Devising The Cell Block Tango
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| 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
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
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
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
can you also link this to your dance performance unit, thanks. kat
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