The beginning of the journey I'm taking...

The journey ahead can sometimes seem hard to comprehend...

So I'm finally writing my first blog! Its a long one, sorry about it guys. Also bare with me, I'm still figuring this blog life thing out. 

My journey 

I entered the performing arts industry back in 2017, needless to say I was extremely hesitant to jump with both feet in. You see, drama and dance college for me, hadn't always been sunshine and kittens, filled with amazing experiences, that everyone frequently painted it out to be. I would describe my experience as being a ride on a very turbulent rollercoaster filled with some highs and some sad lows. So why am I talking about this, you might be asking? Well, because it was during my last year, just when I thought I didn't have the strength or courage to pick myself up again that I decided to enter the industry. 

I wasn't ready. That's for sure. Mentally, I was drained, exhausted from feeling like a failure, or never quite good enough. But I knew it was down to me to pick myself up and go out there. Because lets face it, as the famous RuPaul once said, "If you can't love yourself, how the hell you gonna expect to love somebody else" I didn't love myself at that time, I had so much pressure, confidence was beaten out of me and to be honest I almost fell out of love with dance and acting completely! I know...tragic. But I did pick myself up and I did start auditioning. It was during these times, I learnt so much about myself and more so, about the industry. You see I was resilient, being knocked back so frequently had made me so much more resilient to rejection, perhaps somewhat more than the favourites in my year. I had no expectations, no ego. I just worked hard! I took rejections on the chin, I networked, I got my own agent. Even at times, it seemed hard to imagine that first big break into the industry, I knew if I just focused on me, myself and I, things would finally start to fall into place. 

Pressures

You see, being in such a pressured, saturated industry, where going up for a casting against 100 other dancers and they're only looking to cast one well, it is quite normal. So I knew in order to stand out I had to start finetuning me and what makes me different. Who is Gabrielle Young?. It was as I started to do this, that I worked on some greats jobs, from Bollywood films, National Bollywood award ceremonies, pantomimes, to landing my first break as an assistant choreographer abroad. It was during that time, I discovered my passion for creating and teaching. I returned to the UK to teach at my local school and further my dance training on a one year HND Dance performance course. It was here I really began to evaluate what I want out of my practise and what reflects me in my practise. 

Enrolling on the course at BAPP this year, with the unprecedented times ahead (thank you Covid19) seemed to be nerve racking, but one thing that I was determined to do was to enrol, no matter what. That I did! At first glance of reading through the handbook, I definitely walked away feeling slightly more confused than before. But after reading many blogs and joining discussion groups, things became much clearer. Definitely true what they say, read it and read it again! Discussing Web 2.0 and particularly talking about how social media has helped within the industry and also been detrimental to many performers. It questioned me to think, what are other performers point of view on social media? I've always viewed it as a must, as a performer whether you want to be on it or not, this day and age it's just something you need to be on board with. It helps to market yourself, stay in the loop for auditions  and a great tool for networking. But then I started thinking well what about before social media, what was life was like before social media. Has social media played a negative role within the industry, as we have seen, mental illnesses have risen, with many performers/artists speaking up about there mental health issues. Is social media helping or is it enhancing these issues? I think back to when I was at dance college, I was often discriminated due to being a slightly "bigger" dancer, I felt a huge sense of pressure to adhere to what the industry/faculty members said I should be in order to be cast. I remember being told social media was your best friend for self promotion, but there was definitely times I felt it had the adverse effect.

Anyhow, as I conclude this blog, I am really excited to ready through other peoples blogs and join in on more discussions. It's so great to hear other peoples point of view. Because the world is not two dimensional and questioning is a huge part of learning. So I'm looking forward to discussing more on Module 1 and to begin critically thinking and challenging myself to delve deeper, than I ever have before. 

Please feel free to comment, introduce yourself :) 

Thanks guys!