Blog profile

Hi! My name is Lucy Calvert and I am 27 years old. I am originally from the north of England and that's where my love of performing and the arts began. I have danced since the age of 3, starting competing aged 4 and made my professional debut aged 8. Dance was a major part of my life as a child, constantly competing, rehearsing, performing! Around the age of 11 I decided I wanted to do more singing and acting as well. I fell in love with musical theatre! At 16 I moved down to London to attend Laine Theatre Arts for 3 years. I had the time of my life! I graduated in 2007 and spent the next 5 years working professionally in Theatre, TV and Film. I then decided to go back packing around the world on my own. This experience changed my life.
I came back knowing that there were so many other things I wanted to explore. I wasn't done with performing but I wanted to take a break from it all. I'd left school so young and felt that all I'd ever know was the performing world. There were so many other things I was interested in! I've always been passionate about education as my mum was a primary school head teacher and my dad was a PE teacher. I've always loved teaching and was fortunate enough when travelling to visit schools in both India and Cambodia. I love sharing the arts with children who wouldn't always have the opportunities to access it. I've also always been very interested in child's psychology.
I started to work as a team leader for the Princes Trust on their NCS programme. This project gives young people amazing opportunities in their local communities. It was extremely rewarding. I then worked for a charity that educated teenagers who had been excluded from mainstream education. The students were incredibly vulnerable young people with extreme behavioural problems. It was a very creative environment as they were not suited to the usual academic set up. Again, it was beyond rewarding. Throughout I have also always taught dance and musical theatre to various stage schools.
I now teach in Singapore at a performing arts school. I teach musical theatre to the super keen young performers and creative drama to the children who have come more for confidence boosting/social skills. I also teach speech and drama at Marlborough College in  Malaysia and teach creative drama at a special needs school once a week too. I love my job. My dreams change daily but I think I would like my own school. I want it to be a place where any child can come and be creative no matter what their background or experience. Also with a drama therapist aspect to it for children who are finding certain skills challenging. I believe the arts give children so many key life skills and I'm passionate about giving every child the self confidence and belief to succeed in whatever they want to do.