Day in the Life of a Dancer

Hi, I'm India and I am 23 years old which means I have been dancing now for 20 years! I began my journey at Annette Adams (some of you may remember me) and I am now in my final year at Chantry School where I am training to be a professional dancer. Here's a little insight into a day in my life!

My alarm goes off at 5:50 and I jump in the shower to wake me up and get me ready for the day ahead. I’m a morning person, so if the sun is shining I love to just get up and get going straight away. After my shower I will have a cup of tea and weetabix for breakfast (usually three weetabix - I’m a little greedy!!). Once I have got ready and done my hair for the day I will go downstairs and prepare my lunch and then plan my lessons for teaching in the evening.

At 8:25 myself and my housemate leave for school, which is at the most a two minute walk away. Once everyone has arrived at the studio we take part in a group warm up that gets us ready for our first class at 9.

Today (a Wednesday) we have Contemporary first, a class where we are currently working on our Graham (a contemporary technique) showcase dance choreographed by David Beer. Following this class we have a short break before starting Jazz and like the previous lesson our teacher Elizabeth Haslam (or just Liz) is currently choreographing our final year showcase dance. This dance is probably the most challenging in terms of cardio and making every movement crisp, clean and controlled but I love it so much as it’s got a real strong feel good factor to it.

At 12 we break for lunch, we usually get an hour but cue to the show being so close I try to get back in the studio before the next class to recap any choreography I don’t feel is in my body yet.

From 1 till around 3 I have classical ballet where Liz has created a gorgeous ballet routine on pointe for us. We are currently cleaning this dance and her main note is to always to stretch our legs and perform more! A lot of the time she will say ‘I will tell you when you are doing too much, but until then keep giving more!’

After ballet I try to stretch and relax a little before teaching begins at 4. On a Wednesday my day ends at 7 (one of my early evenings of the week) and I will go home cook, shower and fall fast asleep.

Everyday I like to keep the same routine and love nothing more than being busy especially when it’s doing something that I love. And in a couple of weeks I’ll be graduating so fingers crossed all the hard work will pay off and I’ll get to keep on dancing and teaching for many years to come.