Jade is a 3rd year Urdang BA Professional Dance and Musical Theatre student from Ireland.
Why did you decide to apply to study at Urdang?
I decided to apply at the start of my last year in secondary school. I applied around November and auditioned in January.
I decided to apply for Urdang as my best friend from home had been there for a year and raved about how amazing it was! He said the course was extremely fun and felt like he had improved so much already in such a short time of less than a year.
He also spoke about how amazing it was to live in central London and be surrounded by people who want to do the same thing as him, something I had dreamed about all my childhood. I knew from an early age that I wanted to do musical theatre but I also found it important to have a degree under my belt and Urdang's BA Hons in Professional Dance and Musical Theatre was the perfect course for me.
What is your favourite thing about studying at Urdang?
My favourite thing would have to be the community that I am surrounded by. The teachers and students give such an uplifting and positive energy so everyday I absolutely love coming into uni!
What kind of things are you involved in outside your course?
I have a part time job in a stage school at the weekend and spend most of my free time with my friends, calling my family back home or going to gym.
When I am free especially on the weekends, I love to visit Camden for all their different food stalls as well as Columbia Road flower market for beautiful flowers and plants. It’s always fun to visit various places in central London whether it is for shopping, parks, going out for dinner and drinks, brunch, visiting museums or sightseeing.
London is so much bigger than my hometown, so it is always so exciting to see the huge, impressive architecture.
Could you tell us about your track?
I’m on track C which is the singer/actor track.
My time in second and the beginning third year was focused on improving my acting and singing however I had a lot of dance classes to ensure I was improving in all aspects! I loved track C as I was surrounded by likeminded people who wanted similar things from their career that I did.
Track A is the “triple threat” track meaning they split their time on all three disciplines of singing, dancing and acting equally.
Track B is the opposite of Track C as most of their time is spent focused on dance (roughly 75% dance and 25% acting and singing). However, on all three tracks the core modules are studied to ensure development in fundamental skills for a successful career in musical theatre.
What are you most looking forward to during the rest of your time at Urdang?
I’m looking most forward to doing my third year show and seeing all my friend do their shows. I’m currently in rehearsals now and putting a show together from start to finish is so exciting and I love coming in and learning something new every day from our amazing creative team. I am playing Chris in Carrie the musical and I am so excited to showcase this show to my friends and family.
What would be your top tip for our applicants?
My top tip to get into Urdang is to be yourself. Urdang’s motto is everyone individual, they thrive off having various people of different personalities and strengths. As long as you show off your personality in your audition and be who you truly are you will have done a great job!
What do you plan to do after you graduate?
I plan to book a job performing! Like any performer my dream is to be on the West End one day so hopefully I will be auditioning regularly to get closer to that dream!
Urdang have supported me in getting closer to this dream as in third year everyone has the opportunity to sign with the amazing agency – Link Talent. Link provide us with auditions and industry exposure before we even graduate which is incredible!
We also are required to set up our own spotlight profiles so we have a page in which casting directors and industry professionals can view us and we can be submitted for various things. Urdang also provide us with many opportunities to gain agency representation by exposing us to various agents in our third year shows, agents day and providing us with state-of-the-art showreels.
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