Friday 9th January 2015 - Hairspray Dance (Ongoing)

Friday 9th January 2015
Hairspray Dance

http://funny-pictures.picphotos.net/the-mating-dance-of-the-wild-tennant/2/

Our class are doing a group hairspray dance, to prepare this we separated into four groups and choreographed motifs to different songs, for example my group did this to "run and tell that". At first we found it hard to come up with ideas, but after we had come up with a starting point (slide, turn) we found it easier to come up with movements. Each group performed their motif to the rest of the class, and then taught it to everyone. This was helpful as it gave us more of an idea of the types of dance steps that were typical "hairspray" and what to expect in the final choreography. 

Friday 16th January 2015

Hairspray Rehearsal 1
Hairspray Rehearsal 2
Hairspray Rehearsal 3
Hairspray Rehearsal 4

Class Dance - Today we learnt the choreography for the hairspray dance, i found some parts harder than others, for example the faster behind-side-fronts i kept getting confused with where to place my feet. However i found some other parts easier such as the first phrase to walk on and the kicks and flicks. We ran the dance several times to make sure that we could do all of the choreography to the best of our ability, we went through each section slowly, this was helpful so that we could learn each step properly in the dance. We then got into small groups and practised the choreography together, then we had to create more material that could go on the end of the orginal dance. We had to use choreographic devices such as canon, repetition and spacing. I found it easier to come up with ideas as i used things from last weeks lesson.

Trio - Today we started the short trio that is going to be in the hairspray dance. I found parts of this dance hard especially as it is quite fast and i found it difficult to keep in time with the music. I found this the hardest when we have to slide on to the floor and roll back and come up to kick, i was slower than the others. I am going to practise this so that i will be able to keep in time.

http://thedongerneedsfood.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/weekly-playlist-musicals.html

Friday 23rd January 2015

Class Dance - Today we continued to put together each groups parts together to make one big class dance, when i am not dancing the main choreography on stage i am standing in a group at the side of the stage. When we are here, we are doing simple movements such as clicks and claps in time with the music, this keeps with the context of the 1960s as a lot of the choreography in "Hairspray" is corny. There are parts in the dance where all of the class are on stage however there are other parts where there are fewer people on, this is good as it gives us a chance to catch a breath before we have to be on for the next part, this helps to improve our stamina. We then started the next part of the dance which is to "The Nicest Kids In Town", we learnt a short motif that is danced at the start of the song, my timing was slightly out as first. I practised this to make sure that my timing got better and the more I went through it with the others in my class I was in time with everyone. We then got into pairs and created some movements that worked around having a partner, this was for after the first motif, when travelling from the first part to the next I found that it was hard to have enough time to get from one section of the stage to another. This meant that I had to change the way that I travelled, after I did this is I found that I got there just in time to do this part of the dance. Our class then got into a line and did a roll call like the one in the film, I was at the front and charley as to push me off, I had to use facial expressions especially in this. This is because i have to look annoyed that im being pushed away, it is important that this is over the top so that it is obvious to the audience.

Quartet - This section was originally going to be a trio, however now it has changed into a quartet. This meant that the timing has slightly changed because there is one movement that is in canon, therefore instead of being three people there is four. I found this rehearsal a lot better than the last one as I had practised the movements on my own so I was more
familiar with the timing.

Thursday 29th January 2015

Warm Up - Today we had a longer rehearsal therefore we could spend more time to warm up, it is important to warm up so that everyone has a good energy level to be able to continue with the rest of the rehearsal. It also helps us gain focus that we will need to practise and learn more choreography, we also did a stretching sequence to make sure that no one pulled a muscle or got injured during the rehearsal.

Class Dance - Today we had an extra rehearsal, this was so we could clean the choreography, however as only some of the class turned up. This affected the rehearsal as some of the dance is in pairs, my partner wasnt there and so i was unable to get the accuarate timing of this section because, it is different when the choreography is done by myself to when it is done properly with my partner. As well as this we changed some of the dance, for example in the begining of "you can stop the beat" instead of one group just doing the first motif, there are three groups doing it. To make this more interesting to the audience we are dancing this in canon (in groups) and also crossing over each group. It is important that we practise this as a class to make sure that our timing is good, because otherwise we could crash into each other, this would make the dance look messy to the audience. It was easier to do this when there were less of us because there was more space to avoid bumping into people. As well as this we were not in the dance studio so we dididnt have any mirrors to see if i was in time with everyone in the class, also to check spacing and projection. Usually i use the mirrors to see these things as well as characterisation, this is important because it helps me focus on what I am doing with my face, in this dance over the top facial expressions are essential because the music that we are dancing to is relatively fast and energetic therefore to convey this to the audience it is important to use appropriate facial expressions. Because the whole class wasn't there it was harder to do the "Nicest kids in town" roll call because we didn't know the timing of when everyone went, when the whole class is back together this should be a main focus because the last person is waiting for their part and it breaks up the choreography, this makes it look as if it is loosing energy.

Quartet - We added some more choreography to the end if this motif, this included rolling to the floor and making a transition to the next section of the dance with the rest of the class. This went well, however this part of the music is quite fast and so therefore it is quite hard to keep in time and develop characterisation. I need to work on this because in this section my facial expressions are not as big as they are in the other parts of the dance. Our timing was better with each other and the music, especially in the kick up. This is important because in previous rehearsals our timing wasn't as good as it could have been because I found that in some parts I was a little bit slower than the others, this was very noticeable when running through the whole dance.

Friday 30th January 2015

Class Dance - Todays lesson was much shorter than our other rehearsals so we didn't have much time to develop the dance. We had to run through the choreography with both songs a few times so that we are familiar with it and also so we can build on our characterisation. My partner was also not here in this lesson so I found it hard to keep the right timing in this section, this is because when we work together some movements take longer and some take a shorter amount of time compared to when I am on my own. When we did the roll call some people went too early and therefore there was a lot of time left over till the last person, this makes this part look unfinished as everyone is looking around as if we are unsure of what is happening. In "You cant stop the beat" the beginning motif was messy at first because a few people that were supposed to be in my group were not there in the previous rehearsal, therefore we had to teach them what we had to do, however as it was choreography we had already learnt, during the next run through it went well.

Quartet - This went well during the rehearsal as we had rehearsed a lot together, we just need to keep rehearing together to make sure that our timing and characterisation are as good as the rest of the dance.

Tuesday 3rd Febuary 2015

In this rehearsal we worked on an ending position, we wanted to make look as interesting to the audience as we could. We did this by adding different levels into it, for example some people are being lifted, some are standing and some are on the floor. This gives the ending more of an impact, if there was no clear ending position then the dance would look unfinished.