4d Award Title Rationale

I wish to propose my award title: BA (Hons) Professional Practice (Dance & Arts Management).

I graduated in 2005 with a National Diploma in Professional Dance (Classical Ballet & Contemporary). Since graduating I have had a successful career as a dancer, staying employed in the industry in a variety of different shows and with few breaks in between contracts. I have learnt so much from jumping right into the industry when I was 18 and from working with different companies and people from different cultures and backgrounds. I feel I can finally call myself a Professional Dancer as I have been in the industry for coming up to 6 years.

I decided to take the BAAP programme as I could study and dance at the same time and also because I feel I have gone as far as I can in my dance career with my Diploma. I am doing what I was trained to do and using what I have learnt from Elmhurst. It was not until last year when I started to think about the future and life after dance especially as I am due to get married this year. I know that I want to continue to work in the entertainment industry, but I felt I need more qualifications to achieve this.

I decided to include Dance in my title as I feel it takes everything I know from studying for my Diploma as well as the work-based knowledge I have gained. I have always wanted to eventually go into the management side of the arts industry. Arts Management combines a number of skills such as business, finance, marketing and managing artists.  By using these new skills learnt with the interdisciplinary skills gained from dance I feel I will be able to achieve such a title and go onto to a career managing in the entertainment industry.

There are many aspects of management I am interested in inquiring about. As of now I am unsure what the “big question” will be to my inquiry. I intend to use my colleges at the theatre for their insights and hope that what I learn and gain will help our new theatre to succeed.