Foot In The Door

Host: John Graham

Guests: Joy Duckrell

Next up in our @base_pod series on how dancers got their foot in the door @mrjgraham speaks with @joy_duckrell. As we said we're trying to show that there are many different ways people find their way in and Joy's is particularly unique as she managed to break into the top bracket of the industry before even graduating! Her fast-track to success was really interesting to hear about.
From a point in her training where she felt too nervous to take class at the popular studios in central London to her first job being dancing at the MTV EMA's for the iconic Janet Jackson!  From feeling like she couldn't pick up choreography quick enough to being part of the prep team for the Netflix smash Jingle Jangle. From having to choose between her course at college or going on tour with Little Mix, Joy talks us through her journey - her early training, choosing dance over cheerleading, joining TNG and why her foundation year at Urdang was her favourite year of college. She cites certain teachers and mentors who have played a big part in her success. We chat about the human aspect of being a dancer and how having a good attitude and relationship with her college helped her find the balance between becoming an in-demand dancer while still at college and her determination to finish her studies. She also talks about the importance of learning from the veterans of the industry and soaking up the info they would share.
Breaking into the top level of the industry is impressive at any point in a dancer's career but particularly at such an early stage. There is a lot to be learned from Joy's example and how she has managed to build her career so quickly.

@basedancestudios

Foot In The Door

Host: John Graham

Guests: Alex Schoendorf

Continuing our look at how dancers got their foot in the door of the industry @mrjgraham speaks with @alexschoendorf about her journey from Germany to London via LA. For dancers that move to a new country to establish themselves there are different kinds of challenges than for those who get to train and work where they grew up. Alex talks us through choices she made to further her training and how her time learning the ropes of the industry in London really paid off when she made her move to LA and why she recommends other dancers do the same. We speak about when she felt she went from working sporadically as a dancer to it being more secure with regular work and the important part personal relationships and recommendations from other dancers played in her success. She also talks about knowing what her strengths were while also recognising what other successful dancers were doing and learning from them to help her get where she wanted to be. Alex's vision for where she wanted to get to and hunger to succeed are a great example for all dancers to learn from.

@basedancestudios

Foot In The Door

Host: John Graham

Guests: Alex Chambers & Rowan Chambers

Next up telling us how they got their foot in the door of the industry are Alex and Rowan Chambers. @mrjgraham talks to @alexchambers28 and @rowan_chambers about their less "traditional" route to the industry. From deciding that formal dance college wasn't for them to their initial experiences of trying to make it in London to a couple of years spent honing their craft in China to then breaking into the industry upon their return, we hear about a journey filled with travelling, mentors and lessons learned. Going from struggling to get agencies interested in them to getting directly booked for jobs by those same agencies a couple of years later, their story demonstrates the importance of being open to listening to good advice, applying it and constantly learning along the way. We also touch on the role being twins has played in their journey as well as their own growth as individuals and the ethos behind their teaching.

@basedancestudios

Foot In The Door

Host: John Graham

Guests: Kamila Zalewska

Our next series centres on the topic of how different dancers got their break into the industry. In our first episode @mrjgraham talks with @kamilkakam about her journey from a small town in Poland to London via Nottingham. From the challenge of moving to a new country to train without a good grip on the language to her multiple attempts to get to travel and train in LA that got scuppered by the visa agreement between Poland and the USA, we hear about some of the difficulties Kamila faced on her journey. Kam also talks us through why it took her a while after graduating to really get her foot in the door of the working dance world and what she had to figure out before she felt she could establish herself. As we all know, Kamila is now an incredibly popular teacher who we regularly see on stage and screen (spoiler alert she eventually made it to LA on a working visa with one of the biggest artists in the world) but through this series we're hoping to show that, just like with Kam, everyone has a different road to success and faces their own challenges. There is not one set pathway or time frame - everyone's journey will be individual. Be on the look out all week for episodes featuring teachers and dancers from the commercial and musical theatre worlds.

@basedancestudios

Maintaining our Sense of Self

Host: John Graham

Guests: Zoe Aston - @yourmentalhealthworkout

In this final episode on our first conversation regarding mental health and dance, Zoe Aston (@yourmentalhealthworkout) and I talk about trying to maintain a sense of self in the dance industry and how sometimes we can feel lost. We speak about the difficult position performers are in where we have to be adaptable and versatile in what we do but why that can also mean sometimes that we lose an idea of who we are in the process. We will train and work with lots of different people over the course of our careers so learning to fit in is important but also holding on to our own sense of self is vital too. Zoe talks about the importance of keeping a solid core of friends or family around you to keep you grounded and connected. On the flip side we also talk about how meeting so many people through dance allows us a chance to explore different sides to ourselves and allow other aspects of our personalities to come through. Zoe poses an excellent question in this regard that gives us a chance to look at our own behaviour in relation to different people and what sides of ourselves we show them. She also breaks down the concept of other people being mirrors for us and that the same way we use mirrors in a studio to check our form and technique, we can see what is reflected back at us from other people and use that as an opportunity for self growth. The dance community is populated by such a wide variety of personalities and people that there is every chance for us to explore multiple sides and aspects to ourselves as humans and artists. To finish up we recap some of the points we have spoken about throughout the different chapters this week as we opened our first conversation into mental health and dance.

@basedancestudios

Perfectionism and Social Media

Host: John Graham

Guests: Zoe Aston - @yourmentalhealthworkout

In this chapter with psychotherapist and mental health advisor Zoe Aston (@yourmentalhealthworkout) we talk about the influence social media can have on us and chasing the idea that everything has to be "perfect." We speak about how we can use social media to inspire us but also that we need to learn to recognise when our use of it starts to have negative effects on us. We talk about the illusion of other people's lives looking perfect and how that strive for perfection within our own lives ultimately leads to unhappiness as it is just that, an illusion. Zoe gives a nice example of a test for how we look at our own achievements versus how we would react if it was a friend achieving the same thing. She breaks down how even some of the words we use in relation to ourselves can have an impact on shaming us rather than creating a sense of accountability and looking for solutions. We talk about letting go of the idea of controlling other people's reactions to us. Zoe also speaks on an experience she had in a performance after doing some of her own mental health work and the difference it made in how others saw her as a dancer and what she was capable of. We finish by talking about setting our own boundaries when it comes to social media and learning to know what's good for our mental well being.

@basedancestudios

The Impact of COVID-19 & Lockdowns on Mental Health

Host: John Graham

Guests: Zoe Aston - @yourmentalhealthworkout

The Coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc with our sense of normality and has been particularly challenging for dancers in regards to our profession, our training and our mental health. In this chapter I talk with Zoe Aston (@yourmentalhealthworkout) about what has been taken away from us and the impact that may have had. We also talk about the opportunity that having more time offers us in terms of connecting with ourselves and learning more about who we are, what we need and what we want. We speak about how keeping a record of what we feel on certain days and even times of the day can help us learn more about our own natural rhythm which can help when figuring out how better to live in harmony with ourselves. And Zoe raises the good point that we often ask others "how are you?" or "how you keeping?" but that we don't always check in with ourselves in the same way.

@basedancestudios

Building Strong Self Esteem

Host: John Graham

Guests: Zoe Aston - @yourmentalhealthworkout

In this chapter I talk with psychotherapist and mental health advisor Zoe Aston about how dancers can build up a strong sense of self esteem as well as why it is so important for authority figures in dance to realise the impact they can have on dancers' mental health. Zoe uses the metaphor of self esteem as the core stability of our mental health and the key role it plays in our well being. She talks about how strong self esteem can help us feel aligned with ourselves, worthy of what is for us and a sense of balance and equal-ness with others. She gives some actionable steps on how to work on your self esteem taken from her 'Your Mental Health Workout' book. We speak about the role teachers and the cultures they create play and she gives suggestions on how to create a healthy environment for students to receive critique in. She also talks us through how a compassion based leadership style produces a far more sustainable type of growth and change than a shame based, toxic approach.

@basedancestudios

Discussing Mental Health

Host: John Graham

Guests: Zoe Aston - @yourmentalhealthworkout

As dancers our sense of identity is so intertwined with what we do that it can present many challenges to our mental well-being even at the best of times let alone during a pandemic. It affects us all in different ways and at different times, from young dancers still in training to highly experienced working professionals at the top of their game - no one is exempt regardless of how it looks from the outside. This first segment is an intro to our series discussing mental health with psychotherapist, mental health advisor and author Zoe Aston. Zoe wants us to start treating our mental health with the same level of care and attention as we do our physical health. She talks us through her journey from young dancer in training at dance college to studying psychology at University and qualifying to practice. We talk about her history in dance and the impact it had on her mental health as well as the impact her mental health had on her ability to train and perform. We speak about what she has learned during the course of her study of psychology in relation to what she went through as a dancer. And we introduce some of the topics, challenges and remedies we will be discussing over the course of this series.

@basedancestudios

Class Culture, Episode 2

Host: John Graham

Guests: Ola Papior, Yaw Darko and Olivia Rose Shouler

@basedancestudios