Kim Hudman's distinguished career as a performer in musical theatre has taken her to all corners of the globe.

From a young age Kim was inspired by her mother, a successful performer and director, to explore the arts.

However, Kim's desire for a career on the stage blossomed independently.

"I think being in the industry, my mum knew what it was really like; she knew I had to fall in love with it on my own," she says.

"I remember seeing Singing in the Rain with Gene Kelly and watching him do all those amazing tap routines, I thought 'wow, that's something I want to do'."

Ever since, Kim has hardly missed a dance class or a performance opportunity.

From being a founding member of All Saints' first competitive dance troupe, right through to sharing the spotlight in some of the world's biggest shows including Dirty Dancing, The Wedding Singer and On Your Feet - her drive has never wavered.

The past year has seen Kim perform in two career-defining shows that have taken both her skillset and clout as performer and choreographer to the next level.

OSCAR at the Crown was one of them; a weird and wonderful dystopian nightclub immersive musical, featuring such characters as Oscar Wilde and The Real Housewives, that has been called 'a beautiful celebration of queerness, pop culture, and the glitzy side of literature.'

OSCAR's season debuted on Off-Broadway in 2019 to rave reviews and was subsequently picked up by the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where Kim has since spent a large part of the year as associate choreographer and performer.

"It's a rock, pop, screaming musical where we are singing and dancing our faces off - waacking, voguing and kicking - it's a very full-on hour of intense musical theatre," says Kim.

Another of her 2023 highlights was performing in the jazz-age smash hit Cabaret.

Kim says Cabaret was one of her "most exciting jobs of the year" and she relished the opportunity to retell this classic story with a modern and inclusive twist.

"We took this well-loved musical from a long time ago and we've transformed it into a much more progressive version of the show," explains Kim.

"I think that's why it's so special for me... We had a cast of trans and non-binary actors amongst a very diverse cast, to show that those politics and issues that arise in our everyday world in 2023 were the same kind of thing they were dealing with back in the 1930s."

"Anyone who was exiled or a little bit different during that time, even though they were shut out, and maybe history doesn't talk as much about them, were still very much around, but had to hide who they really were because nobody accepted it."

In the year ahead, Kim is aiming to take OSCAR and the Crown to London's West End and looks forward to growing her abilities in the various non-traditional dance styles that the show demands.

She encourages other aspiring performing artists to be similarly flexible outside of their comfort zones.

"OSCAR is almost entirely a waacking and voguing show, and I had never waacked in my entire life beforehand,” Kim reflects.

"I grew up on traditional music theater, jazz, tap, ballet and I almost didn't audition because I thought I didn't know how."

"I would say don't be afraid to ever dip your toe in something a little out of your lane - something that makes you feel uncomfortable - because it's going to pay off. You will find that the skill you didn't think you could do is perhaps the skill that gets you over the line in terms of gaining that audition, gaining that role, and succeeding."