Six years ago Nicole Anderson was a fourteen year old girl who had just been expelled from school in Dundee. This summer (2021) she is graduating from Dundee and Angus College with, not one, but two BA(Hons) degrees in contemporary dance. Furthermore, she has secured a sought-after place with the globally renowned post graduate dance programme, Emergence, in the north of England.
‘I think it’s fair to say I had a challenging childhood, says Nicole. I hadn’t much to look forward to’.
But thanks to some educational support, Nicole’s interest was piqued by The Scottish School of Contemporary Dance based at The Space at D&A College. She began by working her way towards an NC in Dance.
‘To begin with I was pretty overwhelmed. Watching others at the audition was incredible. It felt completely alien to me, and the standard was really high! I was convinced I couldn’t do it.’
But as Nicole’s confidence grew, her ability became clear, as Head of Curriculum and Quality for Performing Arts, Lee Lappin describes.
‘Nicole always had such huge potential and energy, and once she directed this towards her learning and development, her technique, performance and artistry thrived. It has been such a wonderful journey to watch Nicole blossom into the incredible artist she is today’
The final icing on the cake is that Nicole has now been accepted onto the prestigious MA Dance Performance and Professional Practices programme which is delivered by the Joss Arnott Dance company and the University of Salford.
The programme not only focuses on contemporary dance performance at the highest level, the dancers then become part of ‘Emergence Postgraduate Dance Company’, who work with internationally acclaimed choreographers and tour across the UK.
As Nicole says, ‘Dance has helped me get my life back on track. People think it’s an elitist thing, but I believe dance is for all. Coming from my background it would be hard to imagine anyone less likely to become a successful dancer, but for me it really is a way of being rather than just for the aesthetic.’
Dundee & Angus College
Dundee and Angus College is moving away from traditional thinking and focussing much more on careers not courses. It wants the people of the Dundee and Angus region to be better informed and prepared for the career options available to them, no matter what stage they are at.
