"Getting my tango on" in the name of Journalism...

This week, as well as having to learn hideous phrases such as "substantial risk of serious prejudice" and "subject to a reasonable letter of explanation and contradiction" for our law exam and try and get up to 60 w.p.m in shorthand, I also had the joy of conducting my first proper face to face interview.

Dance classes have become incredibly popular over the last few years following the success of the reality TV show and, with the current series in full flow, I wanted to see if there are any budding twinkle-toes in Kingston.

Rather than a news item, I wanted to write the piece as a feature article for the Kingston Courier - a new form of writing for me! Primary research for features is obviously just as essential as it is for news and one of the main ways in which to do that is through interviewing - again, another skill that I have had little practice in and one that I am keen to practice and improve as much as possible.

However, rather than just relying on an interview and a few quotes, I decided that I needed to experience Strictly Fever for myself to see what exactly inspires people to join a dance class and, after the initial novelty dies off and the sequins from the Strictly costumes have been packed away, how many keep going back?

In the past, I have tried several styles of dance, including tap and salsa and although I enjoyed them it was pretty obvious that I was never going to be the star of the dance floor. While I can stay in rhythm and manage to pick up steps fairly quickly, throw another person into the mixture and it is almost guaranteed that I will fall over, kick my partner or - as I did taking part in one embarrassing salsa lesson - get too carried away and spin into another couple, sending them flying.

As luck would have it, one of the professional dancers from Strictly series 3, Izabela Rai, runs a popular dance class in the Kingston Working Men's Club on a Thursday night. She was kind enough to agree to both an interview and much to my delight - and sheer terror! - letting me participate in her beginners class.

Although I have conducted interviews over the phone before, I have never attempted one face to face and it is a completely different experience: trying to take legible notes down with someone watching you is incredibly nerve wracking as is trying to remember all the questions you had planned on asking! I'll admit, I did attempt to write my notes in shorthand for all of about 10 seconds but gave up and reverted to an interesting mixture of italic longhand, text-talk, smiley faces and underlining.

But for my first interview I could not have chosen a better interviewee: Izabela was lovely, incredibly funny, charismatic, chatty and a delight to interview; she spoke freely about her experience as a professional dancer on Strictly and how she felt it influenced her class numbers and popularity without too much prompting from me, allowing me to concentrate on what she was saying and getting it down on paper without having to panic about my next question. An added bonus was that she, very kindly, didn't mind or complain about my lack of professionalism when I got nervous giggles halfway through my interview!

The dance class that Izabela had told me to come to was her beginners class, which runs on a Thursday at 6.45, with students of all different ages and of both genders - it was a pleasant surprise to see so many male students: in previous dance classes I have been to men have been so few that many ladies end up having to learn male steps, which adds to great confusion when changing partners.

Beginning my ballroom experience with a tango and the rhumba was daunting but Izabela was just as easy to learn from as she was to interview; knowing that I had very little dance experience, she was incredibly patient and happy to show me steps over and over, bearing with me when I lost my balance or forgot which foot was my left or right. The man who was brave enough to partner me too was incredibly kind and patient and didn't seem to mind when I burst out laughing or got out of time with the music. Considering that I had essentially crashed his dance lesson, I am so grateful to him for his help and patience. However, as I picked up a few steps my confidence grew and by the end of the lesson I was almost there and ended up really happy with what I achieved.

I spoke to a few of the other students after the class, asking them about their reasons for starting to dance and found out a few interesting things about peoples inspiration for taking up lessons - but you'll have to read my article to find out more! (See the Kingston Courier website for updates over the next few weeks.)

I hope to do a bit more research in the coming weeks and have been invited back to Izabela's dance class for their Christmas Party - at which Izabela herself will be performing, as well as members of her class - so hope to include that in the piece as well.

In terms of my first experience of interviewing, I think that perhaps I lucked out by finding someone so willing to talk to me - I'm certain that all of my interviewees wont be as chatty or as responsive as Izabela! - but at least it has given me some things to consider and think about for next time.

For more details about Izabela's classes or to join one yourself, please go to her website at www.izabeladance.com or twitter at @IzabelaDance and as always keep an eye out on the Kingston Courier website for more articles and news written by me and my fellow journalism students.

My fellow journo also "got her tango on" this week - check out her latin experience.

Three work experience placements; madness or an opportunity too good to miss?

After weeks of relentless and seemingly fruitless phone calls and emails, of being passed between departments and editors and left on hold, I have finally managed to secure work experience. But not just at one publication but three!

Like buses - cliché I know - I waited for weeks and then received three replies in the same day, from Press Gazette, The Maldon and Burnham Standard and The Independent on Sunday, all from editors inviting me to complete a placement with their publication. Being rather overexcited, I accepted them all, thinking that each offered me different experiences and the potential to increase my experience in one hit.

It is only now that I have realised how potentially mad this is.

Not only will I be experiencing different aspects of journalism in a short, intense space of time and trying to prove myself to the reporters and editors that I will be working with - in the hope that they may offer me other opportunities in the future, but I will be experiencing commuting for the first time, trying to keep up with university study and current affairs while I am not at uni and attempt to continue working part time too.

Madness.

I'm looking forward to all of my placements but especially the one at the Maldon and Burnham. Having written an article for them before, I seem to have created a good impression already. They have assured me that they will be able to provide lots of interesting activities and opportunities for me, including stories and by-lines if my writing is up to scratch. I'm also hoping that I may be able to get a foot in the door there for when I am qualified and searching for a job. Fingers crossed.

Journalism.co.uk says that: "Work experience has always been a part of getting into journalism, and in today's tough jobs market, it is more important than ever. The benefits to work experience are many; something that looks good on a CV while also giving you real, practical skills that will serve you well as you break into journalism." and most publications agree with this, valuing previous experience and by-lines almost as much as qualifications.

So while I may have been a bit rash in trying to complete nearly four weeks of work experience placements during my Christmas break, I am hoping that it will be worthwhile. Hopefully, rather than just stressing me out, getting me lost on the underground and financially bankrupting me when I give up my job to concentrate on the placements, it will increase my knowledge of newsrooms, hone my writing skills and maybe, just maybe, open up an opportunity for the future.

Bring it on...

When we arrived at Kingston University on the 13th of September for our introductory day, all of our tutors stood up, introduced themselves and told us all how difficult this year would be. They told us that we should wave goodbye to our social lives, buy ourselves a good diary and  resign ourselves to being hassled, exhausted and completely and utterly committed to our course for the next 12 months.

At the time, I accepted this as a challenge. "Bring it on," I thought. I found my BA difficult - not only the studying but having to deal with housing problems, awkward flatmates, financial troubles and medical issues - but got on with it. I seemed to have a knack of just getting on with everything and managed to balance my study with two part time jobs, a boyfriend, a few glasses of wine during the week and still come out with a decent 2.1 degree. So yeah, I'll admit I thought I had it sorted.

However, I am beginning to feel a slight sense of panic. There just do not seem to be enough hours in the day all of a sudden. Where has all the time gone?!

With two exams looming, I am sure I am not the only student on this course to suddenly - to put it mildly - be freaking out about how much there is to do and how there literally just does not seem to be enough time to do everything.

And I really am trying: I carry my law books around with me, I see Teeline special outlines every time I put a pen to paper and I am constantly on the lookout for potential stories for the Kingston Courier.

Still, it seems that our tutors warning were true; hello, hassle, hello exhaustion. Commitment... well, personally I would love to tell my commitment to sod off for a few hours so I can get a decent nights sleep without dreaming about the requirements for an Fair Comment Defence (media law has well and truly got to me)but despite all the fear and the anxiety and the mind boggling amount of items on my to-do list, I love my course too much.

Thankfully, despite the fact that this week my brain wants to shut down completely due to media law overload and my writing hand wants to resign due to serious "shorthand-claw", I am loving every terrifying second. I am learning new techniques of writing, fine tuning things I already knew, discovering multimedia aspects of journalism that I never knew existed - live blogging was an eye opener - and how to avoid creating "substantial risk of serious prejudice."(Get that, McNae's) .

All in all, although I am finding it difficult at the moment, I know that my passion and enthusiasm will get me through to the end of this course. I know that I have the ability to do well at this course and I know that it is going to take a lot of hard work and determination and I am sure that I will at some point shed some tears about something or another. But I also know that it will all be worth it in the end.

So, again, I say, "Bring it on." Bring on the assignments, bring on the exams and the stress and the panic because I know I can take it, I know that its going to be worth the effort and that in 12 months time there will be a silly graduation cap out there with my name on it .