Wear it Pink

So last week I did my bit for charity and filmed a flash mob in the Oxford Street Primark for the Wear it Pink campaign for breast cancer. I have never done a flash mob before and I've seen them online in many of the viral videos that circulate youtube, so when I saw it advertised I knew I really wanted to do it.

I always believe in participating in charity events and by that I don't mean that you have to put all your money towards it. Going through life as a poor student and living away from home with rent and bills etc, I understand it's not always viable to put half your time or wages into charity but as they say in the asda advert "every little helps" and I think that this quote it definitely is relevant to charity work because if everyone just put in a little bit it can add up to something remarkable and help many people in need. So I tried to do my little bit.

So the morning began with a very early start with my alarm going off bright and early at 5am so my fellow blogger and housemate Bernie had to put up with grumpy Rohanne  (I am really not a morning person). But I managed to eventually force myself out of bed and get ready for the day ahead.

Having previously learned he choreography over video sent to us a few days prior to the event we arrived at our location and were issued with the outfits we were going to wear. These consisted of a "Wear it Pink" t-shirt and a rather cosy and very pink pig onesie as you can see in the photo above modelled fabulously by Bernie and I. We also had some time before the store opened we had time to rehearse the choreography with the other dancers and ensure we had all the right arm and leg positions so we look in sync when it was filmed and prepared for the public. 

So the moment came about half an hour after the store opened when we had to perform our flashmob while it was filmed and it was so much fun! It caught the the unknowing shoppers within the shops attention and made a big impact which I think is very important to charity events. We had the whole thing filmed with cameras around is doing close up and long shots as we had to repeat it a few times over the morning to ensure that the cameramen had got all the shots they wanted as ultimately it is getting made in a online video.

Everyone from shoppers to dancers to staff in the building had a really good time and Ill heres a link to the youtube clip if you would like to have a look!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZjjEi_kDCg

Enjoy!

My First Blog

Right, where to start...

I have never blogged before so it's a completely new experience to me but I have always been silently envious of people who blog regularly and always enjoy reading what people have to say. Starting to write that first blog is definitely the hardest part (which is what I am struggling with right now) you don't know whether what you are doing is right although is there really a right way to start? So I decided just to start from the beginning.

So I am a Scottish girl born and bred in the fair city of Perth where I grew up in the tranquil countryside enjoying the outdoors, getting muddy and playing with animals above the stereotypical young girl activities. I began taking dance classes when I was young because my older sister took classes and my mum thought she would take me along to start some classes too. As a shy child it was a way to bring me out of my shell and make new friends. 

The performing arts wasn't my first career choice from a young age, I seem to have a variety of memories of wanting to be a vet, or an astronaut, or a superstar. None of which have come true unfortunately. I had always thoroughly enjoyed dancing but it wasn't until my local dance teacher at that point noticed a talent in me and started giving me parts in performances and told me I should attend junior associates that I really began to take it seriously.

I went on to attend The Dance School of Scotland. To the right you can see probably not the most flattering photo of a young me in my first year at "DSS". I spent four years there where I learnt so much about dance and met the most amazing people who I grew up with and I am sure I will never lose that friendship which was established with them during those years.

After that I continued my training at Elmhurst School for Dance, which was a totally different from what I had experienced before. When I first went it was a complete reality check. There was people there from all over the world and it was from here on where I slowly began to understand the real world of dance and the hard work and complete dedication you have to put into it. Don't get me wrong, I did work hard before, but I started to realise from here you really have to fight to be given chances and if you want to get a job after graduation you have to stand out from a crowd because the competition is fierce. 

Okay, so all that sounds rough and like it was crazy hard work but it wasn't all bad. I still managed to work hard and have a pretty good social life during my 3 years there which was great fun, especially when I turned 18 and begun to explore the nightlife of bustling Birmingham which very much differed to my country life up in Scotland. 

I have always believed throughout my training that you have have you have to balance working hard and having fun...because you always want to look back on your memories and think "Yeh, I'm glad I pushed myself to become what I am today... and I had a good time while I was doing it."

So that leads me on to where I am now, I have done a few performing jobs here and there which I will probably go on into more detail in future blogs but I am beginning to attempt to achieve the big bad DEGREE. Deciding to do BAPP seemed like the next step in my career and I hope that it will open up more opportunities for my future career. So that is what has motivated me to begin blogging. As I said at the beginning, starting is the hardest part and hopefully from here on in it will become easier and I'll be able to reach my goals. To be honest I didn't even expect to be able to write this much in my first blog!

Meeting the group of people at the induction day who will be joining me on the journey through BAPP elevated my confidence and I am sure that together we will manage to get through this. So I'll keep blogging and now you have had a brief history you all have a better understanding of what has brought me to this point in my life.

Wish me luck.