Life post-graduation is weird. For the first time in my life I haven’t got a pre-determined plan for the next few years, I’m out on my own in the big bad world yadda yadda… Then comes the endless search for jobs you might get, applications to fill out, rejections, the occasional interview and then rejections and all the while everyone meet is particularly concerned with what exactly it is that you’re going to do with yourself. Problem is you’re in the catch-22 of not being experienced enough to get the job but if you don’t get a job you can’t get more experience. It can be really stressful and quite the mental challenge. But you take the chances you get and eventually everything will work out (or so you can hope).

And yet here we are, one temporary contract comes to an end and another one is about to begin. As I gushed in my last blog post, working for the last couple months on the Edinburgh International Festival was an absolute pleasure, and also pretty tiring. Now, I’m off on my next adventure which is a 3 month stint up in Dundee working for a really great theatre and dance company. I can’t wait to get started as a Marketing Officer for Dundee Rep and Scottish Dance Theatre. For those who may not know, Dundee Rep is a really exciting theatre and ensemble company in Dundee. A ‘repertory theatre’ or rep is a place where there are a group of resident actors (the ensemble) who perform in a whole season’s worth of plays. This was typically how theatre used to be back in the day and nowadays there’s few theatres that still function this way. I’m very excited to experience working with a Rep system and buzzing to see what we produce! It’s an exciting time to join Dundee Rep as they have just started to celebrate their 80th Anniversary Season as a theatre and the 20th anniversary of the Rep Ensemble so there is a lot of buzz and excitement for this milestone season. Dundee Rep is also joint with another company called Scottish Dance Theatre which is a contemporary dance company, who I am buzzing to be working with.

It’s such an exciting opportunity for me to work with such incredible, exciting and varied companies. The other bonus is that I get to explore a new city. I’ve been to Dundee quite a few times in my life (halfway point between home and Edinburgh, dance competitions, volunteering at Rock Challenge etc.) but I don’t really know anything about the place. For the last few years people have been talking about Dundee’s cultural gains so it’s an exciting time to be up there. Expect some future blog posts about my Dundee adventures! I am also excited to be in Dundee to reunite with my gal Grace who moved here a year ago, I’ve missed her and I’ve missed dancing with her so the first order of business was booking in some dance classes. I think I’m going to be able to dance three nights a week which is absolutely dreamy considering I haven’t really had the chance since April. I’ve got some ballet, lyrical, contemporary and tap classes lined up so that’s another exciting thing coming up!

It is such an exciting time and definitely the start of a new chapter. It might be a little scary to jump head first into a whole new city where I literally know one person (for now), but I’ll throw myself into my work and being able to dance again and I’m looking forward to discovering what’s good in a whole new place. Who knows, I might fall in love with Dundee!