Maybe One More...

Ok so from doing some research I have found something else I admire an organisation called Kidscape. This organisation aim to promote a positive attitude to all young people, keeping young people safe is their main priority and if they can't preventing them from being abused or bullied they will help the child through the trauma they have had to deal with. At some point in my life I want to be a Drama Therapist. This sort of organisation is why, helping young people is something I love to do, the passion and commitment a 'tearaway teen' can give is over whelming and something that I get a great buzz from.

Got one...

Emma Bunton - I think this might be a bit of a random choice however I'm watching The Xtra Factor at the moment and she’s on the panel. I admire Emma Bunton as she went from being a normal girl to being a worldwide star however she kept her ground and stayed true to her family and friends. When I was 5 my oldest sister turned 18, Emma Bunton attended her birthday party as she was one of her friends at the time, I obviously can remember very little and at about 10pm ended up falling asleep on Emma's lap, this was my claim to fame for a very long time - how many people can say they took a nap on a Spice Girl?! Since then my sister and Emma have unfortunately not kept in touch however through her family my Dad sometimes gets updates on how she is doing, even in papers Emma was never a person to stumble out of clubs drunk or have numerous amounts of affairs. As I write this I'm sure some of you are going to think I'm mad but I prefer to admire things that I can achieve and being successful however grounded at the same time is something that I hope I can manage. Emma came from Finchley so do I, her favourite restaurant was Chix Chox - I had lunch there yesterday, if one Finchley girl can do it why can't another?

People I Admire...

I'm sitting here struggling to think about just one person who I admire. I do not feel that I admire one person in particular, however I'm trying to think of a reason to admire a person. The obvious would have to be my Mum however I'm not sure that my admiration for her is something that I feel I want to write in detail about on the Internet. I will say that my Mum is a strong person - probably the strongest I know will always stand by me and my decisions however ridiculous. I'm quite often surprised when she doesn't shout at me for being so ridiculous and tell me to reign it in and be sensible however I feel she thinks this is something of a charming trait that I have, that she feels has come from her and I would defiantly agree. Other then my Mum I'm going to have a long hard think about it...

Great News...

Whilst typing up my 'Top 5 Resources' I came across this article on The Stage website...


http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/25810/exclusive-government-proposes-total-ban-on

Top 5 Resources...

The Casting Website is a fantastic way to get locations of auditions quickly and efficiently. They send you links through your email address every time there are audition around where you live. The website is run by a man called Rob Earnshaw even following him on Twitter could land you with a job. Its really useful to know what sort of jobs are on offer and the sort of people companies are looking for. Although not the most reliable way to get a job it could just be that one lucky email that gets you your big break so I'm always willing to give it a go.


The Stage is another great way of hearing about auditions. It also includes reviews and articles about whats going on in the Performing Arts world such as any new performances or maybe old ones that needed a bit of jazzing up! The Stage can sometimes be a pain to get hold of none of the paper shops where I live stock it so the easiest way to get hold of it is probably by subscribing to it - which you can do online or in paper form. You know The Stage is a reliable source so its great to check the auditions out each week and maybe have a go at them.

The Southbank Centre are is a great place to keep an eye on for interesting performances. Rather then finding auditions or jobs this is a great place to go and appreciate the arts that each of us are interested in. They have loads of different performances all year round, they also have great exhibitions for short periods of time throughout the centre. In January I visited the centre to view and exhibition called 'Operation Soapbox' although at the time I was freezing (it was snowing) and tired as we had been walking round all day seeing this exhibition really helped towards the BNP performance we did in March 2009.

I've literally only just come across this website - I'm not actually sure what its call but seen as my plan is to become a drama teacher I felt the title was pretty relevant - "Issues in Drama Teaching". I love just typing in to Google some random thoughts and seeing what it comes up with - sometimes complete rubbish but other times you can discover some really interesting articles, like this one, so I suppose the Internet - mainly Google is a great resource that I probably use every day!

Books of any description. Although I wouldn't describe myself as some sort of book worm I'm sometimes prone to browse through one if the front cover looks interesting, when I say books I would probably be tempted to include magazines and newspapers too. A lot of the time I just cast them to one side however every now and again there is an article or advert that catches my eye and really interests me. Books will always be the old school method of research but in a way I like it like that - I sometimes find it more in sighting then the Internet and also a lot more rewarding!

Snaps...

Here are a few images from

"Make Your Mark"

Experience and Qualifications...

Personal Experience

1994 - 2004 Chicken Shed Performances

Shows in Chicken Shed's Cockfosters Theatre:
The Night Before Christmas with Alice
Arthur
Anansi
Oriah the Mountain Dreamer
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Pinocchio
Animal Farm
Peter Pan
25th Anniversary Cabaret

Performances outside The Chicken Shed Theatre:
The Greatest Love - The Royal Albert Hall
The Queen Mother's 100th Birthday - Lords Cricket Ground
The Queen's Golden Jubilee - The Mall
Spice Girls Concert - Wembley Arena

2007 - 2009 Foundation Degree Performances

First Year:

"The Seagull" - Arkadina
"The Flying Doctor" - Pantalone
FMP Various Performances - Rehearsed Reading

Second Year:

"Call It!" - Risk Assessor
"Make Your Mark" - Main BNP Supporter
FMP Performances - "Horst Buchholz and Other Stories" - Jules
"Your Royal Chavness" - Sinead

Qualifications

10 A-C GCSE's
AVCE Media Communication and Production - CC
A-Level Film Studies - C
Foundation Degree - Merit

Personal Statement...

At the age of six I joined a local establishment called The Chicken Shed Theatre Company, the sessions were held weekly in a church hall in Palmers Green. Each session consisted of dancing, acting and singing - singing and acting being my preferred subjects. As I grew as a performer so did the company taking us to the fantastic theatre they stand in today at Cockfosters.

The company already had good communication with the outside world, each performer was their own person allowing everyone to have the parts they deserved. My first show was “The Night Before Christmas with Alice“. From my sisters being part of the company I already knew what hard work the rehearsals were going to be. I gained the part of the Ace of Spades.

Throughout the years at Chicken Shed I learnt some valuable lessons in performing on stage - I am the only person who can make myself look good, working as a company was down to each individual and it was down to those individuals to make the show work. We were given some great guidance from people such as Mary Ward - Director, Jo Collins - Vocal, Christine Nearing - Chorography and many more, each of them showing us different ways to express our emotions, channelling our energy into performance. I do feel that my love for performing has made me the person I am today, allowing my confidence to grow and my personality to shine through a sometimes frosty exterior.

As I got older I got more established roles in shows allowing me to blossom on stage. I hungered to study acting full time however at the age of 12 my father was determined to send me to mainstream school to get a ‘proper’ education - which in Heinz sight was probably the best choice. I continued to attend Chicken Shed throughout my teenage years, however was forced to leave due to the location of my 6th form college - the two hour journey from my house to college made it impossible to attend any of the evening sessions that were held at Chicken Shed - this part of my life I refer to as ‘growing up‘.

I chose to study Media Production at college as I felt that this could also play a part in my performing career. Unfortunately I did not use my skills as often as possible yet on the plus side I am now able to add camerawork, directing, production work and editing experience to my CV. Over the 3 years that I studied Media my love for acting called and I yearned to get back on stage, if I ever went to see a performance I wanted to be the one on the credits, taking the bow, I used to et rather upset about the whole situation as I felt that I had left my passion behind. I watched my classmates excel in various production fields but I myself could never find a nook in Media that I fitted into, in short I wanted to be studying Acting and singing not Media.

Having dropped out of my first year at Leeds University I took it upon myself to get back into education and find my passion, this is when I discovered the Foundation Degree at Barnet College. It seemed like the perfect course - it was close to my home and I would be studying Performing Arts.

Starting the course in September 2007 I felt very overwhelmed I hadn’t performed in front of people in such a long time I was unsure if I could do it anymore, with the guidance of a couple of great teachers and a fantastic group of classmates I soon realised that a piece of me had been returned I tried my hand at everything - although I was never that good at making an idea come to life I successfully wrote a comedy script for my FMP which from the feedback I was given proved to be a hit with the audience allowing me to obtain a distinction for that module.


I am due to have a baby on 22nd December 2009 so feel that this course is perfect for me, once our baby girl is born I plan on pursuing a teaching career with a little stage life involved while I achieve my qualifications. My passions is Acting and my interest in teaching as grow remarkably over the past two years. I feel that sharing my day with student who share my love for the Performing Arts would be something of a dream come true.

ANNOYING...

It's annoying me that I can't wirte more on my 'About Me' section...a sign that I talk too much?!

Wow...

Just started adding my fellow BAPP students, in all honesty I'm a little bit jealous!!! Well jealous may be a little strong, envoius?! but not in the bitter sence of the word, it's fantastic that I will hopefully be building relationships with such experienced people that are dedicated to their art. It's great to see that I seem to be on the right track with the 'blogging' and look foward to hearing more from everyone. x

The Guardian Stage...

The Guardian Stage is a fantastic resource for people in the Performing Arts field, its full of great blogs about a variety of subjects. The fantastic thing about this blog is the various stories they cover, the fact that they are written by various people also makes it really interesting because its so many people opinions. I found an interesting post on The Guardian's blog the other day - titled "How Do You Describe Great Acting?" just the titled interested me because how do you? I even stated to one of my teachers in my induction at university that how am I supposed to write about something that I was people to experience, I wasn't sure that my writing skills would be able to adjust to interest people enough for them to read my blog - performing on stage is a much easier way to grab people's attention because immediately our attention is caught when something on stage moves, but what about a static computer screen?

Chicken Shed...

I have just realised from reading over my page that all I mention is The Chicken Shed Theatre Company, some people may not be aware of what it is. Chicken Shed is a fantastic organisation that offers the performing arts world to everyone and anyone who want to embrace it. Their work is based in Cockfosters however over the 35 years they have been around the company has been able to spread its wings and reach across the country with outreach projects and base satellite 'Sheds' in places such as Russia. Working with disabled people is something that has always inspired me, people sometimes react badly to things that are different and especially to people that are different but that is what I find so inspiring. From being part of Chicken Shed I have learnt to embrace differences as a positive thing and learn from them rather then reject them.

"I Am In Love With The World"

This was 'I Am In Love With The World' - Chicken Shed's tribute to Princess Diana. It was a great experience and we even got to perform it on Top of The Pops.

Setting up is never easy...

Things always seem easier when someone is explaining them, I though I had this whole blogging thing sussed, sadly not but it's quite fun having a go with everything!!