On 15/12/16 we started the lesson by running through main ensemble songs, we felt that the two that needed the most work were 'We are the champions' and 'Boheminan Rhapsody'. We started we We Are The Champions, and I found that this one went well because it is quite repetitive however I think that as the song is a ballad is should be soft and the song is presenting the characters as free and together, yet I feel that we were 'belting' the song which made it sound more aggressive and it almost sounded competitive with each other, and I think that as an ensemble we should sing it more with each other than against each other to make it sound more appealing to the audience. We were able to adjust this issue by singing more relaxed and thinking about characterisation.
Once we had finished and improved We Are the Champions, we moved onto Bohemian Rhapsody. I found Bohemian Rhapsody a challenge because there are so many different parts to it, and it is hard to get both your part and harmony right and in the right place, however once we started working collectively and contributing ideas of how to help with the harmonies, we started working on it better. I think that as an ensemble it was important to stay calm, even though it was frustrating otherwise you could effect the way others are trying to focus, and I think that some people lost focus and started getting frustrated however the rest of us immediately worked as a team to make sure everyone was clear on what they were doing and that we could carry on. I think that the song sounded good when we had finished and this was due to our high energy and focus which I had been concentrating on since the previous rehearsals.
Friday, 16 December 2016
Dance Show Evaluation
Dance Media Piece:
WWW- Timing with the group
- extension
EBI
- Could have made smoother transitions between movement
- Rehearsed timing with Megan more
- work on strength in the plies.
Seven Seas Of Rhye
WWW-
-Strong dynamics in movements
-Characterisation/Facial Expressions
EBI
- Focus- forgot what happened next when changing positions
- Eyeline- Often felt that eyeliner dropped
- timing at the end- I wasn't watching people in front for timing of swaying and everyone was out of time with each other.
09/12/16 Lesson Analysis
On 09/12/16 We had an all day rehearsal in which we planned to run through act 2 twice, once with my cast and again with the other cast. I thought that this would be useful because it meant that after this rehearsal we would have run through the show twice, once with one cast and again with the other.
When we were running through with my cast I felt that it was a bit slow because a lot of us got confused either with blocking or forgot lines, and I feel that this was because of lack of focus in previous rehearsals. To improve this I made sure that when I wasn't on I went over my lines and prepared for the next scene. I feel that there were some issues in the scene leading up to 'another one bites the dust' because I forgot a lot of the smaller blocking ideas, such as flicking Kashoggi's glasses and wearing them, and I think that to improve this I am going to prepare for each scene out of lesson by writing blocking in my script. I think that this was unprofessional because it made others wait which effected their time and we had a lot more to get through, and when working as an ensemble I think that it is important to consider everyone else as well as yourself and what you are doing so that everyone gets through what they need.
After we finished act 2 with my cast, as usual after a few hours of rehearsal everyone seemed to loose energy and I feel that this is a reoccurring situation in rehearsals, so I suggested that we did another improvisation game to get everyone's energy levels up. This worked effectively because at the end of the game (same one as the previous rehearsal) everyone was energised, focused and ready to rehearse again. I think that it would be effective therefore to continue improvisation games throughout rehearsals so that everyone stays focused and we can work as a team to make this happen.
When we ran through act two again, we got to the end of the act and the final scene, however one of the main characters in that scene Pop, wasn't there so I volunteered to step in so that everyone else had an idea of what was happening around them and could visualise it, which I think is important as well as just listening to the lines, to see it as well so that the ensemble know what is happening and how to react effectively. This was good because we eventually completed the scene.
To improve for next lesson I would like to work on my focus as sometimes I feel that although it is important to keep energy levels up, it is also important to focus on the work and I feel that sometimes I get distracted and this distracts others. To work as an ensemble I think that I need to make sure that I am working well so that others do as well and we get more done. To achieve this I am going to read through the script and blocking out of rehearsals so that next time we rehearse I will be ready and won't distract others in a negative way.
When we were running through with my cast I felt that it was a bit slow because a lot of us got confused either with blocking or forgot lines, and I feel that this was because of lack of focus in previous rehearsals. To improve this I made sure that when I wasn't on I went over my lines and prepared for the next scene. I feel that there were some issues in the scene leading up to 'another one bites the dust' because I forgot a lot of the smaller blocking ideas, such as flicking Kashoggi's glasses and wearing them, and I think that to improve this I am going to prepare for each scene out of lesson by writing blocking in my script. I think that this was unprofessional because it made others wait which effected their time and we had a lot more to get through, and when working as an ensemble I think that it is important to consider everyone else as well as yourself and what you are doing so that everyone gets through what they need.
After we finished act 2 with my cast, as usual after a few hours of rehearsal everyone seemed to loose energy and I feel that this is a reoccurring situation in rehearsals, so I suggested that we did another improvisation game to get everyone's energy levels up. This worked effectively because at the end of the game (same one as the previous rehearsal) everyone was energised, focused and ready to rehearse again. I think that it would be effective therefore to continue improvisation games throughout rehearsals so that everyone stays focused and we can work as a team to make this happen.
When we ran through act two again, we got to the end of the act and the final scene, however one of the main characters in that scene Pop, wasn't there so I volunteered to step in so that everyone else had an idea of what was happening around them and could visualise it, which I think is important as well as just listening to the lines, to see it as well so that the ensemble know what is happening and how to react effectively. This was good because we eventually completed the scene.
To improve for next lesson I would like to work on my focus as sometimes I feel that although it is important to keep energy levels up, it is also important to focus on the work and I feel that sometimes I get distracted and this distracts others. To work as an ensemble I think that I need to make sure that I am working well so that others do as well and we get more done. To achieve this I am going to read through the script and blocking out of rehearsals so that next time we rehearse I will be ready and won't distract others in a negative way.
09/12/16 Dance Lesson Analysis
In this lesson we decided that the most efficient use of the short amount of time we had was to run the dances for the upcoming dance show in the theatre, so that we could adapt the dances to the space. I found that the media piece worked well in the space, however in the part where we travel diagonally in groups at a time and eventually everyone is doing the same, I felt that I ran out of space because I was at the front, however we discussed spacing issues and we resolved this one by making the steps smaller, which actually looked a lot neater anyway, so I feel that this was an improvement because our timing looked better as well.
When we ran through the We Will Rock You numbers, we found issues in the staging because we had always rehearsed the dances as traverse because that is the staging we would use for We Will Rock You, however the dance show is proscenium so we had to re- block the numbers to suit what staging we had. I found that Seaven seas of Rhye was easier to re-block because we originally had two lines, on facing on side of the audience, and the other facing the other side, however we simply just had a front and back line, both facing the audience, and then swapped lines when we were meant to swap sides. This worked effectively as well because it showed the chaos in the characters and adding a lot of movement in a smaller space made it look more panicked, which is what we want to portray.
I found that 'Another One Bites the Dust' was difficult because of the complicated lines and blocking, and the directions and paths we took, however we eventually managed to discover different ways to portray the pathways and it worked effectively. Myself and Izzy also discussed blocking for our characters as we would both be playing Killer Queen for the dance show, so we discussed when I should come on and from where.
Overall I found this lesson useful because it prepared me more for the dance show and it allowed me to think of different ways to stage dances even if they are for different stage types. I think that to improve I could have put more energy into 'Seaven Seas Of Rhye' because it is a chaotic number and it could have represented the fear of my character better.
When we ran through the We Will Rock You numbers, we found issues in the staging because we had always rehearsed the dances as traverse because that is the staging we would use for We Will Rock You, however the dance show is proscenium so we had to re- block the numbers to suit what staging we had. I found that Seaven seas of Rhye was easier to re-block because we originally had two lines, on facing on side of the audience, and the other facing the other side, however we simply just had a front and back line, both facing the audience, and then swapped lines when we were meant to swap sides. This worked effectively as well because it showed the chaos in the characters and adding a lot of movement in a smaller space made it look more panicked, which is what we want to portray.
I found that 'Another One Bites the Dust' was difficult because of the complicated lines and blocking, and the directions and paths we took, however we eventually managed to discover different ways to portray the pathways and it worked effectively. Myself and Izzy also discussed blocking for our characters as we would both be playing Killer Queen for the dance show, so we discussed when I should come on and from where.
Overall I found this lesson useful because it prepared me more for the dance show and it allowed me to think of different ways to stage dances even if they are for different stage types. I think that to improve I could have put more energy into 'Seaven Seas Of Rhye' because it is a chaotic number and it could have represented the fear of my character better.
08/12/16 Lesson Analysis
In this rehearsal we carried on running act 1 with my cast. Considering how the last rehearsal went in terms of lack of energy and a negative vibe, I decided to come into lesson with a positive attitude and high energy so that we could start the rehearsal in an energised way which effected our start of rehearsal in a positive way.
To warm up we started an improvisation game, which brought everyone's energy levels up which is important because we have to work together throughout the whole show, and high energy will help everyone with team work, and focus. It also put everyone in a positive mood which is also important for our perseverance with each other, and I think that this is important because it means that everyone will put more effort into team work. The idea of the game was to create a scenario, and start with one person, and slowly everyone joins by individually shouting 'freeze' and joining the scene but changing scenarios, and everyone on stage had to go along with it, which also brought out creativeness which could help in terms of contribution of ideas to rehearsals ad contributed to different characterisations. Below are some photos of the improvisation:
To warm up we started an improvisation game, which brought everyone's energy levels up which is important because we have to work together throughout the whole show, and high energy will help everyone with team work, and focus. It also put everyone in a positive mood which is also important for our perseverance with each other, and I think that this is important because it means that everyone will put more effort into team work. The idea of the game was to create a scenario, and start with one person, and slowly everyone joins by individually shouting 'freeze' and joining the scene but changing scenarios, and everyone on stage had to go along with it, which also brought out creativeness which could help in terms of contribution of ideas to rehearsals ad contributed to different characterisations. Below are some photos of the improvisation:
After the improvisation warm up, we started to focus as we continued act 1 with my cast. As I had completed all of my scenes from act one in the last rehearsal, I took the time I had to work on my off cast character and started guiding the ensemble numbers with different ideas and helping people with the blocking if they were unsure. For example in the last scene with the bohemians, when Khashoggi gets the police to attack the bohemians in a fight, I was reminding everyone on some things that were forgotten, like the blocking and where to stand, and I also helped people for ideas of movements for the fight scene.
After we completed act 1 with my cast, I felt that my energy had dropped because of the fact that I wasn't too active because I didn't have an upcoming scene in the rest of act 1. I feel that this was unprofessional because if I lost energy from not doing anything it could have effected the rest of the cast when we were to start again, however I soon started to focus and prepare for my off cast character.
We then aimed to run through act 1 with the other cast, so that both casts were familiar with act 1. This meant that I could work on my cues for my off cast character, which I feel is important because it meant that we could work fast but also so that I could support the rest of the cast and notify others when our cues are for our off cast characters, and this worked effectively because everyone was ready at the right times and we could prepare together and remind each other the blocking.
Overall I found this rehearsal useful because I was able to work with my off cast character and I learnt to support others in the class as an ensemble and saw the positive effects on helping the rest of the cast and how it benefited the rehearsal overall.
Thursday, 8 December 2016
06/12/16 Lesson Analysis
On 6/12/16 we scheduled two hours to run through as much of the blocking as we could for We Will Rock You with my cast, which meant that I was Killer Queen. At the beginning of the rehearsal I ensured that I was energetic when I was needed to make sure that we could run through the scene as quickly as possible with the right amount of energy that allowed everyone to focus on what they were doing so that although we were aiming to work quickly, everyone was still able to understand their parts. During 'Killer Queen' I helped the rest of the cast, the Yuppies, with the dance to make sure that everyone was sure in what they were doing, and this created a calm environment because we were working together as opposed to against each other which overall made the song look better, and the dance timing was more effective because it portrayed the robot idea we want to include to the show.
When I wasn't in a scene I made sure that I was quiet and respectful to others when they were running scenes in order to make sure that we worked effectively. I also made sure that I was preparing my lines for the next scene and running through the blocking, again to make sure that we could run the scene quickly and effectively ensuring that we are confident with the blocking in that scene. The scene was 'It's a kind of magic' we had choreographed a dance with this number, however a lot of us had forgotten the order of it and it took us a while to pick it up again. I feel that the reason it took us a long time to learn it was because of some peoples negative approach to running through it and the lack of motivation that came with that, causing everyone else's energy levels to drop which had a negative effect on our continuation of the rehearsal. However, we were able to overcome this and I personally tried to bring the energy levels back up by putting more effort into my part in hope of bringing everyone's focus back. This was successful as we were eventually able to continue the rehearsal effectively, and we were able to get through half of act one by the end of the rehearsal. I feel that positivity is important when working as an ensemble because it means that everyone will work together efficiently to get more work done, and in our case it would mean that we could run more scenes successfully, and use team work to make sure that everyone is happy with what they are doing.
In preparation for the next rehearsal I am going to make sure that I am confident with the blocking and the dances so that the same doesn't happen again and that we can have a fluent rehearsal without too many pauses.
When I wasn't in a scene I made sure that I was quiet and respectful to others when they were running scenes in order to make sure that we worked effectively. I also made sure that I was preparing my lines for the next scene and running through the blocking, again to make sure that we could run the scene quickly and effectively ensuring that we are confident with the blocking in that scene. The scene was 'It's a kind of magic' we had choreographed a dance with this number, however a lot of us had forgotten the order of it and it took us a while to pick it up again. I feel that the reason it took us a long time to learn it was because of some peoples negative approach to running through it and the lack of motivation that came with that, causing everyone else's energy levels to drop which had a negative effect on our continuation of the rehearsal. However, we were able to overcome this and I personally tried to bring the energy levels back up by putting more effort into my part in hope of bringing everyone's focus back. This was successful as we were eventually able to continue the rehearsal effectively, and we were able to get through half of act one by the end of the rehearsal. I feel that positivity is important when working as an ensemble because it means that everyone will work together efficiently to get more work done, and in our case it would mean that we could run more scenes successfully, and use team work to make sure that everyone is happy with what they are doing.
In preparation for the next rehearsal I am going to make sure that I am confident with the blocking and the dances so that the same doesn't happen again and that we can have a fluent rehearsal without too many pauses.
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