ANASTASIA SHELDON

Raised in the south of England on a hill in the middle of nowhere, Anastasia grew up building dens in the woods, roasting chestnuts and pressing apples into apple juice, and occasionally cider. A lot would say the outdoors is great for growing children, but she still had a lot of spare energy, so it wasn’t long before she picked up various dance lessons and judo after school. A few years later she wound up at NSCD ready for an intense three years of training.

She looks fondly back at the past three years from small and excitable first years in awe of The Hiccup Project’s combination of hilarity and political activism in their five weeks spent together. Second-year brought new challenges of precision, strength and a lot of stamina in a piece choreographed by Amaury Lebrun. But nothing could have prepared her for the changes the students would all have to make earlier this year. It’s safe to say the challenges they've been faced with during final term have prepared them extremely well for the new world we are going into. Working with Eleanor Sikorski and Fernanda Prata under very unique circumstances playing with lighting exposure, aesthetic home objects, solos in confined corners and angels through windows has produced some surprising outcomes.

Like all good things, they must come to an end but Anastasia looks forward to starting her apprenticeship with Candoco Dance Company later this year.