What in your daily practice gets you really enthusiastic to find out more about?
I’m currently performing with a very diverse cast who come quite different backgrounds and training. This in itself is interesting for me to discover where there styles and techniques have come from. Hearing from other performers around me about their accomplishments and how they achieved them is interesting and I don’t mind taking advice from them either. Even after five years working professionally there are always going to be more experienced performers than me so I see every meeting as an opportunity to learn something new.
I am currently looking for an agent and one of the performers I’m working with suggested his friend in London. Shortly after this he invited his friend along to one of our performances and afterwards I was able to meet face to face with him. Now after sending all of my details off I’ve been given the opportunity to go to London and meet with him to discuss representation further.
There are so many agencies out their and knowing which one is the right one for me. I guess this has been the main reason why I haven’t had an agent for some time. My first mistake with my previous agent was signing with them because they approached me. I guess I felt flattered and didn’t research the company enough to make the best decision for me. On reflection this rash decision has a significant impact on my professional decisions and proved at times stressful. This for me is an experience that I don’t want to encounter again so I am trying to take a more educated approach looking into the future. Admiring the talent of this other performer and seeing their accomplishments has led me to explore their recommendation so hopefully this will be a positive step for me in the New Year! This past experience has left me with the question what should I be looking for in an agent as a Performer?
What gets you angry or makes you sad?
What makes me angry is when I find myself in an audition having done everything possible to get the job then outside factors get in the way. I have found since I graduated five years ago many different prejudices against performers. Where you graduated shouldn't matter and most of the time hasn't come into the equation for me when auditioning.
It’s not always what you know but who you know which I find frustrating. I love tap and I know I'm good at it. A few months ago I was in an audition in London and the head dancer said I was excellent when in came to my tap solo. So when it came time for the final cut I thought I was in with a good chance. Unfortunately the only five dancers that got through were clearly friends with the choreographer and had come dressed the same having been planned beforehand! Three of which couldn't perform a simple triple time step and break! This left me feeling deflated and helpless. I like the quote Elizabeth Eastman found from the National Council of Drama Training, that trained performers work professionally for an average of just 11.3 weeks of the year. It isn't well paid either. Apart from a handful at the very top of the profession. "I say if performing jobs were easy to attain then half the fun is lost. When you want something so badly I find I work even harder because I have such a passion for it. On reflection the true measure of success for me is the satisfaction when I’m on stage and the unmistakeable feeling I get of fulfilment. No matter how long or short that time frame may be! I am now in a great 1930's style show called Puttin on the Ritz which is filled with fantastic choreography including lots of tap. So I eventually got to where I wanted to be just not the way I first thought.
It’s not always what you know but who you know which I find frustrating. I love tap and I know I'm good at it. A few months ago I was in an audition in London and the head dancer said I was excellent when in came to my tap solo. So when it came time for the final cut I thought I was in with a good chance. Unfortunately the only five dancers that got through were clearly friends with the choreographer and had come dressed the same having been planned beforehand! Three of which couldn't perform a simple triple time step and break! This left me feeling deflated and helpless. I like the quote Elizabeth Eastman found from the National Council of Drama Training, that trained performers work professionally for an average of just 11.3 weeks of the year. It isn't well paid either. Apart from a handful at the very top of the profession. "I say if performing jobs were easy to attain then half the fun is lost. When you want something so badly I find I work even harder because I have such a passion for it. On reflection the true measure of success for me is the satisfaction when I’m on stage and the unmistakeable feeling I get of fulfilment. No matter how long or short that time frame may be! I am now in a great 1930's style show called Puttin on the Ritz which is filled with fantastic choreography including lots of tap. So I eventually got to where I wanted to be just not the way I first thought.
When I was younger in auditions I’ve been told I didn’t have enough experience or I wasn’t old enough. These are factors that can’t be helped and at least in time have become less important and I don’t mind the idea of looking too young its the idea that one day I may become too old that concerns me.
One question that keeps being brought to my attention is how long can I keep on performing and at what age is too old to attend to dance auditions? I’m only twenty four so I know that this may be some time off but the constant reminder of younger performers coming out of training and straight into auditions means the competition is ever increasing. When does youth become more important than experience?Who do you admire who shares your feelings or has found away to work around the
sadness or anger?
I really admire mature performers dancers in particular who still train hard fighting to stay in the business making it work for them. A couple of years ago I went to watch a Show in Blackpool called Forbidden, all of the performers looked stunning and I was surprised to learn that one of the lead dancers was over forty. She definitely was able to hold her own keeping up with the younger performers in the show. Looking back now I wonder because she has been in the show for some years if she were to try and audition for another show would her age hinder her in anyway?
Many auditions seem to have age restrictions and I do understand why they are put in place. Let’s say for a moment I am a thirty year old performer and the age restriction for a job I felt capable of doing was twenty five. What’s stopping me auditioning if I still look twenty five and feel physically able? I have more experience to bring to the part but my age is even stopping me get an audition to prove my abilities. Why couldn’t it be guideline age rather than yet another obstruction? I can see the need for height restrictions but why for age as long as we are honest with ourselves and don't apply unrealistically where is the harm?
What do you love about what you do?
As a performer I love the energy from the audience that spurs me on to give more even when I feel I haven’t got anymore left to give. I love the sound of the music when I’m on stage and the sense of bringing a show to life. I enjoy the feelings of complete exhaustion which follows an overwhelming sense of achievement following a show .For me performance is not just a career it’s a way of life. The experiences I’m left with after performing are ones that I can look back on to lift my mood if I ever feel deflated or disappointed. Having experiences to look back on helps me to move forward I have realised that there are no mistakes only discoveries. They may not all be perfect but there worth having to understand.
Who do you admire who also seems to love this or is an example of what you love?
I admire the work of Dame Margot Fonteyn. Ever since I can remember at school and at home I would love to watch her work and talk about her career. Just from reading her autobiography I found some quotes which say exactly how I have felt at some point in my career.
This is so true I can take life and work to seriously at times making it easy to get to consumed in emotions forgetting why I'm a performer in the first place.
"Great artists are people who find the way to be themselves in their art. Any sort of pretension induces mediocrity in art and life alike."
Staying true to myself in all areas of life has led to me having supportive people around me who accept me for who I am and allow me to express myself freely. Margot seemed to have respect from artists and audiences all over the world even if there were alleged imperfections in her personal life this never seemed to affect her professional reputation.
"Life offstage has sometimes been a wilderness of unpredictables in an unchoreographed world."
"Genius is another word for magic, and the whole point of magic is that it is inexplicable."
Margot Fonteyn was able to continue dancing well into her forty’s which is considered old by today’s standards for a Prima Ballerina and even when she died in 1991 her legacy still remains. This is why I admire Margot because she continued to stay connected to dance throughout her life even when she stopped performing it wasn't the end but a start of a new chapter.
What do you feel you don’t understand?
I don’t understand unprofessionalism in other performers. Time keeping is a real bug bear for me I know to some time this might not seem important but for me I think it has such a huge impact on everything else. Its such a basic principal we all learn very early on in our training if we let that slip then what else are we loosing without realising. Were taught to start with the basics and then progress this is the foundation for everything else to rest on. Are there some performers who are so talented that the smaller things get over looked because they are seen a special? Is it right to have one rule for one then make allowances which undermines the whole concept for another?
1.Eastman,Elizabeth,”Inquiry Task”Elizabeth’s Blog.19 Dec 2010.
2. Margot Fonteyn, Autobiography (New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1976) at 3-4 (ancestry), 50
("Fonteyn").
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