and see a peer browsing the net. So, if you’re working in a dance setup or are keen to work for a dance organisation, be careful. Do not take it lightly and get rid of all bad work habits if you have developed any.