Growing up gay on an estate in Tameside, Nic Lee remembers being relentlessly bullied.
At its worst, he remembers, his head was slammed off a automobile bonnet in a violent assault. Nic wished nothing greater than to slot in.
So he changed into what he describes as a “bad kid”, stealing cash from his mum and take beers from the fridge to show himself to his friends.
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But there was one ardour that allowed him to flee the torment he was struggling – dance. Though he’d liked the passion from a younger age, Nic, now 17, spent lockdown studying find out how to dance professionally from his field bed room in Ashton.
After constructing his abilities by way of a native up to date dance group, he’s now been supplied a spot at a prime dance academy in London – changing into one of many youngest folks to ever be accepted on the faculty.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, {the teenager} mentioned: “The entire childhood factor was actually tough. I didn’t have a sense of route in something. The surroundings I grew up in wasn’t nice and rising up was sort of terrible.
“The individuals who lived round me have been the kind of youngsters who set garages on hearth and issues like that. All these folks have been terrible and sooner or later all of them turned on me as a result of I got here out as gay. I was awfully bullied by all of them.
“Growing up gay was by no means very easy. I knew I was for thus lengthy however when I got here out fairly early on the age of like 10 everyone had an opinion and this led to me being bullied each single day by folks on the estate.
“They egged my house, hit my head if a car door, physically and verbally abused me, played knock-a-door-run on my house and there were times where called the police and reported it to the council even where I couldn’t leave my house. I was only 11 and my mental health was in the bin. I always ran away and did things that kids shouldn’t do.”
Having now been supplied a place at London Contemporary Dance School, Nic is about to go away sixth kind faculty early to start out the distinguished three-year course this September.
Nic’s journey with dance actually started whereas at Wright Robinson College in Gorton when native dance group Company Chameleon held a workshop.
Nic, who was 14 on the time, was instantly smitten with their free and artistic fashion of motion.
Chatting to the workshop leaders afterwards, Nic found they have been impressed along with his pure skill to maneuver and have been eager for him to audition for his or her younger folks’s dance firm referred to as Chameleon Youth.
However, not sure how he would have the ability to pay the subsidised £100 a yr payment, Nic missed the deadline. The following yr, the nation was in lockdown and all lessons have been cancelled.
When Company Chameleon’s reasonably priced Saturday morning younger folks’s dance classes moved on-line to Zoom, workshop leaders have been delighted when Nic determined to hitch.
Taking half within the common on-line group classes ignited Nic’s ardour for dance, and all through lockdown, he spent 4 hours every day self-teaching by watching and imitating different dancers.
Once the nation lastly opened up once more, Nic was in a position to audition for Chameleon Youth and received himself a place. “Somewhere out of the blue I decided dance was going to be a career,” he mentioned.
“I all the time wished to do dance as a child however we may by no means afford classes rising up. Before I did dance at GCSE, I taught myself a bit.
“Then lockdown occurred when I was in yr 9 and there was a hearth within me. I was simply dancing on a regular basis and I actually began to show myself.
“I was researching classes on how to get stronger in the body and how dancers are athletes. I started doing HIIT classes and at-home palates and yoga. It was in a tiny, tiny bedroom that had zero space whatsoever – it was a fight to get space to dance.”
Through his membership of the youth dance firm, Nic has carried out at The Lowry, New Adelphi Theatre and Phoenix Dance Theatre plus out of doors festivals akin to Manchester Day Parade, Green Space Dark Skies and the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Pageant in London.
“The timing of me getting my place could not have been extra excellent and it looks like all the things’s come full circle,” Nic added.
“Amazingly, I was on work expertise at Company Chameleon when I obtained an e mail saying I’d handed my audition and interview.
“I was completely in shock as I did not suppose I did that properly. And for a 17-year-old to get in is fairly uncommon. It was simply excellent to have the ability to share this second with Company Chameleon as this actually is the place my dance journey began.
“I was already doing a dance GCSE earlier than I joined, however I would by no means have been dancing on the excessive stage wanted to get into London Contemporary Dance School, and I would not have recognized about different alternatives like National Youth Dance Company which have actually opened my eyes to what’s attainable.
“Some of my older associates from Chameleon Youth are already at London Contemporary Dance School and it’s an absolute dream come true to have the ability to go and be part of them.
“My advice for others is to NEVER apologise for who you are or feel the need to label yourself, the only person you are on this planet for is yourself and learning to accept yourself is the greatest skill you can have because as cliché as it sounds, if you can’t accept you, then you can’t expect others to!”
Sam Broadbent, studying and participation supervisor at Company Chameleon, mentioned: “I can bear in mind our workshop leaders getting back from Wright Robinson and telling us about Nic.
“They mentioned not solely was he a tremendous mover, he was so assured and mature, even at 14. They nonetheless speak about how Nic got here for a chat on the finish of the session and completely impressed them and the way they actually hoped he would begin to come alongside to Chameleon Youth.
“We are over the moon that Nic was eventually able to join us and being able to support him over the last few years with dance school applications and auditions has been our absolute pleasure. Nic very much deserves his place in London and we are excited to follow his progress and see what happens next. We are expecting big things!”
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