The Digital Green Room Activity Week 2 – The World of Professional Dance

Welcome to the second Dance Proms Digital Green Room activity week! This activity week will give you an insight into the professional world of

dance. You will have the opportunity to meet people from the industry,

hear their experiences of being involved in the profession and then

log on for a question and answer session with Matt Flint dancer,

choreographer and winner of So You Think You Can Dance and

Christopher Hampson, Artistic Director of Scottish Ballet.

This second event is all about the professional world of dance. Click on the video below to learn about this activity week's theme.

This Week's Communication Tasks

After watching the introductory video and going through all of the content in

this e-book, log on to the Digital Green Room to do the following tasks:

Post a message to someone else in the company (who isn't from your

dance school) to introduce yourself and ask them a question about why they

like to dance. Make sure to check back for an answer and then keep asking

questions!

If you are a student post a question to Matt Flint.

You can do so in the Digital Green Room from

Monday to Wednesday and he will answer them on

Friday so check back. Don't miss this great

opportunity to ask your question to someone who is

at the top of the dance world! Click here to log in now!

If you are a teacher post a question to Christopher

Hampson, Artistic Director of Scottish Ballet. You

can post questions to Christopher in the Digital

Green Room from Monday to Wednesday and he will

answer them on Friday 14th September, so check

back. Don't miss this great opportunity to ask your

question to an internationally renowned

choreographer! Click here to log in now!

Photo Credit: Snooty Fox Images and Andrew Florides.

Masterclass – A Day in the life

Being a professional dancer, and in particular a professional

ballet dancer, requires a great deal of dedication and

discipline.

In these masterclasses Steven McRae, Principal Dancer with

The Royal Ballet, gives an insight into a day in his working life.

You'll see how practice, routine and discipline play a very

important role.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Masterclass - Becoming a Professional In these masterclasses, Lauretta Summerscales, from English

National Ballet, talks about how she became a professional

dancer, what it took to reach the top as well as sharing some top

tips on how to make it in the dance world.

Part 1

Part 2

Jobs in the Dance World

Did you know that out of the

30,000 people employed in the

dance sector only 2,500 are

performers?

Young dancers who dream of a

career that is their passion, often

don’t realize that the dance

profession isn’t just about

performing. There are lots of other

jobs in the industry including dance

teachers, lighting designers, press

and marketing specialists and

producers, to name but a few.

In this section of the e-book, seven

people who work in the dance

industry describe their jobs and what

they do.

The Casting Director – Mark Summers

A casting director is the person

responsible for finding the right

performers. This can mean

actors in a film, dancers in a

music video or singers in a West

End musical.

After talking to the producer and

director about their vision, the

casting director begins the long

process of auditioning hundreds

- if not thousands! - of hopeful

performers before they finally

decide on the right people for the

job.

Mark Summers is regarded as

the pre-eminent casting director

in the UK, particularly in the

performance space. Mark

regularly casts in both North

America and Europe and has

won the British Advertising Craft

Award for Best Casting.

The Lighting Designer – Richard Thomas Richard Thomas is the lighting

manager at the Royal Albert Hall. In

this video, Richard shows us around

the Hall as well as sharing with us

how he got into lighting design and

explaining some of the tricks of his

trade.

The Choreologist/ Dance Notator – Amanda Eyles

Amanda Eyles has been a notator

for over 25 years, regularly working

with major ballet companies around

the world including The Royal

Ballet. I met up with her at the

Royal Opera House to find out

about her job, what dance notation

is and why it is an essential tool in

both the creation of a piece and the

rehearsal and recording processes.

Our Featured Dance Teacher – Susan Robinson

Susan Robinson is the principal

of the Susan Robinson School of

Ballet. Her school was fortunate

enough to be represented at the

Dance Proms in 2011 and will

also be appearing in this year’s

performance at the Royal Albert

Hall in November. In this video,

Susan talks about how, when her

career as a professional dancer

came to an end, teaching

became the next step for her.

The Producer. Jo is the producer

for the Dance Proms. “A producer

can have all sorts of roles, but for

this show I am concentrating on

preparing the practical side of things.

I meet with an event manager at the

Royal Albert Hall and also with

experts in lighting, sound and dance

floors to make sure the show looks

and sounds great. I put a lot of

timetables together to make sure the

rehearsals and performances run

smoothly! It’s also my responsibility

to plan the backstage space so that

the performers have what they need.

Then, on the day, I will be at the

Royal Albert Hall very, very early to

make

sure everything we’ve planned

actually happens on time. And I

won’t get home until very late,

after everything has been

dismantled and we’ve tidied up.”

Project Manager. Christopher is

the Dance Proms project

manager. “Perhaps the three key

skills required of a project

manager within the dance sector

are an aptitude for engaging with

others, an understanding of how

dancers and the dance world

function and the ability to be

adaptable and respond to the

unexpected!

As Dance Proms project manager,

my role is to mastermind the project

in line with the artistic vision, aims

and objectives of the four partners

involved. This involves arranging and

chairing regular executive, artistic

and marketing/publicity meetings,

liaising between the various groups

as well as with the producer and the

Royal Albert Hall, ensuring income

and expenditure meet budgeted

targets, and generally ensuring that

everything goes according to plan.

As a freelancer, my days can vary

enormously – I have spent two hours

on a train in deepest Wiltshire on my

Blackberry emailing to Portugal,

Blackpool and London about Dance

Proms matters, I have also spent 18

hours over two days in south west

London looking at Dance Proms

videos.”

Digital Outreach Manager. “Hi, my

name is Jon and it is my job to create

all of the educational content that

supports a production. That could

include the

creation and distribution of

education packs,

sending practitioners into

schools or

developing

resources

that can be

accessed

on our

website.

With Dance

Proms, I had to create a

curriculum for the company to

follow. My aim was to help the

Dance Proms Company become

just that…a company, and to

help them prepare for the

performance. I did this by

devising the e-books that have

been published including

videoing and editing all of the

masterclass videos. I also

created all of the pages and

discussion topics in the Digital

Green Room. I get a lot of

pleasure out of creating this

content and hope that you as the

user find it both helpful and

enjoyable to use.”