Reflection and Evaluation

Week 2

Acting

In our first rehearsal this week for our scenes,  we began with a physical and vocal warmup to prepare us for working on our voices in the script and energising the body in our acting, putting into practice the exercises we completed throughout week one. Then we reminded ourselves of last lesson, how that groundwork will provide a solid and secure base to build our acting upon and how we would expand this this rehearsal. We then started with going over excercises with more focus on pointing and targetting the audience and the space with our well developed clear slow speech, picking lines and focussing on seeing and delievering material rather than showing our acting of the story or our emotions. Then we got straight into our scene groups, and did these solo excercises towards eachother to work on these techniques together using full script. We also brough in pieces of props and costumes to inspire us and engage with truth physically. We began discussing engaging body in more detail, and why it is so important, as it brings our characters to life and forces us to engage with their space using our own. No character at all has a low stakes, under energised body. Therefore we showcased parts of our scenes we'd been workling on with this in mind. I went home, researched into blood brothers further, and theories such as Declan Donellan's regarding the space to inspire my work, discovering further how I can implement these techniques into my work, and connect my knowledge of my character and the musical's context to these practical acting methods.  

In the next rehearsal we went off and worked independently on duologue. We were guided to focus on trying as many different options as possible, from physicalities, to changed moods and atmospheres, to intesity levels, workshopping as many ways as possible to engage with and deliver the material.We came up with many ideas, playing around with the childlikeness off Mickey and George, how they view eachother and how their bond develops throughout the scene. Then after experimenting we recieved one to one direction on how to engage with each other and focus on only seeing our scene partner and real objects, avoiding showing and wandering eyes. We also touched on an interesting theory of dual space, how the actor is present in both the space of the characters setting and the space they are performing in, and questioning which space they engage with and at which points. Therefore in independent rehearsal I worked with my scene partner, continuing to look at different options and acting choices, and repeatedly rehearse the scene to ensure its clear and well delivered.   

This week we began rehearsals for our 7/7 piece, and immediately got into groups and began dicussing the research we had completed so far. Many of us had been watching the BBC documentary, therefore had lots to discuss on the facts, information and stories we had learnt and discovered from that, and how we were struck by the devastating events we learned about from watching people's detailed accounts. We then shared our findings with the entire class, and talked about how this context would relate to our piece. We were told how the piece woulds be structured, laying out the narrative of heightened celebrations of the Olympic win to the sudden shock of the bombings, then the aftermath. We recieved two scripts, one more postively regarding the celebrations the day before and one speaking about Jenny, a victim of the attacks. The frist script had designated lines which we read out over possible underscore options, to get a sense for the material and the message it sends. Then the other script of the attack was selected by us volunteering to read out lines. As a group we read through both multiple times, looking at lifting at end of lines, circulating an energy around the circle by boucning off eachother quickly. As the piece is constantly underscored it is important we are speaking as one strong voice and getting the events accross to the audience. Then we got up and began staging the two contrasting ideas, firstly a huge celebration of the olympics where we hear and watch an announcment of London hosting, and then workshopping how we would use movement and physicality of us on the tube to repesent the explosion in a more abstract manner. We related this to our meisner excercieses of mirroring and connecting with scene partners through the body, and tried out different abstract movements to symbolise the injuries and painful affects of the bombings. At home I continued to research into the events and watch my documetary, to esnure I come into rehearsal knlwing what the story is were trying to portray here, and can deeply connect with the mterial and the emotional weight of the events. I also ensured I learnt the lines I had recieved and my cues so that I can solely focus on developping the staging of the piece.  

Singing/MT

In rehearsals for The Key Is we completed our learning of the song. We recieved the ending three part ah harmony last week to learn before this rehearsal, so we began with ensuring each group was secure with this. We spoke about our vowel placement and ensuring the ah is open and lifted, to give us a beautifully clean blend when they are layer together. To make us less tentative with our vocal lines we then showcased the three parts in threes, to challenge us and our security with our harmonies as an individual. This was successful in helping us identify weaker points of the pitching, so we spent the rest of the lesson working on notes and rhythms that needed more work. This also allowed us to engage with eachother more intimately through just notes and melodies, which is key in our developmemnt of singing as one voice for this performance. As can be heard here there is a clear difference in our confidence with this section after completing this excercise. We then finished the song with our last verse, which would be sung in unision. We then sang the song all the way through mutliple times, stood up facing one another. This was us beginning to workshop the staging of the piece, acknowledging eachother whilst were singing and beginning to connect with how we will perform this, connecting with those sining and those around us. Also ensuring we are all singing strongly enough to support one  another, and that no harmony is overpowering or being weakened. We also had to ensure that we are secure on the words by next rehearsal so that we can come in each line with confidence. We then sat down and had a lengthy discussion about the meaning behind the song, and all contributed to taking this out of the context of the musical and creating a universal understanding to the material. Also questioning what has propelled us to sing this song, and as we identified the feeling of coming together and being stronger together to reach a goal, we then have to ponder what came before to make us do this. Thereofre we went through each line of the song, asking ourselves questions and dissecting the words and what they could mean. We all contributed with many different options, engaging with the lyrics more literally and truthfully such as the nature imagery, but also with more abstract metaphors such as symbols of overcoming struggles together and convincing one another to come together as a group. We had one full sing through as a group, thinking about these discussions and making our vocals as clean as possible. I could then go away and practice my entire vocal line along with the full recording, and use the recording to listen to myself and identify where I could improve. We were tasked with coming into the next rehearsal with assertiveness, not just knowing the lyrics but knowing why we are singing what we are singing, to allow this meaning to grow in an organic way and how when we develop purpose for this song internally it will shione through in the perfomance. So I listened back to our discussion from the lesson and wrote out my own ideas for how the song resonates with me, and what I can do to enhance my contribution to the atmosphere we create with this song for next rehearsal. 

Our Oliver rehearsal began with a sing through of what we had learnt so far, ready to add on the last verse which we recieved vocal tracks of the harmonies to learn from leading up to this rehearsal. We got into groups and showcased the harmonies. We learnt, cleaning them in the three individual parts and then slowly adding them together layer by layer. Once this was secure, we added this section to the rest of this song, and sang it as a full run through. We ran this song thoroughly and repeatedly before getting up on our feet, and beginning to stage, to ensure we could sustain local security with lots of choreography and movement. We didn't split as a group while some people went to the costume cupboard to look for any props and costume pieces that could be used to inspire us on this piece. We discussed that half of us beginning on stage would represent the pickpocket as of the Oliver musical, and the other half that come on later on would represent the working women. Therefore the first group in the song began to stage the dialogue and the opening section of the number, creating formations, looking at local delivery and how they engage with one another in the background. Although I wasn't involved in the opening section, it was insightful to see how the beginning of the peaceful lay the foundation, for what we build upon it, and how the second group will contrast to the first through our character construction. This allows me to go away and truly look into creating my character, using sources, such as the Oliver book and clips of the musical, and looking at people in the ensemble and background characters in the story, I'm beginning to create a life of my character, such as her career, family and friends, and how she feels as a woman in Victorian England. This will then allow me to bring a more complete character and performance to the next section of the piece that I am in.

Dance

In our first jazz rehearsal of the week we spent the entire lesson learning two new sections of choreography for two different groups. We run the routine first then we split into three different groups for the next three sections of the dance, and one by one began to learn this new choreography in the order of the routine. I have been given my formation for the next section of the dance I would be in, but whilst waiting as different sections are being taught, I went over the entire routine myself, along with people, I am next to in the formations to ensure I stay on top of the cleaning process we are doing throughout the rehearsals and begin to infuse each move into my muscle memory in these early stages. When I was called we learnt the new section, first going through every step, then looking at changes and direction and levels to enhance the choreography. We had to pick up this section quickly before we combined the two completed combos in that session. We were told next rehearsal that we would add on the third section with the third group, and clean the transitions between each new group coming on and off. In the days leading up to the next rehearsal, I use the video to practice the choreography I had learnt ensuring I knew it well enough to clean, add on to end, tweak to ensure transitions between sections are smooth.

In our second rehearsal of the week, we began with running what we had so far, trying to constantly apply any notes or cleaning from the previous rehearsal so that our piece keeps enhancing and developing. Afterwards we split off into groups. One group learnt the next section of choregraphy, whilst two other groups got together and went over the beginning two sections of the piece. We slowly went through each step, ensuring we were all together and secure on the timing and technique in each move. This caused some challenges such as collectively agreeing intricate details of each step, however everyone contributing to this process made it extremely useful as we had alot of time to break down the choreography and add more detail and precision to the routine. After the new section was taught we ran the routine as a whole, which was a much cleaner run after going over our sections throughout the lesson. We started to look at transitioning into the new section, and also certain parts that may need more work and all of our transitions. 

This week we spent alot of rehearsal time running the entire routine from the beginning. Then identifying sections that needed cleaning and walking through those parts specifically. Only one new section was added but as this didnt include me I spent the lesson working on my own track independently, ensuring I remembered all the choreography well and maintained any notes, cleaning or feedback and repeatedly applied this to my practice so that it became natural. In the second rehearsal we focussed on getting through alot of new choreography, adding a whole new section and creating the transition into the next song. This meant I had to pick up information quickly, which included specific timings and cannons which I began and ended, so it was crucial I was certain of my counts. We then went into utilising the footwork combo we had learnt before half term, therefore it was useful that I had practiced and retained this, ready to add on before and after the footwork, and adapt to the newly learnt timings and positions. 

Week 4

Acting

Our main focus of our first scenes rehearsal this week was looking at the problem/ predicament and how this energises us to take actions. We had dicussions where we theorised what the main problems for our character then got up and used this new set up to workshop our blocking of the scenes, using the set as a playground to inspire ideas regardihng how we will move through the space. We experimented blocking independently going through our scenes, whilst being energised by elements of this new space and the problems and objectives of our characters. My characters problem is clearly seen in his stark contrast with Eddie. His life is marked by economic hardship, which affects his self-worth and future. While his twin brother Eddie (who is unknowingly separated at birth  and raised in an upper class household) enjoys a life of comfort and education, Mickey deals with financial stress, job insecurity, and social expectations even at this early point in the musical, before their brotherhood deteriorates. Knowing this context gave me a foundation to act upon, although the scene is comedic with a childlike energy, it is clear to me from Mickey's educating Eddie on swearing, and how to survive on the streets just how huge the societal divides are, and I feel this serves and a gradual introduction to the tale's moral and almost prefacing the issues they will encounter as the story unfolds. With this in mind, and having workshopped some blocking ideas, we showcased our scene with the entire space. Then we got into detailed staging, and added a thirty second silence at the beginning, of Mickey noticing Eddie and watching him eat the sweets before asking for one. I felt this really contributed to my journey of working on not rushing or feeling the need to show and fill my acting, but letting myself relax and see what is there in the space of the character, as well as in my own space with my scene partner and props. I also made sure to maintain the intricate mechanics we worked on last lesson, and put them into action with slow yet energised detail, to help me enhance my work with every run through. We added a few more staging suggestions then had a group dicussion on using this energised state to lift our lines and constantly project them to the audience. This led us to talk about finding the spikes within the scenes, sections or lines, and lift the most at peak moments, and energising a big spike at every oppurtunity to make the scene more engaing and exciting. All of this intricate direction gave me and my scene partner lots to work on, and we rehearsed throughout the week using these motes to ensure we retianed them and were constantly implementing them into our work.  We conitnued this work in our second rehearsal of the week, looking closer at blocking and recieving directions. It was insightful to see the imporatnce of going into detail and setting out the mechanics behind the blocking, as it would instantly enhance the piece, the acting and the experience of the audience. This was done for a few scenes and we refreshed and added to the notes we recieved last week. We then went off and again indepedently rehearsed, running the scenes fully energised by the flow, the space, the problem, and being sure to spike big on every opportunity. These tricks and techniques buliding up in our practice are making our scenes develop more positively and become more polished each rehearsal, as we set clear objectives for our run throughs and try many staging options and acting and delivery choices. Over the next week I finalised my costumes and props ready for next rehearsal, so that the piece could feel more complete and I could truly feel more in the world of my character. 

For our 7/7 piece we used the two staging ideas we workshopped in the last rehearsal and expanded on them to create almost the entire piece. We began with the olympic celebration, as this would be the opening of our piece, facing back and turning to picture the big screen in trafalgar square whilst we listen to the announcement. We then transitioned this into the first script where we set the scene of the events the day before, and give a synopsis of how it felt when recieving the news. The music changes and this then shifts to a slightly more neutral atmphere, talking about how we had to return to mundane normal life the next day. This then swifly transitions to a focus on Jenny, as she lays out the events which led her onto the tube that morning. This optisism slowly dies down as we go into our second staged section on the tube. We show a monotonous tube scene which is a reflection of our script about going back to normality, then all of a sudden the heart beats are our transition into the abstract representation of the attacks, where we lift our bodies on tiptoes to piercing white noise, to symbolise the shock of the bombing. We continued staging into our physical theatre body checking, to reflect those searching for injuries in the dark thick smoke. This took us into the main spoken word, where we talk about jenny and the attacks almost from the victims perspective. I feel this helps us convey the event in a more truthful way to the audience, and allow them to feel the emotional weight of the situation with us. We encorporated our work on abstract physical theatre to represent us getting ready that morning, and the focus shifts back to Jenny, whilst giving more information about the attacks. We also selected a Laban effort for the second part of the script, as we broke our into movement. I selected press as I feel this represent the struggle and hardships caused in the aftermath of these attacks,  and we came out of the efforts in a staggered manner to say the final lines until we all come together to speak in unison. After completing the main bulk of the piece, we ran over this multiple times to try and absorb and memorise the sequence and our pathways before adding on. We were all asked the week leading up to oiur rehearsal to create two lines regarding the attacks titles dear Jenny. We read out our lines and selected the one that woprked the best, ensuring to have variation in what we are saying, and a balance of factual information and emotional messages to Jenny. We then workshopped how we would say these lines, and decided five liness would be said individually, then repeated whililsgt being layered ontop of eachother, until everyone has joined in and all lines are overlapped. With my line being the first one said it was crucial i worked on being extremely clear and lifting the start opf this section of the piece. We then transitioned this into slowly leaving one by one to retun to our laban effort movement, and create a circle. This was the point we got to in this rehearsal, and we did a few run throughs and recorded to ensure all this new information could be secured independently, ready to add on the final section next week. We then sat down and dicussed the piece, deciding on red white and blue for the costume to symbolise the London and the british flag. We then went into more detail about what we couldd be researching for this piece, not just the events but looking into labvan effort drives, Sicely Berry's outlook on body and voice connection and physical theatre and how we have utilised these in our piece. Therefore I went away and used the video to rehearse my movements and my lines, idenitfy where I could enhance my laban efforts or speak with more of a lift and more clarity, and was inspired to look into the techniques we were using more and add this to my research.

Dance 

Now we have completed our Let’s Go Back piece, we started going through the piece and completely detailed cleaning and making some changes to the routine. In the second to last section where it goes from a solo to a duet, then everyone enters for the final partnered choreography, me and four other were added in to do the last two 8 counts with the duet, and we workshopped different options of directions, formations and varying the moves, also creating the transition which would get us into our partnerwork. This small section was definitely my biggest challenge yet from a choreography perspective, as it was small but required intricate timing, technique and a style of turn I hadn’t learnt before. Therefore this gave me a new sequence of skills to work on consistently to improve before the collaborative show. Absolutely rehearsing what I had quickly learnt at the end of last rehearsal, I came into our next rehearsal, very confident with the steps and ready to clean the piece in more detail. We run the routine at the start of the lesson and it went extremely well and was very polished, showcasing all the cleaning. We have been doing the past few weeks. We were separated into three groups to spend most of the lesson time cleaning three earlier sections of the routine, ensuring we were decided on details of the choreography and the formations were correct. I was on call to clean the end section. I have learnt last week, and receive feedback, which help me be much more clear on the counts and timing of each move. We then ran the whole routine again after spending the whole lesson cleaning, and it was even more improved. Now that the routine is starting to come together, and I received a lot of feedback and lots of notes as a group and as an individual to work on. I will work on these independently, implementing these into my practice at home, so that I can solely focus on performing my best in rehearsals and enhancing my contribution to the piece.

We began our first rehearsal for our commercial piece this week with a sit down note session, where we received and wrote down both groups and individual feedback which was extremely detailed and in order of the routine. I receive specific feedback such as polishing some of the formations I'm in, changing certain group choreography such as reaching towards the centre rather that away, working on specific counts for certain sections to ensure we're turning on the right beat of the syncopated rhythm, having more strength in the arm movements using power from our back and lifted elbows, and seperating the final moves of sections into counts to make them more clean and together. I took note of all of  this and would be sure to implement to the best of my ability in this rehearsal, and then go away and work on in further detail in my independent rehearsal. This gave me clear onjectives of what to improve on this week, and in the first rehearsal we cleaned section by section infront of the mirror up until the half way point. We recived deatails for executing each moves which I was eager to maintain and apply to my performance. We then followed the same sequence in the next rehearsal for the second half of the routine, recieving even more notes and walking through section by section, polishing each move then runningthat sectiojn with the music and slowly building up to a run through at the end. This work was evident in oiur final run through, as i felt extremely confident in how I have developed my contribution to the routine and can solely focus on my energy, style and performance.   

Singing/MT 

We continued staging the end of The Key Is, using an excercise we tried during the first rehearsal of the week. We all sang our vocal line on the ending ah section, and used or hands and levels to 'draw a picture' using the ahs.  Some of us involved volunteered to showcase these in front of the class, and we use them in our circle to create a sort of physical theatre representation of the harmonies. We were told to make these actions less personal, but more like an offering to one another, now that we have come together as a group by the end of the song, and I feel that this really connects us with the musicality of the piece, but also enabling us to sing as one voice. We then stage the final verse walking towards one another and ending in the line, and then we went through the piece as a whole. Overall, with the singing aspects, we were working more on our accuracy, and also are tentativeness going into each verse. We spoke some of the lyrics rhythmically, particularly the start of different sections, to ensure that we could have a more confident approach when beginning a new verse. Rehearsal that week was spent slowly walking through all of the staging, and almost resetting each pathway and movement. Now that we were in the bigger space. We tweaked certain directions and uses of the space to create more interactions between us as we interweaved. We had discussions regarding our objectives in all of these different sections, and how they shift and change, particularly looking at when we all come together and the symbol of the key is directly reference for the first time. It was discussed how this key is a representative to the new life that we should all come together and open up towards that will be better for all of us. Having more of this imagery in mind, really help me to perform the song in a more truthful manner, and naturally begin to use my face and bodily gestures in authentic way to reflect my feelings and connection with the peace and the lyrics. We also talk through vocally are dynamics, when should we be singing louder and quieter, and as we ran through the piece of a hole discussing where we can improve in these areas. These discussions really open my mind further to the meaning of the song for me, so I could go home and independently rehearse whils thinking about my objectives and how they changed out the piece and what is driving me to join the coming together of this group after what has happened before, and what we may potentially be striving towards.

For our Oliver piece this week we continued where we left off last rehearsal, and learnt the group choreorgaphy which would take us to the end of the piece. The next formation was learnt, and we added each new move slowly, going back every time to add them individually to the section. Remembering the sequence of the choreography, whilst also trying to maintain the vocals, and correlating my vocal line with my movements was definitely the challenge of this rehearsal. For example, stepping forward into a pose or position, but not necessarily singing at that point. This means we will have to repeatedly rehearse as a group to try and get this into a muscle memory so that it feels natural to, and that we can feel the stamina to sing fall out vocally whilst constantly moving. Thinking of the choreography as a more characterful movement rather than a dance definitely helps with this challenge, as I can be energised by bringing who my characters into my physicality. We kept repeating what we had learnt, identifying mistakes and then going over them. And then we went from the beginning and ran the piece as a whole. I identified in my own work that there is moments where I leave the group and don't necessarily have someone to bounce off of or interact with, therefore I decided to do more character work so that I could be so comfortable in myself that this can happen in a naturalistic way that is still exciting to watch. I also watched the video and repeatedly went through my choreography for the end section and my pathway through the space, ensuring I was kept constantly familiar of this before next lesson and that I had the choregraphy secure. 

Week 6

Acting

For our scenes this week, we began the rehearsal process by having a 15 minute slot each throughout the day to run through our entire scenes and receive one to one direction. This really helped us see just how far we had come with our scene, and it felt like all our challenges and notes had been fully absorbed and applied, so that we could now relax into our characters in a natural way, and fully focus on engaging with the audience and eachother as scene partners, as we already had developed a strong chemistry of bouncing off one another, and a sense of theatricalness which we'd established throughout working on the script, and understranding more of what it asks of us, what we can do to elevate the material and bring our characters and bring the world of blood brothers to life. I recieved specific notes on particular words that I could slow down, and going into even further detail on my consonance in my accent, however this was now extremely strong and a skill I am proud to have developped throughout this process, whilst facing the challenge of playing a 10 year old boy who would appear extremely differently to me physcially, but adapting this to me as an actor and devlopping my take on this has been an extremely rewarding pafrt of this process. We were finding new spontaneous acting choices within the scene that were recieved really well, and every direction had been taken and applied so we could now bring ourselves and our own artistic choices to the scene. But overall this piece felt really strong, and we felt extremely confident and prepared to showcase it to the rest of the class in our rehearsal the next day. Everyone performed their scenes in show order, and ours came towards the end of the show. It was firstly so inspiring to watch everyone perform for the final time before show day, as we had now watched each other for many weeks, so witnessing the immense progress and skillful showcasing of the final result of this proccess was extremely insightful. Our scene went incredibly well, and felt amazing to perform, blossoming even more infront of an audience. The scene was so well recieved and hearing some audience reaction only heightened our energy and confidence for the scene. We acknowledged the success of this proccess and the positive affect is has had on us as actors, and recieved a small note on slowing down certain aspects of speech. Therefore leading up to the show I stripped my independent rehearsal back to reciting each line, syllable by syllable, extremely slowly so that I remembered the key objective of delivering the material to the audience.  

In our final rehearsal for our 7/7 piece we began as we always do with a lengthy body warm up, working again on the voice body connection and waking up and energising the body so that the voice follows. We ran the piece fully once and it felt quite strong but definitely needed a new surge of energy and walking over after the half term break.  So we walked thtough the piece slowly working through notes taken throughout our recent runs. We were working on transitions between sections, being sharp or staggered and securing ourselves in our formations and pathways to create the right images and shapes. After receiving a few notes on the vocal aspects of the piece, we completed a line run through, stepping into the group circle with confidence, and focussing on drawing attention with the voice and our individual presence, being really sharp on our cues and speaking with punch. After this we ran through the piece twice, secondly extremely full out and could definetely feel the diffrence in how recent voice work had enhanced the piece further. Finally we were reminded to remember the seriousness of the piece, the impact it will have on the audience and the emotional weight of the subject. Ensuring we remember it is a touching piece, and that we should honour the true story we are telling and perform it as such.

MT 

We began the week by rehearsing our Oliver piece, as the props we will be using for the piece had just arrived. These were plastic, metallic looking beer mugs which would be handed out and utilised for the final portion of the piece. We went from the point in the number, where the mugs are handed out and worked out the logistics of how this would affect what we have done so far, firstly, looking at how we would hand the mugs out, so that each person got one from the crate. We then went slowly through the next sections of choreography and tweaked certain aspects of the moves to introduce this prop into each gesture. We slowly added to this cleaning process going through small portions of the section with the music, assessing any difficulties with the prop, and then going back and securing the choreography to accommodate the mugs. A common note was to keep eyes up and focus on projecting the piece out to the audience, however, this would come with practice with our new props and our ability to trust each other and our spacial awareness. As we continued going through the piece the props were becoming more naturally a part of our number, and even elevating some of the acting and character choices we were making. Once this process felt secure, we cleaned up until the end of the piece, stopping and starting the music to go over any sections that needed further notes or confirmation. Whilst doing this, we added certain characterful moments, or moments of interaction, which heightened the energy and fullness of our piece. We then received a group note to perform out to the audience more, particularly when we come together as a group to start singing in unison. Almost as if we are involving them like they are becoming a part of a community too. This definitely helped in making our piece more theatrical and engaging to watch, and I could feel the difference it would make interacting with and acknowledging the audience more directly. We then went from the beginning of the singing and started to slowly clean that, and I received lots of direction on my entrance, and mimicking the posh accent on the first half of my line, then creating a subtle switch on the last word. Also to take my time coming across the stage which is a note I received after the videos we took before half term. After a few trial and errors I completed these notes and resolved them fully, I also receive notes on making my gallop glide more rather than being stomp like, and with a few practices I managed to get the move cohesive with the rest of the group. We also changed who I interact with when I'm not set in anything until the group comes together, originally I had chosen to go towards the group of pickpockets, as they were mimicking me, but now I interact more with the girls coming forward and joining in with the singing, so that I stay more in that group. We ran sections a few times, continuing to add up until the cup section. We ran the cup section alone once, and then went from the top of the scene. There were a few small acting notes for the scene, such as having more hustle and bustle of chatter at the beginning, so that it explodes out of that as we begin. We then ran the piece fully prepared for a costume run later that day. 

To begin our Alice by heart piece we all got into costume to assess how we looked as a group. All costumes were approved but the need for white socks was highlighted and we all insured we would have these by Friday. We ran the piece once firstly, then went through the piece slowly using notes taken from the video at the end of half term and from our first run through. We went through each line of the song looking at diction, timing, each movement and transition between those singing, and each interaction. We zoomed in on details such as where our eye line goes, really identifying nurturing moments in the peace. We identified the need for light and shade throughout the number, having tentativeness and fear versus us coming together gradually. However, we highlighted how depending on each other would be a difficult choice that we have to make, and we needed to ensure this came across clearly. This would make the climax of us fully uniting as a community that more special. We use analogies such as us floating off the ground and all seeing the same something in the sky, to allow us to see real images to act from an interact with. We ensured we were thinking about why we were interacting, what our purpose was for moving when we all come together. We cleaned our holding hands at the end and when that would come in, then we began to stage our entrance and exits. We decided on coming on in character, and now it was of upmost importance that we were really portrayed what was happening before the song started. We deduced that we would come on with tension and almost rage, perhaps after just arguing or realising that we are the last people on earth. Due to my position I would be coming on last, so I decided to use being the last person and everyone’s eyes on stage being on me to enhance the nerves and confusion my character feels up until the singing begins. After detailed cleaning on this piece we ran through it and it was clear how much we had enhanced the piece by going into such intricate detail. This session was solely focused on performance and the harmonies were enhancing and coming along with that. I feel I definitely established my character and was portraying characteristics that I hadn’t thought of before. I now felt truly in touch and in the world of the peace, and was extremely inspired by our portrayal as a group of coming together as a community. We then got into costume for Oliver and did the same as we did for the Alice by heart piece, figuring out our entrance as an exit. We also decided for this we would enter in character, but add more dialogue. so we enter speaking and chattering, and I’m bringing on my prop, and then the girls stand at the side as we observe the scene. We ran the piece multiple times, frequently stopping to add small notes as we went along with each run. I feel we brought even more character and nearly found energy to the peace. It was important to practice in our performance environment so that we could space out more in the dance studio and acknowledge the audience that would be in front of us. This allowed us to really take on the note we received earlier that day, and picture and audience more vividly. we worked more on the cup mechanics to ensure that was secure and continue to run the piece multiple times constantly enhancing it. I feel as a group we felt extremely confident in the piece now and like we created this world of Oliver for ourselves, and our adaptation of the piece. Now  for both pieces now it was important to keep submerged in these world with the adrenaline performance, staying focused to remember notes and directions and taking them on and constantly applying them with confidence. It was important to stay focused on a defined character characters, concepts and how we are moving through throughout the space in a professional manner.

Dance

We began working on our Jazz piece for this final week by confirming the costume corrections. We now looked extremely cohesive as a group with our costumes and the visual create affect they created was extremely satisfying to see. We ran the number with our fullest performance, and receive notes mainly on where the energy needs to be enhanced, and how we need to stay consistent in the characters we are portraying and our style and performance traits. we also identified the need for more groove and togetherness in our middle section, so that group went away and worked on it as a group making group decisions on specific things such as the angles and levels each move was at. We then went back to perform this section and it looked a lot more clean and together. Slight changes were made with people holding Centre for longer and transitions, peoples directions changing, people having small moments and little additions which enhance the peace we clean the last dance section I was in before the partners, and worked closely on the musicality. The timing was now extremely together and precise for each word and be in the music, and we hit every accent with our preps into the terms, et cetera. We decided on what we were doing in our interaction when we changed this formation, and this added even more character and style to the section of the peace. We then worked on tying the final transitions, as we were instructed to move as as if we were being pulled by our limbs towards our partners, this is another thing that really enhance the performance of this piece and the styles and the characters we were creating. We then cleaned and looked over the partner work section looking at and re-digging the spacing to make that more secure. we ran through the end section multiple times of the music and this was now feeling extremely polished. We then completed an exercise is a great where we laid down in a circle and envisioned our best version of our performance how it would feel enjoying it at the absolute most and how our characters would feel we did this while listening closely to the music and closing our eyes. I was shocked at the effect this had as it really helped me firstly getting the zone of the piece and feel ready to perform, and secondly focus like I never had before and realise that my desired performance wasn’t so out of reach. This brought a new energy in a new outlook almost the entire piece. For me it felt spontaneous, as if we just learned and performing it for the first time. I feel this enabled us to do our most successful run of the piece and allowed us to feel very prepared for Friday where we would elevate our performance even further in the show.

We also started our commercial piece by approving and finalising the costumes as a group, for the people that didn’t have their full costumes put together in the last session. We ran the piece at the start of the session and it went quite successfully. We then went through notes from the final session in last term and clean some sections of the piece, however there wasn’t many notes as it was already feeling quite secure and polished. We did not necessarily dance through each section but cut to specific moves from the intricate notes and enhanced, changed and improved them. I received a note on my entrance into the piece, went away and watched the others in the video to match their exact directions, practising rolling my hips and the movement of the hips to align with theirs, it was a subtle detail but made a huge difference with the front line should all be synchronised, and I was advised to think down with my hips more than up. I went home and practice this multiple times with the video to feel more secure that I would be together with the rest of the group. We run the piece multiple times at the end of the session trying to put more energy in each performance. Now that we were in costume, it was more accessible to understand the vision of the backing dancers/Super Bowl Rihanna music video vibe, and I feel this was elevating our performance by focusing on this concept. We also received a group note that we needed to understand that the atmosphere and vibe of the piece should change with each song change, and that we should embody that in our dancing and bring something new to each music section. This would come with feeling the music more and performing in a more full out manner. We receive notes on our musicality and hitting the accents and being sharper, specifying details on timing, movement of the head and levels of the arms there was a large note for the entire group across the whole routine of using our plie more to polish off our choreography, and to have more musicality sitting in the pocket of the music and the beats. We perform the piece full out to a two person audience and receive some specific last-minute notes to take away before the performance. Overall, I felt extremely confident for our performance on Friday, but will continue to work on the specific notes tailored to certain sections and moves. And more general notes on our performance, levels and using the depth of the stage.