In the Spotlight is our regular feature where we meet current students from our Performing Arts faculty, made up of Institute for Contemporary Theatre, Northern Ballet School, and Performers College. This week we meet Ellie Stainsby, a second-year BA Musical Theatre and Dance student from our Birmingham campus.
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO TRAIN IN MUSICAL THEATRE AND DANCE?
I’ve always loved music and dancing. As a child I was a massive lover of Disney channel movies and the dances they featured so it was always a dream to go into something like that as a career. When I was young, I was put into a dance school by my parents and it took over my life from there. As I got older, I became even more inspired watching dancers and musical theatre performers and knew I wanted to go into this industry myself.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE PERFORMERS COLLEGE?
It was hard me to decide which university I wanted to attend as it was during the pandemic, so I didn’t get to visit any of the universities in person. However as soon as I joined the virtual open day at Performers College, I just loved the vibe and feel of the faculty. Birmingham was the perfect option for me, it being closer to my hometown than London as I’m such a home person – though it still allowed me to enjoy that city life outside of college which is something I’d really enjoyed and didn’t want to fully leave behind whilst training. It also allowed a lot of external opportunities outside of London as the dance scene in Birmingham is constantly growing.
WHAT’S YOUR PERSONAL HIGHLIGHT OF YOUR TIME AT PERFORMERS COLLEGE SO FAR?
The highlight for me has got to be performing our contemporary piece Brixton Riots choreographed by Christopher Radford at the CYD Super Convention in Liverpool. This was a great opportunity at the start of my third year, but the reason it felt so special to me was because of the way our whole year group came together as a team and created such a supportive and positive environment during rehearsals. The family vibe that I experienced when taking part in opportunities like this is incredible.
WHERE DO YOU HOPE YOUR CAREER TAKES YOU IN THE FUTURE?
My main goal is to have a career in performing – whatever route that takes. A current goal of mine is to get into a cruise ship production as it has always been from to travel while also doing what I love. However, I would also love to see my career move into the contemporary dance world in the future as it’s something I have really gotten into whilst training – not only because of our inspiring faculty, but also the contemporary dance opportunities that exist in Birmingham.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO SOMEONE APPLYING TO PERFORMERS COLLEGE?
Honestly when auditioning you just have to be yourself and not be worried about messing up or not getting in. I remember auditioning and finding it so daunting but the simple fact behind it is that the panel want you to do well. It’s more about what you bring to the table to see who you are for you compared to the things you aren’t good at right now. At the end of the day colleges want to find new students and they want you to do well so just be confidant and show them what you can do.
WHAT ELSE HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING ON?
Earlier this year I was working on a curtain raiser project through Dance Consortium outside of college with the Birmingham Hippodrome and the dance company Ailey 2. This was an amazing opportunity to work with Alvin Ailey alumni, and an amazing creative Marcus J Willis while also getting to perform on the hippodrome stage.
Recently, our Creative Futures department created an opportunity for us to audition and work with Dominos Pizza on their national corporate event Hustlin Rally 2024, providing us with our first professional contract on leaving college.
This project was a two-day rehearsal process for a performance to open the day at the ‘Huslin’ Rally’ at the ICC in Birmingham for Dominos. It was created by the amazing Layla Ellison, who we were beyond lucky to work with and learn so much from – especially straight out of training. It was a great first step into the industry for us all!
To discover more about Performers College, including auditions and how to apply, contact us at [email protected] or book an Open Day on our Events page.
