Monday 24th September
Season Rehearsals:
Today in season rehearsals, we began to add to the dance “Blast From the Past” by adding partner work towards the end of the routine and adding to what we had done on the routine in the previous week. This was the main objective for the whole rehearsal.
Initial thoughts:
- We all worked hard to pick up the routine and have a high understanding of each movement and where it is meant to be set and spaced.
- As it was our first proper rehearsal on the routine, our spacing and cleanliness of the movement definitely needed developing and polishing.
- Some of us had an advantage over others as we had began to learn the routine in the previous week before casting.
Breaking this down:
Good
We all worked our hardest and concentrated the best that we could to pick up the routine in the shortest amount of time, meaning that we can move on in a quicker amount of time and have more time for polishing and cleaning. Additionally, I had worked on the routine the previous week, so this was an extra opportunity to perfect and polish the first half of the dance.
Bad
Due to it being our first proper rehearsal session on the routine, some parts were not as clean as others. However, I think this will come as we spend sessions cleaning and repeat the dance. Additionally, this will also improve our spacing and awareness of others.
Evaluative Analysis:
We still have 9 weeks remaining until show week and have just began the dance and still have a long process to go through. However, I believe that with repetition and sessions on cleaning, the routine will pick up and look very slick and neat. Additionally, if we all continue to work hard and have a focused mindset throughout all of the rehearsals, the process will be a lot quicker and this will benefit the routine and the show. As the show gets closer we will begin to start extra rehearsals with our dance captains at lunchtimes we will have extra time to work things out. As I had already worked on the routine in the previous week I had a very clear idea and could adapt the sharpness and cleanliness of my dancing. If we all continue to work very well together and work very hard, the routines will be very slick and come together very fast giving us more time to work on spacing and arrangements.
Action plan:
- We will have to work on the cleanliness of that section of the routine or dedicate a session to cleaning.
- To keep working hard and remaining focused for a beneficial result.
- To work on my harmonies and rehearse the dance in my spare time so that we do not need to re-cap in rehearsals.
Tuesday 25th September
Season Rehearsals:
Today in season rehearsals we had a session dedicated to cleaning our routine which we had carried on learning and developed in the previous rehearsal. We worked on our precision of every movement and our timing, technique and spacing. This was our main aim of the rehearsal, so that the routine is neater and more effective.
Initial thoughts:
- I felt that this was a very beneficial session and developed my confidence with the counts and content of the routine even further.
- We were working very well to benefit how the routine looked, as it developed through the rehearsal, it began to look very effective.
- Working in groups with a dance captain, meant that we could always be doing something and use our time very productively.
Breaking this down:
Good
We were using our time wisely and worked through every aspect of the routine until everybody had confidence with what they were doing. This is a particularly good thing as it meant that everybody improved how they performed the routine and developed this throughout the rehearsal. We also have two assigned dance captains (Jess and Maddie) to work with them if Rob is unable to attend the rehearsal. This is very helpful as we have extra help and control in rehearsal time.
Bad
Sometimes, it was hard to work through spacing due to our space for the rehearsal. However, this allowed us to particularly work on timing and precision and gave us time for spacing in the following rehearsal when recapping or performing the dance.
Evaluative Analysis:
The main aim for our rehearsal was to clean and polish the routine. I believe that this was successful due to the high levels of concentration throughout the rehearsal and the determination to nail the routine from myself and others. This drove us for the rehearsal to want to improve our technique and precision throughout. Additionally, as we have so much to do in preparation for the show, it is crucial that we work to our best to ensure that we can move on and develop and begin something new in the upcoming rehearsal. Personally, I think it is very beneficial that we have been assigned dance captains as we can work with them in the absence of Rob to develop the routines as well as perfect our technique on his behalf. Also, as there is two of them we can split and rehearse in smaller groups to improve the smaller aspects. I feel that this rehearsal improved the routine in many ways, setting us up in a great place for the next rehearsal.
Action plan:
- We will continue to work hard on the routine to ensure it is always at it’s best
- I will work hard on my harmony lines and the songs at the same time, so that everything is always at the same stage.
Wednesday 26th September
Season Rehearsals
Today in season rehearsals we worked on our Uta Hagen. We specifically worked and developed our personal characteristics for who we are playing in our season production of “Zombie Prom”. We thought specifically about who we are and what falls within this. Additionally, we developed ideas in groups for how to promote our show and get the best sales.
Initial thoughts:
- This was helpful as it meant that we had a high understanding of our characters and how they act and change throughout the show.
- It also made us think about the smaller aspects to our characters throughout the show.
- I felt more positive about how to interpret my character called “Shelley” which I created as a part of kids ensemble.
- The brainstorming of ideas for ticket sales, helped us to think in new and varied ways for how to promote our show.
Breaking this down:
Good
Interpreting our own characters meant that we could have confidence with our choices and have a higher understanding of our own decisions. We could think more in depth about who we are and what our characteristics and background is specifically. This will give us the material to be able to think more about our choices on stage as well as in routines.
Bad
I think that my Uta Hagen may need more specific detail, as it is a bit vague. This means that I need to think of specific details and why they might be this way and what the reason behind this is.
Evaluative Analysis:
The Uta Hagen had 9 questions within it that we needed to answer. The questions were:
- Who am I?
- What time is it?
- Where am I?
- What surrounds me?
- What are the given circumstances?
- What are my relationships?
- What do I want?
- What’s in my way?
- What do I do to get what I want?
I felt that these were answered in detail. However, I would like to work on how specific my answers are and how I can use these to develop my characteristics. We focused on this and spoke to Hannah regarding my choices. I feel that mine were detailed. However, I may need to look into my family and they’re background in further detail. I also feel that I now know more about my character which has personally been interpreted by myself. Additionally, this helped me to think more into the smaller details of my character and how to change the way I act in performance.
After the first hour of doing this, we continued to clean and polish our routine of “Blast from the past” and thinking about our accuracy and spacing even further as well as to reflect on our performance from the previous rehearsal. We changed a step of spring ball change to a step ball change and also edited our partner work so that it looked more beneficial.
Finally, at the end of the session, Han split us into groups. These groupings were in place to give us time to think of ideas in groups for how to sell tickets for our season show. We were split with both groups of year 1’s and 2’s and spent 1/4 of our rehearsal time working well together to develop and create new and exciting ideas. This worked well as we developed ideas from the year 2’s and worked on what we have coming up. For example: there are many open events. This exercise was very helpful as it meant that we could think into the future of our performance and work for the best outcome possible. We still have 2 months left to promote our performance for the best outcome.
Here is our finished A3 Mind-map of ideas:
Action plan:
- I will develop my Uta Hagen further and then put my edited research on my site page which is dedicated to this.
- I will also continue to go over dances and harmonies so that I am as confident as possible.
Thursday 27th September
Today in season rehearsals. we recapped the 3 songs that we had learnt, going over harmonies and fitting it with dialogue. We sang “Enrico Fermi High”, “Ain’t no going back” and “Jonny don’t go”.
Initial thoughts:
- This was helpful as it meant that we had the opportunity with our musical director Claire to go over and recap the harmonies to increase our confidence with each song.
- It isn’t always helpful to be going harmonies as we can do this at home. Therefore, we could be using the rehearsal time for something else.
Good
We were given the opportunity to be able to recap and go over our harmonies with the music. This is helpful as it increases our confidence with how it fits with the piano, played with our musical director.
Bad
We record our harmonies in rehearsal time. Therefore, we could do this recapping of what we are doing at home. This would save rehearsal time and give us the chance to able to develop and work on new things in these sessions.
Evaluative Analysis:
We still have approximately 9 weeks until the show opens. Therefore, we have a fair amount of time to be able to develop and work on things. However, I think that it would be a lot more beneficial if we continue to recap these things at home as a priority, giving us the accessibility to work on new things in rehearsals and develop what we are doing at a faster pace. Additionally, it provided us with more confidence when singing these 3 songs all together with our musical director Claire. We recorded our individual harmonies and the song as a whole. I believe that this gives us the resources to be able to work on these efficiently outside of rehearsals and come fully prepared to begin to learn a new song.
A video from our rehearsal:
Action plan:
- I will make sure that I am efficient with my recordings and have captured every line, this is very crucial as I am regularly switching between alto and tenor.
- Tonight I will go home and recap my harmonies as well as continuing to do this regularly to have a more beneficial effect.
Friday 28th September
Today in season rehearsals we continued to work on “Blast from the Past” with Rob. Specifically, we worked on adding new choreography to the routine. It was very important that we had full focus throughout to ensure that we could work through what we were going to add on at a quick pace.
Initial thoughts:
- We worked quickly and everybody maintained a high level of focus to get through as much as possible.
- It was important that we also maintained the standard after the cleaning rehearsals of the start of the routine.
- The new section had not been spaced yet. Therefore, it was difficult to place ourselves when performing the new choreographed movement.
Breaking this down:
Good
It was very positive that we were able to move onto a new section in this rehearsal as the cleaning process of the first 1/2 of the routine improved the accuracy, spacing and technique very well. Additionally, working fast means that we are in a better position to be able to move on and clean the second half of the routine in the next rehearsal. Also, maintaining our focus meant that we worked at a quicker pace and finished early, allowing us to able to go home and practise for our next rehearsal.
Bad
As we have only just learnt the routine. I found it particularly difficult to dance full out. However, as we develop the spacing and settle our placements to move, everything will fit together perfectly.
Evaluative Analysis:
We have just finished our 3rd week of rehearsals and have mainly focused this week on our big dance number “Blast From The Past”. As this has been worked on first and we are soon to finish the number we have a lot of time to be able to work on new things and develop more songs and scenes. Our development throughout the week on the routine has been very large. We tided our spacing, cleaned out technique and precision and added a new section to develop further next week. I feel very positive about this as there is so much time left of the rehearsal process to be able to move onto new sections of the musical. Additionally, I am very confident that we can finish the routine fully on Monday as there is very little left to complete, also leaving us with time to be able to clean. Rob hopes that we will go away and practise this so that the standard when returning to rehearsals is very high.
Action Plan:
- This upcoming weekend I am going to go over the dance so that I am of a high confidence with the new section on Monday.
- I am also going to look back at recordings to see how we developed through the two hours.
The Rehearsal Process:
Technique Class
Wednesday 26th September
Today we had an intermediate tap class with Rob. We worked in pairs to develop a sequence fitting in a 12 beat Riff correctly to exactly to 32 counts. We developed these throughout the session, fixing the timing and making them more complex.
Initial thoughts:
- I felt happy that I had a learnt the steps for the 12 beat riff as I had never done one of these previously.
- I was happy that we managed to fill the 32 counts successfully with many steps, including the new 12 beat riff.
- I feel that I need to work on my memorisation of the 12 beat riff when increasing the pace.
- I had a habit of speeding up towards the end of our small routine, to fix this I need to focus even more on our specific timing.
Breaking this down:
Good
I feel positive that I was able to pick up the steps and sequence of the 12 beat riff. I also loved that I was able to choreograph another 3 counts of 8 with my partner Mia. Additionally, I am excited to be able to work on these further.
Bad
I had never learnt the step of the 12 beat riff before. Therefore, I kind of lose my way when speeding the sequence up. This is something that I intend to work on in my tap classes and at home. Additionally, I need to make timing the main focus as I had the tendency to speed up towards the end. However, if I strongly put the counts as a priority this should soon be fixed.
Evaluative Analysis:
We began the tap class with the warm up we regularly use. The warm up follows a sequence of:
- 8 jumps in parallel
- 8 springs
- 8 tap springs
- 32 free counts to move around the space
- The sequence is repeated until the end of the music
I felt very warmed up and I was able to complete the challenge successfully. We were split into 3 pairs to complete 3 tasks. Myself and my partner Mia were given the task of developing the 32 counts, including the new 12 beat riff within this. We had to change the speed of our choreography with the help of Rob to fit the counts of our small routine. We also had to pick up the new step, which I found quite difficult. Therefore, we slowed the tempo of the routine down at this point to give us time to think about the steps. However, I intend to develop more time to my 12 beat riffs to increase my technique of the step. We showed our final choreographed routine at the end of the session, knowing what needs tidying for next time and how to fix our intonation.
Action plan:
- I will practise the step of a 12 beat riff at home in my spare time as well as tap classes.
- I will also recap the choreography to ensure that I can remember this well for next lesson.
- I will prioritise my timing whenever performing to ensure that I am on the beats of the taps and not gradually speeding up.
Emily Gordon Year 1 
You are maintaining a good level of analytical comment within your blogs – well done!
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