February 28, 2020

My name is Lola and I’m currently in year 10 at Birmingham Ormiston Academy, doing work experience with DanceXchange for the week.

I started off the week with the tour of the building and taking a quiz on DanceXchange, to then later meet with Jamaal, BIDF participation producer. I discussed ideas on potential barriers, ways to document the process, and potential memorial pieces to remember the experience. This was good as I got to see part of the process of forming events such as BIDF.

The next few days I got to meet new people and talk about their jobs in the industry and the route they took to get to where they are now – I enjoyed this as it helped give me ideas of what I may want to do in the future. As well as this I got to work on tasks such as the use of social media to promote BIDF, potential new classes, and help with preparations for the upcoming U-dance event.

On Thursday morning, I also got the opportunity to observe a professional class led by Gary Clarke, which I loved because I got to see the way professional dancers and choreographers work within the industry, definitely inspiring me to push towards their level one day.

On Friday, my last day, I started off by working on the front desk and learning how to sign people into classes throughout the day. Although this wasn’t fully involved with the dance classes, I still enjoyed it as it taught me more skills and gave me further experience in a different area.

I have loved doing work experience here and have gained so much more knowledge throughout the week about the dance industry, how to get in it, and the production side to different events that as a dancer you wouldn’t normally see. Everyone has been so nice and helpful to me throughout the week and I am so thankful for this amazing opportunity.