My daughter, panto and looking to the future

The end of panto hits my daughter hard. Living in a panto bubble for seven or eight weeks is everything to her and she doesn’t want to go back to her boring life the way it was. Every time it comes to an end, it makes her think about her life and where she is going with it. Which is a pretty big thing for a girl of her age.

At the end of the first year, we looked into her doing some sort of drama. We considered both Stagecoach and PQA, which teach acting, singing, dancing and some backstage stuff too. But they’re very expensive. And she doesn’t need the dance training. Taking on one of those would have meant giving up some of her other dance classes because of the cost. And she couldn’t decide which she preferred. In the end, she reluctantly decided to stick with the status quo.

Last year, she started googling acting jobs for kids. Most acting jobs for kids are in London and most require unusually small children. Do you know the part of Matilda is available for girls aged 8 to 12, but they have to be no taller than 4′ 3″? My daughter is just above average height at 5′ 2″ and 11 years old. She found a website where you could register your details and search for jobs locally. It turns out there were a few jobs, including a video advert for a local charity. But the job was unpaid and you needed to pay a monthly fee to be able to matched with jobs. I wasn’t sure how above board some of the jobs were and I wasn’t willing to pay a monthly fee for her to do unpaid work. So we decided not to bother with that either.

This year, my daughter shone like the little star she is. She might only be 11, but she was the best child in that chorus. She stays 100% in character at all times and always gives her dance moves everything.

As we waited for her final show to start, my husband said he ‘wouldn’t mind’ if my daughter wanted to study for a degree in dance. And he actually started googling dance courses at universities there and then.

I wouldn’t mind if she went down that route either. In fact, I would positively encourage it. She’s an intelligent girl who could do anything she wants to do. But it is her dream to dance and I don’t believe in destroying people’s dreams – as long as they’re willing to work for them and as long as they realise that dreams don’t always come true.

I wanted to be an actor as a teenager and I was pretty good. But I could only act. I couldn’t sing or dance. And there’s no way my parents would have supported me going down that route. Like my daughter, I was an intelligent girl, and they would have seen a career in the theatre as ‘wasting’ my talents (my talents which have taken me all the way to writing business articles in my spare room).

But my daughter has a huge advantage over me. She can dance.

To really succeed in the theatre, you need to be a ‘triple threat’ – to be able to sing, dance and act. Currently, my daughter is a double threat – she can dance and she can act. Her singing isn’t bad, but it’s not brilliant. For a long time, I’ve had it in my head that maybe she should do singing lessons. Her violin lessons fizzled out (it’s a long story), so although she’s still doing four dance lessons a week, we’re not currently paying for any music lessons for her.

So I suggested to my husband that maybe she should have singing lessons rather than go back to her violin lessons. And he agreed! This is remarkable. Decisions like that usually take ages in our family.

So this year’s post-panto plan is to find singing lessons for my daughter. She has a voice, we just need someone to help her find it and use it to the very best of her ability.

This could be our very best post-panto plan yet.

Daughter, Panto, My Sunday Photo, Silent Sunday

SaveSave

SaveSave

Author: Sarah Mummy

Share This Post On

14 Comments

  1. Your girl is so talented. The singing lessons sound like a wonderful idea. Good luck with them x

    Post a Reply
    • Thanks very much! I just need to find some now! x

      Post a Reply
  2. That sounds like a brilliant plan to me. The triple threat is how to get on in the acting world and if she has that it will be a huge advantage to her. Good for he for wanting to follow her dreams, that is amazing

    Post a Reply
    • Thanks very much! She hasn’t got a bad voice, so I’m hoping singing lessons will help her unearth a better one. Now I just have to find the lessons for her!

      Post a Reply
  3. I remember the after show blues so well! The acting industry is a hard profession and not very well paid unless you ‘make it’. I wish your girl all the very best in following her dreams and hope she is one of the lucky ones.

    Post a Reply
    • Thanks very much! It’s good to hear from someone who knows about the industry. She can follow her dreams and see where it takes her, and if it doesn’t work out she always has her more academic talents to fall back on.

      Post a Reply
  4. It’s great that you’re so supportive. It’s not quite the same thing but at this age my daughter was music mad. We paid for private keyboard, drumming and saxophone lessons and she could play just about any instrument she turned her hand to. She was in the choir and school rock band. Every day was another music rehearsal or lesson or performance. We were sure that she would go on to do something in music as she was incredibly talented. But by sixteen she gave up the lot and went down the art route instead so we have a virtual orchestra sat up in the loft now haha! I don’t think any of those years were wasted despite her no longer using her musical talents. I’m happy to support her in whatever she wants to do. Your daughter is lucky to have parents that support her creativity!

    Post a Reply
    • It’s lovely to read about your daughter, it’s definitely a similar thing. It’s great that you supported her and she had all those years of enjoyment, plus she will always have that talent if she does go back to it.

      Post a Reply
  5. I hope all her dreams come true and if anyone can make it, it’s her. x

    Post a Reply
    • Thanks very much, that’s a lovely thing to say! x

      Post a Reply
  6. Sounds like a great plan. I love that you’re helping your daughter to try to live her dreams!
    It’s definitely not something my parents would have let me do either. My two are not that way inclined but it must be lovely to see your own daughter up there on stage shining like the star she is. 🙂

    Post a Reply
    • Thanks very much! I’ll do what I can to help her and then she can follow her dreams and decide if it’s the right thing for her. It is amazing to see her up on stage.

      Post a Reply
  7. I read this the other day and forgot to comment. I find it quite inspiring reading about how well your daughter is getting on. My two are also into singing and dancing and Libby is into acting too. They’re not as talented as your daughter but it has given them an enormous amount of confidence, so even if children don’t make a career out of it, I think these things benefit them massively in other areas of their lives.
    Nat.x

    Post a Reply
    • Thanks very much! It is amazing and inspiring to watch my daughter’s progress. Your girls are so much younger, who’s to say they aren’t as talented? It’s great that they have the enthusiasm and you’re so right that these things have a real benefit elsewhere in their lives. x

      Post a Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.