"I'm asthmatic and need to make sure that I take care of my health"

Hometown
Born in Milton Keynes, moved to Coventry as a baby and went to school and college in Coventry. I now live in London.

Do you consider yourself to have any disabilities?
I don’t have any disabilities, but I am asthmatic and need to make sure that I take care of my health in this respect. Because I do a lot of training I have regular physiotherapy appointments to deal with any injuries and I think I take a lot more care of my diet now too.

What do you do?
I am a second year student at Circus Space and I am specialising in tightwire. I also dance in a street dance troupe called Y@P (Youth at Pineapple). We do shows and public performances. We also get involved in trying to get youngsters into dance through projects such as the Met police youth diversion scheme and the No Messin’ Campaign (designed to keep youngsters away from railway tracks) and we go out to schools to teach and perform.

I have been a member of Equity since I was 15 and work under the name Lauren Nicole–this is because someone was already registered with Equity with my name. I appear in the Spotlight African, Caribbean, Oriental and Asian Artists Register and the Dancers Register. This is my Spotlight link

What was your very first role in circus?
I have performed in shows since I was young as I used to be an artistic rollerskater and have been doing acrobatic gymnastics since I was five. This meant that we did displays, festivals and shows for parents too.

I remember doing a perfomance with Stagecoach at the NEC, but my first real theatre show where I had a specific role and delivered lines was a production called Raa! which we performed at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. Another great experience was being part of the England dance team and taking part in a dance festival in Los Angeles.

What else have you done?
With Y@P I have been involved in a number os shows including Breakin’ Out at the Unicorn Theatre, London and City College Theatre, Coventry, Move It at London Olympia and Wow!, a breast cancer charity event at Bridewell Theatre.
I have also had non-speaking roles in tv commercials and a couple of films. I was in an episode of Early Doors and Skins and I have done a couple of corporate videos where I had speaking parts.

Have you got qualifications?
I have 10 GCSEs and a national diploma in performing arts. I am also a full qualified acrobatic gymnastics club coach, a club coach in sports acrobatics and I am a club judge in the same discipline. I’m currently working towards a foundation degree in circus skills.

Did you work in another industry before circus?
I spent a summer working as a sales assistant in a shop in the city centre which made me realise that I really wanted to work in the performing arts

Why circus?
For a long time I thought I wanted to be an actress, but the final decision about working in circus came about because I realised that I wanted to be able to dance and do my gymnastics as well as acting. The foundation degree that I am doing lets me enjoy and develop all three and being part of Y@P allows me to perform all three.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a vet when I was really little, but when I was about 13 I got really interested in performing and started going to Stagecoach

What do you do all day?
My day starts early–I’m up at 6.30am–so that I can travel into London to the Circus Space. A typical day would include trampolining for an hour-and-a-half, an-hour-and-a-half of tightwire, and another hour-and-a-half of movement. After lunch I do ballet for an hour and 90 minutes of acrobatics. Then 4-6.30pm we have independent practice time when we can choose to work on our own discipline or something else.

During this time I might do more acrobatics or tightwire or perhaps breakdancing. I also rehearse with Y@P twice a week and we may have a show or event on a Saturday night which means that the daytime will be spent doing technical runs and rehearsing for the performance.

What’s your favourite thing about it?
I really enjoy the physical aspect of the course and the fact that it is very practical. On the street dance side, it’s brilliant that we get an opportunity to perform in a variety of shows and sometimes get to work alongside well known artists–we recently filmed with Sean Kingston and N-Dubz for MTV.

And the worst?
The early mornings are hard and the physical nature of the course means that you get very tired and get new pains until your body gets accustomed to new activities that we undertake–luckily we have a physio on hand!

What’s your dream job in theatre?
My dream is to work on a cruise ship or to get into a West End or touring show where I will get an opportunity to put my skills into practice in a professional setting

Got any wise words for someone who wants to be where you are now?
It is really important to be realistic about the future and to have some options open if the performing side does not work out. There is a lot of competition in the performing arts industry and the other pitfall is the potential for injury which can put you out for long periods.

Getting involved in drama groups, workshops etc on a local basis is good; it helps you to find out what you really enjoy and what you don’t. I worked as a tv extra for a couple of years and that was really useful in learning how to take direction, and understanding how much work and effort goes into creating film and tv; this experience came in really useful when I started performing in other shows, especially when you have limited time to complete the technical rehearsal. Having 6.30am call times was also an eye opener–you’re expected to look good and be bright, cheerful and ready to work when you arrive!

I also keep up to date with sports acrobatics and would like to progress my coaching skills further so that when I am not longer performing, I can look at using my skills and experience to teach others.