Amie Reid's Northern Ballet Offer

Hi everyone,

After two years at Moorland International Ballet Academy and two years with Northern Ballet School, I am looking to complete my training and take my first steps in the ballet industry with Northern Ballet Company. Any support you can give would be very appreciated! read on for more information on my journey.

It has been a long time since I started my last go fund me to help me get to Moorland International Ballet Academy (now known as Mentors in Ballet Education). I was so appreciative of all your support and I really enjoyed dancing there. I got to really work on my skills and my craft - it had been my ambition for such a long time to be able to dance all day, everyday; and I enjoyed that so much at Moorland. I took part in their gala events, International competitions, attended dance conventions and worked with award winning choreographers.

After two years at Moorland, I moved to Northern Ballet School in Manchester, here I undertook a Level 6 Diploma in Professional Dance. In recognition of the experience I had, I started the course in Year 2 and successfully completed in the course in two years.

I also took part in 6 college performances, two move it! conventions, CDMT performances, achieved distinction in Advanced 1 RAD ballet exam and was invited to receive coaching from Lynn Wallis OBE at the Royal Academy of Dance.

I have just graduated from Northern Ballet School, which was a really special occasion and I am very proud of all my hard work.

You can see the NBs performance, at the Move It Dance convention, of Shattered calm choreographed by Ryan Upton here.

I have now been offered a place at Northern Ballet's Professional Graduate programme, this programme is designed to bridge the gap between full-time training and professional experience. Lots of companies ask for professional experience to even audition with them. This programme will help me gain professional experience and provide support that will help me take my first steps in my professional dancing career.

I was offered graduate programmes from places such as Acosta Dance and Ballet Cymru, but I felt that the reputation that The Northern Ballet Company holds would benefit me the most.

It is a very well regarded course and Northern Ballet are one of the UK's biggest dance companies. Based in Leeds, Northern Ballet's repertoire is focused on creating new full-length narrative-driven theatrical dance productions with an emphasis on story telling. Taking their cues from popular culture, theatre, film, literature and opera, Northern Ballet develop new and original productions such as The Little Mermaid, Jane Eyre, The Great Gatsby, Casanova or George Orwell’s 1984. Plus, several of its ballets which were created especially for children have even been adapted for CBeebies!

I am incredibly excited to be accepting a place on this course, I started my ballet journey with the academy of Northern Ballet associates, travelling up and down the M62 every Sunday to Leeds for 2 years to have the chance to dance with them. However, as with most things in the ballet world, this opportunity comes at a cost. The course itself is £3900 and the student accommodation approximately £6000, and given that this is a non-traditional route of education/training, I am not eligible for student loans.

So I am asking for any help that people can give in supporting to take this opportunity with Northern Ballet and venturing into the world of professional dance.

Thanks

Amie