Central & the London 2012 Olympics
With the Olympics now in sight, we talk to recent graduates Polly Bennett (MA Movement Studies 11), Rebecca Brower (BA Theatre Practice 11) and Jo Eaden (BA Theatre Practice 11), who are bringing their creative flair and Central training to the team for London 2012 Ceremonies.
What are your roles in the 2012 Olympics?
Polly: I'm one of ten movement assistants to Toby Sedgwick, the Movement Director of two of the three sections of the opening ceremony. I'm contracted to assist Toby devise and prescribe movement according to the ceremonies concept, and guide the selected performers in its execution. The rest is top secret!
Rebecca: I’m Design Studio Assistant. My job is to communicate with the Designers and the Technical department, making sure everything is on track and assisting the Designers where they need extra help, ether model making, technical drawings or designing small scenic elements.
Jo: I am the Production Assistant for staging and scenic within London 2012 Ceremonies.
How did the job come about?
Polly: At Central, I had written my MA thesis on Olympic Mass Movement after being involved in large companies and stadium work before. Having realised that nothing had been written about prescribing movement to hundreds and thousands of volunteer participants, I got in touch with leading practitioners in this field and learnt of opportunities within London 2012. Ayse Tashkiran, my Movement Tutor at Central, also recommended me and I was asked to audition to be an assistant.
RB: I initially applied for the job in July after seeing it on the Olympics website.
JE: I also applied for the job through the London 2012 website. I actually applied for a different graduate position within ceremonies, but was referred for an interview for two production assistant roles that were advertised at the same time as I was seen to have enough experience to have a more responsible role, which was great!
How are you finding the experience and what has been your highlight so far?
Polly: I'm enjoying working with the rest of the team: from Toby and Steve Boyd, to the other assistants who are established movement people in their own rights. As the youngest assistant, I am learning a great deal from discussing the appropriate approach to working with large groups and achieving the desired movement qualities as well as by seeing the others in action. At the moment we're auditioning the volunteer performers, so it's also pretty amazing to see "non-movers" achieve a complex moment of choreography by the end of a session, and visibly enjoy the experience.
RB: One of my biggest loves is model making, so I am really enjoying progressing my skills in that. The scale of the whole design is incredible and a great challenge which is really fun to see come together. The main highlight has to be the people I am working with. There are such a vast number of people with different skills and backgrounds. I feel privileged to be working with them.
JE: The job so far has been great. We’ve all been sworn to secrecy so I can't obviously tell you much about what I do, but it's been good fun.
How did your Central training prepare you for the role?
Polly: It endowed me with the confidence I previously lacked as a practitioner. The course taught me about structure, accuracy but mainly to have faith in my ideas.
RB: Central taught me to be flexible within my practice, expect the unexpected and mould myself to be able to deal with that. Working with a range of different people at Central has really prepared me to think fast in team situations. My course encouraged being imaginative and thinking outside the box – skills that have become very useful in this job. I felt that Central also pushed me to make as many professional contacts as possible and network when I could. This really built my confidence when communicating with different people and will also prepare me for when I leave this job in a year from now. Central gave me a very good representation of the real world in our industry.
JE: Without my Central training I wouldn't have this job. Central provided me with the platform on which I could get the experience necessary to do this role. Through my course, I gained the skills and contacts to get myself jobs and work experience whilst at Central. It is that outside experience which then got me this opportunity.
What’s next?
Polly: Rio 2016?
JE: No idea yet! I would love to stay in large scale events and get involved in more festivals and wouldn't say no to Rio if the opportunity presented itself.
Numerous other alumni have also landed roles within the London 2012 Ceremonies team, including Sam Hunter (BA TP 79) as Production Stage Manager; Luke Mills (BA TP 07) as Deputy Production Manager - Pyro, Flame and Special Effects; Gary Beestone (BA TP 02) as Production Manager – Victory Ceremonies; Ben O’Neill (BA TP 07) as AutoCAD Draftsman; Rhian Davies (BA DATE 09) as Professional Cast Assistant; and Anna Morrissey (MA MS 05) and Diane Mitchell (MA MS 09) as Movement Assistants on the Opening Ceremony.
Central is also delighted that a number of current students have secured work placements with London 2012. Current second year students Justin Allin, Charlotte Smith, Megan Rowlands, Antonia Lynch, Rosie Chaplin and Claire Docherty, all on the BA TP Costume Construction course had started their placements with the costume department of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of both the Olympics and Paralympics.