Successful dancer urges youngsters to follow dreams

A SUCCESSFUL dancer from a small South Wales village now working for a prestigious London company has encouraged young people to pursue their dreams.

Liam Riddick started dancing at the age of six, after being inspired by Riverdance star Michael Flatley.

He now performs for a touring contemporary London dance company after years of near-constant training.

Despite building a successful career from what started out as a hobby, Liam admitted it wasn’t always easy – but encourages others to be persistent.

Liam, 28, from Brynna, said: “When I first started dancing I did not initially enjoy it, actually, and for a couple of months I didn’t go.

“But then I just thought I had to get back.

“It has had its ups and downs since then. As a professional you are constantly critiqued on your performance.

“You are constantly thinking about how you can get better.

“Even when you’re on the stage you are constantly in the spotlight and there’s that added pressure to it.

“But I feel that because I’ve been doing it from such a young age I’ve just become used to it.”

Liam felt he had few job opportunities after growing up in Brynna.

Liam said: “If I was to give advice to anyone I would say I come from this small village in South Wales, where there’s nothing really going on there in terms of a profession, but if you are passionate enough about something at a young age then anything is possible.

“It doesn’t have to stay as a hobby – it can be your career.

“It takes a lot of hard work but I’m here, I made it, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

At the age of about 16 Liam realised that dance could become more than just a hobby.

Liam said: “I used to go to dance classes and competitions locally and after a while I realised that this could actually be a career for me.

“I left school at 16 after my GCSEs and I did a BTEC in college that focused on dancing.

“That’s when I thought: ‘I don’t need to do a desk job or stack shelves and do dancing on the side as a hobby – this could be my job.’

“It was a lot of training. I would have my regular dance classes and then when we would compete at competitions it would be even more.

“I would eat, sleep and breathe dance.”

Liam said he was never bullied for choosing to be a dancer and would quickly “nip in the bud” any disapproving comments.

He said: “I was quite lucky when I got into high school.

“There was a little bit of tension but I didn’t really dance at school because it was a very different type of dancing at school.

“It’s not that I was hiding it at all, all of my friends knew I was a dancer, but I just wasn’t very public with it.”

After graduating from college Liam moved away to enrol at the London Contemporary Dance School in 2007.

He later joined the Richard Alston Dance Company as an apprentice in 2010, before becoming a full company member in 2011, and has worked there since.

After being nominated for seven Critics Circle National Dance Awards in six consecutive years Liam recently won the Dancing Times Best Male Dancer award.

“When they read my name out I thought ‘I have to go on stage and say something now.’ But it was incredible and the response from everyone has been amazing.”