Even though it’s not been long since my last post, the usual madness of life here has left a gaping hole in which a general update will happily fill.

First bit of news is that my Dance UK summer placement is all confirmed and sorted. I’m going to be spending two weeks on a general placement, getting to experience all the areas of the organisation. I decided to apply for the placement for several reasons. I have always liked to keep my options open when it comes to future plans, hence why I did A levels before going into dance training, thus an opportunity to find out more about other areas of the industry seemed like the ideal option. Also, the nerdy part of me is particularly enjoying my student gov role at the mo and also misses the theoretical/writing/organisational side of life and in this way I can indulge all I like in this. I’m really excited to spend a fortnight in London pretending to do a ‘grown ups’ job, to then go and dance for two weeks with NYDC at Sadler’s Wells….ooooh I’m excited just thinking about it!

I mentioned my student gov role. A couple of weekends ago, I met three other students from the CDD to discuss what life was like in the conservatoire for them and get a general consensus from what students in each of their own schools had to say. It is amazing how similar our experiences of the industry are, and is something I feel is very unique to the CDD. Although the performance industry is evidently hugely rich and diverse in it’s content, we were able to compare stories of injuries, long days and each of our pathways that have lead us to where we are now. We agreed that this is something the CDD can use to it’s advantage and use as a tool to bring students together…there’s such a huge pool of experience to share and a potential for a network of student that can support each other to explore the industry.

Two new experiences too. The first is of writing a review. I went to see Two-faced dance company not knowing I would be writing a piece on the performance. In a way, I’m glad I didn’t know as the pressure to remember everything may have caused me to focus on less important details. I had a brilliant evening. The work shown was hugely physical and reminded me of the kind of work that first inspired me. They held nothing back and were completely unapologetic about the fact they seemed to just love throwing themselves across the stage. I did however, make a rookie error in my first review writing experience (!!!!) sending it off assuming that it would be edited. How wrong was I?! The article on the website is exactly how I sent it, which serves to be pretty embarrassing based on the grammatical inaccuracies that cover it like some kind of disease. Oh well- live and learn as they say and I’ll know for next time. The link to my slightly novice review is here: link to review..

Another new experience is not particularly related to dance, although I do hope it will have an impact. I did my first ever Duathalon at the Velopark in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. This arose from a conversation I’d had with my dad. My interest in dance arwith my interest in pushing the bodies limits, yet pushing the mind too, but sometimes I have missed the extreme limit pushing of my body and burning my competitive fire that is hard to get from anything but sport, hence I turned up on the cold Sunday morning. It was brilliant! I’m not sure whether I now have more awareness of my body, but I actually weirdly enjoyed the utter exhaustion I experienced. The two mile run- 10 mile bike – 1 mile run combination left me with a feeling in my legs I don’t think I’ve ever felt and it was hugely satisfying knowing I genuinely couldn’t have pushed my body any further. I hope doing this kind of thing will help my training as it gives me a chance to do something completely separate (as it’s important for me to get out of the dance bubble sometimes) and also remember how far I can really push myself. On a side note, that same Duathalon is annoyingly the reason this blog is being published now, my body didn’t take kindly to the extreme exercise it seems and I have been pretty much bed bound today.

Another exciting happening was a talk I went to by Professor Steve Peters ran by the School of Life on his book all about his Chimp Paradox Theory. I hadn’t read the book beforehand but knew a lot about his concept. Although the evening was a little rushed, he had some very striking concepts. He spoke of whether, as a parent of a child, you would still be proud of them if they came home with an A for effort and an E for attainment. Of course, the audience agreed they would. Immediately, he fired back, questioning why we don’t do the same for ourselves. I found this very relevant to dancers. Often, with a culture for perfectionism which creates the amazing results we see, I see myself and my peers sometime lose sight of the effort they put in rather than the outcome which in many ways is irrelevant.

Lastly, just wanted to draw attention to the incredible work of some of my peers. Rhyss Dennis, in my year has choreographed the new music video for Clean Bandit’s newest song. It includes himself along with a number of other people from my year. So exciting to have the pleasure of sharing the same school with these guys. The video can be found here: http://youtu.be/_c_n0A3BFVE

Have a happy week…
Hannah