‘Sharing The Light’ - Making my professional debut by Ella Stanton-Warren

‘Sharing The Light’ was my first professional dance job and one that would bring me back to Birmingham, a city which holds many established dance memories. Originally from Ludlow in Shropshire, Birmingham was the place that ignited my passion for dance and the possibility to pursue it as a career. When training on the CAT scheme I was introduced to many different dance forms and ways of creating dance, including collaborating with dancers training in Kathak and Bharatnatyam, which at the time built my initial awareness of the breadth of dance. It would be five years on from that initial training, now as a graduate dancer, that I would step back into the studio with Sonia as choreographer and director.

I walked into the Hippodrome building for our first company rehearsal and if I was being completely honest, I was nervous and apprehensive but equally excited and ready to jump into the creative space. We spent the first day establishing what we needed to know about the project and planning initial ideas for the schools and communities' choreography. By the end of the day, I knew that I would be collaborating with some very experienced people and therefore wanted to be as much of a ‘sponge’ as possible throughout the process.

Photo by Ciara Clayton

This project saw myself and the other dancers: Helen, Selene and Aakanksha also delivering workshops in schools and with community groups. I worked with Helen in the first week at Harborne Academy to create a section of choreography related to the themes of ‘offering’ and ‘receiving’. Additionally, myself, Helen and Selene all went to Montgomery Primary School to deliver a workshop with their Year 4 class, inspired by Kathak gestures for animals where the students discovered new ways of moving and telling a story through their bodies. The beauty of working across different schools and year groups is that no one experience is the same and although we had clear themes and ideas, it would always be the students that brought the dance alive through their interpretation of the movement.

The second half of the week was spent rehearsing and creating the choreography for the final performance days. I absolutely embraced learning new ways of moving and collaborating with everyone and Sonia always maintained the highest creative vision throughout. The process also came with the test of being adaptable, as we knew that we would only have the opportunity to rehearse with the Dundu Puppet’s on the day of the performance. When it came down to the many logistical changes and practicalities of performing in public spaces, I felt very grateful for the intensive rehearsal period. Without having the movement fully embodied, the challenges would have forced me to make errors. However, we had Sonia talking us through our performance via an ‘in-ear’, which was the calm guidance I needed amongst the potential chaos of crowds and transitioning through The Bullring Shopping Centre both indoors on the Friday and outside on the Saturday.

Photo by Ciara Clayton

I can't thank everyone enough who was involved in this project, from our Stage Manager Rosie, to the Security Team as part of The Hippodrome, I felt the passion for delivering exceptional experiences to the people of Birmingham.

What an exceptional experience it was, one that undoubtedly will stay with me forever.