My shadows
Biography. JC Neild.
As introduced on the main page, my creative talents have been limited to drumming & dancing since a teenager. I then added music production skills then video production skills. This was all just hobby while travelling Europe in my job as field trouble-shooter in International oil exploration.
I worked my way up from a labourer in 1992 to a trouble shooter and crew foreman. This job required extreme physical fitness and stamina as well as skilled off-road driving in 4-wheel drive pick-up trucks and also larger trucks. I was skilled in navigating & driving through mountains, extreme snow and ice, swamps, deserts and very muddy general terrain.
Previous to this outdoor job, I was an office and department store worker. I was News Manager at WH Smiths and later worked in litigation in a merchant bank in London. I also have experienced working in a laboratory, testing different stages of production of foodstuffs like sugar.
My education after school, which guided me to the office work was a BTEC National Diploma in Business studies but I found that office and indoor work was not for me which is why I applied for the labourer job outside in nature when the Seismic exploration company came to town.
During the years from 1988 to 1992, I became a night-club promoter in my spare time and arranged several “raves.” I also travelled extensively during 1989 to the Middle East.
In 2006, something happened which changed everything. I had major brain surgery after having been given 2 years to live following diagnosis of a huge tumour, pushing on my brain stem, purportedly caused by a mobile phone. This surgery was life-changing and initially put me in a wheelchair with a host of permanent disabilities to come to terms with.
It can be seen that prior to 2006, I had quite an adventure. Unfortunately, due to the disabilities caused by the brain surgery, I had to leave my career as trouble shooter in oil and gas exploration. This job requires substantial health insurance for working in dangerous environments and I was too much of a risk. It was time for a change.
It took me a good few years to recover to a state where I could feel confident to return to a “normal” life. I still had to get used to sensory impairments caused by the surgery which are permanent. Fortunately, I got out of the wheelchair and regained much of my fitness through yoga and purifying my diet and lifestyle.
In 2016 I got the inspiration to enrol on a storytelling course after being told by friends that they enjoyed my telling of stories around the fire. I spent 2 years at The Eden Project in Cornwall studying a Foundation degree in Storytelling and Performance. I completed this course with a credit, just 1.3% off a distinction.
This qualification allowed me to join the 2nd year of the BA (Hons) in Theatre and performance at the Academy of Music And Theatre Arts (AMATA) at Falmouth University. This course turned out to be substantially more than a degree (which is hard enough) because it became a “hero’s journey” due to challenges with being accepted by some of the students there.
Fortunately, I was assigned an academic mentor for the whole 4 years of both degrees and during the last 3 years of this, the mentor was also a Jungian analyst who helped me navigate and negotiate some very tricky experiences and personalities. Without this expert mentoring I don’t think I would have been able to complete the degree.
I had never really considered myself an actor until my final year at AMATA. I was encouraged & inspired to get a professional head shot done & I will soon seek out an agent. I have a striking face & a face which nobody forgets apparently.
My real passion & direction after this degree is to combine all of my experience, skills & talents into teaching practical workshops which will encourage interaction through warm-up games which I learned at AMATA. These games will lead to a dance workshop where interaction will be actively encouraged. I intend that these workshops will be motivational & inspirational to people & help raise confidence & self esteem.