Friday 27th February 2015 - Cats Dance Motifs (Ongoing)

Friday 27th February 2015
Cats Dance Motifs

In todays lesson we began to learn the physical theatre dance that is going to be used in the year 13s production of Cats. Firstly we did a range of different warm ups, starting with running around the space and every time one word is mentioned we had to either turn, roll or jump. This is good for improving focus as well as warming up before a dance lesson. Another warm up we did was different stretching routines that involved planking, squatting and lunges as well as other things.

After this we got into two groups, the photographers and journalists and learnt the motif that is the basis of the physical theatre dance. After we had learnt this as  a class we had to work within our groups  to use choreographic devices to change the motif to make it different from the original. 

We used:

Fragmentation - this is where the motif is split up and put back together in a different order.

Canon - this is where the same movement is done by everyone, one after the other, this is instead of always dancing in unison. Unison is where everyone is doing the same movement at the same time. 

Levels - we incorporated different levels to create variation for example in one section alternate people go forward and down while the others go up and back. This makes the choreography look more interesting to the audience.

Before we did these motifs we had to create four freeze frames in our groups, we had to use characterisation skills to create an image that would resemble journalists.  For example we had to look as though we were all fighting each other to get a good story.  To do this we used different levels, with some people on the floor being trampled on and others jumping on top of others to show how desperate these characters are to get what they want .

Friday 6th March 2015

I did not take part in the majority if this lesson, however we ran through the motifs that we choreographed a few times and worked more on the transitions between different parts. Last rehearsal the transition between the freeze frames and the main motif was messy and unorganised, running through this today helped us to find a way to make it look better. As well as this we has one extra person in our group compared to last rehearsal, consequently we had to change our original formation to make sure that it was suitable for us to still do our parts in cannon.

Friday 20th March 2015

We had a longer rehearsal today, this meant that we could learn most of the choreography of this dance. Because of this we have more time to spend making sure that timing and our interpretive skills are the best that they can be. We learned the next section before the marching bit, I found this relatively easy to learn as it is very similar to other dances that I have done before, therefore I was help other people with parts that they found difficult. We then had to make up small solos that could be used in the next section. When doing this I used different things from all of the other sections of the dance, this is because I wanted to it to look completely different from the other parts.

Peer Assessment

- Paige

When watching Paige I thought that she had really good characterisation, she is a pap so she has to fight all of the other paps to get the best photograph of the models. I thought that she used really good facial expressions to show the audience that she was really serious. I think that she could improve her extension a little in the parts where she has to reach across the others to get to the front. If she did this then it would improve her whole performance.

When watching my own performance I self assessed...

Paige assessed me and gave me one star and one constructive feedback, her star was that i had good extension in my legs however i need to develop my facial expressions to help portray my character.

My targets are, to improve my posture and alignment especially in my back this is because at the moment i feel as though i am dancing slightly slouched. It is impo

Friday 17th April 2015

We continued to learn more of the peaks and the policles dance, in today's lesson we focused on the ending of the dance. This when we all come towards the front and come up and then in towards the runway. After This we had to go back to doing our solos, at first we were goin to go off of stage after these. However it later changed to everyone going down and then rising up and on the phrase "scattered like sheep" we all run off.

Friday 24th April 2015

This was the first time that we got to dance in the space that we were using, it was a lot smaller than the dance studio. Therefore we had to change our staging slightly instead of being more spaced out we had to dance closer together. This meant that some of our movements we had to make slightly smaller or travel less, for example when I rolled on the floor I had to travel less to make sure that I didn't bump into anyone else, which would have made the dance look messy and under rehearsed.

We also learned another motif that we were going to perform at the end of the show. There were some movements that I found to do in the space because they needed more room and sere was a lot of people dancing in a small amount of space I couldn't do them to the best of my ability, this was especially when doing the round kick. I Found the other parts of the motif easy to pick up as it they were quite simple and counts fitted to the music.

Thursday 26th February 2015 - Blocking Act 2 Of Our Country's Good

Thursday 26th February 2015
Blocking Act 2 Of Our Country's Good


In this lesson we started with the transitions between scene 1 and 2 and 2 and 3, the stalls that me and George sit on are being at the sides of the stage throughout the show and during the transition to this scene they are being carried in. George carries in the small one, whilst Alex is carrying the bigger one, he places it on the ground and becomes the table that I am going to be looking at my work on, I carry on the piece of material that I put over him and the papers that I am supposed to be looking at. The transition from this scene is slightly different, I carry my stall as Alex is laying on the floor for the next scene with the piece of material. This makes it easier to change from this scene to the next.


In the next part of the lesson blocked scene 10 - The question of Liz, this is a static scene where the decision of weather Liz is going to hanged or not. Me and the other officers are standing in a diamond formation around Liz, there is not much movement from any of the characters, this tells the audience that it is a formal situation that they are in. There are a few long silences, in these we all are looking at her and edging slightly forward toward her to try to persuade her to talk. When I say that she is going to be set free the other characters walk off stage whilst I untie her, and walk off carrying the rope in my hand.

Interuptions - When you are supposed to be interupting someone else you begin to say your line a coupke of words before the end of their line. This makes it clear to the audience that you are interupting rather than just waiting to speak when its your turn.

Tuesday 24th February 2015 - Blocking Act 2 Of Our Country's Good

Tuesday 24th February 2015
Blocking Act 2 Of Our Country's Good


Liz Morden's Monologue - Today we started with Act 2 Scene 1, this is when Liz Morden has her monologue, the rest of the class are using physical theatre to act out what she is saying. This is to set the scene for the audience and show them her life story, also because some of the language that is used in this monologue is hard to understand, acting it out will allow the audience to know what she is talking about. Firstly we have to spin onto the stage, I have to stay behind the birthing bit, because for the next part I am being pick pocketed. I have to walk from one end of the stage to the other as if I was just walking down the road, when George takes my purse I don't notice, this is to show that he is used to doing this and can always get away with it. Then I stand in the line with her other brothers, and we turn around in canon, this is so that we are being introduced one by one. Then we wonder off to be members of the general public, I am going to be a market stall owner that is selling something to Rosie, this creates a scene of a street that would be typical of 1700 England. Then when her dad is putting the blame on Liz for being a pick pocket, we all have to look at her, this is to emphasis that everyone is ashamed of her for committing a crime. After this me, Max and Rosie have to pick her up and beat her as she is explaining how she got beat up in the middle of the street. Next me and the other people who were previously the brothers have to be prostitutes, for this we each have to stand there and pose in a way that would suggest that we were available, Liz then has to look at us and as she says "I begin to sell my mother of saints" we move into a formation where we all have to point at her. After this we have to gradually move from this formation to form a wall that Liz is going to get caught stealing against, because of this we then change into a courtroom scene. Emily is going to be lifted up as the judge and me and Rosie have to be officers that are standing on either side of the judge. Because Liz is now going to be sent to Australia we form a ship, that is similar to the ship that is formed in the first scene of the play, we gradually move to represent Liz on the ship on the way to Australia and then we all crouch on the floor holding stomachs to show how hungry we all are. I then turn into the governor and welcome Liz to the new colony, just as she is saying. After this we spin back off stage as he monologue finishes.

Ralph And Phillip's Scene - We also blocked the scene between Arthur Phillip and Ralph Clark, I am talking to Ralph about the play and the state of the colony. The scene begins with me sitting on a stall concentrating on my work, this is as if I am in my office and looking at maps to see when the next ship is likely to come to save the colony. Ralph walks in and I ask him about the play, I sit down until I say "If you break conventions...", I walk around Ralph. This is because my character has a lot of power and therefore doesn't have to wait for anyone to tell him to sit down, or what he can do. I continue to walk around even when I tell Ralph to sit down, because of his rank he cannot just walk into my office and sit down as he doesn't have the authority or the power. When he is sitting down I walk around him and interrupt him when he brings up the matter of Liz Morden and he stays quite, this is also because he knows what his rank means. I turn to the back of the stage whilst I am telling him a story about previous soldiers, this is as if I am imagining something that I had previously witnessed, I only turn around when I am talking to him directly. At the end of the scene I say to Ralph "Good luck with the play" whilst walking away, this is to suggest that our conversation is over and he should leave now. As he is walking out he turns back around to talk to me, however I stay looking down at my work and interrupt him and then dismiss him from my office again.

Monday 23rd February 2014 - Personal Prop Task

Monday 23rd February 2014
Personal Prop Task

If my character was able to take one object with them to Australia it would be a medal that he was given by the royal navy. I chose this object because the character of Arthur Phillip values his job more than anything else, and therefore he would keep this as something to be proud of. He is unlike Ralph Clark, as he keeps a photo of his wife with him however Arthur isn't married as he has devoted his life to his job and therefore he is proud that all of his devotion has paid off. This medal would have been given to him by someone who would have previously been of a higher rank than him, before he was promoted to Governor, consequently he would consider this to be one of his most valued possessions.

Monday 16th February 2015 - Researching Character Songs

Monday 16th February 2015
Researching Character Songs

http://www.broadway.com/buzz/154793/signature-wicked-song-
proves-most-popular-among-kristin-chenoweth-fans/

http://pixgood.com/glinda-wicked-costume-popular.html

Character songs are often used in musicals, they allow the character to express their feeling to the audience or other characters in the show. One idea for my variety performance is to sing a character song, this is because I think that my main strength out of singing, dancing and acting is singing. I could use this skill to be able to sing a character song. As most of the songs which I have sing before has been ballads I am going to do a comedy song, this would allow me to develop skills that I hadn't previously used before. One idea of a comedy character song would be "Popular" from "Wicked". I chose this because I can comfortably sing the notes as it is in my range as well as this it combines singing and speaking, this is something I have never done before. As well as this it is a modern version of a character song that would have been performed in a music hall in the 19th and 20th centuries. The song was originally performed by Kristen Chenoweth in the musical Wicked in 2003 on Broadway. The character of Galinda is very confident and "in your face" as she is liked by everyone, she sees an opportunity to help Elphaba to make new friends and make gain more confidence. If I performed this I would need someone to be Elphaba that I would be able to sing the song to, this would improve the performance as it would make more sense o sing to someone, as she is helping her rather than to the audience.

Costume - Galinda wears a puffy pink dress, this suggests to the audience that she is a "girly girl". If I performed this song I would also wear a pink dress to show a true resemblance to the character that I would be portraying.

Monday 16th February 2015 - Researching The Cell Block Tango

Monday 16th February 2015
Researching The Cell Block Tango

The cell block tango was originally performed on Broadway in the 42nd street theatre, in 1975. The music is written by John Kander and lyrics written by Fred Ebb. It is in the musical Chicago and tells the story of 6 murderous wives and how they ended up in prison. The musical is set in the prohibition era in America and is the second longest running show that has been on Broadway, because it is set in this era, America vaudeville was a popular source of entertainment in speakeasies around America. It is a character song that has a mixture of speaking and singing, the dance is fast and high energy that combines burlesque. The cell block tango has been covered many times, the cast of glee did a version as well as Todrick Hall who performed in a parody of it called "The spell block tango".


http://pixgood.com/cell-block-tango-costumes.html


Costumes - Usually the costumes that are used are dark coloured, usually black and short. Black leotards with fishnet tights are often used with black shoes and dark makeup. We have decided to wear black leotards with black shorts, footless fishnet tights and foot thongs. Originally we were going to wear black heeled character shoes, but because we are stepping on and off of chairs, we thought it was safer to not wear shoes. However instead of having bare feet, which we wouldn't be able to slide with, we are using foot thongs.

Lighting - In the film version of the cell block tango they use red, dark lighting, this reflects the theme of the performance as it relates to murder and blood. They also use black silhouettes as background dancers that are behind jail bars, this creates differentiation in levels and lighting in the performance.

Props - In the original performance the dancers use sashes to dance with, red for guilty and white for innocent. In the next rehearsals we are going to experiment with using these in our version of the cell block tango. We are also going to use chairs, we had this idea as we don't have jail bars or boys to dance with, therefore we are going to dance around the chairs instead.

I would perform this at the variety show because it would give me a chance to develop my skills in both singing and dance. I have never done a high energy fast dance whilst singing so rehearsing this would give me a chance to do something that require me to use different skills and improve my stamina. Also this song incorporates burlesque and is a character song, these were both used in variety theatre, however this is a modern version.

Wikepedia:Chicago(Musical) can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_(musical) (Tuesday 17th February 2015)

Wikepedia:Cell block tango can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_Block_Tango (Tuesday 17th February 2015)

Thursday 12th February 2015 - Splitting The Cell Block Tango

Thursday 12th February 2015
Splitting The Cell Block Tango

We split the lyrics up so that we each had a character to portray, this is because In the original performance if this there is 6 characters who each had a story to tell. We wanted to keep it with the original number of people rather than cutting it short because we thought that the chorus when we all have to sing together would sound better with more voices. As well as this with an even amount of people there are different formations that we can use.

Amber  Jaydee  Rosie  Charley  Paige  Emily

[LIZ]
Pop!
[ANNIE]
Six!
[JUNE]
Squish!
[HUNYAK]
Uh Uh (squeezing necklace)
[VELMA]
Cicero (Smoke puffs)
[MONA]
Lipschitz![LIZ]
Pop!
[ANNIE]
Six!
[JUNE]
Squish!
[HUNYAK]
Uh Uh (squeezing necklace)
[VELMA]
Cicero (smoke puffs)
[MONA]
Lipschitz![LIZ]
Pop!
[ANNIE]
Six!
[JUNE]
Squish!
[HUNYAK]
Uh Uh (squeezing necklace)
[VELMA]
Cicero (smoke puffs)
[MONA]
Lipschitz![LIZ]
Pop!
[ANNIE]
Six!
[JUNE]
Squish!
[HUNYAK]
Uh Uh (squeezing necklace)
[VELMA]
Cicero (smoke puffs)
[MONA]
Lipschitz![LIZ]
Pop!
[ANNIE]
Six!
[JUNE]
Squish!
[HUNYAK]
Uh Uh (squeezing necklace)
[VELMA]
Cicero (smoke puffs)
[MONA]
Lipschitz!
[ALL]
He had it coming
He had it coming
He only had himself to blame
If you'd have been there
If you'd have seen it
[VELMA
I betcha you would have done the same!
[LIZ]
Pop!
[ANNIE]
Six!
[JUNE]
Squish!
[HUNYAK]
Uh Uh (squeezing necklace
[VELMA]
Cicero (smoke puffs)
[MONA]
Lipschitz![LIZ (Spoken)]
You know how people
have these little habits
That get you down. Like Bernie.
Bernie like to chew gum.
No, not chew. POP.
So I came home this one day
And I am really irritated, and I'm
looking for a bit of sympathy
and there's Bernie layin'
on the couch, drinkin' a beer
and chewin'. No, not chewin'.
Poppin'. So, I said to him,
I said, "you pop that
gum one more time..."
and he did.
So I took the shotgun off the wall
and I fired two warning shots...
...into his head.[GIRLS]
He had it coming
He had it coming
He only had himself to blame
If you'd have been there
If you'd have heard it
I betcha you would
Have done the same!
[ANNIE (Spoken)]
I met Ezekiel Young from
Salt Lake city about two years ago
and he told me he was single
and we hit it off right away.
So, we started living together.
He'd go to work, he'd come home, I'd
fix him a drink, We'd have dinner.
And then I found out,
"Single" he told me?
Single, my ass. Not only
was he married
...oh, no, he had six wives.
One of those Mormons, you know. So that
night, when he came home, I fixed him
his drink as usual.
You know, some guys just can't hold
their arsenic.[LIZ,ANNIE,JUNE,MONA]
Hah! He had it coming
He had it coming
He took a flower
In its prime
And then he used it
And he abused it
It was a murder
But not a crime!
[VELMA AND HUNYAK]
Pop, six, squish, uh-uh
Cicero, Lipschitz
[JUNE (Spoken)]
Now, I'm standing in the kitchen
carvin' up the chicken for dinner,
minding my own business,
and in storms my husband Wilbur,
in a jealous rage.
"You been screwin' the milkman,"
he says. He was crazy
and he kept screamin',
"you been screwin the milkman."
And then he ran into my knife.
He ran into my knife ten times.."
[ALL]
If you'd have been there
If you'd have seen it
I betcha you would have done the same!
[HUNYAK (Spoken)]
Mit keresek, йn itt? Azt mondjбk,
hogy a hнres lakem lefogta a fйrjemet йn meg
lecsaptam a fejйt. De nem igaz, йn бrtatlan
vagyok. Nem tudom miйrt mondja
Uncle Sam, hogy йn tettem. Probбltam
a rendхrsйgen megmagyarбzni de nem йrtettйk meg...
[JUNE (Spoken)]
Yeah, but did you do it?
[HUNYAK]
UH UH, not guilty![VELMA]
My sister, Veronica and
I had this double act
and my husband, Charlie,
traveled around with us.
Now, for the last number in
our act, we did 20 acrobatic tricks
one two three four,five...splits, spread eagles,
back flips,flip flops,
one right after the other.
Well, this one night we were in the hotel Cicero,
the three of us,
boozin' and
havin' a few laughs
when we run out of ice.
So I went out to get some.
I come back, open the door
and there's Veronica and
Charlie doing Number Seventeen-
the spread eagle.
Well, I was in such a state of shock,
I completely blacked out.I can't remember a thing.
It wasn't until later,
when I was washing the blood off my hands
I even knew they were dead.They had it coming
They had it coming
They had it coming all along
I didn't do it
But if I'd done it
How could you tell me that I was wrong?
[VELMA]
They had it coming
[GIRLS]
They had it coming
[VELMA]
They had it coming
[GIRLS]
They had it coming
[VELMA]
They had it coming
[GIRLS]
They took a flower
[VELMA]
All along
[GIRLS]
In its prime
[VELMA]
I didn't do it
[GIRLS]
And then they used it
[VELMA]
But if I'd done it
[GIRLS]
And they abused it
[VELMA]
How could you tell me
[GIRLS]
It was a murder
[VELMA]
That I was wrong?
[GIRLS]
But not a crime!
[MONA]
I loved Alvin Lipschitz
more than I can possibly say.
He was a real artistic guy...
sensitive... a painter.
But
He was always trying
to find himself.
He'd go out every night
looking for himself
and on the way
he found Ruth,
Gladys,
Rosemary and Irving.
I guess you can say we broke
up because of artistic differences.
He saw himself as alive
and I saw him dead.[ALL]
The dirty bum, bum, bum, bum, bum
The dirty bum, bum, bum, bum, bum
[LIZ,ANNIE,MONA]
They had it comin'
[VELMA,JUNE,HUNYAK]
They had it comin'
[LIZ,ANNIE,MONA]
They had it comin'
[VELMA,JUNE,HUNYAK]
They had it comin'
[LIZ,ANNIE,MONA]
They had it comin'
[VELMA,JUNE,HUNYAK]
They had it comin'
[LIZ,ANNIE,MONA]
All along
[VELMA,JUNE,HUNYAK]
All along
'Cause if they used us
'Cause if they used us And they abused us
And they abused us
[LIZ,ANNIE,MONA]
How could you tell us
[VELMA,JUNE,HUNYAK]
How could you tell us That we were wrong?
That we were wrong?
He had it coming
He had it coming
He only had
Himself
To blame.
If you'd have been there
If you'd have seen it
I betcha
You would
Have done
The same!
[LIZ (Spoken)]
You pop that gum one more time!
[ANNIE (spoken)]
Single my ass.
[JUNE (Spoken)]
Ten times!
[HUNYAK (Spoken)]
Miert csukott Uncle Same bortonbe.
[VELMA (Spoken)]
Number seventeen-the spread eagle.
[MONA (Spoken)]
Artistic differences.
[LIZ]
Pop!
[ANNIE]
Six!
[JUNE]
Squish!
[HUNYAK]
Uh Uh (squeezing necklace)
[VELMA]
Cicero (smoke puffs)
[MONA]Lipschitz!

Friday 13th February 2015 - Singing In Parts

Friday 13th February 2015
Singing In Parts

In this lesson we focused on singing in parts, this is where they are different people singing different things at the same time and is used as an exercise to improve concentration when singing. Firstly we sung "Wombowe", to do this we split into 3 groups, one group sung the main melody another group sung the backing line and the last group sung the "wombowe"s. After singing this and getting used to hearing different things whilst singing something else we slit into 4 groups. The other group sung a harmony line, one group started and then we joined in gradually, and then each group faded out.

After this we sung "Don't stop believing" and "Someone like you" we split into two groups and sung them at the same time, at first it was hard to get the right timing of the song as we were both singing with the same melody line. However after singing it a few times all together it became easier, we started standing in two lines, the front line singing one song and the back singing another song. This was so we could hear the same song that we were singing because both people that were next to us were in the same group as us. After this we mixed with the other class who were also singing the same songs as us, however this time we stood in random places in the group. This meant that we had to focus more on what we were singing rather than relying on listening to others around us.

Thursday 12th February 2015 - First Run Through Of Act 1 Of Our country's Good

Thursday 12th February 2015
First Run Through Of Act 1 Of Our Country's Good

In this lesson we looked at the transitions between scenes, this is because in previous rehearsals we hadn't focused on how we were going to change scenes, just the content of them. When doing this, in the scenes that I wasn't in I had to return to the back, this was to make a convict camp. In this there is a few people are laying down next to
each other, as if sleeping and the others are forming a circle, as if cooking something on a fire. We do this so that it creates a background for the scene and sets in inside the convict camp, this is called stylised pedestrian movement. We use this when we have to speak amongst ourselves about Ralf Clarke putting on a play, when the officers get closer to us we had to create a contrast from being exited about the play to being quite and introverted. This is to show that most of the convicts are afraid of the officers and act really nervous and unlike themselves when they are around. For other scenes like the rowing scene between Harry and Duckling we have to go and stand in a neutral position facing the back of the wall, this is because we are not having a big backstage area and therefore we are staying on stage throughout the majority of the performance. When standing like this it is important to stand still and silent, this is so that we wont distract any of the audiences attention off of the main scene.

After doing this we did a run through of the first act, this was helpful because in previous rehearsals we had only done scenes separate from each other. When doing this I found that it was easier to keep in character because we were not stopping and starting, however I am still struggling with my characterisation. I think that my posture in this rehearsal was better than before, now I stand more upright with my chin up more, I chose to do this because it creates a contrast between the authority that I have and the convicts, who usually walk around more slouched over. I need to improve my voice when speaking as my character, this is especially when saying the paragraph (The theatre is an expression of civilisation), at the moment I am talking in a way that is no very different from the way that I usually speak and I need to create a difference between my voice and my characters voice.

Thursday 12th February 2015 - Devising The Cell Block Tango (Ongoing)

Thursday 12th February 2015
Devising The Cell Block Tango

Firstly we watched the original version of the cell block tango so that we could gain ideas that we could develop into our own choreography. This helped us come up with some starting ideas such as, each doing a small subtle movement when out word is said, for example mine is "Six". We decided to use this because the song is quite long and as we are singing at the same time as dancing, we wanted the first part of the performance to be smaller. This also gives us a chance to build up to the bigger movements that we are using later. We started with developing a starting position, we each had ideas, for example originally we were all going to be starting in a different position. However we found that this made it look unorganised and messy, therefore we decided to be mirrored, to decide this we used the mirrors so that we would be able to get an idea of what the audience would see. Originally we were going to start in these positions but then we decided to create more of a build up to the next part we wanted to walk on slowly. First we tried walking in, in a strait line in order of our characters, however we changed this so that we overlap each other when walking on stage. It starts with Amber and Emily walking in from opposite sides and then 4 counts later Me and Paige walk followed by Charley and Rosie. In the next rehearsal I am going to develop my characterisation by the way that I walk on stage, this is because I am supposed to be a murderer and therefore If I walked on in an elegant and smooth way, I wouldn't be representing my character accurately.

This is our starting position.

After this we stand behind our chairs facing the back and slowly move into our positions, we are also going to do these mirrored as it makes it look more clean and organised to the audience. We the decided to turn around on our word, this is then used as a way of introducing each character in the song to the audience. After we have each done a small movement each, we change position on our word, this is also to build up the movements so that they are gradually getting bigger. Next we pick up our chairs and move them so that they are alternate front and back, this is because it gives us more space around the chair that we need for the next part. Also it gives a chance to change the formation that we are in which then creates differentiation in the performance to keep the audience engaged. We then moved on to the faster choreography and decided to step on our chairs, kick and jump down. At first I found it difficult to jump down off the chair, but then once I had figured out where to put my hands on the chair that I need to support myself and the chair, I found it easier. We wanted to use the chairs as a way to incorporate levels into the performance, we also develop this by going down as well.

Overall this rehearsal went well, considering it was our first one, we were able to choreograph just over a minute. Over the next few rehearsals we are aiming to get the majority of the dance finished so that we can spend more time focusing on the timing with the music and each other, as well as getting used to singing whilst dancing. We need to focus on timing, this is because when watching the videos back I noticed that each of is are doing different timings to each other. Another one of my targets is my extension in my arms, this is especially in the kick, I noticed that my arms should have been strait out to the sides and not bent in like they were in this rehearsal. 


Tuesday 24rd February 2015

In todays rehearsals we only had 4 people instead of 6 this meant that we were not certain on our spacing during the dance, we placed the chairs in their places so that we could dance around their chairs too. However if the other people were there we would have been more aware of the spacing when doing this dance, this would have been easier to choreograph. We started with running through from the beginning to make sure that we all knew the choreography and the timing, we had problems with the timing as in we were all dancing at different times to each other. We tried out different timings and eventually came up with one that we all felt comfortable with, this is important because we have to be able to sing whilst dancing so if we were dancing really fast we will find it hard to sing. We then carried on from where we left with the choreography (the slide on the chair), we roll in unison and then slide our leg out in canon. We decided to do this because it adds variation to the performance, rather than all of the movements being in unison, if it was then it could look boring to the audience. We then roll back on ourselves and stand up slowly, followed by a sharp turn facing stage right, this adds dynamic variation, which also prevents it from  

looking boring to the audience. When Amber does her speaking part we are sitting on the chairs that the back of the stage, we are then doing slow movements, we have yet to choreograph this part. When she has finished we all sit up in unison and get up for the chorus and do a travelling motif to the front in a strait line. This is a motif that we are going to repeat later in the other choruses.

Thursday 26th February 2015

Today we taught the other people what we had done in the last rehearsal, when doing this we developed our ideas, especially experimenting with different timings. For example when we were doing the chorus motif, we decided to do this in canon and use this to change the formation we are standing in. It starts with Charley and Rosie, followed by Me and Paige and lastly Emily and Amber, this creates a triangle shape. another reason we decided to this was because it gives us more space when doing the next motif and helps us prevent from kicking each other, as we are not next to each other. This idea also creates variation form the rest of the dance as we are not just dancing in unison throughout the whole dance. In this rehearsal we also tried to sing whilst singing, we still used the same music - with the singing, just singing along. This allows us to begin to get used to singing whilst dancing in this performance, we are also going to spend some time just focusing on the singing without dancing, so that we can make sure that the singing is going to be strong enough to be heard over the chairs being slammed on the floor.

We also used this time to go over what we already had, to make sure that we are in time with the music and each other. The beginning motif - where we stand on the chair and kick, we changed it so that we are stepping up on the word "Cicero" instead of "Lipchitz", this is because this gave up more time to get down safely rather then having to rush and then risk slipping and injuring ourselves. Another development that we did was add in a hand movement towards the audience, whilst circling our legs round one the floor, we decided to bring our leg and arm in at the same time. We also changed the way we put down our chairs, instead of putting them down at the same time, we are putting them down in canon on our word. We still need to work on our timing In this part, this Is going to be one of our main focuses for the next rehearsal. We wanted to use a mixture of canon and unison to make the choreography more interesting to the audience, if we only used unison or canon it would get boring and too repetitive. We still need to spend more time on the movements that we are doing at the back so that it fits within the rest of the dance, because as the moment it look messy as it is unfinished.

Thursday 19th March 2015

https://youtu.be/SOeGD5eh0sI

In this rehearsal we were not able to use the dance studio, as it was not available to use, because of this we decided to focus on singing in this rehearsal. We started singing along with the original song, this was just so that we could get used to the timing and pitching of the song. After we were familiar with these things we found an instrumental version and had the lyrics in front of us, when we were doing this we had some issues with the timing as the music is quite repetitive so it is hard to know when we are supposed to be coming in. However we realised that there is a gap in the music where we don't sing then afterwards we come in with "pop,six...". The first time we sung through without the words on my speaking part I was saying it too fast, this meant that there was a long pause before I could say the next part. After this on the second sing through I slowed down so that my timing was more accurate. Once we had each practised our individual parts, we focused on the chorus sections where we are all singing at once. These parts need to be the most powerful as there are six of us singing so it has to sound as though everyone is projecting as much as possible. As well as this the context of the cell block tango means that we have to be loud and have an attitude as if we don't care. In our next dance rehearsal we are going to sing when we dance to make sure that we build up our stamina so that our voices still sound strong, even when we are dancing. After this we sung the parts of the chorus where it is echoed, we decided that to make sure each part sounded as strong as the other, instead of just having Velma singing and the rest of the girls echoing, three girls are singing the original and three girls singing the echo, this made it sound more equal.                                                            

Tuesday 24th March 2015

We started with the background dance to Rosie's solo part, for this we are going to travel to the back of the stage and link together in a strait line. When we do this we are doing slow unison movements, we did this because this part is a lot slower than the rest of the song and therefore we wantd to be different to the other parts of the dance that we are doing. We then break away from each other doing symetrical leg movements that seperate us, this is still slow and in time with the music. This then leads on to the next part of the song, which is Paige's solo part. The begining of this section still needs to be choregraphed, but i had an idea that when she is listing all of the different tricks that are performed in the double act, we do the different movements that she is saying. As not eveyone was at this rehearsal it was hard to decide who was going to do each part, but so far we came up with...

I am doing the splits

Amber is doing a backbend into a bridge

Rosie, Charley and Emily are doing hitchkicks.

Thursday 16th April 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z24HC_KVELw

When watching this rehearsal back I noticed that I need to develop my characterisation, this is because I wasn't using any facial expressions to fully portray the theme of the performance. This is important because the theme of this is crucial to the performance, as well as this it is quite dark as we are talking about murdering our husbands so we have to look as if we are intimidating and angry. Without full characterisation this performance will not look that good because the theme will not be fully portrayed to the audience. I also noticed that I need to keep my focus and eye-line up, this to make sure that my projection is good, so that the audience can clearly understand it.

I also noticed that I need to fully extend my arms, especially in the "he had it coming" parts. At the moment my arms are not extended enough and therefore my movements look unfinished. I am going to work on this by in the next rehearsal looking at my arms in the dance studio mirrors when dancing this next. In the "spread eagle" section we need to work on our timing as a group, this is because we are all doing the movements at different times as we are not sure when to start. To make this better the front row needs to look at the back row and do the movements at the same time, this is because the back row cannot see the front row, so it makes sense for everyone to look at one person.

Tuesday 5th May 2015

Tuesday 12th May 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqlyedbs6TI

Tuesday 14th May 2015

This video shows the difference between the arms in the kick before and after we had changed them to our left hand on our waist and our right hand up with our leg. We decided to do this because having one arm up allows us to have a little bit of balance whilst on the chair to make it more safe. Also this stays within the theme of the performance as our characters have a lot of attitude. Before we went through this we didn't have a specific arm movement and therefore this made it look messy and under choreographed.

These videos show how we developed the "he had it coming" motif, originally we didn't have set arms which consequently led to everyone doing different things which also made the performance look unfinished. We decided to brig our arms before the kick and push them down as we do kick. The next video shows how we are going to do the next movement once again some people were throwing their whole body down, however we don't have enough time to do this and it doesn't fit with the music, therefore we have decided to keep our bodies up but still cross over our arms before we click.





This video shows how we are changing the roll, this is so we can sing better. Although the roll on the back looks better to the audience, when we do it our singing sounds muffled and we cannot project it fully. Because of this we have decided to keep sitting up when rolling



Friday 6th February 2015 - Hairspray Dance Evaluation

Friday 6th February 2015
Hairspray Dance Evaluation

Hairspray Dance

Physical skills	Needs improvement	Satisfactory	Good	Very good	Excellent
Posture and alignment
Flexibility
Strength
Balance
Co-ordination
Use of extension
Ability to reproduce movement accurately
Interpretive skills	Needs Improvement	Satisfactory	Good	Very good	Excellent
Musicality
Facial expression
Projection
Focus-Eye-line
Dynamic variation

I thought that my physical skill strengths were my flexibility, this was especially kicking and doing the splits. This allowed me to find movements easier to complete as i have the flexibility to support them, my leg flexibility is better than my back flexibility. This was clear when we did the clicks in the chorus, other people in the class did a slight back bend when going back, this added more differentiation to the dance. However i didn't do this because i haven't developed my back flexibility enough. Although i thought that my flexibility was good i think that i can still improve this for any future dances that i am in. I am going to develop this by stretching daily to keep improving and gain more flexibility in my legs and back. I also thought that my ability to reproduce movements accurately was good. I found that in rehearsals i was able to pick up the choreography quickly, this meant that i was able to spend more time concentrating on he timing of the dance and my interpretive skills rather than learning the dance. 

I thought that my physical skill weaknesses were my posture and alignment, this is because when watching this back I noticed that when I am standing still in this dance I am slightly slouched and my left shoulder is higher than the other. I am going to work on this by using the mirrors in the dance studio more when in rehearsals to make sure that my body is upright and equal when dancing. Another one of my weaknesses was my extension, I noticed this most when we jumped at the beginning of the chorus, my arms were not fully extended and therefore this didn't look as good as it would have if my arm extension was better. To improve on this I am going to make sure that when I am dancing to make sure that my arms reach out as much as possible to allow each movement to look finished before moving on to another, this will also help improve my projection. Another way I am going to improve on this is when I am marking through the dance I am going to fully extend my arms and legs so that I have the correct muscle memory of the routine, for the final performance.

I noticed that my timing wasn't as good as in previous rehearsals, this was especially in the section before the last chorus where we had to roll and circular spring once we have come up. I got up too quickly and I jumped before the rest of the class, If I could do this performance again I would take longer when rolling so that when I jumped back up I would have been in time with the rest of the class. When we were doing the roll call the whole classes timing could have been improved, this is because in rehearsals we decided that each person was going to take two names each so that we would be able to go to the end person without any gaps. However we each only took one name each and therefore there was a big gap between the person before Emily and Emily. On the other hand I thought that my characterisation in this section was good, this is because I made sure that my pose was sharp. I did this because the character of Amber in Hairspray is very confident and always want to be the centre of attention, I wanted to show this in this section as much as possible. When Charley pushed me out of the way I wanted to look annoyed, looking back I could have developed this more to improve my performance. I thought that my special awareness was good throughout, except from the beginning of "You cant stop the beat" this Is because my group started too close to each other and therefore when we had to do the traveling motif we were all bumping into each other, this would have been better if we spread out a bit more. My special awareness could have also been improved in the beginning of "Nicest kids on town", because I nearly went into the wall when we were turning, this would have been better if I didn't travel as much when doing these.

My interpretive skill strengths were my projection, when watching back I noticed that this was better than in previous rehearsals. This is where the energy of the dance is transferred to the audience. Because the songs that we were dancing to was fast and had a high energy, it was important that the movements were big and over-the-top to make sure that the theme of the dance is transferred to the audience. Another one of my strengths was my eye-line, in previous rehearsals I noticed that I was looking down throughout the majority of the dance, however in this performance I had a level eye-line with the audience. This also contributed to my projection as well as looking as if I was confident to the audience, if I were looking down it would have made my performance look nervous and uncomfortable in this dance. I improved this by making sure that I was sure of all of the choreography during rehearsals to make sure that in this performance I could focus on my interpretive skills, such as my eye-line. I thought that when we did the roll call the whole classes characterisation was good as we all cheered when the last person was going, this added to the theme of the performance as it is supposed to be over the top and big. As well as this we all did simple choreography at the sides of the stage when we were not doing the main choreography. This added to the performance as if we were just standing there it would have looked boring and we could have lost energy, because we were still doing things we were able to keep the energy and therefore this added to the whole classes characterisation and musicality.

My interpretive skill weaknesses was my dynamic variation, for example in the beginning of you cant stop the beat the choreography is slower compared to the chorus of this song. To improve on this performance I could have created more of a variation between the two sections, when reflecting on this I didn't notice that much of a difference in the way that I danced these two parts. To improve on this I am going to make sure that I pay more attention to the music during rehearsals to make sure that I create a difference between dynamics. Another one of my weaknesses was that although my use of facial expressions was better than in rehearsals and previous dance rehearsals, they could have been developed more. This would have created more variation in the performance, to make sure that my next dance performance is better I am going to rehearse using the mirrors more, to ensure that I use facial expressions which are relevant to the theme of the dance. For example this dance was set in the 1960s and therefore was fast, high energy and cheesy, this meant that any facial expressions would be over the top and smiley.

My targets for the next performance are:

• Posture and alignment - This is important because when dancing, you are supposed to be upright (unless the choreography is otherwise) and equally balanced. I am going to improve this by using the mirrors when dancing to make sure that my body is in the right position.
• Extension - This is important so that each movement looks finished before moving on, I am going to improve on this when marking through choreography to fully extend all of my movements so that I have the right muscle memory for the routine that I am going to do in the performance.
• Musicality - This is important so that the music that is used to accompany the dance compliments the choreography. I am going to improve this by working on my timing so that I am moving in time with the music, as well as this making sure that I am fully aware of the theme of the music that is being used.
• Facial expressions - This is important so that the theme and mood of the dance is shown through the performers face as well as their movements. I am going to work on this by using the mirrors to be able to see if I am using facial expressions that are relevant to the performance whilst dancing.