o start the lesson today we did our normal warm up phrase that we learnt a few weeks ago. I found that the warm up today was effective because it allowed me to notice mistakes in my contemporary dance technique, and made me conscious to work on it for the rest of the lesson. For example I noticed that on the hops I wasn't fully straightening my legs, and this made it look like I wasn't putting in enough effort into my dance, and therefore I worked for the rest of the warm up and lesson on making sure that I fully straightened my legs, and worked on extension in my arms also.
Link to the warm up phrase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSi2oxHehrs&feature=youtu.be
We then worked on the media piece that we had been working on and our initial aim at the beginning of the lesson was to finish it. To start we ran through the dance with the music and noticed a few issues with timing in places. For example when I run round the back with Megan and begin to collect the rest of the group in small groups, we noticed that the timing of our dance wasn't in time with the music, and I took this as my responsibility because I was leading them and therefore I made sure that I worked on this. We then marked it through to tidy up some parts and recap what we choreographed did last week as not everyone was clear on it. I found this useful because I was able to continue working on my extension and even though we were marking I was making sure that I wasn't marking my arms, so that I could get used to fully stretching them.
We carried on choreographing the dance and were able to finish it at the end of the first half of the lesson. I feel as though the use of reaches and repetition we used in our choreography this week was effective because it allowed us to link the dance to the theme and keep the audience engaged.
Link to the Media piece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV0gPOfxeX0&feature=youtu.be
In the second half of the lesson we worked on recapping the dances we had already choreographed for We Will Rock You. To start we did 'Another One Bites The Dust' with Izzy's cast so I watched to make sure I knew what I was doing when its my cast, and also to watch the ensemble so that I am aware of what everyone is doing in the number. When we did it with my cast I feel as though it went well because I made sure that I was aiming my movements towards the ensemble as well as the audience so that we could see the manipulation in Killer Queens character, but also so that it adds comedy to the scene that the Yuppies are supposedly pretending to 'die' or become brainwashed by Killer Queen to manipulate Khashoggi. I also think that our timing was good because we all made sure that everyone knew what they were doing so that the piece looked more sharp and engaging to the audience.
We then ran through 'Seven Seas Of Rhye' which I felt went better than the rehearsals yesterday because we all watched each other and again, worked with each other to make sure everyone was okay with the choreography and timing. One part I would like to improve on in this number is my duet work with Olivia because we seem to loose our spacing and it confuses us in terms of direction, so I will work with liv to make sure that we both are aware of our space and we both know what direction we are aiming towards.
Overall I think that this lesson went well because I was able to contribute more ideas to both We Will Rock you and the dance media piece, and this has improved both my contemporary dance skills and my ensemble skills. I feel as though one strength in todays lesson was my timing, as I was able to lead the rest of the group in the dance media piece, and I was also able to stay in time with the beat in 'another one bites the dust', which I feel is important because it is meant to look polished like the Yuppies are robots.
To improve I would like to work further on improving my extension, in both my legs and arms and making sure that I fully stretch them. To do this I am going to work in front of the mirrors, both in and out of lesson so that I can improve the skill and improve my contemporary dance. I think that by doing this it will make my dancing overall look much better and more appealing to an audience.
Friday, 11 November 2016
10/11/16 Lesson Analysis
On 10/11/16 we had another four hour rehearsal for We Will Rock You to continue our work in blocking the show. We decided that it would be good to go straight into blocking scenes where we finished last lesson as opposed to recapping, so that we could have an overall idea of what we are doing throughout the show, and then we can tidy the scenes at a later rehearsal day. I feel as though I was able to develop my ensemble skills here as I was able to work collectively with everyone else in the cast to make sure that we could get through the different scenes as soon as possible and made the most out of our rehearsal time. I feel as though I focused well in this rehearsal to make this target possible, and we were able to finish act one and start a few scenes of act two.
I worked mainly on my off cast character in this lesson, and this was useful because I was able to work with the rest of the cast on the scenes where we were playing similar characters to help support each other with the roles. When we were blocking a bohemian scene in the Heartbreak Hotel, where the bohemians are first introduced to Galileo and Scaramouch by Meat and Brit, I felt as though I was patient with the cast to make sure that we all reacted together. For example in the script it told us how to react to what Brit was saying about Galileo and that he is the character that the bohemians had been waiting for, and that we had to act shocked at points, amazed at others and worried. At first we all felt like we were reacting too robotic and had to work collectively as a group to support each other, and make sure we were all naturalistic in our reactions, and this worked well because we were able to complete the scene to a high standard.
I worked mainly on my off cast character in this lesson, and this was useful because I was able to work with the rest of the cast on the scenes where we were playing similar characters to help support each other with the roles. When we were blocking a bohemian scene in the Heartbreak Hotel, where the bohemians are first introduced to Galileo and Scaramouch by Meat and Brit, I felt as though I was patient with the cast to make sure that we all reacted together. For example in the script it told us how to react to what Brit was saying about Galileo and that he is the character that the bohemians had been waiting for, and that we had to act shocked at points, amazed at others and worried. At first we all felt like we were reacting too robotic and had to work collectively as a group to support each other, and make sure we were all naturalistic in our reactions, and this worked well because we were able to complete the scene to a high standard.
8/11/16 Lesson Analysis
To develop our sketch books and character analysis of characters we are planning to design costumes for, we analysed what Sax and Max were wearing and why. I felt that this was effective because it allowed me to understand why people wear certain things, whether it is to do with their own fashion sense, to match their personality, status, and sentimental things to them.
Picture of the board:
Analysing what Sax and Max were wearing helped me develop my skills to design costumes for We will Rock You characters because I was able to identify why people wear certain things, whether it was to do with their own style, their personality, sentimental values, or whether it was planned or not.
I think that analysing what colour they were wearing was particularly useful because it allowed me to associate the different colours with mood, personality, how they socialise, and this will mean that the audience will immediately get a feel of who the character is before they even say anything. For example when we were analysing Max's navy blue suit we felt as though it was a warm and welcoming colour that links to his job as a learning mentor, and having the ability to stay calm. We also said that this would make it easier for students to approach him and feel welcomed, which also links to his job and status. I feel as though if he was wearing a black suit it wouldn't be the same because we often associate black suits with negative news or that something bad has happened, and therefore I feel as though this wouldn't have had the same effect as navy blue.
We then started talking about hair and make up, and I found this interesting because before this lesson I never put make up and hair in the same category as costumes because I felt like they are completely different, but I learnt that make up and hair helps develop a character and how they look towards the audience, and to suit what they are wearing. For example Sax had naturalistic make up and I felt like this had a similar effect as Max's suit as it made her look more approachable towards students. Also the naturalistic look suggests that she is staying smart at work, and also may represent the fact that she feels confident in the way she looks, which can be traits of certain characters in We Will Rock You, such as Scaramouch and Meat.
Picture of the board:
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| Whole class comparisons. |
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| My groups analysis of Sax and Max. |
I think that analysing what colour they were wearing was particularly useful because it allowed me to associate the different colours with mood, personality, how they socialise, and this will mean that the audience will immediately get a feel of who the character is before they even say anything. For example when we were analysing Max's navy blue suit we felt as though it was a warm and welcoming colour that links to his job as a learning mentor, and having the ability to stay calm. We also said that this would make it easier for students to approach him and feel welcomed, which also links to his job and status. I feel as though if he was wearing a black suit it wouldn't be the same because we often associate black suits with negative news or that something bad has happened, and therefore I feel as though this wouldn't have had the same effect as navy blue.
We then started talking about hair and make up, and I found this interesting because before this lesson I never put make up and hair in the same category as costumes because I felt like they are completely different, but I learnt that make up and hair helps develop a character and how they look towards the audience, and to suit what they are wearing. For example Sax had naturalistic make up and I felt like this had a similar effect as Max's suit as it made her look more approachable towards students. Also the naturalistic look suggests that she is staying smart at work, and also may represent the fact that she feels confident in the way she looks, which can be traits of certain characters in We Will Rock You, such as Scaramouch and Meat.
08/11/16
Contract Laws
Public Liability insurance
Agents
Tax Returns
Thursday, 10 November 2016
03/11/16 Lesson Analysis
On 03/11/16 We had a four hour rehearsal for We Will Rock You, to work on blocking most of act 1 and recap scenes we had already blocked. The scenes we had already blocked were the opening and then a few pages into the script, the 'Its a kinda Magic' scene. So we worked on recapping the opening, which went well as everyone remembered what they were doing and we worked collectively as an ensemble to recap it and help each other. When they were blocking the school scene, I took the time to look at my script and start learning lines to songs and lines in general, and this worked as when it came to blocking the Killer Queen scene I was able to speed it up so that it didn't take up too many peoples time and so that we could fit more scenes into the rehearsal.
To begin blocking the killer Queen song, I found the wooden board prop on wheels that I thought Killer Queen could enter on as a Joke, and this worked effectively because I wanted to portray the character of Killer Queen as playful with her power, and I spoke to Kim and said it would add humour if Killer Queen felt she couldn't go anywhere without the help of her Yuppies and without the prop, therefore when I entered I used the Yuppies and worked on using them to get to the staging.
Overall I found this lesson useful because I was able to develop my ensemble skills by using patience and team work to recap what we had blocked before half term. I felt that because we hadn't run the scene in a week a lot of people had forgotten what we were doing but I think that it was important that we were all patient with each other so that we could continue developing the scenes effectively and then moving on to block the rest of the show.
To begin blocking the killer Queen song, I found the wooden board prop on wheels that I thought Killer Queen could enter on as a Joke, and this worked effectively because I wanted to portray the character of Killer Queen as playful with her power, and I spoke to Kim and said it would add humour if Killer Queen felt she couldn't go anywhere without the help of her Yuppies and without the prop, therefore when I entered I used the Yuppies and worked on using them to get to the staging.
Overall I found this lesson useful because I was able to develop my ensemble skills by using patience and team work to recap what we had blocked before half term. I felt that because we hadn't run the scene in a week a lot of people had forgotten what we were doing but I think that it was important that we were all patient with each other so that we could continue developing the scenes effectively and then moving on to block the rest of the show.
21/10/16 Dance Lesson Analysis
In this lesson our main focus was starting choreography for 'Another One Bites The Dust' for We Will Rock You. I already thought of some initial ideas for choreography for this number inspired by a video of the London tour of We Will Rock You that I saw on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYkvswgOx20
I liked the idea of the Yuppies representing what was going to happen to Kashoggi and helping Killer Queen manipulate him by acting it out. I thought that because we are going to perform We Will Rock You with traverse staging we could have two lines of the Yuppies, one on each side of the audience and Killer Queen could walk through and on each line 'Another one bites the dust' two yuppies, opposite each other do a dance or gymnastic movement to fall to the ground to show intimidation towards Kashoggi. I thought that because my character of Killer Queen is playful it would be effective for me to 'moonwalk' through them sometimes or casually walk to show carelessness towards Kashoggi, and then at the end of the lines during the lyrics 'Hey, Im going to get you too' myself and Izzy thought it would be effective to shout this at an audience member, to involve the audience in this number and almost intimate them as well.
We were able to choreograph the dance up to the end of the second verse which I feel is successful because we were able to choreograph the dance that is not only to a long song, but choreograph it with the same standard throughout and developing the energy in certain places, for example every time I said 'another one bites the dust' the yuppies would react in canon to show the power, similar to what we did in the first chorus, and the repetition here was effective because we were able to work as a team to make the character of Killer Queen look more manipulative and also to show my idea of the character being playful, and the intimidation she is showing to Kashoggi by controlling the yuppies can look humorous at times.
Overall I found this lesson effective because I was able to develop my own character in We Will Rock You further, but also it improved my ensemble skills by allowing me to think about what everyone was doing in the song so that I could be aware of the surroundings and interpret everyone. I think I was also able to improve my choreography skills as I was able to suggest many ideas. To improve I would like to develop my movements further using exaggeration so that I can emphasise the character. I would also like to run through it when Izzy is Killer Queen so that I am taking part in the song as an ensemble character so I can work collectively and effectively with the rest of the ensemble.
I liked the idea of the Yuppies representing what was going to happen to Kashoggi and helping Killer Queen manipulate him by acting it out. I thought that because we are going to perform We Will Rock You with traverse staging we could have two lines of the Yuppies, one on each side of the audience and Killer Queen could walk through and on each line 'Another one bites the dust' two yuppies, opposite each other do a dance or gymnastic movement to fall to the ground to show intimidation towards Kashoggi. I thought that because my character of Killer Queen is playful it would be effective for me to 'moonwalk' through them sometimes or casually walk to show carelessness towards Kashoggi, and then at the end of the lines during the lyrics 'Hey, Im going to get you too' myself and Izzy thought it would be effective to shout this at an audience member, to involve the audience in this number and almost intimate them as well.
We were able to choreograph the dance up to the end of the second verse which I feel is successful because we were able to choreograph the dance that is not only to a long song, but choreograph it with the same standard throughout and developing the energy in certain places, for example every time I said 'another one bites the dust' the yuppies would react in canon to show the power, similar to what we did in the first chorus, and the repetition here was effective because we were able to work as a team to make the character of Killer Queen look more manipulative and also to show my idea of the character being playful, and the intimidation she is showing to Kashoggi by controlling the yuppies can look humorous at times.
Overall I found this lesson effective because I was able to develop my own character in We Will Rock You further, but also it improved my ensemble skills by allowing me to think about what everyone was doing in the song so that I could be aware of the surroundings and interpret everyone. I think I was also able to improve my choreography skills as I was able to suggest many ideas. To improve I would like to develop my movements further using exaggeration so that I can emphasise the character. I would also like to run through it when Izzy is Killer Queen so that I am taking part in the song as an ensemble character so I can work collectively and effectively with the rest of the ensemble.
Monday, 7 November 2016
14/10/16 Dance Lesson Analysis
We started this lesson with a warm up phrase using jumps and plies to warm up our muscles and to get our heart rates up to prevent injury when starting the choreography. We started with two hop/jumps changing directions and then the last one we did a roll on the floor to stand up, and as the motif continued it ended with a jump at the end. This was effective because not only was I warming up for the rest of the lesson, but I was able to improve my jumps by extending my legs, and extension was a target that I set myself last year to improve on this year.
We then recapped the dance media piece we have been working on over the last few weeks, and started to choreograph more. After we finish the trio motif that we learnt last week everyone slowly makes their way to the side of the stage and I'm left with the secret in the middle, and I was asked to choreograph a few counts to represent the fact that I had the secret and I didn't want it, so I interpreted some movements that myself and Izzy choreographed in our duet a few weeks before and developed it using space and dynamics, making sure movements were sharper in some places but slow and heavy in others to show the pain of knowing something you shouldn't. I used a lot of reaches and lunges towards everyone else to show the fact that I want to pass the secret on but no one wants to hear it. I then ran to the back of the stage to where Megan was and manipulated her using puppetry and choreographed a very short duet to represent passing it on and manipulating her.
After myself and Megan run to where everyone is standing on stage left, I start collecting people group by group, with the warm up phrase we used at the beginning but we developed the choreography to suit both the music, and the theme of the dance, so after the second hop we simply turn with emphasis on the arm and putting our weight towards the back to make it look heavy, and head back to back stage left to collect more people, and continue this until everyone is on stage again. This worked effectively because it represented the theme of secrets and news travelling fast across the media, and the audience will understand that I had the secret and then manipulated Megan with it, which I think could represent a celebrity or a secret being spread on social network, and then I tell the rest of the group representing the public so everyone eventually knows.
We were then asked to choreograph a solo to one count of eight using the movements from our original motif that we learnt weeks ago, and to add that to the end of what we had just choreographed. I think that this worked effectively because it represents chaos and the idea of different opinions people have on secrets and the media which links with our theme.
Overall I think that this lesson was successful because I was able to develop my skills in dance for example, my extension and I was able to choreograph a solo part and make it link to the theme. To improve I would like to take part in contributing more ideas into the group pieces of the dance and work on making sure I am in time with the whole group so that we work together. I would also like to work on facial expressions as a personal target to represent the theme more and make the overall piece look more effective.
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