In November 2015, Dance in Devon gave Ellen Welch, one young local dancer, the opportunity to perform in the world premier of the stage show ‘Gangsta Granny’. This was originally a children’s book written by the UK’s leading children’s author David Walliams. The role included rehearsing with the cast and a week’s worth of performances, including matinees, at Exeter’s Northcott Theatre. The show was a great success! Here, Ellen Welch describes her experience:

“My time with ‘Gangsta Granny’ was absolutely wonderful from start to finish. It was great to spend the week at an incredible venue doing what I love best. The cast and crew were absolutely lovely and made me feel very welcome from the moment I got there and it was a really inspiring week, learning what it would be like to be part of a company and there was some really great feedback from the audience.

There were certainly lots of little girls very inspired, I also got to sign lots of tickets and programmes for very excited children which was so lovely! I really felt like a member of the cast and we got time to do lots of things outside of show time together which was really nice as I felt very included.

They were really pleased with my professionalism all week and have in fact asked if I would come back and do more venues for them. So, I am off later on in the year to perform in Bournemouth, Weston super-mare and Swindon!

I am so grateful for being chosen to be the dancer for the Exeter venue. It was an incredible week and really valuable learning experience. I have loved every single second and look forward to performing with them again later on in the year”.