Unit 7- Summer Work – all 5 tasks

Task 1- Background In Performing Arts                                                                                                                    Emily Gordon

My background and experience within performing and production arts all began from the age of 7 with KD Theatre Productions, when I began to perform in yearly pantomimes from 2010 as a young dancer. This continued until 2017, as I developed into an intermediate dancer in 2014 as the company became professional. Additionally, I joined KD Academy when it was first established in 2013, taking part in regular singing, dancing, acting and audition technique classes to develop my skills in performing arts further and continue my passion. KD Theatre Productions also began yearly summer shows and performances in 2014, such as Joseph, Aladdin, Annie Jr and Hairspray Jr (of which I played many roles ranging from a dancer, narrator, Lily St. Regis and most recently Velma Von Tussle).

I thoroughly enjoyed performing at the Maltings Theatre for the majority of these performances. For many of these shows, I took part in recording the click tracks and boosting the sound of the vocals for the productions.

I began classical singing lessons in 2014 with Alison Dobey-Oxley, soon taking my grade 1 with ABRSM in 2015 passing with a merit. Soon after I switched to musical theatre singing lessons in 2016 with Jessica Theobald. The following year I took my grade 4 in musical theatre and passed with a distinction and worked hard this following year to receive the same result with 94%. After tapping with Kd academy I decided to follow this up in a graded class, starting in grade 4. I also began ballet classes to progress and begin to improve my technique in dance, after being in an adult class, I began in grade 5.

Throughout my time at Soham Village College I participated in many events and performances within performing arts. My GCSE choices were drama, music and dance. We worked towards showcases in each of these subjects but also developed our skills in the subject area further. I was a part of 4 yearly school shows: In year 8 I was a cast member of Romeo and Juliet, the following year I was a member of the dance troupe in Greece the musical. In 2017 I was a member of the band, singing in the pit for the Wiz and in my final year at Soham Village College I took upon the role of Mrs Bedwin in Oliver. Additionally, I competed as a finalist in Young Musician of The Year in 2016 and 2018 as a vocalist singing Electricity from Billy Elliot and the Life I Never Led from Sister Act. Also, throughout my time at Soham, I acted as a dance leader, leading events such as a “danceathon” and teaching routines to KS3 students. I received my emerald tie at Soham Village college for dedication and having a passion for Performing Arts which is regularly shown.

I have chosen to study Performing Arts further as it has always been a passion of mine from a young child. I would love to pursue performing arts as a career as I have always enjoyed acting, singing and dancing and therefore would love to take this further. I’ve always enjoyed every aspect of musical theatre and am very privileged to have the opportunity to study this five days a week surrounded by people who also hope to follow in a similar direction. I hope to follow on in the direction and down the pathway of Musical Theatre as it includes many elements of the arts and will hopefully develop my skills in all areas. After Conservatoire EAST I hope to study performing arts further at a school of musical theatre and take my performing to the next level.

Task 2- What skills I Am Bringing To The Course & Why I have Chosen To Study At Conservatoire East

At Conservatoire EAST, I have applied for the musical theatre pathway to expand and develop my skills in acting, dancing and singing. To the course, I am bringing skills of teamwork, organisation, leadership, fitness and performance. My teamwork skills have developed from a young age, working in many different circumstances to achieve a common goal. Throughout any productions, I have built my skills of working with new people together to develop the task for a successful outcome. Similarly, my organisational skills have blossomed as I began performing arts at the age of 7 as well as school. I have always been very organised when rehearsing and practising to benefit the team and the performance. Additionally, as my passion for performing arts has grown and developed, my leadership skills have alongside this. An example of this would be leading a group to rehearse choreography whilst the director is staging. Overtime my fitness levels have increased. However, I would like to develop this overtime as I train. I am beginning to use the gym to benefit my dancing further, which will be especially beneficial to many styles of dance, ballet especially. Since contributing to different productions, performance is a varied skill of mine. Throughout my experience, I have explored many roles, adapting my performance skills each time to suit my characteristics. This has also developed my interpretation skills to work out and have am idea of a story line before detailed research.

At the age of 14, I began tap dance, to explore a new style of dance which I had never previously tried. At Conservatoire EAST, I would like to develop skills in lyrical and contemporary. These are dance styles which I have not worked on, but hope to expand my confidence in at Conservatoire EAST. Also, I would like to gradually build up my fitness more, to hopefully build my precision and strength. I would like to develop my core and arm strength in particular to benefit my sustainability as this is a weakness of mine. I am very excited to develop my ballet and tap and challenge myself further. I have had most experience in the general style of Musical Theatre which was mainly developed with KD Theatre Productions (dancing in Academy showcases, Joseph and Annie). However, this has been the style which I have mainly studied when performing, in acting, singing and dancing. Additionally, I built up my strengths dancing in GCSE. I further explored hip-hop and dance from a Brazilian culture when studying A Linha Curva.

Through singing and acting, I have also mainly explored the style of musical theatre. However, I have previously sang classically and worked on monologues by Shakespeare. I have mostly sung in the style of musical theatre since 2016, singing songs such as “Electricity” and “The Life I Never Led” and taking grade to strengthen my singing in this area. I would like to develop my technique further at Conservatoire EAST. Similarly, I would like to expand my knowledge and work on my technique and different elements of acting in performance. I have always enjoyed developing my skills and adapting to new challenges. I am very excited to learn new skills and build upon my weakness’ but also develop in the areas where my strengths lie.

Task 3- Research

The song I have chosen from a Kander & Ebb musical is “Isn’t this better?”. The song features in the musical ‘Funny Lady’, which is a sequel to the previous film ‘Funny Girl’. The film ‘Funny Girl’ was produced in 1968. Whereas, the sequel (where this song is featured) was produced 7 years later in 1975. ‘Funny Lady’ was first premiered as a musical drama film to Funny Girl on March 15th. However, Kander & Ebb only composed the music for ‘Funny Lady’ and not the previous ‘Funny Girl’.

‘Funny Lady’ focuses on the story of the lead character Fanny Brice the comedian, who is a huge Broadway sensation after gaining success from the press. The film is set before it was released, in the 1930’s, therefore, each individual character has many hardships to face. Fanny Brice, is facing difficulty as her love affair with Nicky Armstein is ending in disaster (with a divorce). Heartbroken Fanny Brice, who has many tough times ahead meets Billy Rose who is a club owner and lyricist. He soon is determined to fix their problems and save the dilemma as they need raising money to keep the production of the follies (which could not be done by Florenz Ziegfield Jr). Fanny Brice is then put into a love affair as there are complex times for her ahead. Fanny Brice as she is interested and developing feelings for Billy Rose with thoughts of divorced husband Nicky in her mind throughout.

‘Isn’t this better?’ appears in the sequel to ‘Funny Girl’ the musical. It is sung towards the end of the performance and is sung by Barbra Streisand. The song is singing by Fanny Brice whose role is to play a comedic female caught in a love affair of confusion as her feelings for different male characters are interpreted. She develops the storyline as her love and affection grows for Billy Rose with thoughts for divorced husband Nicky.

Fanny Brice sings the song towards the end of the musical film as she believes that it may be better and more beneficial for her to love somebody new and develop and develop a fresh and simple love for him. She says this as he makes her feel happy and gives her freedom. However, she also believes that it is just not better for her, but for everyone involved and playing a part as she finds a new, safe and simple love which she has developed throughout the performance, helping to develop the plot and storyline along.

The performance is based of a true story, but has been developed and edited to provide for the production. Fanny Brice lived from 1891-1951 and was an illustrated song model who also featured in many radio series (she is known most famously for her role in ‘The Baby Snooks Show’. Nicky Armstein lived from 1879-1965 and worked as a paid con artist and gambler. Additionally, Billy Rose died aged 66, living from 1899-1966, working in the industry of theatre as a lyricist. He worked majorly in entertainment with many shows such as: Jumbo and Billy Rose’s Crazy Quilt.

Task 4- Performance

Task 5- Evaluation And Reflection

I began to prepare for my performance at the beginning of the summer holidays with the song “Isn’t this better?” by Kander & Ebb. The song was chosen by myself and my singing teacher Jessica Theobald. We picked this particular song as it was something very out of my comfort zone, allowing myself to expand on my skills and push myself further. The song is a very soft yet powerful song which explores a dilemma of a love affair. Therefore, it is full of emotions such as lack of control, confusion and sadness. However, there are contrasting emotions such as happiness and satisfaction as the character puts herself first and says that she is searching for a companionship with a “friend”. I developed these thoughts and feelings as I worked on my song over the summer. I practised regularly inside my singing lessons and at home, focusing on technique, diction, emotion, and learning the words, as well as what the hidden meaning is behind them to improve my character thoughts and feelings.

I performed on Thursday 6th September in the afternoon. Overall, I believe that my performance went well. However, I believe that there are many aspects of it which could be improved. I think I could’ve improved on my transition between my chest and head voice, but I think this may have been down to nerves. Additionally, I would’ve liked to improve on my use of the space and exploring different areas of the stage. This may have helped the audiences understanding of my characterisation as I went through different emotions in the song and as it built up throughout. Additionally, I would’ve liked to have had more power on the second verse to build on how my character “Fanny Brice” has developed the storyline through this particular song “Isn’t this better?” which occurs in the second half of “Funny Lady” as the dilemma causes confusion.

Next time, if I was to repeat my performance, I would love to improve on my use of accents and make it clearer that it is American for audience clarification. Also, I would vary my staging and props to keep the audience engaged with change throughout. Finally, I would like to increase the variation of dynamics to show the thought process of “Fanny Brice” throughout. If I was to perform again, I would analyse my sheet music (in pencil) to focus purely on changes in feelings and how this effects the storyline.