Rambert Intensive: Final Thoughts|Dreams That Glitter

I’d like to begin by saying I miss being at Rambert already, it felt really weird not going back again yesterday, I think I’d just got used to the hectic nature of it all and travelling into London every day. It took me about an hour on the train but it was a direct route so it wasn’t too bad, luckily my station is right at the beginning of the line so I didn’t have to fight for a seat, getting a seat was more of a concern on the way home though when I just wanted to collapse! Commuting is kind of exhausting but I actually quite liked having that quiet time on the train at the beginning and end of the day.

Since this was only my second summer intensive I didn’t have a whole lot to compare it to, and the one I did last year was a youth one for ages 11-18 so had a very different feel to this one which was an adult course, there was a much wider range of ages as I think the youngest was 16, all the way up to 30+. It was interesting how different the tone was working with older people of different ages although we did quite similar things as to last year. First off, there’s  a lot less drama with adults I think; there’s no whiney 12 year olds!! I think with a group of adults as well there tends to be more barriers put up with ourselves as the older you get the more self conscious you are and you have more fear of trying new things and being around new people, whereas younger people generally adapt easily and are up for trying anything they seem to just throw themselves into it. I’m not saying no one had any confidence or anything because that’s not the case at all and there were some very talented dancers in the group but it’s just a completely different vibe to a group of young people.

Another difference is with the youth group, the majority of dancers participating are there because they want to become professional dancers and go into a performance career, and there can almost be a sense of competition. With this course however it was such a mix – there was some people already in dance training, some doing A Level, some there for pure enjoyment just dancing as a hobby, there because they just really love to dance. Some had little dance experience while others had years under their belt; it was a diverse group it was really nice to work with such a range of people and we all helped each other through it.

This brings me onto friendships… Most people’s main priority on the course was obviously to soak up as much information as possible, to work on themselves as dancers and performers and improve as much as possible in the short space of time. A few people knew each other before and came in groups and others knew no one and sort of kept to themselves. Back to the confidence thing, why are adults so much worse at making friends and putting themselves forward than kids? Between that and being exhausted and very concentrated on food during our breaks, everyone was generally quiet and didn’t talk to each other a whole lot really. It wasn’t until the last couple of days when we started talking more, so I guess if the intensive had been longer we would’ve made more significant friendships! It was still nice to get to know everyone though and we’ll keep in touch through Facebook.

As I mentioned before – there was two groups an Intermediate and Advanced; ultimately it was up to the individual which path they chose but the Advanced was generally dance graduates, professionals or those in full time training, and the Intermediate dancers had not been dancing so long, there more for pure enjoyment and for themselves than working towards a career in dance. As with anywhere there was a clear divide between the two groups and we didn’t really mingle between groups a lot but I did manage to talk briefly with a few of them and it was interesting to hear about the wide range of backgrounds the dancers came from. Had I chose the Advanced route I think I would definitely have found it challenging, the material they showed during the sharing looked absolutely amazing, however I don’t think I would’ve struggled so much I’d have changed groups, although a lot of the dancers in that group were very technical and expressive I think I would’ve learnt a lot being with them and would have enjoyed the challenge, maybe I’ll do that next time? I imagine each group of dancers would be different though in terms of standard.

To conclude, if you hadn’t gathered by now I had an absolutely wonderful time and would jump at the chance to do a course like this again. The level of training we received was brilliant and it was a privilege to have the chance to work with Rambert company members; truly learning from the best. It was tough at times and definitely a challenge but I’ve learnt so much – I really enjoyed having classes with a range of teachers as you get to experience the variety of teaching styles and each of them has a different vision of what they want you to get out of the experience.

Finally, here’s my list of tips to take with you to any intensive:

1. Be open to anything! The more open minded you are, the more you can learn and the more you’ll take away with you. Don’t be confined to what you’re used to and respect different people’s methods of doing things.
2. Eat little and often. It definitely took me a couple of days to gauge how much to eat so as to feel full fuelled but not like you’re going to throw up in the class after lunch! You have to eat properly, food that will give you energy. Most days I had: toast for breakfast, some fruit in the morning break, pasta/rice and salad at lunch, a cereal/protein bar and mixed nuts for afternoon break, and a good dinner when I got home.
3. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or put yourself forward. If you don’t understand something, ask. If you missed part of the phrase, ask. If you have an injury and need another option, ask. This is so important! Don’t just skip over something if you don’t understand it, the teachers don’t mind you asking questions as they want you to succeed and understand everything.
4. Drink lots of water! If you’re dancing for hours at a time, keeping hydrated is super important otherwise you’re probably going to pass out or get a horrible headache. Drink lots!!
5. Get plenty of sleep. If you don’t get enough you will definitely feel it the next day when you’re trying your hardest not to yawn at the barre. Your body is being put under a lot of pressure and a lot of energy is required, you can’t do your best and get the most out of every class if you only had 4 hours sleep.
6. Look after your body! I highly recommend you get a foam roller or a massage ball or something similar. I used the foam roller every evening for about an hour when I got home and it made such a difference to how my body felt. Listen to your body and look after it to prevent injury. I also found an ice bath for my feet particularly soothing half way through the week. Hot/Cold showers also feel really good afterwards!

I think that’s about it…. I hope this post wasn’t too long/boring, I just wanted to share everything in one go. I’m not going to lie I’m quite impressed with myself for keeping up with these blog posts all week, it’s been a really nice way to document and evaluate everything! If anyone else has done a course at Rambert I’d love to hear about your experiences 🙂

Rambert Intensive: Day 4|Dreams That Glitter

10:00-11:30 Contemporary

Today we did a different contemporary class with the teacher we’ve been having for Choreography – Estella. It was nice to do a different class and mix it up a bit, it’s interesting to see how many different directions a contemporary class can be taken in my different people. This was kind of more ‘traditional’ with some floor work to warm up the back and legs and then some phrases standing in the centre, some corner work and then finally we learnt a phrase which was to be added to our choreography piece.

11:45-1:15 Repertoire with Luke – Terra Incognita

We carried on with the repertoire from yesterday and it’s really intricate with lots of small details that make it look so much better when you get them spot on. We watched Luke perform the piece full speed and it’s literally like at least triple time to what we’ve been doing, it’s insane! It was really inspiring to see it done properly though and gave us a more of a clear idea of what we’re aiming for.

2:15-3:45 Choreography with Estella

Choreography was quite intense today, we finished our piece which is about 5 minutes, incorporating the new phrase from this morning and adding repetition and new formations/direction etc. It’s coming together quite nicely! I did something to my foot though, I think it came from doing lots of floor work in a crouch position and using my feet to push off of in a demi pointe position… I’ve iced it and hoping for the best – I want to be able to dance tomorrow!!

4:00-5:00 Ballet

So after the foot incident I probably should have taken it easy in ballet if done it at all, but me being me insisted on doing it in my pointe shoes. At that stage the actual pointing and flexing motion didn’t hurt at all, but it is a bit now, oops… I didn’t do any releves on pointe or anything just some balances at the barre mainly, but even doing tendus in pointe shoes works your feet so much harder than wearing soft ballet slippers. I really enjoyed the class though!

So tomorrow we have a contemporary class with Kate again, and then rehearsals for both pieces of rep (here’s hoping I can remember what we did at the beginning of the week!!) and the choreography, before our sharing with the advanced group – I can’t wait to see what they’ve been doing and the difference in standard between the two groups, I’m really interested in how much of a difference in ability there is. I can’t believe it’s the last day tomorrow already, it’s gone pretty quickly!!

Rambert Intensive: Day 3 |Dreams That Glitter

Day 3

This morning you could tell everyone was feeling it a bit at this stage! Especially if you’ve gone from not doing much at all the last few weeks or months to suddenly intensive training for 6 hours day, it puts a lot of pressure on the body. Tonight I came home and put my feet in an ice bath, stretched and used the foam roller for about an hour or so, hopefully that will do the trick and ease the aches and pains tomorrow…Still all good fun though!

10:00-11:30 – Contemporary with Kate Mummery

This class was pretty similar as the first two days again. We started off with a bit of a massage session in partners which warmed us up and relieved a bit of tight or stiffness and woke up our bodies, followed by a mini contemporary/yoga session. We then added onto the phrases we’ve already learnt which included more floor work (more bruises) which I enjoyed as if there’s one area I’m worse at it’s definitely floor work, just making it look smooth and effortless is not at all easy for me, especially when transferring the weight into the hands in various ways. I’m sure there was something else I was going to mention about this class but it’s getting late and my brain is totally frazzled – maybe it’ll come back to me!

11:45-13:15 – Repertoire with Luke Ahmet – Terra Incognita

We started learning some new rep today with a different teacher from the company from the last couple of days. It’s completely different from the last piece we learnt that was quite balletic, fluid and elegant, the phrases from Terra Incognita are more unusual and quirky. It was fun to pick up and we learnt so much in the session! We’ve already started putting it together as a piece which we will perform as a whole group at the end of the week, and we’re going to learn some more material and clean it up tomorrow.

14:15-15:45 – Choreography with Estela Merlos

We’ve got more of a piece coming together in this session now, the phrases are being performed by different groups within our group, and the piece starts with the structures we ‘built’ yesterday, with transitions added in – so it’s like a structure has been made and then we all crumble to the ground to represent a disaster, and then we rebuild into the next huge structure where we’re all relying on each other to stay up, then we crumble again and repeat, I think it looks quite effective. We’ve added some group work into it as well including some lifts which will look good in the end. One more rehearsal tomorrow and we should have a nice little piece to show!

16:00-17:00 – Ballet with Antonette Dayrit

We were also lucky enough to have a pianist for this class as well which is much nicer than doing the exercises to a CD like I’m used to. Not having a musician for class all the time makes you appreciate the experience a lot more when you get the chance though. The class was a general level as there was lots of mixed ability in our group, a few people never having done ballet before. I was a bit sceptical as to whether I’d have the energy for ballet at the end of the day, having finished off with a nice bit of relaxation the last couple of days, but I found that the hour actually went super fast and almost didn’t seem long enough. We did quite a long barre and then moved into the centre for an adage, centre practice, pirouettes, pirouettes from the corner, a couple of petit allegro exercises and a couple of allegros travelling across the room to the finish with. Tomorrow I’m going to attempt the class in my pointe shoes and see how that goes! I haven’t done a huge amount of pointe other than the Intermediate syllabus so I really want to work on strengthening my feet in them – English Youth Ballet is going to be a killer with all those long rehearsals en pointe I think.

Rambert Intensive: Day 2|Dreams That Glitter

Day 2

10:00-11:30 – Contemporary with Kate Mummery

We did a very similar class to yesterday, building on some of the exercises we did yesterday. We’re slowly adding in more Cunningham specific exercises, today we did pulses which is like sit ups but standing up. I found that really interesting, at first it just feels weird and like it’s not doing much, but once you get the correct range of movement and alignment you can really feel it working the abdominals. We did the phrase we did yesterday and worked it out on the left and then performed it in smaller groups which was nice to be able to use more of the space and to watch everyone else. Oh and I forgot to mention yesterday – we have a musician for this class who plays different rhythms on various instruments, it gives a different feel to the class and it’s refreshing to work in that way rather than with the same set music from an iPod.

11:45-13:15 – Repertoire with Hannah Rudd – The Strange Charm of Mother Nature

We learnt another phrase from this piece which I really liked as well, so once we’d learnt that we recapped the phrases we did yesterday and then got into groups (there’s quite a wide range of ability within the group so the groups we got into were kind of based on how well people were picking it up so we could go at a speed we were most comfortable with) and in those smaller groups we got into formations and went from one phrase to the next, almost like putting together a mini piece. This is what we’ll be performing in the sharing on Friday.

14:15-15:45 – Choreography with Estela Merlos

I have so many bruises from this session! Floor work is the enemy. We started off with a bit of partner work and went into some contact improvisation playing around with counter balances. We then took this on a larger scale and created three big structures including everyone in the group, using each other to balance in a variety of different positions on different levels. We then recapped the phrases we did yesterday and then learnt a new phrase which again included floor work, and it’s quite fast! I’m enjoying it though. I always find this session the hardest as it’s the one after lunch, so I’ve just sat down for an hour, eaten and seized up!

16:00-17:00 – Yoga/Pilates

This was more yoga than yesterday, it was challenging but much more of a steady pace compared to yesterday, and had a lot more stretching which was lovely. We did a section of passive stretching in partners, it’s amazing the difference it makes having someone apply pressure to parts of your body and the effect that has on the stretch you’re doing, it feels wonderful! We finished off with a relaxation session which was much needed. After two days of finishing with a relatively gentle session, I think finishing off the day with ballet tomorrow and Thursday is going to a be a bit of a shock to the system!

So that’s two days down, three to go! I’m covered in bruises and ache a little, I came home today and made friends with the foam roller (if you don’t have one, you need one – I have this one and this one). We’re doing a different piece of repertoire tomorrow so will be nice to mix things up a bit! Here’s hoping I don’t forget everything we’ve learnt from today…

Rambert Intensive: Day 1|Dreams That Glitter

So this week I’m doing a 5 day intensive at Rambert! I’m going to attempt to write a post about each day, so here goes. It’s an adult course and it’s split into two groups: Intermediate and Advanced, I’m doing the Intermediate. I’d never been to the studios before today and would just like to mention how lovely they are! They’re all wonderfully lit by natural light, high ceilings and lovely flooring, really nice to dance in!

10:00-11:30 – Contemporary with Kate Mummery

The day started with a Cunningham based contemporary class, which was a bit different to what I’ve done before but followed the regular structure of a technique class working through a series of exercises using more of the body and travelling more, working into the floor as we got warmer, eventually learning a short phrase which I think we’re building onto/adapting as the week goes on.

11:45-13:15 – Repertoire with Hannah Rudd – The Strange Charm of Mother Nature

I really enjoyed this session; I think it was my favourite of the day. I couldn’t find a link on YouTube for the rep but I might not have been looking hard enough so I totally recommend you give it a search! We were shown a clip from the work and then we learnt three phrases, which I really liked. They were quite technical and we didn’t dance them at full speed (the whole piece shifts a lot, and the music is fairly abstract but all of the movement is very speedy), I particularly enjoyed the balletic style to some of the movements. We performed them in smaller groups at the end and went from one phrase to the next continuously which was nice, and were given plenty of opportunity to go through all the details and ask questions as we went along which was really helpful, the class wasn’t too fast paced but I feel like we achieved quite a lot over the hour and a half.

14:15-15:45 – Choreography with Estela Merlos

I didn’t know what to expect from this class; whether we’d be taught more choreography or have to make up our own or whether it would be like improvisation. We did a simple warm up and then learnt a short phrase which mainly consisted of arm gestures, it was really specific and the movements had to be exactly on the counts, which isn’t always the case with contemporary dance. We then learnt a development of this phrase which contained the same movements but made them bigger and travelled more in the space, adding in more leg movements. Finally we learnt a third phrase based on the idea of falling so used a lot more floor work, which was really interesting, a lot of the moves I hadn’t done before and wouldn’t have thought of using them in my own choreography but is something I probably will  now incorporate in the future. These three phrases are being put together to form a piece which we are working towards for the end of the week, when we will have a sharing with the Advanced group so we can see what everyone’s been up to!

16:00-17:00 – Yoga/Pilates

This was a really nice class to finish off the day with. I think there was a bit more yoga than pilates, and I didn’t really know what to expect, I think a lot of people assumed that it would be the ‘easy’ class because Pilates and Yoga seem to be associated with older people I’ve realised? But I think some of the exercises were challenging, particularly the speed of the yoga flows we were doing. At the end of the day it’s quite easy to just want to curl up on the mat and have a nap! I do quite a lot of Pilates as my mum actually teaches it, and I wondered if there was going to be a difference between ‘general public pilates’ and ‘dancer pilates’ and there wasn’t really.

I think that’s it for today! I have also purchased the new Rambert t-shirt and hoodie which are both really lovely and soft. I have a similar day tomorrow so hopefully I’ll remember to post about it…

CAT Scheme Experience|Dreams That Glitter

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ll know I had my first CAT audition in 2013, for the London CAT scheme. That, of course was unsuccessful and I then auditioned for the Hertfordshire Satellite CAT Scheme in November 2013, which was another unsuccessful occasion… from that audition though, I was invited to attend Propagator Youth Dance Company at Hot House Dance, which I did for about a year and my technique improved pretty quickly, boosting my confidence as the weeks went by.

I auditioned for the London CAT Scheme again last year, and ended up with yet another rejection. However, I continued my training at Hot House Dance every week as well as my ballet classes and hours of dance at school. The Hertfordshire CAT audition came around again pretty quickly and I eventually decided to go for it again with a considerable amount of persuasion… and I was accepted! As of Saturday 1^st August 2015, I have completed the Hertfordshire CAT Satellite Scheme. I auditioned in December last year and attended weekly technique classes/rehearsals since January, and we had our last official rehearsal as a group on Thursday.

I’d like to begin my addressing the fact that the Satellite courses seemed to be looked down on and not as worthy, but I’d just like to share my experiences from the course and why I think they should be treated as equal achievements…

Over the duration of the course, I’d say without a doubt my contemporary technique has improved massively and my understanding of the technique has developed significantly. I would definitely recommend the course to any budding dancers! I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of the course and have seen improvements not just in my general technique but other specific areas such as fitness, flexibility, ability to pick up and learn new phrases efficiently, self esteem/confidence and creativity. I think the course has definitely influenced my decision and desire to want to continue dancing and want to apply for vocational training.

On Saturday we had our final performance at the CAT Summer Show at The Place in London, aka the home of contemporary dance in the UK. We were one of the few CAT Satellite schemes that there are based around the country and performed alongside the London CAT scheme who performed pieces choreographed by various choreographers that they had the chance to work with. We rehearsed all day and had two separate performances, at which there were supposedly a few VIPs… It was a wonderful opportunity to perform in such a prestigious location!

West End Live

Last weekend I went to West End Live, which is a massive gala of the shows currently being shown in the west end. It is a free public event and allows people to see the highlights from the biggest and best productions. There’s a huge variety of performances from Billy Elliot to Phantom of the Opera, and it’s a big family event which everyone can enjoy. This year the event celebrated it’s 10th birthday. I’ve never been before but after going this year I’m already excited to go next year.

The event took place in Trafalgar Square, London, and the first performance was due to start at 11, and being about an hour’s train journey from London, I got the 7:20 train into St Pancras International with my friends to ensure we got there early enough to get a good spot. I think we queued for about an hour before being let in, and the queues were enormous and rather confusing, but when we got in we ended up quite near the front and had a pretty good view of the stage. I was slightly concerned about not being able to seeing anything considering my height (flashbacks to the Imagine Dragons concert where I couldn’t see anything excpet the odd flick of Wayne’s hair), but it was fine.

We saw performances from the following shows, varying from 5-15 minutes each:

The Commitments
Once The Musical
Wicked
Billy Elliot The Musical
Les Miserables
Phantom of the Opera
Miss Saigon
The Pajama Game
Matilda The Musical
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Dirty Rtten Scoundrels
Jersey Boys
Mamma Mia!
The Bodyguard
Since it was a scorching hot day, 6 hours later after all that standing directly in the sun, we were all pretty tired and needed food and drinks, we’d seen everything we were desperate to see and so we headed out of the venue and went to find somewhere to get refreshments.

 

Everything was fantastic, I’ve never seen a show in the west end before so everything was pretty new to me, other than the really well known ones like Les Mis, Wicked and Mamma Mia. Seeing all the snippets from the shows has made me even more keen to go and see a show though, but there’s so many to choose from, I’d honestly love to see them all!

If I had to pick a top 3 from Saturday, I think it would have to be Les Mis (their performance managed to give me shivers and goosebumps even though it was about 25 degrees – if that’s not something I don’t know what is), Wicked and Miss Saigon, which are all really different. I’ve wanted to see Wicked for ages now, I missed the opportunity to see it on tour at Milton Keynes which is the closest theatre to me, but I’m really hoping to see it in the west end soon. I’m currently reading the book, so at least I’ll get more of an idea of the story. I’d also really love to see Once, I have the soundtrack on my iTunes and I love it, it’s so relaxing. My friend went to see it back in April and loved it, so that made me want to see it even more. I need to watch the movie!

I’d never heard of it before Saturday but I’d quite like to see The Pajama Game too, it looks like a really fun show and I loved the choreography, it made me want to join in.

So yeah, I’m not sure if I put this on my Summer Bucket List already, but consider ‘See a West End show’ added to it!

Lauren x

CAT Auditions|Dreams That Glitter

So although this all happened a few months ago, I wanted to keep a record of it here anyways because I feel that it’s relevant to my dance ‘journey’ if you will. Of course it would have been better if I’d written about it back in February/April when it actually happened, but hey ho. Basically, if you don’t know already the National Dance CATs deliver accessible, non-residential, professional training programmes for young people aged 10 to 18 years who demonstrate exceptional potential in dance. The ‘exceptional potential’ part of that sentence I find really intimidating… I found out about the dance CATs on tumblr while scrolling through the dancer tag, and I went on the website (http://www.nationaldancecats.co.uk/) to find out more. The programme is funded by the government depending on your personal financial situation, and how much you pay towards the course depends on what your household income is. I found out that I would qualify for a full grant, and looked into auditions etc.

There was a taster day during February half term, which I told my mum about and she was surprisingly supportive of it and decided it would be a good experience to go and find out what it was all about, and make a decision whether I wanted to audition for the programme or not.

When we got there, after signing in we were led to the lecture theatre and sat through a presentation which gave all the information you needed to know, most of which I’d already found out online, and a chance to ask any questions. We then had a tour of the building (The Place in London). Then there was a two hour contemporary/ballet/creative class which I was a bit nervous about but it wasn’t so hard that I couldn’t do any of it, which was what I was worried about. It was challenging but a really good experience.

I went back to school and told my dance teacher about it, and she knew what it was, and was keen for me to audition for it, and told me to keep her posted on it. I had to submit a second application to The Place for the audition, and I heard back quite quickly saying the audition would be on 3^rd April. There was somewhere between 30-40 girls in the same audition as me, and there was three different dates, and three different auditions on each day, so there was a lot of competition, and there was very few places available. So I wasn’t getting my hopes up too high. Everyone was about 14-15 years old, give or take a year. It was the same process as the taster day, ballet technique class, contemporary where we were taught some repertoire, and then some creative work where we had to make up our own phrase and perform it in groups a few times so they could get a good look at everyone. There was about five different people watching so it felt a bit intimidating, but the main thing was to look as confident as possible even if you were freaking out on the inside. Nobody really spoke to each other when we had a chance to talk and a break, there was just this awkward silence because we all knew we were competing for places against each other. I came out feeling relatively positive, there’s always room for improvement but I didn’t feel like it had gone desperately bad. After that all I could do was wait, and it seemed like an age before I found out anything.

I got a letter back from them on the 2^nd May, which considering we were told 6-8 weeks to wait, was pretty quick I guess. I didn’t get the place (which you probably gathered or I’d have posted about it before now), and the letter went on about how they thought I showed potential and should definitely carry on with what I’m doing, but I apparently wasn’t ready for the scheme. I also got told to build more confidence and performance experience.  I wasn’t really expecting to get the place, even though there was that slight glimmer of hope that I might, but it was my first audition for anything, so I’m not too disappointed. The annoying thing is that there’s nothing really around this area for me to do other than where I’m dancing now, and I guess to look out for the odd audition, and although its super easy to get to London from here, it can be pricey so… I’m not sure. But I’m glad I went to the audition and tried anyway, because it was a good experience and I learnt a lot from it either way.

To Be A Dancer|Dreams That Glitter

So, I’ve always loved dancing, I’ve done ballet for ten years now, that’s a long time, the majority of my life, in fact. Although I’ve never quit or given up with it, it’s always been in phases – phases where I drift in and out of having my entire life taken over by dancing. Up until late last year, when I decided I wanted to be a dancer. I didn’t admit it to anyone for a while, but then I thought, well if I don’t, how am I going to do it? I can’t work my way there by myself. This year I’ve really focussed in ballet classes (I’ve been doing Grade 8, Inter foundation and started pointe work last September – with a few problems along the way) and I think I have improved quite a lot, because I’m putting more into it.

For about three years prior to that, although I rarely miss a class, I’ve just been there, I haven’t really been there. I’ve just got my way through the class, without taking everything in. I’ve found that I don’t actually have that bad a dance movement memory and actually I can remember syllabus. The whole pointe thing was a bit of a disaster at first, but I’m getting there now, slowly but surely. I still have a lot of work to do on that side of things.

Now I think I know I’m never going to be a prima ballerina, but why not give it my all anyway? Why not give it my best shot and see what happens, with lots of extra stretching and strengthening between classes there could be a big improvement. Realistically I know that to be a dancer I need to be fitter and probably lose weight too to where I’m at now, but I can do that. I’m willing to work for this because I love it, and I know it takes a lot of input to get anything out, and I know it’s a competitive industry and I know it’s not going to be a piece of cake to get where I want to be, but this is my dream, and why shouldn’t I have a good go at it?

I had a careers appointment at school on the last week, and I’m still decided if it was helpful or not, which I guess it wasn’t too much. The lady was lovely but she didn’t really seem to know much about what I was talking about, I’m probably better talking to my dance teacher at school because she’ll know what she’s talking about more. I’ll go see her when we go back. She told me a lot of what I already knew beforehand, like after GCSE’s I basically have three options: college/specialist College, sixth form or an apprenticeship (which isn’t really appropriate for this). What I’ll do is apply for sixth form at my school (here I’d do Dance A level and a dance leaders qualification, and Fashion and Clothing BTEC course which is the only other thing I really want to do there, which is good for a back-up plan if the whole dancer thing doesn’t work out for whatever reason). I looked through all the leaflets I got from Move It back in March, and put aside all the ones that might be of use to me. Much as I’d love to go to a ballet school I’m not sure on my chances about getting in are, I’m short, I don’t have the body (now at least) and I don’t have the best technique in the world, I’m just not sure I have what it takes to be a ballerina, much as I’d love to, and I am prepared to work on that and I will. I think I might be better suited to go more in the direction of contemporary dance, but then in most dance schools both of these styles are compulsory classes, and many schools train their dancers in a variety of different styles.

When I go to Move It next year, I’ll go around and ask about the different colleges and what’s available to me post 16 and post 18 and see what the better route to take is. I have to consider which is going to need more qualifications to get into, but also all the different courses on offer, funding and transport/accommodation. It’s a lot to think about so it’s probably a good thing that I’m starting to think about it now, so I have a while to sort everything out, rather than leaving it all last minute…

So yeah, now I’ve put all that out here, I feel like I have all the more reason to work as hard as I can in dance and try and get into a dance school next year maybe. Or stay on and do A level dance and do as well as I can in that, whatever it is I decide to pick in the end. Either way, I’ll update this blog with everything. If anyone has any advice or experience they’d like to share please do comment and get in touch! 🙂

July in Instagram|Dreams That Glitter

Here is the month of July in my Instagram…(laurenhollie_). As you can see the majority of the photos are from my day in London, where I met up with some friends I met at Chris Colfer’s signing, we had such a good day even though not everyone could make it, but I hope we get to do it again soon with more of us! We went to the natural history museum, covent garden, and hyde park.

There’s also my new wedges from miss selfridge in there, which were a total bargain – £20 reduced from £42! I love them. The white bag is from Madeira, a present my dad bought back from his holiday for me and its already been put to good use.

You can also tell from these pictures that July has been quite a dance orientated month… There was a lot of rehearsing going on at school because we had Solo Composition and Set Study exams, I also had my Grade 8 ballet exam on the 22nd, which I think went quite well…but I won’t get the results of any of that until September, I hate waiting.

Maybe I’ll do this again at the end of August with more stories to tell… Hope you all had a good month and that you have a good August! I bet you’re all going somewhere nice while I’m stuck staying in England. Have fun x