TILDA LOOKS FORWARD TO STARTING PRESTIGIOUS NEWCASTLE PERFORMING ARTS COURSE

We recently heard that Tilda Whent, Year 11 student at Richmond School, has been successful in securing a place on Newcastle College’s Musical Theatre course, based at their renowned Performance Academy.

We caught up with Tilda to find out a bit more about her performing arts and the challenges she has faced getting to where she is today.

RS: Congratulations on getting your place on this amazing course, Tilda! Take us back to the beginning – when did performing arts start for you and how did it develop?

T: Thank you! A real pivotal moment happened back in Year 9. I had joined the PQA (Pauline Quirke Academy) in Darlington. We had the opportunity to travel to London and perform a musical in the West End of London. It was my first proper experience of being on stage – the lights and the audience and the whole experience. I absolutely loved it! I knew from then on that that’s what I wanted to do.

Later that year we were taking part in a dance workshop at school with a teacher from the Dance City CAT (Centre for Advanced Training). I was selected to attend an audition and decided to try for both the Contemporary and Street Dance programmes and was successful in getting a place on both. I started doing the Street programme, but they ended up making a hybrid course so I could do both. This involved six hours on a Sunday in Sunderland, then an hour and half in Darlington on a Monday. A real highlight of the CAT programme was the Summer Showcase – I just loved being on stage in that performance environment. I have learnt so much from being on the CAT programme and know that dance is my thing – it makes me happy. 

RS: You’ve certainly picked up some amazing experiences along the way – and you definitely put the hours in! What came next? I guess you were starting to think about what to do after Year 11?

T: Yes, exactly. We did lots of research trying to find a course, unfortunately there aren’t any local to here. I would have loved to stay on at Richmond, as the Dance teachers are amazing but I can’t just do one A-level and really don’t want to do anything else. So we started looking further afield. York, Durham and Newcastle but when we saw the Performance Academy in Newcastle with the amazing professional standard facilities they have, it just made sense that I applied there.

RS: I hear the audition process was quite rigorous?!

T: It was! They asked me to prepare vocal pieces and a monologue beforehand, then the audition was three hours long. I performed a song from a musical, my monologue, did a jazz dance piece and answered their questions. I got in!. I did have in my mind I wanted a pure dance course but to develop in all areas of singing, dancing and acting I decided to do the Musical Theatre course.

I also wanted to keep working on my dance specifically, so I’ve started at the Phoenix Youth Dance Academy in Gateshead, part of the Phoenix Dance Theatre in Leeds. We visited there with school last year and have been studying one of their dance pieces in GCSE Dance. Mrs Fox sent an email out about auditioning for next year right at the time we had decided to stop the CAT programme – even though I’ve learned so much there and have loved it – the travelling wasn’t going to work next year. I went to trial the class to make sure I liked it before I auditioned and after a two hour session they offered me a place to start now, so I travel up to Newcastle two nights a week. The teachers are really inspiring and it is very hard but after a few weeks, I love it.

I’m also working on my singing as part of my Duke of Edinburgh award. I had to learn a new skill so I started weekly vocal lessons . Currently I’m studying and towards a Level 6 LAMDA in Musical theatre which I do in June.

RS: You are definitely focused, Tilda! You’re busy now, but going to be even busier next year – how’s the travel going to work?

T: I’ll travel on the train. The station is right next to the college. I’m going to have to be quite independent. Going to college in a city, all the travelling, meeting new people – I don’t think anyone else from Richmond School is going! It’s what I love, though – meeting new people – I’m a bit scared about the whole thing, but really excited about it at the same time – I can’t wait!

RS: It certainly sounds amazing! Tell us a little bit about the challenges you have faced through all this – even though what you do is incredibly hard work, it’s actually quite a bit harder for you, isn’t it?

T: Yes. I’ve been diagnosed with CFS – Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. It’s been hard to get the diagnosis because it’s such a poorly understood condition..

RS: How does CFS affect what you do and the way other people interact with you?

T: A lot of people can’t understand how I can dance for six hours or do a two hour performance on stage when I have CFS. Everything I do, even normal stuff like talking and learning uses up my energy and has greater consequences afterwards. Yes, I can dance for six hours, but how tired that makes me feel and how long it takes me to recover is much more than for someone without CFS. It’s incredibly frustrating to manage – it sometimes completely stops me from doing what I love – but that’s what I have to do, manage it. I’m getting better at it – I have to – it’s something that’s probably not going to go away.

Managing other people is hard sometimes, as well. People with CFS are very good at ‘masking’ – pretending that everything is OK and presenting a ‘normal’ exterior to others. It makes it hard for other people to accept the condition and to understand how dramatically it can affect what I do.  I’m getting better at managing other people, though – explaining CFS to them and how it affects me. People have to work hard to understand CFS – that’s something I’ve come to realise.

The diagnosis has helped, in a way. Beforehand I had a lot of symptoms but didn’t know why. It was hard and frustrating. I don’t know what the future holds and how I will manage college but I am not going to let it beat me, I want to focus on my goals.

I want to thank Mrs Fox and Miss Pemberton. They have been so supportive and encouraging to me, I wish I could stay with them longer. I also want to thank my mum for helping me follow my dream.

RS: Thanks for being so clear and honest about explaining your situation, Tilda. I’m sure you can find a strategy to balance the demands of next year with your CFS. 

We wish you all the best with your GCSEs and your fantastically busy year next year. We’ll see you on results day in August – don’t forget to stay in touch after that!