Emily Humphreys worked as the Academy Coordinator at the Academy of Northern Ballet. She tells us more about her job.
Emily Humphreys, Academy Coordinator
Can you describe your day-to-day job?
I help to support the smooth running of Academy classes and events. Every day is different for me, it depends on what events are coming up, but some of the events that I help out with are: auditions; master classes; open days; and our outreach projects. I might be phoning up a school to arrange a workshop, creating applications or booking forms, or working on resources for our events.
Some of my daily tasks include replying to enquiries and keeping all of our records up to date. I also come up with content which we use to promote the Academy on our website and social media; that’s a really fun and creative part of my job.
What skills are required to do your job?
To do my job you've got to be able to communicate well with other people, work well as part of a team and make sure that you’re really organised. It’s quite fast paced working in the Academy so you need to know what's going on and when it’s going to happen and be able to make deadlines. If you can do that then you can do the job! The job is really transferable and could be in any company or organisation – not necessarily in the arts.
What qualifications did you take?
I’ve always been really passionate about dance, but at my school there wasn’t the option to do a dance GCSE. Instead, I did PE and Music. I then got a place at Northern Ballet School in Manchester where I studied for a National Diploma in Professional Dance, specialising in Jazz and Musical Theatre. When I graduated, I travelled around the world and was really lucky to work on cruise ships as a Professional Dancer. I also did review shows at theatres in Europe for about 10 years.
When I was working as a dancer, I thought a lot about my future, as an injury might mean I couldn’t dance professionally anymore. I didn’t have any A Levels, but I was able to top my National Diploma up to a degree with Middlesex University. I ended up with a 1st class BA (Hons) degree in Professional Practice.
How did you get your role at Northern Ballet?
After I finished my dance career, I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do but I knew that I still wanted to work in the arts. I really wanted to share my passion with other people and hopefully help to inspire the next generation. I started working at Northern Ballet in 2018, in a temporary role as Head Receptionist. I just loved working at Northern Ballet.
When my temporary role finished another job opened up at Northern Ballet as the Academy Coordinator. This is actually a part time job but for me it’s perfect; it gives me free time to continue my passion in dance as a teacher as I also teach classical ballet with the Academy. It’s a really nice balance between office work and teaching.
Header image hoto Academy Senior Associates, taken by Emily Nuttall.