• What skills have you developed over the year so far? Be detailed and give at least 3 examples from each discipline, provide evidence, and reflect on your progress in each area. 

Unit 7 Evaluation

Acting

One skill I have developed over this year is being able to improve my ability to devise. When we moved onto our devising piece this year, I had a basic idea on what to do, but overall, this was a very weak area for me. We were provided with a stimulus of Sustainability, which we had to create our own ideas, and build from the stimulus. This challenged me, as I had to think about what was going to be the best for the performance, and what would be best for me to show various skills throughout it.

Another skill I have developed was body language. Before this year, my acting skills were excelling mostly in monologues, as that’s what I enjoyed performing the most, so I focused my time, energy and passion too. However, this year, in commedia, I had to step out of my comfort zone and play a very high energy and very mobile character. I developed this skill throughout that project, and moving on, making sure I showed character in every bit of me. In my devised project, my character was quite a depressed, low energy character, so I knew I had to hold my posture quite low, and my facial expressions were dull. 

A final skill I have developed is vocal projection. During the start of this year, mostly in commedia, I mumbled a lot of my words, and a lot of lines were missed. This has improved substantially over the year, as I now have a lot more clarity while reading lines, and acting. I can also adapt to the space very well now, for example, in the Dome, the area is very echoey, so it is easier to get your words lost. 

Singing

One skill I have developed over this past year is Projection. During the start of the year, up to quite recently, I’ve struggled to project my singing, however, throughout the various singing assessments, Cheryl gave me many pointers on how to improve. This included: acting like you're shouting to someone downstairs. This is the volume I was aiming for while singing, and I had to stay in my chest voice and sing like that to project. 

Another skill I have developed over this year was acting through song. I always found it very awkward to do movements during a song, as everything felt a little bit silly, so I tried to avoid it at all costs, however, while watching back on videos of my previous singing assessments, it looks a lot worse if I’m standing completely still doing nothing. I started adding simple actions to my songs, such as moving my arms, and looking around the stage, like I’m speaking to, or about someone.

A final skill I have developed is finding my key. During the start of the year, and up until quite recently, I didn't understand what my key was, so during the song, I always sang in a key that was too high, or too low and didn’t suit me at all. This made singing certain songs difficult, because if I was singing in a higher key, and a high note came, I strained and it sounded awful, but if I was singing in a low key, everything sounded harsh and rough, which is usually the effect I’m not going for. I have experimented with different songs, and have found I am most confident around the A Major key, which I sung “Why god Why” in, during my recent singing assessment. 

Dancing

One skill I have improved in dancing, was my body language. Mostly during the first part of the year, my body always seemed like it wasn’t straight enough. My arms were always bent, and I didn’t show much strength in dancing. Throughout the year I tried to improve upon this, however, my build is quite tall, so I have to actively think about straightening every part of me to look more professional and confident during dance.

Another skill I have developed was flexibility. All throughout this year I have struggled with this, but I have continued to push myself in this remark, to attempt to make my technique stronger, so I can be all round a better dancer. I did this by attempting to add stretches into my every day life, so I could improve a little every day, and it has made a difference.

A final skill I have improved, was my control. During the start of the year, I had no idea how to dance, thus my technique was very sloppy, and seemed to have no real direction. Through the various pieces, and feedback from my peers and tutors, I have been able to make the pieces look and feel more controlled. I did this by analysing my dances, by watching videos back, and repeating them slowly, trying to remove any unnecessary movements. I also attempted to be a lot smoother in my pieces, and move with more grace, while still having strong positions when needed.

Professional Conduct

I always arrive on time to rehearsals and lessons, and am yet to miss a day of college. I believe that doing so has made me progress a lot further, than if I had days off. I could focus more heavily on pieces, and devote more time to them, overall making my entire time at college less stressful.

Improvement - I need to be able to listen to my tutors more effectively for feedback, as I notice sometimes that I disregard the help, and attempt to do my own thing, which never usually goes great. So I need to be more respectful towards improvements I could be doing.

My Strongest Discipline and Why

My strongest discipline by far is my singing. I have a huge passion for the subject, thus become more engaged and focused on improving. I know I am not the greatest singer in the class, however, I always push myself to give the best performance I can.

Chosen Pathway Career

Currently, I am not fully aware which aspect of the industry I would like to go into, however, some options I have thought about are:

Stage Performer - Whether this will be on the West End, or Pantomimes, I would love to do something like this. I really do enjoy performing, as I can show off what I am capable of.

Musical Theatre Singer - This links into my last option, but the idea of being on stage, while telling a story through song sounds amazing, and I would love to go down that path within my life.

Skills Audit