October 11, 2019

Hi, my name is Ellie and I’m in Year 11 at Kinver High school. I have been dancing since the age of 3 and train in all styles: contemporary, commercial, ballet, tap etc. Currently I am working towards my teacher qualification in dance which I’ll be taking in May 2020.  My ambition is to perform with a company for a few years and then hopefully own my own dance studio and this is why I decided that DanceXchange would be the best place to take my work experience, so I can see what happens behind the scenes.

Let me tell you all about my week here at DanceXchange!

Monday: I was warmly welcomed by a member of the department and then was showed a tour of the building by Sue. After trying to find myself around the place I was then given a quiz to complete which was easier than I expected. Throughout the morning I had short chats with each member of staff which was truly enjoyable to understand each role and what they have to do. After lunch I was assigned an important task by Natalia … organising costumes. Surprisingly it was fun to see the variety of costumes used for different shows in addition to this I started to create a costume book for DanceXchange so it would be easier to recognise costumes they had. As an extension task ready for Day 3 I was given a Digital Marketing Apprentice Interview task by Clare which was very fun to complete.

Tuesday: I worked in the finance department with Reza and to begin with he showed me a walk-through of the Ticketsolve software on how to take bookings from customers.  I learned to complete sheets for how many transactions were done by card and cash.  I then learned the studio hire process where I had to  file and record the sales invoices. Later I carried on working on the costume book.

Wednesday: I worked in the marketing department. I began with a chat with Zara about Monday’s task and about what her job involved the performances at Birmingham hippodrome. Zara gave me loads of tasks including: plans for classes, planning Instagram stories and digital marketing plans for ‘The Little Prince’, the Christmas show at DanceXchange. Afterwards I had a talk with Shekinah, who showed me a social media plan to help me with posting on Instagram and Facebook. Then we started to talk about my headshot and video that will be used on the DX social media pages as well as going into Rob’s pro class on Thursday morning to do some recording and photos.

Thursday: My work with Zara and Shekinah was very helpful  in helping me to start my recording of Robert Hemming pro class, looking at his choreography and taking snapshots of different movements. It was very exciting to see a different style and new dancers, who were amazing by the way, I would really recommend the pro classes at DX. After finishing in Rob’s class I went into studio 2 to practice of my own routine. Then after 10 minutes’… we were ready to record. Before we left studio 2 Shekinah took my headshot for the DX website. I worked on my Instagram story which took quite a while to get it perfect. To finish the day, I distributed class timetables and performance books around DX and Birmingham Hippodrome.

Friday: In the morning I met Oli Russel as I was filming his open adult contemporary class. While watching his class it inspired me to try dancing in a variety of ways that may be unusual or unique. After filming his class, I used the material to make an Instagram story for DanceXchange’s Instagram. Then I managed to create the folder for the costume book that I’ve been working on all week.

Overall I’ve had a fantastic week at DX, working with so many new people that I won’t forget. I have made so many memorable experiences and I would highly recommend choosing DX for a work placement.