Personal Profile

Hi, here is the first draft of my personal profile. I've had a look at some of the student's from last year and get the feeling mine is far to long winded. I do tend to babble! Any comments are very much appreciated.

I was only two years old and living in London, where I was born when I was taken to my first ballet lesson. I was immediately hooked and was soon given the opportunity to also start modern and tap lessons. When I was five, my parents moved to Wales. I quickly discovered the local dance school and also started performing in the annual pantomimes, community shows and summer season shows.

            I knew that I wanted to pursue my love of dance and drama and took up GCSE drama at school with the intention of also doing it for A-Levels. By the time I was eighteen I had achieved a grade A in both examinations, and worked my way up to Elementary level in ballet, tap and modern.

            In 1999, I auditioned for the Midlands Academy of Dance and Drama (MADD) in Nottingham and was accepted! During my three years there, I studied other types of dance including Jazz, ballroom, latin, street, pas de deux and contemporary. We also took classes in musical theatre and acting, which I particularly loved. Whilst I was at MADD, I also took my ISTD Intermediate ballet gaining highly commended.

            During my third year, I was offered the opportunity to teach drama to children at the ‘Tina Jay dance and drama school’. This was my first experience working with children, and I found that it came very naturally to me and I really enjoyed it. However, at this point I still very much wanted to pursue my own career in performing. I was therefore very excited to successfully audition to be one of twelve dancers chosen to take part in the opening credits of ‘Sport Relief 2002’.

            In July 2002 I graduated from the MADD, gaining a level 6 Trinity London National Diploma in professional dance (musical theatre). That same year, I moved down to London in order to begin my career as a performer.

            I secured a part for a primary school touring acting company called the ‘West midlands children’s theatre’, which involved being split in to groups of three and touring for three months solid to over 200 primary schools around England, Wales and Ireland. Not only did we act during these shows, but we also managed the set, costume, props, sound, lighting fiancé with the schools and travel. As one of the drivers, I spent up to five hours every day, driving us from one city to another in a transit van. I completed two separate productions within the six months, playing the parts of the ‘princess Samaris’ in ‘Arabian Adventure’ and both the parts of ‘Boris’ and then ‘the scarlet queen’ in ‘The bluebird’.

            Having danced for over twenty years, I began to realise that I wanted to concentrate on acting rather than dancing. I was finding the industry tough in so far as financial security but still wanted to perform. In 2005 I went back in to a two year intensive acting school. I felt that my training at MADD had concentrated mostly on dance and wanted to improve my acting skills. However, after this two year course, as much as I loved performing, I was still feeling disheartened by the lack of security. So in 2007 I went back to Wales to re- think my future career.

            Whilst I was there, I applied for the position of a learning support assistant in the special educational needs department of Penglais School. My intention was to find a temporary job while I could decide on the direction I wanted to take, however I was surprised to discover how much I enjoyed working in a school. My previous experience working with children in the drama classes I took definitely helped and I found myself to be confident in a classroom situation. As much as I enjoyed working in the SEN department, I soon began to miss performing and was therefore delighted when I was approached to help choreograph the school’s end of year performance of ‘Oliver!’ During this period I knew that my true calling was teaching performing arts. I had the security I had desired, working in a school but without having to completely leave the industry I have loved since the age of two!

I moved back to London in 2010 having secured a new job as a teaching assistant in the SEN department of Eltham hill Technology College for girls. My employers were very keen to take me on due to my experience in both SEN and performing arts. I currently teach a group of students a musical theatre class once a week and a drama class once a week. My goal is to become a qualified dance and drama teacher and I have therefore begun a fifteen month course at Middlesex university in order to obtain a degree in Professional Pracice to enable me to achieve this.

I’m passionate about educating children and I hope to become a successful GCSE dance and drama teacher and help other people to enjoy the industry I have loved for so long.