Week Commencing 10th September 2018

Monday 10th September

Season Rehearsals:

On Monday in season rehearsals, we auditioned with our scripts in pairs. I had chosen the script from Dark-net. The scene we had chosen was between Stacey ( a heroine addict) and a councillor.

Initial thoughts:

I felt confident with my lines, but held the words for security.
I was glad that our performance was fluid and consistent.

Breaking this down:

Over the weekend, I had been away and learnt my lines as the role of the councillor. However, when performing I held my lines for security and backup. Our performance was very fluid from beginning to end, which was positive. We both interpreted our characters together and built the scene upon knowledge and research as well as what we had gathered from the script.

Evaluative analysis:

I was very happy that we had myself and my partner had learnt our lines for the audition. However, we held our scripts for backup. We had rehearsed the scene we performed on the Friday and developed our characters individually over the weekend, this benefitted our performance as we had a higher understanding of our roles and how to act a new character (this increased how fluid our performance was). We used two chairs for props, to create the atmosphere of a doctors surgery, and used the space in a limited way, but exceeded with our use of levels to show the scenario, characterisation and status.

Action plan:

We performed this successfully. However, next time I feel like I will have the confidence to perform without my words in front of me. I would also like to figure out new ways of how to use and control spacing to add dimension to the piece.

Tuesday 11th September

Season rehearsals:

On Tuesday, we had a singing audition. We all sang an extract from the song “Enrico Fermi High”.

Initial thoughts:

I felt that I acted successfully through my extract of singing.
I felt confident with the words and accent needed for the song.

Evaluative Analysis:

Overall I felt positive and confident with the memorisation of lyrics. I managed to memorise the lyrics as well as begin to think about the meaning behind the lyrics and the style of the song.

The musical “Zombie Prom” is American and set in the 1950’s. Therefore, when working through the extract and using my own knowledge I began to add my own interpretation, which was useful when acting through the small extract of the song.

However, I would have liked to improve on working through where the song sits in my range. I would have liked to improved on transitioning between my chest and head voice, which will come with practise. I would have also liked to have developed my American accent and explored my acting choices further.

Action plan:

I would like to work on my American accent when given any song from this style to develop my accuracy. I would also like to focus on my break. I will do this by using vocal warm ups and repetition techniques.

Wednesday 12th September

Season Rehearsals:

On Wednesday, we all took part in the dance audition for the three performances. We had learnt two small routines to perform.

Initial thoughts:

I felt that I picked up the two routines quickly.
I was pleased that I adapted my expressions to fit each style of the contrasting dances.
I would have liked to have improved on my accuracy of the small movements.

Breaking this down:

We learnt a routine that is in the style for “Dark-Net” (very serious and controlled) and contrastingly learnt an upbeat and fun number in the style of “Zombie Prom”. We had initially learnt the routines briefly on Monday and was able to develop these on Wednesday.

Evaluative Analysis:

We spent equal time on each routine working through counts and beats and linking the movement to these. We also worked through placements of where to place the movement and how to perform each routine in their particular style.

I think that I felt confident with the routines as I had memorised what we did on Monday and additionally, picked up the counts and length of each movement quickly, allowing myself to have time to develop expression.

Additionally, I would have liked to of improved my accuracy of the small movements to give extra detail. E.g. if the main movement is a kick of the leg to the side, I would have liked to have paid attention to my head movement.

Action plan:

I will pay extra attention to the small movements next time to add detail to the way I am performing a routine for precision and accuracy.

Thursday 13th September

Season rehearsals:

On Thursday we were split into our companies. We began to experiment with scenes from “Zombie Prom” in small groups.

Initial thoughts:

I felt that we worked well in our group of 5 to develop our scene.
I felt positive that I was able to trial and develop the character of “Mrs. Strict” in our performance.
I felt that I gathered a greater understanding of each character and their connection with others.

Breaking this down:

We were looking at a script involving Mrs. Strict, Toffee, Jonny, Toffee’s Mother and Toffee’s father. I believe that we worked well to develop the scene in which Toffee’s parents and Mrs. Strict tell her not to see Jonny, the two main characters must face the consequences of this. We staged the scene as a group and individually developed our characters.

Evaluative Analysis:

I felt very positive about our group performance and I believe this was because we all worked very well together and developed our performance as a group, contributing equally.

I was able to develop the harsh character with a “strict” personality as I gathered ideas through the process. I learnt that my character is harsh but in particular on the evil students.

I believe that we gathered a strong understanding of our characters and how they work together by running our performance repeatedly. This helped my individual confidence when playing the character as well as choices.

Action plan:

I will continue to work hard in group activities to develop characters and gather knowledge of character interaction.

Friday 14th September

Season Rehearsals:

On Friday, we workshopped ideas for the dance “Blast from the past”, working and developing on ideas.

Initial thoughts:

I felt happy that I gathered more of an idea for the style of dance in the musical.
I felt that I picked up the routine quickly.

Breaking this down:

We worked from 1 minute in with the song “Blast from the past”. We were taught a small routine which we developed through the rehearsal. This helped me develop the style of the routine.

Evaluative Analysis:

I believe that I gathered more knowledge of the style of dance as we worked through the routine. As we listened to the music and repeated the dance, I personally gathered more information about what had just happened with the character.

We worked in season rehearsals from 3pm, after warming up, we began to develop a routine. I believe that I was able to pick up the routine quickly due to repeating the movement sequence. We worked well as a team, concentrating well.

Action plan:

I look forward to continue to working on the performance and developing this throughout the process.

Technique Class

Monday 10th September

On Monday we had an intermediate jazz class with Rob, focusing on fitness, leg and core strength, corner work and technique.

Initial thoughts:

I felt pleased that I had still secured my right leg front split.
I was pleased that I picked up the small sequences of arm movements quickly.
I would like to improve on my arm strength, to benefit my sit up exercises.
I thoroughly enjoyed the corner exercises of leaps as well turns from the centre.

Breaking this down:

After stretching and successfully warming up, we practised our leg strength by doing the splits. I managed to secure my right leg split as I have built on this for a while. However, my left leg split and box split need improving as they are not quite there yet. I struggled in particular with the push ups in particular as my strength in my arms is not as strong as my core or legs. We then went to the corner and did a combination of leaps (step ball change step leap x3) from both the left and right.

Evaluative Analysis:

After stretching and warming up I quickly managed to get my split of my right leg, which I had previously. However, I am very close to securing my left leg which is positive. Overall, I think that my box splits need improving the most.

Soon after, we did a combination of arm movements, making different shapes with our arms and using our bodies in a combination of 8 counts (crossing and lifting our arms in different directions). After picking this up, I soon managed to develop this by adding a walking pace to it, forwards for 8 counts and backwards for 8 counts. I felt successful and positive about this exercise as I enjoyed picking up the different combination of steps and linking the counts to the particular arm movement.

When warming our bodies up, we tested and focused on our core and arm strength by doing a combination of press ups and sit ups. However, I feel that the strength in my arms needs improving to benefit these exercises as I struggled with the press ups and believe that my arm strength is weaker than my legs and my core.

I thoroughly enjoyed the corner work we did. From the left and right side of the room we worked on our leaps, I felt happy and successful with my regular leaps and hope to improve on my height and distance.

Action plan:

In future, I am intending to develop my left leg and box split as well as arm strength and height on my leaps. I will do this by pushing myself in classes to work as hard as I can and develop from the previous lesson to achieve these goals. I will also do regular arm exercises outside of class to benefit my strength in the press ups, as well as regular stretching at home to develop my left leg split.