Life and advice with Emma

Today Emma talks you through her life lessons from her time at performing arts college. She shares her tips and advice of things she wish she knew when starting that chapter of your life!

Transcript

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Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of The Dancing Diaries. You are listening to Emma, and I this is my second ever podcast episode, so I'm sorry if I ramble a little bit, but I'm here by myself today, so hopefully I won't lose track too much. Um but yeah, I thought today it would be a fun idea if I came on and talked about some college uni experiences and maybe give a little bit of advice to those who are looking at going to study some sort of performant arts because the time to start looking at unis and colleges and all these different places, all these different schools is now the end of the term. It feels still maybe a little bit far away, but it's coming so fast. I just feel like this year has gone by like in a blink of an eye, and yeah, I feel like if you're of that age where you're going to uni or college and you're making these big decisions, it just must be coming in even faster. So um yeah, I thought I would come on and maybe see if anyone listening could learn at least one thing from anything that I have to say. Um yeah, so I this this kind of hurts to say a little bit, but I graduated uni in 2019. That makes me feel really, really old and a bit sad. Where where has time gone? Oh my goodness. Anyway, but yeah, so I so I went to college straight after school, um, and I went to study acting and performance. Um, I was always such a big fan of the theatre, of drama. Um I'd been dancing my whole life, like I just wanted to always be basically the centre of attention and you know, just doing something expressive, fun. Just yeah, that was my passion, and that's what I wanted to do. Um, so on that note, I would think the first bit of advice I would say is if you have a passion, don't let anyone try point you in another direction. Um, I feel like there's such a stereotype about the performing arts that it's not real, it's not a real job, it's not a real profession, it's just a hobby. It can be a hobby, but it is also such an important role in today's culture and society, and it is a job, it's a real job. People are out there doing it right now. Um, so if you're someone who is looking to study um acting, dance, musical theatre, any sort of arts, don't don't let people put you off. Um yeah, because that was a big thing that I struggled with in school was some teachers maybe saying, like, Oh Emma, you've got so much potential, you could go do something else. You could, you could I can't even remember what they told me to do, but it was the opposite of what I wanted to do. Um, of course, I had like friends and family who were very supportive, but it is hard when you're getting conflicting um opinions from people you respect. So yeah, I would definitely say if you're if it's something you're passionate about and you love it and you can see yourself thriving, you only live once. So go for it, like take the shot, just go for it. Um and I'm sure you won't regret it. I really, really loved my time doing um acting and performance, and then once I left college, I went to uni and I studied um so it was a general performance course, but I did a bracket of musical theatre um and again had the best time ever. Um I think as well a lot of people don't realise that you're not just going to you know a gym hall five days a week and putting on, you know, all blacks and a pair of shoes and dancing around a hall in front of a a lecturer. Like that is just not what it is, and I feel like a lot well maybe not actually so much now, but definitely back then. I think people back then as if it was like a hundred years ago, but um I think I think a lot of people didn't realise how much the performing arts can help a person just grow into themselves. Um so that's another piece of advice uh another piece of advice is just be yourself because the more that you open yourself up to these opportunities, the the more you'll you'll grow into the person that you are. Um I think the arts are such a good um place to be able to explore um and really reach your full potential of like I said, the kind of person that you can really be. Uh I like I said studied acting and then I went on to do musical theatre, so I got kind of I got to dip my toe in a lot of different things. But the main thing that I took away from these different classes and courses and my degree was confidence. Um I really left being such a confident person, and I th it's down to just believing in yourself. Obviously, my lecturers, my teachers, my classmates, they were all amazing and they were a big part of the journey. Um but you you have to believe in yourself, and the more that you believe in yourself, the less anyone else's opinion is really gonna matter. So um yeah, I would definitely just say remember like dance like the dance like no one's watching. That's the whole saying, and it's really true. Um but yeah, no, that can that kind of did turn into a bit of a rabble there, but I think if you are a person that is looking to study the arts, confidence is key. Um I think looking back, one of the hardest parts for me personally, everyone's different, but I think that the audition process was quite daunting. Um when I was in sixth year looking to apply for different colleges, um I had never really done an audition before. So going in, I remember going into my first audition. Where where was it for? I think it was for oh my goodness, I can't even remember, it was so long ago. But I remember the feeling of sitting outside just feeling like you know that knot in your stomach, and I was so nervous, but I was so excited because I was like, this is the next chapter. Um and you just have to go for them all, you have to give everything you've got, you have to be yourself and like I said, believe in yourself. But I do think that was the most nerve-wracking part because when you're in sixth year, you're like 17, 18. It's it's really, really scary going out into the the big bad world and having people instantly judging you because that is exactly what they're doing in these audition processes. But you have to just remember that these people who are here watching you and picking who's going to be in the course, they want everyone to do really well. They want to have so many talented people on their course, they want to have the best people there auditioning for their course. So even though it looks like they they're watching for every single mistake, they're really not. They're looking for potential, they're looking for um the people who are going to shape the next couple years of their their college or their uni or wherever you go. So there's another piece of advice hidden in there somewhere. Just try not to let the nerves get the best of you because the people who are there are really rooting for you. Um and you might find that hard to believe when you're actually there in the moment and your nerves are eating you up, but it is true. Um but yeah, I think I think I've covered all the bases I wanted to cover. Um I just really think it is important to encourage people to continue studying the arts. I think today it's so strange because today arts are more widely accepted. Um there's such a big community now. There's like social media presences who are, you know, you see people who are on TikTok and they're on Broadway, they're such like big personalities and they're showing their lives on Broadway or in the West End. Um a lot of the dance colleges and dance schools have lots of social media pages and they're very active on it showing you what what you can get into. Um, and I think that is a lot more of a kind of parents or whoever is responsible for these people going there, they see it and they they have more of an idea of what acting is or what dance is or what musical theatre is, but I think when I was audiening, we TikTok wasn't a thing. Um Instagram was barely a thing. I sound so old. I promise I'm only I've only just turned 30. Um but yeah, so we didn't like parents didn't know what what kids were going into or so I think now it is a more accepted thing, but in the same breath, I feel like the world also kind of doesn't have you know a place for the arts. There's a lot of funding issues, there's a lot of um, you know, just stereotypes. We had um Timothy Shalamy Chalamy? Chamalie? No, it's Chalamy. Timothy Shalomet talking about how the ballet and the opera is dead. Not true, but yeah, so you've got you've got equal weights on both sides, but I think the the most important thing is to stay optimistic and the more people go for the arts and keep it alive, the more people are gonna see that it is such a real thing. Um but yeah, I think to sum it up, again, sorry, I just went in such a rabble, but I think to sum it up, the the arts are important, and if you are passionate about the arts, then you should pursue your dreams. Um and don't let anyone get in your way. And if you are one of those people who is auditioning right now, or you're waiting to hear back from your audition, I really, really wish you the best of luck. Um, it's such an exciting time, and you will not regret your decision. Um I stand by that studying the the arts was one of the best things that I've ever done in my life so far, and if I could go back, I would never I would never change it. Um I met some of the most amazing people, I got to experience some of the most amazing things, and I really don't think I would be the person I am today if I didn't go and study uh drama or acting or musical theatre. Um so yeah, the arts are important and keep them alive. But yeah, I'll end it there before I go off on another random tangent. But thank you so much for listening, and I hope you have a great rest of your day, and uh we'll see you next time on the next episode of The Dancing Diaries. Bye!