MY JOURNEY
You don’t just end up becoming Digital Dave – it takes years of experience to reach the point where others start referring to you by a pseudonym. This is how I made it to where I am today…
2005-2008: The uni years
Despite a degree in New Media Journalism, film making or photography wasn’t a core part of my uni course. It was, in fact, a trip to New York City with my then girlfriend, a phone camera, and a 30 day trial of Final Cut Pro X. With a set deadline imposed on me, it was down to me to learn the program inside and out, and produce a commemorative DVD of our trip (I didn’t have much money as I had just spent it buying the very laptop I was editing on!). While uni took up part of my time, the rest of my hours were spent practicing, performing and teaching street dance.
2008: Too Much Flavour and Amazon reviewing
You would never think practicing your reviewing style by submitting reviews to Amazon (ie: No editor would commission my writing) would result in becoming a part-time reviewer, resulting in free products being sent for you to keep! Post graduation saw a lot of great products sent to me to review, including an HD camcorder, photo editing software and a full video editing suite allowing me to (somehow) earn a place on red carpets and press junkets interviewing celebrities at movie premieres!
2010: Internships and All Street Dance
Post graduating, an opportunity with a community interest company, Catch 22 Academy, saw me working in consumer and business-to-business (B2B) publications, helping me gain an insight into newsrooms, work to deadlines, and also realise there’s views in high-speed news! So, All Street Dance was founded as a dance news website to produce not just weekly features – like Too Much Flavour – but daily street dance news. During peak news output, the website was achieving over 50,000 visits a month!
2011: Sadler’s Wells
By sheer coincidence, all the skills I was accumulating happened to be exactly the same as a job opening at Breakin’ Convention, the international festival of hip hop theatre at Sadler’s Wells Theatre.
Work commitments meant contributions to Too Much Flavour became less frequent, but by no means meant features were abandoned – they simply changed format and platform, from personal passion to professional work. Work connections meant a window to many more artists, including dancing heroes, TV personalities and movie stars.
2014 – 2020: International Jams & Online Programmes
The following years kickstarted my video and photography pursuits as equipment upgrades allowed for even slicker filming – this is when Breakin’ Convention kicked off BCTV. The project not only saw national film makers being mentored to improve their skills, but saw me caught up in the rush of talent so I didn’t get left behind! Around this point, Premiere Pro was added to my editing skillset, to better allow understanding and collaboration with other film makers.
2021: A Dave New World
After 2020, with the world going back to normal, 2021 was the time to innovate and collaborate! The following years saw further collaborations with more artists than ever before. This included the Sadler’s Wells Well Seasoned programme, National Youth Dance Company, Wilderness Festival, Neon Lights Kiki Ball, organised by the iconic House of Ninja, and somehow with Spice Girl Melanie C as a featured dancer in Jules Cunningham’s dance company.
2024: A new era, and the launch of Digital Dave
After 13 years of dedication to Sadler’s Wells, the opportunity arose to part ways with the world-class organisation. Now, with a decade of experience behind me, a book of contacts and a sense of determination, Digital Dave is the next chapter in my life, and I’m open to anyone and everyone who shares the same vision as me!
If you like my story, and I sound like someone you’d like to work with…