I arrived back in London at the beginning of March and had to do the first week of school online. This was because all the students had to have a PCR and 2 lateral flow tests before we were allowed back in the dance studio. We did the flow tests at school and were welcomed back onto the campus by Judy, who is Ramberts student support person. It was really great to be back and see people. All the students were desperate to come back to see each other and be able to dance in the studios again. There was so much energy and excitement from everybody.
The school understood that we all needed to spend some time in the dance studios alone before starting classes again so they made them available for us to use once we had finished the testing. All of us have been dancing and doing classes alone from small spaces so we needed time to get used to being back in the big space again. I booked a studio for the afternoon after my second test.
Once I got into the studio I just lay on the floor, with my eyes closed and played my favourite music before starting to dance. They were right, it was a big shift and was actually quite emotional. It made my cry and I spent some time reflecting on things and praying. It was a sad and joyful moment. Things that came to my mind were:
The fact that I am still at Rambert - it is crazy and amazing! This made me feel so blessed and grateful. This could have been someone else but God chose me.
Also I thought about how far I have come and how strong I have been to survive 3 lockdowns away from my country, family and friends back home.
I asked God not to take this opportunity away from me. I know that I have to trust Him to provide so many things if I am going to finish the three years at Rambert. I want to be able to complete my training and do it well.
After a few weeks back at school I opened my locker for the first time and found my tutu and an old pair of pointe shoes. These were from my first year and they made me realise how much I have changed and how long it has been since life was normal. (Right now we do not really use the changing rooms as we have to arrive ready for class and stay separate as much we can.) I am a different person than I was in my first year. In my first year I was quiet, I was struggling to adjust to a new culture, to training all day, to try to fit in and make friends. I was adjusting to doing live performances in front of the other students and teachers.
What's been really great this semester is that my church, St Michael Fulwell, and I have been much closer. I have started to hang out and go for a walk with some of them. Since March I have started to get involved with church activities. At Easter I was asked by the teen and kids program leaders to help in the worship service. I learned a dance that someone had made and we stood at the front and the people all copied us. I couldn't stop smiling and I felt really good to be able to worship God in this way with everyone. This was very different from the dance I do in my training at school but it is still dance. People could easily follow us and join in. This was really nice to see and I loved being able to use dance in this way.
After church on Easter Sunday I was invited to eat roast lamb at a garden picnic with people from church. We played basket ball and they even taught me an English game - spike ball.
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