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Hello there!

"Make your mark on the world with love, care, kindness, respect, passion, and faith. Don't make decisions in anger, spite and selfishness, but in wisdom and thoughtfulness. Bring forth peace, hope and unity, not hate, fear and division.
Make the world a better place for everyone, not just for you."

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All About Me

I'm a Ballet Historian

I was born in County Antrim, Northern Ireland and my creative and artistic journey began when I was 14 after I saw the newly-released Barbie of Swan Lake, and this movie would change everything. The movie's use of Tchaikovsky's score and ballet performed by dancers of the New York City Ballet computer animated through motion capture cast a spell on me, which has never lifted and thus, a new chapter began. From then on, I wanted to know ballet and classical music. I started taking ballet classes and I studied Music and Dance for my GCSEs and A Levels at school. As time went on, I became interested in learning about the ballets in the repertoire and the more I started to learn, the more inquisitive I became.

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In 2014, I discovered a Masters course that would really resonate with me and inspire me - MA Ballet Studies at the University of Roehampton in London. I enrolled in this course in 2014 and what would follow would be some of the most inspiring eighteen months of my life. This course gave me the chance to study and get a degree in my passion. I went into this course excited, and I had every reason to be because it did exactly what I had hoped it would do. It taught me more about ballet and ballet history; it deepened my passion and ambition to become a ballet historian. It inspired me to pursue that goal with further, independent studying and research, which I poured into a new project that I started after I graduated in 2016.

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In the months following my graduation, I created a ballet history website called The Marius Petipa Society. My mission behind this project is to give Petipa a platform that promotes his legacy and what he did for the art form of ballet. History is vital because there is so much it teaches us, not just about the past, but the art form today and there is much information that the history of ballet offers that is important and relevant to ballet today. Since starting this project, it has been expanding to focus on ballet history in general, and it has provided me with many opportunities. I have travelled to various places, including Milan, Saint Petersburg, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Moscow, London, and The Netherlands to participate in conferences, and to attend events and ballet performances. I have also connected with some important figures in the ballet field, including world-renowned choreographer Alexei Ratmansky, and historians Doug Fullington and Nadine Meisner, as well as many ballet artists. Among the most inspirational of artists I have met are ballet dancers from Ukraine, who have since become very dear friends.

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I do the work I do because I know that ballet history is a very important matter and it is very relevant to the art form today. One lesson I have learned in my years as a ballet historian is that the more we know about the history of ballet, the more we understand the art form itself. This is what I love to do and I'm really proud of everything I've achieved so far. I love that the work I do has touched many people and stirred their interest, and my mission is to share what that huge treasure chest of ballet history holds with the world and to contribute to the art form through an educational perspective the teaching of what ballet is, the meanings of all those ballets that we all know and love and what those before us who made this art form what it is intended to bring to the stage.

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I'm A Writer

Writing is one of my passions and joys, it’s something that has always been there, and it was when I was a teenager that it first began to develop. Writing was something that I started do for fun and it was a way of unleashing my imagination. I would write some fan fiction about my favourite TV shows and fairy tales, it was a lot of fun and it sparked the interest in becoming a writer. After I left school in 2008, I enrolled in a theatre course at a university in London, but the course was not right for me and I switched to Creative Writing and this course gave the chance to learn more about how to write, how to structure writing works, etc. I graduated in 2012 and although I now had a degree and had gained new skills, the best part of it all was having spent four years in London. It was my first time living alone in a big city, away from home, but it was an exciting experience. Looking back, I can see that it really prepared me for what was still to come.

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While my course taught me some important lessons about writing, it wasn't until 2022 last when I was introduced to writer and Japanologist Beth Kempton that I discovered a whole new approach to writing that made a big difference. Beth has been a huge inspiration with her teaching of the method of fearless writing, which comes from Ancient Japanese wisdom. This method has enabled me to flourish as a writer in a way that I had never expected. It has taught me not to worry and think about success and perfection, but to free my mind and discover the connection between words and the mind, body and spirit. It has unleashed a lot of trust, peace and creativity in a way that really opens all our eyes to the wonders of writing. I'm very grateful to have discovered this kind of wisdom because it has really helped me to lose many fears and self-doubts about my creativity and it's given me the courage to share my words with others.

 

I have joined several of Beth's writing courses and sanctuaries, where I have written short stories, reflective pieces and poetry. You can also find me on Substack.

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For me, being a writer is a way of expressing what I think and feel; it’s how I share everything I know and it’s how I engage with my creativity, whether I’m writing fiction, non-fiction, historical or reflective writing. I love writing stories, I love writing essays in which I share my knowledge, and I love journaling because reflecting on my thoughts and emotions, especially in private, helps with my wellbeing.

 

I just love writing and I’m very inspired by Beth Kempton’s message, “You are a writer and the world needs your medicine.”

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