What are you up to in your creative work at the moment?  

I am currently in my first year of training at The Urdang London on the BA Dance and Musical Theatre course. I am loving the excellent professional training provided at Urdang. Every day is challenging, physically and mentally but it is incredibly rewarding. 

What are the highlights of your arts career to date?

The most recent pieces of new work I was part of were two pieces which I performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019. I performed in a piece called ‘Ctrl Alt Z’, about a lady caring for her mother with Alzheimer’s and ‘Anka’s Story’, about Anka Bergman’s journey through WW2 and the birth of her baby, Eva on the train to Mauthausen concentration camp.

For one of the performances, Eva joined us in Edinburgh and narrated our piece, telling her mother’s story. This was a moment which I will never forget. When I graduate, I definitely want to be part of creative contemporary theatre and physical theatre as well as musicals. I loved using dance to tell a story and I try to take this into my own practice. 

What do you hope to be doing in five years time?

Upon graduation in 2022, I hope to be auditioning in the industry for work. I am very open to a variety of shows and work. I have also written a book on the history of musical theatre which I hope to edit and publish sometime in the near future. In the future, I also hope to do some training in dance-based fitness instructor teaching to compliment my performing.

I drum in my spare time and hope to develop these skills which will be very useful to me as actor musicianship is ever-growing in the creative industry and there are few female drummers who are musical theatre performers.

Which level(s) of Arts Award did you do, and how did you use it to develop your creativity or skills?

I completed my Bronze Silver and Gold Arts Award. I gained my Gold three years ago when I was 15. Being so young doing the Gold Arts Award was definitely very challenging, however I gained so many leadership and teaching skills from producing and choreographing my own show. 

Also, being proactive and finding out about opportunities and workshops when I did the Arts Award is serving me very well now. For instance, I recently got the opportunity to train with Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures. The Arts Award helped me develop a drive that I have to be employable in all disciplines, whether that’s working within musical theatre, dance, acting for stage or screen. I am pushing myself to excel in all areas and developing my skillset as a highly versatile performer. 

What advice would you give to young people doing Arts Award who want to follow in your footsteps?

I would advise them to just get involved! Whist completing my Arts Award I was working on so many creative projects and then after the award whilst at sixth form, I did many shows, musicals, plays, dance shows as well as workshops in directing for theatre and screen acting. I believe that all of this training and experience only adds to making yourself a well rounded performer. 

Read more interviews with Arts Award alumi. If you've recently finished your Arts Award and want to let us know what you're up to, drop Nici the Arts Editor an email.