Episode 27 - West End Experience with Rei

This weeks episode is all about our summer school. Alice chats with Rei about West End Experience and she tells us how it allowed her to find her love for dance. She talks about her favourite moments, West End Experience show day, and what she would say to someone who is hesitant about joining us at our summer school  this year. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Doing that workshop sort of said, yeah, I've I can do this, I can do a bit of a higher level of dance, and that sort of pushed me to say, okay, what can we do with this? What where can we go with this? And that sort of led me to BOA.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Hello and welcome to Theatre Workshop Talks. My name is Alice and I'm a teacher here at the Theatre Workshop. We have a theatre school based in Birmingham, Barnt Green, Blackwell and Bromsgrove. Here you will gain an insight to what it's like being a part of the theatre workshop. Along the way, we will be talking to TTW students, parents, teachers, and also some very special guests. Make sure you hit that subscribe button so you know when a brand new episode drops. Hi guys, welcome back to another episode of our podcast. Today is a bit of a special one. We are talking about our summer school West End Experience. I'm sure some of you who are listening to this podcast now have taken part in our West End experience and been a part of it because it is something really, really special. I'm joined with someone who has been a part of West End Experience for a couple of years. Today I'm joined by Ray. Hello, Ray. Hi! We are gonna talk about her previous years at West End Experience. So, first things first, how did you hear about West End Experience the first time that you sort of joined us?

SPEAKER_00 1:20

I think I heard about it just through the grapevine from classes and from friends because they'd enjoyed it so much and they were saying, Oh, is anyone going to the summer school? Is anybody doing West End Experience? Anyone like signed up to that yet? And I was like, oh, what's this? I'll have a little look. And I brought it to my mum and she said, Yeah, this looks like a good uh opportunity for you, and yeah, signed up from then.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Cool. So when was the first year that you did West End Experience?

SPEAKER_00 1:46

So the first year I did was 2023. I started theatre workshop in 22, did West End Experience 23, 24, 25, and then I've done two summer so summer shows since then.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

Cool. I actually remember your first year. You were a group three. Yeah, yeah. And I was was I a group three chaperone? I think I was. So I I remember when you first joined us. It feels like ages ago. Oh my god, it does. What workshop did you do that year? Can you remember?

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Oh gosh. I know we did newsies because that's what made me sign up in the first place. I was so excited when Susie sent out the email detailing everything. And I tell you what, I wore my uh newsies t-shirt and my newsies top and uh uh newsies hoodie, and I wore it in, and I was like, look at me, I'm the biggest fan of newsies, and I was so excited for that workshop. And it was Bronwyn's as well, so it was like the hardest dance to learn, day one dance. Ugh, it was brilliant. That year I think we did something from Bring It On as well. And oh, do you know what? I can't remember the last one.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

There's so many, isn't there? But they're always so good, and like I said, Bronwyn is great, she puts you through your paces, she's so hardworking, and she is a perfectionist, which I love.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Love that. Always watching a Bromwin warm-up because everyone is just all sweaty by the end of it, but it is so like they're just amazing. She is great.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

I remember I made a severe mistake showing up that first day because I showed up in uh it was all one of the heat waves, so it was like 30 degrees, and I showed up in like joggers to a room that didn't have any windows, no ventilation, and I was absolutely sweated.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

That was uh was that a Harborn Academy? It would have been wouldn't be in the big in the gym. Yeah. Yeah, no windows. So you've said about the workshops. We always say that Western Experience has so many benefits in terms of meeting new people, learning new things. It's such an intense week and it really helps you sort of expand your pickup skills and just give you a focus for the week because there is a show at the end, so it helps you work towards something throughout those four days. What would you say is what do you think is the biggest benefit of West End experience for you?

SPEAKER_00 4:13

Yeah, I mean it was definitely a case of getting thrown in the deep end with it. It's a very, very intense week. You're there for four days and then the last day is the show. So I'd only experienced sort of like secondary school drama at that point, a little bit of dance, so I was literally thrown in, absolutely, but it's so much chaos that you don't have time to worry about it. You get there, you do work for like eight hours, you come home, you just want to go to bed, and then you gotta get up and do it all again the next day, and that there's so much to think about that you don't have time to think, oh, is anybody gonna like me, or I'm so scared of doing this show. You're just so in it with all of the people, and then gets to your brilliant show at the end of it.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Yeah, and it's so lovely to see how everyone sort of progresses from the first day because some people come and they don't really know anyone, and then by the end of the week their friendships have just absolutely flourished because, like you've said, you've been thrown in the deep end, you're spending seven, eight hours a day with these people working together, so it just really it's a really special sort of process to watch with all the students that come and take part in it. Uh, what is your favourite memory of West End experience or favourite workshop?

SPEAKER_00 5:33

God, I think Bring It On was definitely my favourite workshop. That was another one of Rom Wyn's, and it was absolutely insane, crazy. And uh I did a lot of tumbling in that, so I found that super fun, and it was a really it was a really sort of advanced level of dance that I'd never sort of experienced before. And that's sort of where I've found that uh I had a sort of affinity for dance. Like I never knew I thought I was sort of uh below average because I haven't done any training, I'd just come out from gymnastics and sort of like been stuck into secondary school dance, but doing that workshop sort of said, yeah, I've I can do this, I can do a bit of a higher level of dance, and that sort of pushed me to say, okay, what can we do with this? What where can we go with this? And that sort of led me to BOA.

SPEAKER_01 6:24

Oh, I love that. So it sort of made you find your love for dance.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Oh, I love that. So you're at BOA now? No, I've just finished. Oh, amazing. Did you do four years or two years?

SPEAKER_00 6:37

Two years, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Great. How did you find that?

SPEAKER_00 6:41

Oh, it's it's definitely an experience. It's you've gotta go in there with a bit of self-confidence. You've gotta know you're good. Yeah. But if you've got that self-belief in yourself, Boa is just amazing for developing skills and developing absolutely everything to do with musical theatre.

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Yeah, because I went to Boa and it was such a it was like a different people used to describe it as high school musical.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Oh yeah. Hollywood arts, high school musical, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Absolutely. Like at lunchtime, people would literally be standing on the tables and dancing, like flash mobs everywhere. It was like a different world. So yeah, I love that. West End Experience gave you that self-belief and love for dance. That's great. Yeah, definitely. Would you say that's your favourite thing about West End Experience?

SPEAKER_00 7:27

I think being able to work towards a show is really great. I I am more of a person who likes to see a bigger picture and likes to see, okay, where does this fit in with the show? What what characters are going on, what's happening here, instead of sort of working on something different every week. So I think working towards an end goal and just seeing things get better instead of let's learn this thing and move on. Seeing things sort of let's learn this and make it better, and let's improve this bit and let's change this bit to make it a brilliant show. That was definitely my favourite bit.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Yeah, the show is always such a special day. I love Western Experience show. And parents always say, How on earth have you done that in four days?

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Oh, yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_01 8:15

I mean, sometimes I don't know how you've done it in four days, like it is it is insane. Um, it's a bit of a fever dream, but it is, yeah, it's just crazy to watch, but honestly, it's really, really special. And if anyone is a bit hesitant about joining this year, Ray, what would you tell them?

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Oh, just do it. Just jump in. Everybody is lovely, everybody's in the same boat. There'll be people who have gone for like six years since they were like tiny little teeny tots, and there'll be people who have just seen something and signed up for the year. But like, there is gonna be someone who is in your boat, and there is gonna be someone who is lovely. Sit with them, talk to them, and then get lost in the chaos.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Get lost in the chaos. I absolutely love that. Well, thank you, Ray, so much for being on this podcast with me today.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

Yeah, no worries.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

It's been a pleasure.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

It's been amazing. Thank you so much, Alice. Bye.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Thank you for listening to TTW Talks. We hope you enjoyed listening to this episode and look forward to hearing the next one. Make sure to follow us on Instagram at the Theatre Workshop Birmingham and TikTok at the.theatre.worksband to see all of our class and show content and all of the exciting things we get up to. Once again, thank you for listening. This has been TTW Talks.