Monday 6th April 2020

Now its time to hear from our lovely teacher Hannah. I first met Hannah whilst my cousin Tilly attended GSA and they became best friends- we are now lucky enough to have her on our team!

I danced since the age of 4 and took weekly classes in ballet, modern, tap and jazz. I took things seriously from the offset, happily missing birthday parties and play dates for dance on a Saturday! My dance teacher at the time was pretty old school and ran a tight ship with her student. That meant 50p fines for any missing uniform and you wouldn’t dare have your hair in anything but a perfectly placed bun. 

Things stepped up a notch when my family moved to Denmark and I attended a full-time ballet school. My parents took me to an audition a few months before moving, and I was offered a scholarship to attend. It wasn’t until they received the paperwork to make it official that they realised ‘Det Kongelige Teaters Balletskole’ translated to ‘The Royal Ballet School’! I had the best two years studying here. Each day we had 3 hours of ballet alongside our traditional academic classes. The discipline and independence I learnt in these two years were invaluable for the rest of my training.

Two years later, we moved back to Wales and I continued my training at the same dance school I started at. I added singing classes and drama into my schedule and by the time I was 13, I was dancing 6 days a week. This meant having to be diligent with my schoolwork as my parents were quite strict about this. If my schoolwork wasn’t done then I knew that dance would be the first thing to go, so needless to say I always found a way to do my homework and revise! I think this instilled a really strong work ethic in me, which stood me in good stead for my time at drama school and beyond. 

At the age of 14, I joined the West Glamorgan Youth Theatre Company, which was a real turning point. I suddenly discovered my love and passion for acting and throughout my time with the company performed in a wide variety of projects, from Shakespeare and Greek tragedy to musicals, radio plays, devised pieces and children’s theatre. To have these experiences at such a relatively young age was incredible and gave me a broad insight into the industry, outside of dancing, which was all I'd really known up to that point.  

 At the age of 17, I had to make some big decisions with regards to my next step. I knew in my heart of hearts that I wanted to train vocationally, but as I was a pretty academic student I was constantly encouraged by teachers and career advisors (who didn’t believe drama school was a viable option!) to go to university to study something ‘proper’ - whatever that might have been. At this time, I felt as though I had so many options, from Dance College to drama school or university, that I felt quite lost. Rather than thinking about the actual career I wanted afterwards, I ended up taking what I now recognise as the easiest option for me. Dance was the thing I felt most comfortable doing, even though I knew deep down I couldn’t see myself having a career as a dancer after graduating. Nevertheless, I successfully auditioned for 4 vocational dance colleges and ended up choosing to attend Laine Theatre Arts in Epsom. Fast forward 6 months and I decided to leave, as I couldn’t carry on anymore when my heart wasn’t in it. The training at Laine is world-class and I learnt so so much during my time there, however, it was also so incredibly tough and rigorous that you can only get through it if you know 100% that this is the only thing you can imagine yourself doing - and that wasn’t the case for me. I had lost sight of my love of dance and was beginning to resent it, which was upsetting.

I, therefore, decided to re-audition and a year later found myself at the Guildford School of Acting where I had the best 3 years of my life. The training I received was just what I needed at that time and for the kind of performer I wanted to be. I received a well-rounded training in acting and singing and managed to keep up my dance training with all of the incredible visiting dance teachers they have at the school. The training was rigorous and sometimes felt unbearable, but I've come to realise that that's just what the industry is like so it was a great preparation! As my course was more focussed on acting and signing rather it gave me the opportunity to fall back in love with dancing as something I did for myself rather than anyone else and for this, I was really grateful. 

 Even though I value the incredible training I received at GSA I think what I value most from my time there are the friends I made. My GSA friends are some of my best friends in the world, and I think there’s something so special about friends you meet whilst performing, whether that's from your afterschool dance classes to vocational training. There’s a special bond that comes from working tirelessly on a shared passion, from seeing each other make mistakes and celebrating everyone’s achievements, you become so united. 

Upon graduating, I realised that GSA was exactly where I was meant to be. With that said, I’ll never regret the time I spent auditioning for dance colleges or my 6 months at Laine. It gave me an insight into another part of the industry and made me realise the kind of performer I wanted to be. I'm also thankful that my love of dance was rekindled and that I can still find so much joy in it. The main thing I learnt was to follow my heart. The training is tough, but if your heart is fully in it and you can't imagine yourself doing anything else, then it can be the most rewarding thing in the world. 

Hannah x 

Graduation and Exam Day!