Life Update
Heya,
I recently revisited my website and realised a lot has actually changed since 2018 when I created it for my Bachelor degree. That was a long year full of ups and downs; travelling for auditions, 3rd year stress and lots of uncertainty. After my graduation, I accepted an offer to join the professional graduate program at Northern Ballet in Leeds. Going back to basics and training "Yoko" style was definitely a change but so rewarding. After 3 months of what was meant to be a year program, I was offered a Corps des Ballet contract with The Baltic Opera Ballet in Gdansk, Poland. I had two weeks to pack up my belongings and move from the UK to Poland. I signed my contract on the 8th of November and started working on the 9th, my birthday, and since then have been dancing professionally with Opera Baltycka. It was the best birthday present ever haha.
Working life is so different from school. you have different things to focus on and the goal at the end of the day is to put a show together and perform on stage, not to get a job. As dancing is now my work and I am able to do what I love every day, I have had time to realise a lot about myself. I have learnt that it is so important to also have a normal life and to be able to separate yourself from work so that when you go to work you can feel inspired, reenergised, and refocused. Finding other hobbies outside of dance, spending time with friends, looking after your health and having life experience is so important and can really benefit your career if done in the right way. Of course, you want to be as consistent as possible but since being able to dance as my full-time job, I feel like I can be a normal human and have feelings, not just be a robot in school, this really is what can influence your growth as a dancer. Being true to yourself, accepting that every day is a new day with new hurdles and finding out how to overcome these is now your daily challenges. You do have a voice to say how you feel if you need too, communication is key. This has all taken me two years to realise and now I am still figuring out how to turn these thoughts into actions. When I look back to when I first joined the company, I was so timid and scared. I'm very lucky my bosses were patient... Now I can see that things have changed a bit and I am more settled. I am still learning and it’s still a challenge to be more confident but now I have a clearer picture of what I want to achieve so now it’s just about breaking down the walls to find new opportunities....
So yeah guess that’s where my life is at now!
* Photo above taken by Jon Castillo 2020.
* Please also note that I collaborated with my cousin, Riannon Sernek - Graphic Designer, to design the logo for my website.