The Specialist Skills module is designed to help develop versatility, technical ability and professional awareness in preparation for the performance industry. Through focused training in acting for screen alongside a chosen specialist skill, the module encouraged a deeper understanding of the wide range of demands placed on performers within professional settings.

I chose dance as my specialist skill because I have trained in dance for many years and feel strongly connected to it. Choosing advanced dance allowed me to focus on developing specific areas whilst still improving on my strengths within these classes. In particular, I focused on my attitude towards tap, my technical accuracy in ballet, and my ability to maintain expression and character within routines. This choice supported not only my technical progress but also the development of a more professional mindset towards my training.

This portfolio reflects on my development across both acting for screen and advanced dance. Although these disciplines require similar skills such as control, focus and emotional clarity, they challenged me in very different ways. Engaging with both helped strengthen my confidence, concentration and self-discipline as a performer.

Looking back, I found acting for screen particularly uncomfortable. I was very used to feeding off the energy and response of a live audience, which is not present when working for camera. The proximity of the camera felt unnatural and restrictive, which made me more self-conscious and less trusting of my preparation. I began to realise I found it difficult to maintain truthful actions, which affected the emotional clarity of my performances.

In advanced dance, I entered the module feeling confident, but also aware of my strengths and limitations. While I felt comfortable in jazz, particularly in terms of musicality, technique and dynamics, I found other areas more challenging. These included jump strength, sustaining concentration in tap, and maintaining expression throughout longer routines.

Consistent training and reflection led to noticeable development across both disciplines. In acting for screen, I became more confident on camera and gained greater control over eye line and stillness. In advanced dance, I developed a more professional attitude towards styles I previously found challenging, such as tap and contemporary, which helped me stay engaged and continue to develop my skill set. This portfolio will reflect on these developments and explore how training in advanced dance and acting for screen supported and informed one another.

At the start of the module, acting for screen was challenging and highlighted clear differences between my existing stage-based practice and the demands of screen performance. I lacked confidence on camera, partly due to my reliance on audience energy when performing live. Without this immediate feedback, I initially felt uncertain in my choices and disconnected from the performance.

The proximity of the camera made me feel uncomfortable and self-conscious, which created a sense of physical restriction. This often left me feeling stuck and overly aware of myself, rather than fully engaged in the scene. As a result, I struggled to trust myself as a performer. Instead of allowing emotional truth to exist internally, the restriction I experienced caused my physical and emotional responses to appear awkward and unnatural. This weakened the authenticity of my screen performances, which I became increasingly aware of during watching the performance back, and prevented moments from feeling fully truthful. These challenges made me evaluate my acting process for screen, particularly in relation to internal emotional preparation and the ability to sustain truthful performance without external validation.

Through individual tasks and ongoing feedback, my technical understanding of acting for camera developed significantly throughout the module. One of the first skills I developed was a clearer awareness of eye line. Initially, uncertainty around where to focus caused my performance to feel unfocused and distracted from the character. To address this, I broke my monologue into sections, each with a clear focus point, which provided structure and intention within the scene. Through practice, I learned to treat the camera as a scene partner, allowing my focus to remain grounded and purposeful. This approach increased my confidence and helped me become less aware of the camera’s proximity.

Developing trust in my physical choices became central to my screen acting practice. My advanced dance training had already encouraged heightened physical control and awareness, which supported this process by enabling me to identify and remove unnecessary movement, such as swaying. Instead, movement became motivated by the character’s objectives. As a result, I grew more confident in allowing moments to exist truthfully within a scene, which enabled emotional truth to register more clearly on camera.

As my confidence increased, I shifted my focus towards internal emotional preparation rather than external performance. By grounding my work in intention and circumstance, I was able to sustain emotional truth throughout a scene without relying on exaggerated physical expression. This resulted in more naturalistic and truthful screen performances. These developments are evident in my final recorded screen acting monologue, which demonstrates increased physical awareness, controlled eye line and emotional clarity when compared to earlier recorded work.

As a result of this training, my approach to screen acting became more grounded and open to challenge. Rather than avoiding difficulty, I became more willing to push myself and engage fully with the process. I developed greater trust in both myself and my preparation, which allowed me to feel more comfortable on camera and remain present within a scene.

I no longer relied on the presence of an audience to generate energy, which enabled me to feel more connected to both the character and the material. This shift reduced performance anxiety and increased my confidence, allowing for a more natural and truthful screen presence. The skills developed extended beyond screen acting, particularly in relation to stillness and emotional truth, which strengthened my overall acting practice and influenced how I approach rehearsal, character development and performance across both stage and screen contexts.

Advanced dance training played a vital role in supporting my development in screen acting. Heightened physical control, discipline and bodily awareness directly informed my ability to remain still and intentional on camera, reinforcing the relationship between physical precision and emotional clarity.

Throughout the module, I gained a deeper understanding of the demands placed upon a screen actor, alongside the importance of independence and self-discipline. Being expected to arrive fully prepared for performance encouraged professional responsibility, which is an essential skill when entering the musical theatre industry

This is the first video I filmed in screen acting I think this video shows me looking a little bit awkward. It shows that I don’t know what to do with my body and lack confidence throughout the performance, constantly disengaging with the character

This next video is the final monologue I recorded in screen acting. It shows a concentrated eyeline and more reactions. I also think it shows that I’ve gotten more natural in my movements, proving I am more connected to the character.

I selected advanced dance as my specialist skill due to my prior training in dance and my desire to further refine my abilities in order to be considered not only a mover, but a dancer. Dance has always been a central element of my performance identity, and I viewed this module as an opportunity to develop existing skills while also addressing areas of weakness within my training.

I entered advanced dance feeling confident, largely due to my strength in jazz technique and musicality. However, this confidence was accompanied by an awareness of specific limitations that required further development. I felt most secure within jazz-based material, where performance quality, musical awareness and dynamic variation felt natural and instinctive.

In contrast, I found areas such as jump strength, sustained concentration during tap, and maintaining expression throughout longer routines more challenging. Additionally, unfamiliar styles and increased technical demands occasionally impacted my motivation and focus. This highlighted a tendency that required improvement across both my dance and screen acting practice, particularly in relation to perseverance when faced with difficulty.

Recognising these limitations allowed me to approach advanced dance training with a clearer sense of purpose, emphasising the importance of adaptability and discipline within professional rehearsal environments.

Throughout the module, consistent training within advanced dance led to significant technical and professional development. The pace and complexity of the classes reflected industry expectations, particularly within styles such as contemporary, which I had limited experience in prior to this module. These classes required a high level of focus and resilience, as the standard felt like a significant progression from my second year of university training. Working within this environment encouraged me to refine both my technical ability and my professional approach to rehearsal.

One area of professional development within advanced dance was my ability to maintain concentration during tap. At the start of the module, I found tap particularly challenging, especially when working at the pace of the teaching when picking up choreography, which often caused me to lose focus and disengage.

By becoming more aware of when my concentration dropped and consciously pushing myself to remain engaged each week, I began to develop greater mental focus and coordination. This allowed me to remain present throughout longer combinations and improved my ability to pick up choreography more efficiently. Actively listening to the rhythm and breaking choreography into manageable sections further supported my confidence and precision. As a result, my tap work became more controlled and consistent, reflecting a more professional approach to learning and performing choreography.

This mindset was not only applied to tap but extended across all areas of advanced dance. At the start of the module, I often became disengaged when material felt challenging. However, over time, my mindset shifted from being content with my existing abilities to actively seeking challenge and striving to improve areas of weakness. This change encouraged greater resilience, discipline and commitment to maintaining a higher professional standard.

Within the advanced dance ballet classes, I was able to highlight key areas of technical development, particularly in relation to jump strength and control. At the beginning of the module, I found sustaining strength and precision during ballet exercises challenging, especially when fatigue set in.

Through regular training, I began to develop greater lower-body strength by deepening my pliés and holding développés for longer periods, which also supported a clearer understanding of placement. This focus improved the quality and consistency of my movement. By prioritising technique rather than comparison with others, I was able to approach ballet with a more disciplined and professional mindset. As a result, my physical control and stamina increased, supporting my performance across other dance styles and reflecting the technical demands of professional rehearsal environments.

This development also connected to my screen acting training, as raising my eyeline improved both my posture and elevation in jumps, reinforcing the relationship between physical alignment and performance clarity.

Commercial and contemporary classes played a significant role in developing my expression and dynamic range as a dancer. At the beginning of the module, I found these styles challenging due to their emphasis on intention, contrast and sustained performance quality, particularly across longer routines.” Contemporary dance places strong importance on individual expression, requiring dancers to develop performance skills such as authentic facial expression, dynamic contrast, movement quality and personal movement style” (Dooling, 2025).

This focus on expressive movement encouraged me to become freer in my physicality and more confident in dancing for myself rather than focusing on external judgement. The sense of freedom and authenticity I developed through contemporary training transferred into other styles, including jazz and ballet. As a result, I became less concerned with how I appeared and more focused on communicating intention and storytelling through movement. Expanding the range and texture of my movement allowed for more nuanced dynamics within phrase work and transitions, strengthening my overall performance quality across dance disciplines.

Similarly, commercial dance prioritises “rhythmic responsiveness alongside sharp dynamics, supporting expressive clarity and musical interpretation” ( , 2024). The commercial classes encouraged me to develop strength and clarity within my movement, which enhanced my overall stage presence and made my performance quality feel more confident and controlled. Through consistent engagement with both contemporary and commercial material, my movement became more expressive, grounded and responsive to musical and emotional context. These developments transferred across all dance styles, including jazz and ballet. This reinforced the importance of versatile expressivity within professional dance environments.

Overall, advanced dance training significantly developed my technical precision and professional practice within classroom environments. The variety of styles pushed me beyond my comfort zone; however, this challenge encouraged me to engage fully with material I initially found difficult while continuing to progress in areas of strength. This process strengthened my adaptability and allowed me to respond effectively to the specific demands of each dance style.

Approaching classes with intention and commitment became crucial to my development, as I began to have a clearer understanding of expectations before entering the practice space. Additionally, working within a supportive class environment encouraged confidence, resilience and sustained engagement, enabling me to progress consistently across all styles. This experience reinforced the importance of versatility, preparation and professionalism within the performance industry.

Throughout the module, my training in advanced dance and acting for screen supported one another and contributed to my overall development as a performer. Advanced dance strengthened my physical awareness, control and discipline, which directly informed my screen acting work. Increased control over alignment, stillness and intentional movement helped me feel more grounded and confident on camera, which allowed emotional moments to register clearly without unnecessary physical tension.

Similarly, screen acting encouraged a stronger internal focus and emotional honesty, which influenced how I approached dance performance. Rather than concentrating solely on steps or technique, I became more focused on intention, storytelling and presence within movement. This connection between physical precision and emotional clarity strengthened my performance practice and highlighted the importance of versatility across different performance contexts.

This video is from one of the first weeks. I can reflect on this by seeing that my arms aren’t very strong and I haven’t got much coordination. This video shows me that to progress, I’ll need to work on my dynamics and muscular tension to make the moves look clean and finished.

This video shows the progression of our commercial warm-up that we started in September. It started to get a lot more difficult when we added the legs in, but looking at both videos, I can see that my movements have definitely gotten sharper.

This video is showing me using the techniques given to us in the warm-up to make sure I’m giving a dynamically accurate performance. I feel like this was one of my best performances in this class as I performed the dance as well as dancing it. There’s still a lot of improvements to be made, such as the pick up of this specific style, but that just takes practice.

This routine, choreographed by Ed was the first time that I felt like I looked okay doing his contemporary work. looking back at the video I know now that I need to work on my pick up skills as I don’t feel like I danced this to my fullest potential. one thing I found difficult in this was weight placement when my body was in weird positions I know now that I need to engage my core muscles more to be able to achieve these contemporary moves and make them look performable.

This class was towards of the end of the module and I really think I was able to excel in this routine/ warm up. The choreography allowed me to feel all the emotions of the piece and flow through them. This is especially apparent in the last part of the warm-up where we were allowed t improvise. Improvising dancing has always scared me as I like to know exactly what I’m going to do but, this class with Carly really freed me from needing to e perfect and it let me sit in emotions whilst moving my body

This portfolio has reflected my development across acting for screen and advanced dance throughout the Specialist Skills module, and how these disciplines supported one another. Through focused training and reflection, I developed greater expressive clarity and professional discipline. Acting for screen challenged me to build confidence and feel comfortable in front of the camera, developing stillness and emotional truth without relying on external validation. In contrast, advanced dance strengthened my physical awareness, adaptability and performance quality across a range of styles. Together, these classes enhanced my understanding of the demands placed on contemporary performers and reinforced the importance of versatility, self-discipline and resilience. The skills developed throughout this module have strengthened my confidence and prepared me effectively for the professional expectations of the musical theatre and performance industry.

Bibliography

(2024) SQA. Available at: https://www.sqa.org.uk/files/acd/J5GH47.pdf (Accessed: 01 January 2026).

dooling, shannon (2025) All about contemporary dance, Shannon Dooling Dances. Available at: https://shannondoolingdances.com/2025/07/28/all-about-contemporary-dance/?utm_ (Accessed: 01 January 2026).