I speak about this little thing called Rock Challenge A LOT, so I feel like it would be helpful to explain what exactly this craziness is! Originally started in Australia the competition has taken place in many countries across the world and in particular, the UK has run this initiative for the last 21 years. So what is it? Rock Challenge UK explains it as “a school team (made up of from 20 to 100 performers, 20 stage crew and 14 support crew – smaller numbers for Primary schools) decides on a theme, reflecting the personalities, concerns, hopes, dreams and interests of those who create it. They then create the choreography for their five to eight-minute dance-drama performance, select and record the medley of music for their soundtrack, and design and make their sets and costumes.” The point is that is promotes a healthy lifestyle providing an alternative to occupy the time of young people so that they don’t fall into the wrong crowd. But beyond the ethos it brings so many skills and can really change lives. So basically, it’s the best thing you can ever do whilst at school.

It gives you the opportunity to perform in professional venues, meet people across all year groups in your school and is an outlet for young creatives in many aspects from choreography to set creation. Not only is RC great for the performance aspect, there is also a hell of a lot of fun from your rehearsals at school to the event days themselves which are awesome with ‘production meetings’ which is more of a party than a meeting (a highlight for many on an RC day).

The main highlight for me at RC was always the opportunity to meet people from other schools. Many of these people I met are going to be with me for a lifetime. The only sad part is that we are spread across the country but at least it gives me an excuse to travel (when we finally get around to actually planning these trips!)

I loved this so much when I was at school and I wanted to get more of the famous ‘natural high’ so I decided to start volunteering at extra events back in 2013. I have continued to volunteer every year since then gaining a Bronze and Silver volunteer award. I would say that getting this extra insight into the event days inspired me to go onto study Events at university, so RC definitely influenced my life!

I have also written another blog post explaining my RC performance history and all the crazy stories I have been a part of telling but for now, just watch my favourite video of all time from the best day of my life (so far).