From En Avant July/August 2024
Ryan Anderson, a Musical Theatre performer who has starred in productions such as Aladdin, Pippin and Peter Pan, tells us about life experiences with inclusivity and diversity in the world of Theatre.
Can you tell us a little bit about how you first got into dance? What sparked your interest in it?
I got into dance through YouTube. When I was younger, as a child, I used to watch YouTube videos of ‘So You Think You Can Dance: America’. I used to go into my kitchen late at night after my parents had gone to bed, and I’d pull out the blinds so I could see my reflection in the window and I’d just dance and prance around until the early hours of the morning imagining that I was this lyrical dancer. Having never had any kind of dance training from a school, I actually didn’t know that they were a thing. That’s how I started moving. And then one day, I just had this idea. I went onto Google and I said: ‘Dance Training London’. I looked at the first three schools, and I auditioned for those schools. I went the next year, and they gave me a shot, having had no dance training before that.
It’s an interesting question you ask about what sparked my interest. I still don’t know today what sparked my interest in movement. I think it’s more of a feeling, it’s more of an expression. Dance really is an expression of how you feel. I think as a child, I didn’t quite know that, but I think it was just my way of expressing myself, and it was my way of feeling something. Today, now being slightly more aware of that, I realise when I’m dancing as an expression, or dancing because I have to, and they’re both very different feelings. I think it’s an important balance to have when you become professional, because when you’re constantly working towards aims and needs of other people within the dance world as a professional, you also need to find the balance between expressing yourself as well in your own creative way to have that healthy creativity alongside working.
At what age did you begin your formal dance training?
I started my formal dance training at 16. I moved away from home at 16, and I went to a place called Bird College for a year. I went on a foundation course which was basically for people that needed a little bit of training prior to a three year course.
As I said before, I hadn’t had any formal training when I was a child at all – I didn’t even know what a plié was. I needed that year to really enhance me before going into a three year course. After that, I moved to Epsom in Surrey, where I trained for three years at Laine Theatre Arts. I ended up in my last year majoring in dance.
Did you pursue dance in college? If so, can you share some of your experiences and how they shaped your career?
I majored in dance and theatre. I learned theatre arts for three years when I was 17. It was an incredible experience for me because, one, it was shaping me as a human because it was so incredibly difficult and very challenging every day and I believe that growth happens when you’re struggling.
But also, it was this freedom that I have never felt because I was living on my own, I was living with friends, I was able to express myself the way that I wanted to as a young adult. I was watching theatre a lot, and people were taking me more seriously as a dancer at college. I was not seen as someone that was rubbish, I was seen as someone with potential. I was constantly pushed to be better than that. I do feel that went hand in hand with my work ethic. I actually met Indiana Mehta, a former dance student of Yana Lewis’s, and we basically fashioned our way through college and pushed each other – staying late until 10pm, correcting each other’s class, choreography, and technique work. It was a really fun time.
I have gone into a lot of singing roles in my career so far. But always, having the ability to move and dance has been so important for me because you don’t always get the role. You need to be the understudy sometimes, especially when you’re starting in the industry. To be an understudy, you also need to be able to be in the ensemble and being in the ensemble means you have to be able to dance, sing, and understudy. So having the ability to dance has really helped me shape my career because it’s given me that stepping stone in certain bigger companies, to be able to understudy and then eventually play roles. In roles that I have played, I’ve also been able to add an extra flair of movement.
For example, I’ve played the role of Pippin in Pippin, the musical. Normally it’s not a very dancey role, but I got to work with a choreographer and together we made it more dancey and more athletic. I was able to do that because of that ability to dance I gained from college.
What was your journey like, after college, entering the professional musical theatre world?
My journey was very smooth actually. I was lucky enough to get a job in a musical called We Will Rock You in my third year at college. I had to leave my course a month early to do the job.
Then I got back to college the year after that, and I was just incredibly inspired to train. I’ve been to America a lot, training in different styles of contemporary and jazz. When I got back to London, I was so inspired to keep training. I think I missed the routine of college – dancing every day.
I was yearning to have that routine back, so I tried to create my own. It was quite hard auditioning and getting cut, auditioning, getting cut, auditioning, getting a recall. Those things are quite difficult to handle emotionally.
It was difficult, but I was very ambitious – I wanted to do as many parts as I could and get better.
Can you walk us through the process of auditioning for a musical theatre production?
The audition process for musical theatre is extremely varied. It’s dependent on the company, first of all. Generally, you have an agent. To get to the audition, they send you an email saying you have to go to this place at this time. ‘Please bring trainers, or tap shoes, or ballet shoes, etc’ and then you go to the audition. You go into a room with 50 people sometimes. You learn a few counts of eight of a routine that they want to see.
Then they split you up, normally into groups of four, and they come in front of you, watching as you perform and writing their notes. Then either they cut you or keep you in the room. If you remain, then you’ll either get a call from your agent saying they’d like to see you again, maybe to sing a song, or they will not contact you again. That’s a hard thing; sometimes people just don’t contact you if they don’t want you, but normally they let you know.
A singing audition means learning a song that they ask for, or they ask you to bring your own song. You’d bring a cut version of that, maybe a minute and a half. They might ask to hear different parts of your voice. And then, again, either they say ‘thank you, you’re exactly what we need’ or they’ll call your agent and say they want to see you on a different day.
When you have a break from performing, how do you like to spend your time to recharge and stay creative?
I like to feel that I maintain a sense of recharge and creativity even when I’m working because I think it’s important to have a balance. In recent years, I have started doing a lot of meditation. When COVID 19 happened, I read a book called The Power of Now, which changed my life. It really helped me find the balance and understanding that we are more than our thoughts. That really helps me in the industry.
To stay creative, I like to draw. I also like to do classes, different types of movement classes. Not necessarily dancing, but just movement. I like to paint, even though I’m not very good at it! Just try new things really. I’m always trying to explore new little hobbies and I also love going on holiday to recharge as well.
What is your method of beating demotivation?
Demotivation is an incredibly powerful feeling. It comes over you like a dark cloud. Sometimes I don’t beat it. Sometimes I have two weeks where that dark time has gone by and I’ve done nothing positive or motivating for myself.
I’ve learned to be slightly kind in those moments because beating yourself up doesn’t help. I just acknowledge that, yes, okay, I’ve done nothing. I’ve fallen off the wagon. What are my choices? Either stay off the wagon, or jump back into the race and start again and keep moving forward. The main active thing that helps me is the Wim Hof Method of breathwork. That really helps me in the morning to get a sense of motivation. I find that mornings are when I feel most unmotivated. I just want to get up, have a coffee and do nothing. But doing that breathwork gives me a sense of energy, of ‘I’ve got this! Yeah! Let’s do this!’
Can you describe a typical rehearsal day leading up to a show’s opening?
It does depend on the show, but you generally start off in a rehearsal room where you have rehearsal sets to work on learning the show. Then you go into the theatre and do what’s called a technical rehearsal which is mainly for all the different departments, like costume, lighting, sound, etc. – for them to put the stage together. It’s not so much for the actors anymore, though it’s good for you to find your bearings. Then there’s a dress rehearsal, which is a practice of the show, in its full state, without an audience. And then what they tend to do nowadays is have an open dress, which means it’s a dress rehearsal with an invited audience.
After which you have previews, which is a couple of weeks where there’s a paying audience, but the creative team are still able to change the show. After those weeks, it’s sealed and can’t be changed anymore.
What advice would you give to aspiring performers who dream of a career in musical theatre?
Don’t let the walls that you see stop you from trying to move forward, even if you have to sidestep to move forward. If you have that small little dream in your mind of, ‘I want to be a performer, I want to be a performer,’ just keep fighting for it because that’s the best thing.
Sometimes I find that kindness gets neglected. Because if we’re kind to ourselves, somewhere in our mind, we think that we’re not working hard enough. But actually, when you’re kind to yourself, you start having this loving relationship with yourself and you give yourself a platform to do better in your work. Give yourself that moment of, ‘Okay, I need a breather, and then I’m going to start again.’ The best piece of advice I ever got was, ‘It’s always two steps forward and one step back ’. Don’t be disheartened by that one step back, because you’ll move two steps forward eventually. Don’t let the dark moments deter you from the light. There will always be light in the end.
Is there a particular role in musical theatre that you’ve always dreamed of playing?
People ask me this question a lot and I feel very bad because I want to give a really good answer, but the truth is I don’t have a dream role. The jobs that I’ve enjoyed the most so far are the ones that have taken me by surprise – the ones that I had no idea about before doing them.
I just like to see what feels right when auditioning. Sometimes I make mistakes and the job’s not what I hoped for and then other times the ones that you expect aren’t going to be very good are the ones that turn out to be magic.
As a gay performer in the world of musical theatre, have you experienced any challenges or instances of discrimination?
I am a gay man, so I’ve often got comments that haven’t been very helpful. It also affects the types of jobs that people see you for. Especially in leading roles – you’re scared that you won’t get the role because you’re gay, since they may not see you as the male love interest to a woman. That has sometimes been difficult. But on the whole, I find that the musical theatre industry is incredibly inclusive. And that is only growing and increasing. The musical theatre community makes me feel like I can completely be myself. I feel incredibly supported.
I haven’t received too much discrimination, luckily. Personally, I feel that sexuality should never come into the professional space. It’s an incredibly personal journey for everybody to go on and it should only ever be that person’s journey. One should never be discriminated against because of it.
Conversely, have you seen any positive changes towards inclusivity within the musical theatre industry in recent years?
There has been a big positive change for inclusivity in this industry, surrounding race, gender, identity, and sexuality. It’s becoming a lot better. If you look at the West End right now, It is wonderful to see so much diversity. And I am sure that things are only going to get more inclusive from here.
Leave a Reply