Work Experience: Discovering Careers in Dance

I love dancing and I’ve admired The Place’s happy and supportive attitude for years now, and I could not be happier than to have tasted working in such a lovely environment.

I am unsure of what I want to do as a career and this weighs heavily on me, as I dislike uncertainty. But I can say truthfully that my week of work experience at The Place has left me with ideas of specific jobs I would enjoy doing, which is a massive comfort.

My time at The Place has left me with a heightened appreciation for the troops behind the scenes, and immense gratitude for how hard everyone works to allow us to dance. I truly did not understand the amount of work that goes into running any dance school or theatre, and there was no better place to learn than one of the nicest and busiest in the world.

The reason I applied to this placement is that I fear a boring, soulless office 9-5. But I could tell that The Place offices are actually passionate about what they do, surrounded by such a beautifully passionate art form. Nearly all the staff have performing arts experience and training, which is so nice to see in a dance school. I had a lot of fun doing data input and creating timetables, which I know many people find boring. Also, I loved the fact that the admin aspect I enjoy was combined with dance.

Before my work experience, I was aware of the basics of theatre technicians’ work. I was familiar with the fact that one does not anger the stage manager and of the general respect we dancers have for the tech crew. But I was not aware of the sheer depth of knowledge, the skill required of a theatre technician. I toured the stockroom, backstage, the control panels in the wings, and the tech control room, completely in awe. Spending an hour with Marco taught me more than I had learned in 14 years of performing.

Similarly, the costume department is like a fairytale. I love fashion history and costume analysis, and discussing this with experts was a privilege. The costume store is like in The Devil Wears Prada and organising it by colour and item was one of my favourite tasks from this week. But my favourite part was discussing tutus, as I plan to make one for an EPQ at school. Emma from costume showed me one she had made and explained the anatomy of it, and even gave me links to a tutorial to help my project. I always adore the costume area of any theatre or production, and this was like no other. Some of the pieces have been in that store since The Place was founded in the 70s!

Watching LCDS classes was inspiring, and it was interesting to see inside of the day-to-day at a dance university. The teachers are so knowledgeable, that ‘sitting out’ and taking notes was truly beneficial.

Overall, I genuinely enjoyed working here. The people are all so lovely and passionate about what they do, that I truly looked forward to it every day. I am so grateful to all the departments that explained their work so nicely and made me feel so welcome.

By Grace Mooney