CYC Dancer Grace Richardson on keeping creative at home

Grace Richardson, CYC dancer, reflects on her experience as part of the Curve Young Dance Company and keeping creative during lockdown.

I have been lucky enough to have been a part of CYC Dance Elevate for 4 and a half years. I’ve been involved in many projects, my favourites being the Mods around Leicester dances because I got a chance to work with the Enhance group and it was so much fun showcasing our dances all around the city. My other favourite project would be the Mass Movement showcases, this is where every year we have had the chance to submit a dance into one big performance run by Dance 4, I’ve loved getting to dance alongside lots of other groups from in and around Leicester.

Lockdown for me has been quite stressful when all I had to do each day was heaps of school work, but being able to do CYC Dance classes every week has been a really nice time to get back into being creative, although I can’t wait till we are all back at the studio! Staying engaged, however, with my creative outlets has been my overall goal. Over this Lockdown period I’ve managed to stay in touch with my singing lessons, done a few self-taped auditions and have produced an acting piece with the actors studio online called “Voices from the red zone” all of these have helped me to showcase how lockdown has made me feel through what I am best at.

My experience of making dances and film at home has been exciting and new. I’ve enjoyed playing with angles and different ways around my home and learnt a lot about different ways to perform that aren’t just facing front on a stage. When Curve re opens I am most excited for the atmosphere of going back into class and dancing with everyone else, it’s truly the place where I can just let myself go.

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Photography: Grace performing with CYC as part of the Mods: Shaping a Generation Festival in 2019. Image credit – Matthew Cawrey