As a Sixth form media student it has been interesting to see a different side of the industry that I hadn’t considered. While the main feature of the company is their their theatrical dance productions, there is so much more that goes into it. I have been mainly focused on the marketing aspect of the company and have enjoyed seeing the practical application of media and artistic skills.
On the first day I met everyone who works here, who were all very welcoming and friendly, and sat down with Jane, who handles the marketing, and had a conversation about the job roles and interests which was useful. I was given a space to work and got set on a task to edit a press release for the upcoming Berwick showing of their theatre show the Velveteen Rabbit.
Lunch was relaxed with a good space to eat and I had some conversations and introductions to more of the crew. Later on in the day I was tasked with photographing the rehearsals for the velveteen rabbit for social media and got to watch and photograph the dancers rehearse for the remainder of the day. The next day four members of the knitting group came in for TV interviews and I sat with them for a while, one of them taught me how to crochet as we waited for the TV group to arrive. When the cameraman and interviewer arrived, I took behind the scenes photos of the interview with the knitting group, and later the rehearsal footage. Later in the day I sat with James and discussed ideas around a creative youth group, which I began to come up with ideas about and create ideas for flyers on Canva.
Wednesday, I spent the majority of the day creating three drafts for the flyers, which allowed me to be creative and use what I had learnt from media classes. I set a brief for what they needed such as the text, the house style, the logo, and was happy with the final result. The flyers were used as example drafts in a meeting to give people a vision and start a conversation around what the final product should look like.
The next day, on Thursday I began to do market research to find places that could be useful to communicate the creative group to, such as schools, clubs and youth groups. I also discussed the way that these ideas could be communicated so that they could actually be engaging and useful to teenagers. Later in the day, Ben and Alex invited me to sit and watch the introduction to their film Rapunzel Red, and sat with Alex for a while and discussed films and his editing process of Rapunzel.
On my final day, Friday I started the day by watching the dancers warm up and the start of their final rehearsal at the John Marley Centre, until the knitting ladies arrived again, who I sat with for a while and they taught me to make a pom pom snowball from wool and joined in with their other activities. Finally, I helped pack the van with all the gear and props for the Velveteen rabbit tour.
I really enjoyed my time at balletLORENT, finding it fun, interesting and useful, and met lots of friendly people along the way.
The Velveteen Rabbit rehearsal
Tyne Tees filming rehearsals
Tyne Tees interviewing the Knitters, Movers & Shakers group as they create props for The Velveteen Rabbit
The van packed with the Velveteen Rabbit set, costumes and props for the first tour date at Alnwick Playhouse.
