Hannah's Feedback

Our recent intern, Hannah MacGregor, wishes to share her reflection of the time she spent with us at Sonia Sabri Company. A huge thanks to Hannah. Sending her many positive thoughts for the future! 

DMU Graduate Champions Scheme Internship

As the door to my university experience closed, another door opened.  Upon completing my BA Honours degree in Performing Arts, I applied for the opportunity to do an internship via my university’s internship scheme for graduates.  I was very excited to be offered the chance to complete a six week internship with Sonia Sabri Company and I am so glad I accepted the opportunity!

From my very first day, I was warmly welcomed and accepted by all the team. 

I completed a variety of tasks within the six weeks, ranging from marketing, administration as well as arts and crafts.  I enjoyed all aspects of working for the company, but working on LOK VIRSA Beyond Borders was an experience that I will not forget.  It was refreshing to be working on a festival which brings so much colour, light, joy and happiness to the city of Birmingham!  I would also like to wish the company a huge congratulations on the success of the festival.

The amazing experiences I have embarked on would not have been as great without the wonderful people I worked with.  Sonia lives and breathes for Kathak and it was a pleasure to see an artist put their art first.  I see so many artists these days sacrifice the beauty of the art they create for their own personal gain.  Sonia, your tenacity and headstrong attitude is something I admire about you greatly and if there is one thing I have learnt from you, it is this.  Never sacrifice the niche of your art form for anybody or anything.  It is the purity of what you do that will give meaning to your creation and more importantly, joy to the people who have the pleasure of seeing it. 

Sarvar’s carefully crafted Tabla playing is simply an optic illusion to the mind as well as music to the ear, quite literally.  Having seen him teach, it is evident that he is passionate about his music and wants to share his knowledge with as many people as possible.  I love learning about new cultures and very much enjoyed the educational trip to KESH Academy to learn about the music of India. 

Mel’s organisation in the office, or organised chaos as she likes to call it, is certainly something I will take with me.  A lot of people know how to multi-task but I do not know many people who can juggle around fifteen tasks at a time and still be as cool as a cucumber.  Mel, your knowledge of managing projects and events fits in perfectly at the office and it was a pleasure learning new skills from you every day.  Thanks for my courgette! 

Annabelle is a superb addition to SSCO, her love, care and attention for what is best for the company is really evident, no matter what she is doing.  Her spiritual nature always made everyone in the office smile, even if it had been a stressful day.

You are all wonderful people, with wonderful hearts and it has truly been a privilege! I am sad that my time working with you has come to an end and I thank you for everything dearly.  Now that this door is closed, I hope the next door to open is not too far away.

All the best,

Hannah