In 2013 Article19 spent a day at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds filming and speaking with a number of students and faculty about the work they do at the school preparing for a life in the wide world of dance.
This time out we returned to spend a day with the first year student from the schools three year degree course. At the time of our visit the students were in rehearsal mode which involves just one technique class per day followed by a long afternoon of rehearsals for up and coming performances.
We also spoke with Sean Willis about his dance origin story (why should super heroes be the only ones with origin stories? Ed!), his training at the school and his thoughts on the near and far future of his career in dance.
Despite being in their first year of training what we captured that day was a group working like a company, especially when it came to rehearsals. It is particularly impressive to see students learning the roles of others without being prompted so when the choreographer asks them to learn a new section for the piece, they are ready to go.
It will be interesting, for us, to return in a couple of years to see what becomes of these students as they approach graduation. You can watch our piece on the second and third years at the links below.