Professional Profile

I first began working on my CV during my second year at Northern Ballet School. During that time we were in the early stages of preparing for auditions and considering our next steps upon graduation. My class and I were informed of the importance of the layout, font size and structure particularly for recent graduates directors will not spend much time reading. We were advised to stick to one side of A4,  identify important information which showcased our skills and broader experiences outside of school as well promoting them as informatively and concisely as possible.

At the age of 18 the hardest part I found whilst beginning my CV was just how far back should I go? As I have been dancing since I was two years old and at the young age of 8 began vocational training with an associate programme. However directors are not interested in this but how do I show just how much experience I have? I then found a way of dispersing the appropriate experiences through the training section and performance experience section in my CV. By doing so I was able to filter out the less important parts of my training and focus the spotlight on the most recent and necessary for the particular jobs I aspire to.

Now that I have worked professionally with Coastal City Ballet in Vancouver, Canada I have many more performances to fill my CV.  As the audition season comes around this year I am surrounded by experienced professionals who have been in the industry for many years. I have taken this opportunity to ask advice about what they choice to include on their CV's and interestingly enough although the layout was pretty, much the same as mine the information they include is quite different to what I was informed at school. A particular section that they include is Repertoire. This is especially important for those auditioning for soloist or principal levels as it will be much more efficient to hire a dancer who is already familiar with or even has previously performed the role. As I am still in the early stages of my carer I do not think this is essential for myself as I am not at that level of experience however it helped me a lot to view the layout of this and I will certainly take this into my future development.

Adhering to Task 1a I have rewritten my CV as a Professional Profile which can be found in the 'About Me' section on my blog.

I have also taken this opportunity to additionally work on my 'normal CV'. This is something I will need to use when looking for non dance based jobs, whether that is to fill gaps between performing or simply to keep me busy over the summer!