Hello to the graduates of 2020, I am Paul Liburd a former dancer now a dance teacher in London on the teaching faculty at Rambert School & London Studio Centre.

I started dance at the age of nine in Leeds in an unexpected way, this happened once a week doing creative dance as part of P.E. No technique at this stage only expression and creation through storytelling. This was very fortunate for me and a lot of other young children in Leeds in the late 70s early 80s, if we had not had this exposure and opportunity, dance would not have been on the radar to pursue.

Harehills Middle School was a secondary school in the Harehills area of inner-city Leeds were under the inspiring guidance of the late Nadine Senior MBE gave so many young people the key to something we thought we could explore and excel in.

At sixteen I made the move from Leeds to London to start my training at London Contemporary Dance School at The Place.

I believe I always knew what I wanted and strived to get it, not saying there were no disappointments along the way, not getting into a certain company or role, but I kept my determination and resilience, surrounding myself with caring family, friends and people I believed could give me honest advice.

My career gave me so much personal joy, satisfaction and challenges dancing with LCDT, Rambert & Scottish Ballet.

You have now completed your training, a tremendous congratulations to you all on completing your courses. I want you to look back to when you started and map your journey. I am sure you had doubts, fears and challenges during this time, I know I did. But you have come out the other end.

Your school life has ended in a very unconventional way which nobody expected, but please use your creative minds, searching out people, opportunities and experiences that can feed you artistically and creatively into the artist you are and want to be.

The arts are forever evolving, and you are too, keep adapting as you go forward in this very uncertain time. Stay with it, you are the faces of tomorrow and the industry needs you.

One thing that I remind students that I work with, is to find enjoyment, be happy within oneself and allow your inner joy to reinstate. 

Huge congratulations to all of 2020.