Kaitlyn Dancing To Her Dream

Kaitlyn Nicholson is organizing this fundraiser.

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Happy New Year To You!

Unbelievably, I am now in my 3rd and last year at The Hammond. It still seems surreal that everyone was so fantastically generous and supportive to help me achieve my dream.

I have achieved so much, and have probably forgotten to name some things, but have been so lucky to have had one of the lead roles at College in Grease and 9 to 5 shows. I have danced one the outside stages of the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool, and performed at the Can You Dance dance convention, there are others that have escaped my memory right now as I type this!

This year I have another lead role in our new show in March, if you are in Chester, please come and see the show! Can't say much more yet as tickets have not yet gone on sale!

It is also a busy year being our final year. We have agents and producers coming to see the Graduates and auditions to start attending. It is sure to fly by, and I am so excited to see what the next chapter holds.

Thank you for your continued support, honestly if it hadn't been for you I truly wouldn't be here right now.

Love Kaitlyn.

Hi Everyone

I thought I would update the information on my GoFundMe page as a lot has happened in a year!!

So, I started at The Hammond Performing Arts School in Chester last September. During the first term they wanted to give everyone a taster of the Trinity Diploma Level 6 Dance Course and the Level 6 Musical Theatre Course, both of which are 3 year courses. At the end of the term, the teachers, me and family, all discuss which course would be most suitable for each student. We decided I should choose Musical Theatre as we felt it would make me the most all round performer for future work. So although I am still dance heavy in my course I also now have singing and acting lessons as well. I am loving it!! I love life in Chester, the school, the course, everything!!

In March, the Musical Theatre students were performing Grease in The Hammond theatre. Although traditionally the main parts go to third year students, I was lucky enough to play the part of Cha Cha "the best dancer at St Bernadettes!" So you'll see my new profile photo on my GoFundMe page is when I was doing my solo during the show.

We have now started the summer term at The Hammond, and it won't be long until my first year is over, and with that my year in boarding will be over too.

Me and three friends from The Hammond arranged to rent a house for our second year. Unfortunately, one of my friends has had to drop out of the house share, which leaves 3 of us to pay for 4 rooms as other students have already booked their own accommodation already. This suddenly increases our weekly accommodation bill.

I have a part time job in Chester and I also hope to secure a part time job at home in Hampshire too when I am back (always available for baby sitting or if you need a hand with anything else!!)

If anyone is able to donate to my GoFundMe page and help towards my accommodation I would truly appreciate it.

Thank you for taking the time to read my updated life at The Hammond, my dream is (hopefully!!) slowly coming true.

THANK YOU!!!

Love Kaitlyn

My name is Kaitlyn Nicholson and I am 16 years old.

Since the age of 2 I have danced with The Vanessa Golborn School of Dance. I absolutely fell in love with dance and have literally never wanted to do anything else but perform.

I have taken all my RAD (Royal Academy of Dance) and ISTD (Imperial Society of Tap and Dance) exams at each grade of Ballet, Tap, Modern and Vocational Ballet for the stages I have been at. I also do Contemporary and Street Dance, although there are not any exams in that. Most of my exams have been Distinction. I have never been lower than a Merit. Also, when I was in Year 8/9 at school, I took the GCSE in Dance and gained a Grade 8.

As I leave school this year I have been applying for Performing Arts Schools/Colleges. It was a very different way to audition this year because of the pandemic so I had to video all my auditions. I have been lucky to receive acceptance to three of the top Performing Arts Schools in the UK and I have been offered DaDa funding (Dance and Drama award) towards the course fees.

The DaDa funding pays the 3 year course fees (or the majority of it) for The Trinity Diploma Level 6 for Dance course. However, the funding does not include what is termed "maintenance", which we call accommodation and food etc. We do not yet know an exact figure at the moment to what these fees will be but "ish" they think around £6,500 per year.

Unfortunately both my parents have been made redundant because of the coronavirus, so are not able to pay towards the added fees currently. I am looking for part time work to help towards the fees (I am still at school until the end of the summer term). My parents are also exploring every avenue of charities and trusts to see if we meet the criteria for funding, bursaries and grants. It hasn't been too successful yet.

Thanks you for taking the time to read my story. I hope you can see how determined I am to take advantage of the amazing opportunity I have been given. I am determined to realise my dream of becoming a Professional Dancer/Performer. Obviously if I am not able to pay for the maintenance I won't be able to attend (all the schools are hours from home.)

If you are able to donate, help or share this page I would be so beyond grateful.

THANK YOU!!!!

love Kaitlyn