Ihsan Rustem "creativity should be celebrated"
Entering Tallis for the first time was like walking into a vast concrete jungle melting pot of life, culture and hormonal teens. This 11 year old boy was instantly curious and slightly hooked! So many new experiences; people to meet and finding oneself. Discovering that perhaps Italian isn't your strongest forte and falling asleep over a Bunsen burner is ill advised - all played out to the soundtrack of a few steel drums beating away in the background. Bliss.
It was evident from the start that Tallis was a little special.
Having spent a good term in the freezing cold, becoming an expert at running away from the football, we were told that the next terms PE lesson would be dance with Deb Khan. Oooh - inside and clean! Much more appealing. I actually remember the first class having to stand with my arms to the side and spinning on place learning to 'spot' the wall and then improvising around channeling my inner Isadora Duncan. Now this was fun!
I decided to take advantage of the extra curricular dance classes on offer and had my first performance with the all boys dance group in year 8. We also had a vast number of guest companies come to the school to conduct workshops.Then at 13 came a life changing experience. 'Cabaret'. The 1995 school production. It was directed by Khan and had an amazing cast (including one now slightly well know Hollywood actor!). I was cast as a bisexual Kit Kat dancer in the Weimar era in Berlin. The story was gripping and intense and the production was bold and quite risky. It was a hit - and I have never looked back. That piece defined everything I loved about the cultural hub Tallis was to me.
Still high from the 'Cabaret' buzz, I spent that Summer in a production of Cavalcade at the Sadler's Wells Theatre and shortly afterwards Deb Khan gave me a leaflet for the National Youth Dance Company and pushed me to audition. So I filled out the application, lied about my age and made my first choreography at Tallis to gain a place in the company as an apprentice. I was subsequently accepted into the Rambert School of Ballet & Contemporary Dance and entered the school after my GCSE's. A year later Matthew Bourne invited me to join his company, Adventures in Motion Pictures (whom I'd seen perform only a few years earlier on a Tallis school trip to Sadler's Wells). I stayed there until I moved to Munich at 19 to dance for the State Theater - BallettTheater Munich. I have since toured extensively, including a short stint on Broadway, and also worked in the Netherlands and Switzerland, where I have been based since 2007 and continue to dance while creating my own work.
In November 2011, 16 years after I made my first little choreography at Tallis, Sadler's Wells Theatre named me the winner of their Global Dance Contest and I will present my work as part of their London 2012 Olympic celebrations.
Thomas Tallis School gave me the understanding that creativity should not be frowned upon but celebrated. Had I gone to another school, who knows which path I may have walked in life. I'm still smiling :)
It was evident from the start that Tallis was a little special.
Having spent a good term in the freezing cold, becoming an expert at running away from the football, we were told that the next terms PE lesson would be dance with Deb Khan. Oooh - inside and clean! Much more appealing. I actually remember the first class having to stand with my arms to the side and spinning on place learning to 'spot' the wall and then improvising around channeling my inner Isadora Duncan. Now this was fun!
I decided to take advantage of the extra curricular dance classes on offer and had my first performance with the all boys dance group in year 8. We also had a vast number of guest companies come to the school to conduct workshops.Then at 13 came a life changing experience. 'Cabaret'. The 1995 school production. It was directed by Khan and had an amazing cast (including one now slightly well know Hollywood actor!). I was cast as a bisexual Kit Kat dancer in the Weimar era in Berlin. The story was gripping and intense and the production was bold and quite risky. It was a hit - and I have never looked back. That piece defined everything I loved about the cultural hub Tallis was to me.
Still high from the 'Cabaret' buzz, I spent that Summer in a production of Cavalcade at the Sadler's Wells Theatre and shortly afterwards Deb Khan gave me a leaflet for the National Youth Dance Company and pushed me to audition. So I filled out the application, lied about my age and made my first choreography at Tallis to gain a place in the company as an apprentice. I was subsequently accepted into the Rambert School of Ballet & Contemporary Dance and entered the school after my GCSE's. A year later Matthew Bourne invited me to join his company, Adventures in Motion Pictures (whom I'd seen perform only a few years earlier on a Tallis school trip to Sadler's Wells). I stayed there until I moved to Munich at 19 to dance for the State Theater - BallettTheater Munich. I have since toured extensively, including a short stint on Broadway, and also worked in the Netherlands and Switzerland, where I have been based since 2007 and continue to dance while creating my own work.
In November 2011, 16 years after I made my first little choreography at Tallis, Sadler's Wells Theatre named me the winner of their Global Dance Contest and I will present my work as part of their London 2012 Olympic celebrations.
Thomas Tallis School gave me the understanding that creativity should not be frowned upon but celebrated. Had I gone to another school, who knows which path I may have walked in life. I'm still smiling :)