Rhian's Apprenticeship Journey
Rhian completed a year long apprenticeship in community dance following the National Occupational Standards in Dance Leadership. Take a look at Rhian's story below:
"Without the initial six month funding I had been offered from Jobs Growth Wales, I would not have been able to start my apprenticeship with Rubicon Dance. The knowledge I gained within the six month time frame was incredible. This is because my apprenticeship programme was exploring every community setting as I was new to community dance. After the six-month period came to an end, Rubicon Dance offered me a full apprenticeship which meant I was able to continue my training. I was later able to identify my strengths and weaknesses which contributed to shaping my programme for the following months ahead. Over the four terms of my apprenticeship from September 2018 to December 2019 I have worked with 1,324 participants."
“She is now a much more confident young lady who is starting to believe in herself and her abilities. It is so good to see the development in her professionally and this is a credit to you Tracey and the team at Rubicon who have supported her with her journey so far and will continue to support and help her to develop her skills further over the coming months.”
Kathy O’Brien, Employability Projects Manager, Job’s Growth Wales
"Over the past fifteen months, I have observed highly skilled and experienced dance leaders in youth contemporary dance and street styles; disabilities; over 50’s sessions; and curriculum and after school sessions. The one thing that I observed straight away was that every session was different despite the similarity in ages and abilities. Adaptability is key and sometimes works out better when the session is being guided by the participants. I have witnessed this throughout my training and every time it happens, it has led to beautiful creativity. Other times, it can simply be about adapting a movement on the spot to suit the group. Adaptability is an amazing but very challenging skill to have and every time I saw it happen, I wanted to achieve this skill for my own leadership.
In the last term of my apprenticeship, I gradually started to lead parts of an over 50’s session with support from the dance leader and my mentor, Tracey. Gradually I built up my leadership until I was leading full sessions under their supervision. Once I felt that I was confident enough to lead a full session, I was lucky enough to take on four of my own 50+ sessions from September 2019. Building good rapport with the participants before taking on their sessions was essential for me as their new dance leader, and luckily I had become familiar with the groups from taking part alongside their previous Rubicon dance leader. I became much more confident and I wasn’t afraid to start a conversation and socialise with the groups, which I think is crucial for a dance leader in order to gain the trust and friendship of any group.
As well as learning through observations, I have been lucky enough to attend 22 continuous professional development training courses (CPD) through Rubicon Dance and Wales Wide Training Programme. Each CPD has contributed to my training in one way or another and they have helped shape me as the community dance practitioner I am becoming today."
"Rhian has grown so much this term. Her energy, enthusiasm
and engagement in sessions is incredible. Rhian shows that she is diverse, adaptable and understanding of the different environments in which she works.”
Sophie Batey, Dance Leader, Rubicon Dance
"I have had constant support and guidance from my mentor, Tracey throughout my apprenticeship. Every week we would meet and go through feedback from session observations and this is where I had an opportunity to reflect and discover my strengths. I have now realised that my strongest assets whilst leading are my physical energy, warmth and calm approach.
I am very pleased that Rubicon has offered me a fulltime post as a community dance practitioner from January 2020. Thank you to everybody who has been alongside me every step of the way through my apprenticeship, I would not be where I am today without the support and encouragement I have received throughout!"