In this rehearsal we started to look at the movement whilst we are singing the lyrics. This is because in previous rehearsals we had just focused on the dance breaks, we decided to do this because these are the sections that we are able to show off more of our dancing skills. We tried to incorporate elements of physical theatre in this, to gain ideas we looked at videos and other versions of this song that other people had done. For example for the line "free to wait tables and shoes" some of the guys walk around miming waiting table, whereas I got down to mime shine Max's shoes. l need to work on this a lot as I feel that I need to further establish a clear character especially in this number as I find that I am not showing this through my movements yet. I am really finding my characterisation difficult as I do not find it natural to move around like a man, I feel like I look really out of place with the other shark boys, so I need to work on making sure I move differently so I that I fit in visually with the others.
We then started to work on the end dance break, i started improvising movements that would fit for a second dance break for the boys, i tried just experimenting with simple movements put together to make a short phrase. Even though these movements are simple, they fit very well with the music so that each part is sharp and in exact time with each beat in the phrase. When the music changes the boys run to get the girls to go into the centre of the space. This is where we choreographed a motif where the boys travel downstage whilst the girls travel upstage. We struggled at first with the timing of this however after trying a few different variations, we found a timing that worked well with the music and with each other. After practising this phrase a few times we were able to perform this section well, whilst being in perfect time with each other. For the next section we wanted to have a clapping/travel section after watching different videos for inspiration we decided that this was an important part of the choreography as it is typical of spanish/latin dance. We also found it hard to come up with a beat that fit with the movement and the music, we wanted to change it slightly from the clapping that we had previously done as it was coming up to the climax of the song. When we found one we wanted to have a different in the way the girls and the boys move, therefore to show the difference between the two we decided that the girls should swish their skirts as they turn while the boys stamp their feet. This shows how the girls are more graceful than the boys, however even though the boys move easily in the rest of the dance they still show their masculinity. After the clapping section they boys and girls run through the girls to switch places on the stage so the boys are now upstage whilst the girls are downstage, this part is a big jump scene, for this section we used inspiration from the movie scene, we chose this because it is fast and energetic enough to be the climax of the whole number, we timed this so that everybody is jumping round together, like the second boys dance break this is is choreographed with simple effective movements that are able to catch the audiences attention. For the end of the number we run to meet our partners to create an ending position, we decided as a group that the ending position would be Bernardo and Anita holding a big lift in the centre of the stage, with the other four couples around them at each corner point of the stage holding a lower lift. This is because Bernardo is the leader of the Sharks, with him being in the centre and visibly higher, it further exagerates his importance in the rest of the gangs eyes.
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