Meet a Young Creative

Alex Mason, 17 year old young dancer from the East Midlands, was one of the successful applicants to the Young Creatives programme in 2009. Here are some of her thoughts after completing the programme...

Dance Genre: Contemporary

Area of interest in dance: I love to choreograph dances that I can also perform. I also enjoy dancing as part of a company/group, being taught material and re-interpreting it in my own way.

Relationship to YDE/YDSM: Youth Dance England has made me more determined for a dancing career. It was a fantastic experience that gave me a taste of what it would be like to be a professional dancer performing their own work.

How has dance changed your life?
Dance has become a very large part in my life. I have trained and performed with companies, and I also teach younger children contemporary technique after school. My goal in life is to become a choreographer/dancer.  I am determined and am going to work extremely hard to get there.

What does dance mean to you?
When I watch dance I want to be able to see the effort put into it by the dancer and see that they can really feel the movements through their body. Dance means a lot to me when I perform something I have created because it has a lot of meaning behind it. Sometimes you can follow a story through watching a piece of dance.

How does dance/performing with your group make you feel?
Dancing with my group makes me feel very connected to them. Dancing with my partner makes it seem like we have a story we are trying to tell everyone through movement. It also makes me feel like I belong with that group of people dancing/performing.

Give us a brief history of your relationship with dance, from introduction right up to the present day:
Inspired by Retina, me and my friend did a 2 week dance course with them in the spring holidays. We then came up with a dance of our own. We performed this at our school and also at ‘Future Light,’ a performance evening at DEDA derby dance. We got great feedback decided to work on another one. We went to another course with Retina and shortly after this there was an audition in October 2008 to create Retina Youth Dance Company and for the chance to perform alongside Retina in Belgium. I successful and up until now I have stayed with the company performing all over in Britain and learning new skills in a weekly class. During this time I and my dance partner had created another duet which got asked to be shown at DEDAs ‘Future Light’ evening again. We also auditioned for Youth Dance England with this duet ‘zinc’ and were given the opportunity to perform at The Royal Opera House. Through Youth Dance England we were given a mentor, Katie Green, who gave us an opportunity to perform alongside her company. I am now training with CAT hoping to audition for a top dance school next year.

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Last updated: 11-09-2009