The first 2 week of February I was off sick for a week but
in between this time I started to research my pieces and learn the lyrics to
the songs that I knew I would be doing 100%. I also had auditions during this
period in which I was using the time at home to also prepare for those. During
April holiday I focused on anything you can do as we just decided that we
wanted to do it as a piece.
27/02/19-Project Workshop-Take me or Leave me
The aim of today's project workshop was to work on solos and
duets. As for my duet with Dylan we decided to focus on our song “Take me or
leave me “from Rent. For the first part of rehearsal we listened to the song to
get familiar with the parts that we would be singing. We discussed ways in
which we could lead into the song and decided we could come up with a short
piece of dialogue between us beforehand. After discussing this, we then went
through the song blocking where we might be in each verse and how we would
react towards one another. I Found this lesson useful as it allowed me to start
exploring the song and got me thinking on how I can work on my character. One
strength was I became familiar with the melody of the song and the songs
meaning. Targets for next rehearsal is to learn my lines and start to find an
objective in order to get my point across when singing the song. Another target
is to research more into my character and find out more about her as an
individual.
27/02/19- Project workshop- Fly Fly Away
The aim for this part of the lesson was to focus on my solo
and characterisation through the song. I began by singing my solo to Monique
who is one of our acting teachers. The first time I sang the song I had done it
with not enough emotion and the feedback that I received was that I need to
feel the emotion that my character is feeling more from within and express that
in the song. For example, in the first verse my character (Brenda Strong) is
singing about when she first met Frank Abagnale; how things were not so good in
her life until she met him and how she was the only one who knew the real him.
From knowing this information, I began to imagine I was in her shoes and began
to feel the emotion of knowing someone who no one really knows but you. This
helped because I was then able to believe the feeling and the words I was
singing. The second time I sang, I started to work on things I could be doing
whilst singing and as in the song frank has just left me and is on the run, I
decided to place myself in a bedroom with money all over the bed which is
similar to the film and I am still confused and heartbroken that he has now
gone and potentially not coming back, although in the song I start to believe
maybe he might come back if he really loves me. One strength was I was able to
sing through the song thoroughly with the words correct. Improvement is to not
hold back at certain parts that are meant to be powerful. A target for next
rehearsal is to make sure I annotate the words to the song and note down the
high points and low points.
28/02/19-Jazz Musical Theatre- All That Jazz
In today's lesson we ran through all that jazz and showed
our Jazz teacher in return for some feedback. The aim for this lesson was to
refine some of the movement and to use more of Bob Fosse’s styles in the
movement to create the full effect. After showing Shannon (Jazz Teacher) the
dance, she said that we needed to make some of the gestures more on point and
less smooth and to have more direct contact with the audience and focus on
doing the movement full out. One strength is that I was able to remember the
first part of the routine and get the timing apart from 0:57-1:06 when I had
missed one of the counts which made me do the next movement. One improvement is
to add more of a personality to my character and more meaning to the song and
embed that into my movement. My Target for the next rehearsal is to work on the
things I need to improve above and focus take on the feedback from Shannon and
research the style more in order to use it in the dance.
28/02/19- Jazz Musical Theatre – Take me or Leave me
The aim for this lesson was to go through the duet and work
on getting familiar and learning my lines hence why in the video below I am
holding my phone. This lesson was useful because I was able to get an idea on
how the song would be staged and worked on the conflict between Dylan and I. It
also gave me more time to think about what I could be doing at certain parts of
the song. One strength is that I was able to feel what my character was feeling
at this point in the song. I also felt that I was able to react to how what
Dylan was saying through my facial expression. One Improvement is to block the
places I will be moving to throughout so that there is an equal balance between
the amount of times we move around to when were stood in one spot. For example,
we came up with an idea that we'd begin with us on stage and then go into the
audience and continue arguing and end on stage. The reason why we think this
would be a good idea is because it would create more tension and engage the
audience as they will be intrigued to find out what going to happen next. The aim
for next lesson is to work on the dialogue that will be happening before hand
and stage this as-well as continuing to stage the song.
Friday 1/3/19-project workshop -Weekly Review
What we did today: Our aim for today’s lesson was to focus on Hard to say Goodbye, All That Jazz, Duets and Solos. We started off by sitting and discussing if Hard to say Goodbye was a good final piece and discussed why we thought that it may be a good piece because it’s similar to what we as a four are going through right now and how we are not going to see each other after this year of college. We listener to the track multiple time and started to think about what each of us could be doing at each part of the song. We then looked at All that Jazz and showed Shelley (our teacher) what we had come up with since the last time she saw it. From showing her this she said that we need to watch more Bob Fosse pieces and look at how they move so we can use the posture and style in the dance. We then decided to change some of the movement and made it more sharp and smaller in order to create an effect .
Problem solving :During this rehearsal Faith wasn’t so we knew whatever we changed we would need to show her when she was next in. We changed the poses because we felt as if they were too basic and that we could Use the influence of sweet charity to create similar gestures in our piece. Another thing we needed to figure out what how high we were going to lift our legs up as we wanted to do it all the same time and decided to do it at 90 degrees so that everyone was at the same level.
Research https://youtu.be/rw_M-ai1I0kWe had a look at this video and watched how the girls were using their hand and their body posture were slightly less structure to how we were choreographing our movement. We also saw that their facial expressions were monotone and that they looked directly into the camera. We used this as an influence so that when we are performing we can have the same sort of interaction with the audience.
Weekly Review: For this assessment we performed all our pieces that we have done so far and received feedback from another.The video of the the Mini-Mid point are down below;
Feedback: Fly Fly Away- Shelley suggested that I could after starting at the steps I could have a mic centre stage. I also need to choreograph action more so that I have clear knowledge on what I’m doing at each part. I was also told that I sang the song lovely and needed to look at Shirley Bassey and Adele to see how they sing their songs without doing much movement.
Look what happened to Mabel: Shelley wrote down that I should make it bigger and figure out which gestures I’ll be doing when as it look as if I don’t know what I’m going to do next. She also said that I should cut the music so that the men in the background are no longer there as she believes it ruins the music and suggest maybe Charlie our singing teacher could do a piano instrumental for me.
Take me or Leave me: For this piece , Shelley said that we needed to work out what the other person was doing whilst the other was singing and choreograph what we will be doing.She’s also was unsure if Dylan should do the American accent as she believed it would be better if he spoke with an British one.
All that Jazz: Shelley had advised us to finish the dance and that every time we went into a line that we should move forward in it rather than back as we are moving further away from the audience which doesn’t allow us to engage that much . She also said that we need to make it bigger and that the gestures and movements need to be more Fosse's like as right now they aren’t quite showing it off.
You can’t stop the Beat: For this piece Shelley wanted us to use more space we weren’t really taking as much advantage of it as we could . She also mentioned that she wasn’t sure what was happening at the beginning and that we needed a clear opening to introduce our piece otherwise the audience might not understand what is happening .
Monday 4/3/19-Acting
What did we do today :Our aims for today’s lesson was to start choreographing Hard to Say Goodbye. The first thing we did was allocated lines for the beginning which was given to Dylan and I and the second verse was given to Marshall and Faith with the chorus being sung all together. We wanted the movement to be fairly simple as it was a Goodbye song and we wanted the main focus to be on the words. We managed to finish choreographing the dance.
Problem solving : Watching the video we realized that the walk forward wasn’t going to work as we were all squashed and we needed more space to walk forward. We wanted to make it more interesting and engaging for the audience as it’s simple we wanted the movement to be more fluent and flow well into each move.
Research: I’m regards to research we decided to watch different versions of the DreamGirls singing this song and the reasons why they were singing it. I’m the video they are singing together for last time before they go there own way .
https://youtu.be/3aX_4pQyP70
Feedback:One thing I need to work on is the timing on which we all come forward at then do are different gestures whilst all doing a particular movement when each person is doing their thing. Another thing I need to work on is learning the line for the second part of Dance as I get the lines mixed up with the First chorus, I also need to work on the notes in which I will be singing with Faith “ Baby it’s so hard “ as it is done fairly high and is harmonised. One good thing is that I was able to do the choreography and remembered it well.
Wednesday 6th – Project workshop -Take me or Leave Me
What we did today:
Our aim for today’s lesson was to choreography the song as we were told that we need to work on using the space and know when and When not we might not need to be walking around . We started off singing through each verse and figuring out if I was going to sit down and do gestures and communicate with the audience whilst Dylan invades my space and is constantly around me. This worked because it showed how Dylan’s character had some what power and the there was more attention on what he was saying to her. After figuring out what we was doing for the rest of the song we decided to run through it more to get familiar with the routine.
Problem solving:In regards to problem solving we tried our best to figure out ways we could show that we are arguing without constantly being in each other’s faces all the time and facing each-other and was aware that we might have had our backs to the audience a couple times , with this being said we’ve decided to look more out and decided that we would start in the audience at the tables , arguing around them to then move to centre stage. This was a good idea because it allowed us to interact with the audience more.
Research:For research we looked at versions of Take me or Leave me and how other people interpreted theirs. Watching these were useful as it gave us an idea on different ways we could interact with each-other.
https://youtu.be/Sad_mlgHYBg
https://youtu.be/gblt3Ilawpo
Feedback:One thing I need to work on is projection as some times Dylan’s voice is the only on one that is being heard , especially around the choruses.Another thing I need to work on is really communicating how I feel to the audience through my facial expressions as I won’t have have much words to do show that with . One good thing is that I remembered the choreography and that I used a good amount of space.
Friday 8th – weekly review
What we did today:
In today’s review lesson we showed our peers and teacher
what we have done so far to receive feedback from each other. This Was a good a
routine as we were able to work on things given a specific deadline and receive
feedback to help develop the piece.
Take me or Leave me:
Strength: I was able to remember the words to
the songs and remembered what we worked on around the table. Good interaction
with Dylan and the relationship built throughout the song.
Improvements: I need to work on my breathing as
some notes weren’t being held as well as they could in comparison to if I was
breathing correctly. I should be more clear with my gestures, for example; if I
am shrugging Dylan off I should really push him away. Another thing is I need
to interact with the audience more because its more enclosed and even though we
have a good relationship it’s also good to make the audience feel involved.
You can’t stop the Beat:
Strength: The intro was sung well. Good try at
the choreography. There was a good interaction with each other
Improvement: Faith needed to sing the intro slower as
she was a bit out of time. I need to go through the choreography bit by bit in
order to get the movement correct and in time. At some point we didn’t look
sure of what was happening next. Also at the beginning I need to stop swaying
whilst and need to either use gestures or hold my position.
Fly Fly Away
Strength: I sang through the song well. I showed
emotion and engaged with how the character was feeling. I also interacted with
the audience well.
Improvement: I need to work on breathing and
holding particular notes. I also need to stop looking up at the ceiling and
sing out to the audience. I also need to stand my ground and not always move as
it can also be very powerful standing still.
Hard to say Goodbye
Strength: we all shared the parts equally and
Dylan and I showed a good relationship with one another.
Improvement: We need to learn the choreography
and work on timing and continue to learn the lines.
Monday 18th-Project workshop – All that Jazz
What we did today :Our aim today was to learn the new version of All that Jazz. In today’s lesson Dylan and I was taught a new version of All that Jazz as we weren’t in and Faith and Marshall thought it would be a good idea to change majority of the dance. For the first part they showed us the dance and then began to teach us the first part. They decided that I would sing the first verse and be doing different choreography until later when we join all together. As we decided we are going to sing the song, we discussed who would be singing which parts. I liked the version Faith and Marshall created as it was more technical and really focused more on the style of Bob Fosse and filled more gaps as the other dance we had created was more simple and more blocked out rather than flowed into each movement.
Problem Solving :
After being shown what I was meant to be doing I had to ask Faith a few times to through it as I was unsure about the timing at certain parts as the others were doing something completely different. In order to solve this, I went through it a couple times focusing on the timing and became more comfortable on what I was meant to be doing. We then recorded what we had so far as a grip and plan on doing the rest in Wednesday rehearsal session.
Research: As for research we looked at the video of Faith and Marshall when they first choreographed the new dance and used it to have an idea of how the dance had changed although we had needed to do it practically in order to fill the gaps in where we were placed in the video where Dylan and I would be.
Feedback:
Things we need to work ok for next lesson is Making sure Me and Dylan have learnt the rest of the dance in order to rehearse it all together as a group and be able to then work on the performance side of it . One strength is that I was able to learn the first part fairly quickly it may be now I need to go over it a few times so it’s installed in my memory. Another thing that went well is that I was able to song the lyrics well and knew when I had to stop singing. One improvement would be to make sure that my arms and legs are positioned properly and more distorted at some point rather than straight. Another thing I need to work on is extension on my legs and my knees. For example, when I turn my body so that my left side is facing the front and I glide my leg forward and walk, I need to make sure I extend my leg further and lean back more. As for my knees when going down, I need to open my legs wider and bend more in order to be able to come for a longer amount of time.
Wednesday 20th-Project Workshop -Take me or Leave Me& Anything you can do
What we did today: Our aim for today lesson was to work on things that were outstanding and figure out between Dylan and I due to the fact we had been told by our teacher that we should be singing all the songs and take more lead and leave the dancers to focus more on the dance aspect as that’s their area of skill. We first began by warming up our voices and then went through take me or leave me now using the table and working on ways we could use the table between us. We also cleaned up the gestures and discussed out characters and ways we could develop them, focusing on their relationship and what they are trying to get across in the song. We then went through All That Jazz, you can’t stop the Beat and Anything goes. This gave us time to figure out who’s singing which part as before we had split the song between Dylan, Marshall, faith and I, which meant we now had to learn the other lines. We had also been told yesterday by our teacher that we need more of an acting based song or scene as the piece we had been doing weren’t showing the acting aspect of things so Dylan and I decided to do “Anything you can do “from Annie get your gun. In today’s session we practice going through the song using lyrics and then with instrumental to get a drift of the melody and how the song went. Going through this song gave me a feel and made me think of many things we could do to this song to show the comic side of it and I found it funny and showed a lot of characteristics.
Problem solving: One thing that we struggled with today is going through Anything you can do , whilst we was going through it we were a bit ahead of time as some parts and needed to work on timing on how long certain notes were meant to be held . For example there’s a part in the song where Annie holds a note longer than frank. As I sing the parts of Annie I needed to count and learn the length of the note. Another thing we were debating was whether we should sing All that Jazz in the original key or the Higher key. We figured out that due to the song building up after the first verses , there was no need sing it in a higher key.
Research: We watched the Anything You can do video to see how the relationship was between the two character and realised that there seemed to be a lot of tension and competition between them and that Dylan and I thought it would be a good idea to then in the next rehearsal to add more of that comic side to out version.
https://youtu.be/2fW5Z2z6pXM
Feedback: One thing that Dylan and I want to aim towards is learning the lines for Anything you can do and All that Jazz by the next rehearsal so that we are able to go through the dance as well as singing. We also want to have Take Me Or Leave Me Finished so that we can focus more on the other duets
Things we need to work ok for next lesson is Making sure Me and Dylan have learnt the rest of the dance in order to rehearse it all together as a group and be able to then work on the performance side of it . One strength is that I was able to learn the first part fairly quickly it may be now I need to go over it a few times so it’s installed in my memory. Another thing that went well is that I was able to song the lyrics well and knew when I had to stop singing. One improvement would be to make sure that my arms and legs are positioned properly and more distorted at some point rather than straight. Another thing I need to work on is extension on my legs and my knees. For example, when I turn my body so that my left side is facing the front and I glide my leg forward and walk, I need to make sure I extend my leg further and lean back more. As for my knees when going down, I need to open my legs wider and bend more in order to be able to come for a longer amount of time.
Wednesday 20th-Project Workshop -Take me or Leave Me& Anything you can do
What we did today: Our aim for today lesson was to work on things that were outstanding and figure out between Dylan and I due to the fact we had been told by our teacher that we should be singing all the songs and take more lead and leave the dancers to focus more on the dance aspect as that’s their area of skill. We first began by warming up our voices and then went through take me or leave me now using the table and working on ways we could use the table between us. We also cleaned up the gestures and discussed out characters and ways we could develop them, focusing on their relationship and what they are trying to get across in the song. We then went through All That Jazz, you can’t stop the Beat and Anything goes. This gave us time to figure out who’s singing which part as before we had split the song between Dylan, Marshall, faith and I, which meant we now had to learn the other lines. We had also been told yesterday by our teacher that we need more of an acting based song or scene as the piece we had been doing weren’t showing the acting aspect of things so Dylan and I decided to do “Anything you can do “from Annie get your gun. In today’s session we practice going through the song using lyrics and then with instrumental to get a drift of the melody and how the song went. Going through this song gave me a feel and made me think of many things we could do to this song to show the comic side of it and I found it funny and showed a lot of characteristics.
Problem solving: One thing that we struggled with today is going through Anything you can do , whilst we was going through it we were a bit ahead of time as some parts and needed to work on timing on how long certain notes were meant to be held . For example there’s a part in the song where Annie holds a note longer than frank. As I sing the parts of Annie I needed to count and learn the length of the note. Another thing we were debating was whether we should sing All that Jazz in the original key or the Higher key. We figured out that due to the song building up after the first verses , there was no need sing it in a higher key.
Research: We watched the Anything You can do video to see how the relationship was between the two character and realised that there seemed to be a lot of tension and competition between them and that Dylan and I thought it would be a good idea to then in the next rehearsal to add more of that comic side to out version.
https://youtu.be/2fW5Z2z6pXM
Feedback: One thing that Dylan and I want to aim towards is learning the lines for Anything you can do and All that Jazz by the next rehearsal so that we are able to go through the dance as well as singing. We also want to have Take Me Or Leave Me Finished so that we can focus more on the other duets
Friday 8th – weekly review
What we did today:
In today’s review lesson we showed our peers and teacher
what we have done so far to receive feedback from each other. This Was a good a
routine as we were able to work on things given a specific deadline and receive
feedback to help develop the piece.
Take me or Leave me:
Strength: I was able to remember the words to
the songs and remembered what we worked on around the table. Good interaction
with Dylan and the relationship built throughout the song.
Improvements: I need to work on my breathing as
some notes weren’t being held as well as they could in comparison to if I was
breathing correctly. I should be more clear with my gestures, for example; if I
am shrugging Dylan off I should really push him away. Another thing is I need
to interact with the audience more because its more enclosed and even though we
have a good relationship it’s also good to make the audience feel involved.
You can’t stop the Beat:
Strength: The intro was sung well. Good try at
the choreography. There was a good interaction with each other
Improvement: Faith needed to sing the intro slower as
she was a bit out of time. I need to go through the choreography bit by bit in
order to get the movement correct and in time. At some point we didn’t look
sure of what was happening next. Also at the beginning I need to stop swaying
whilst and need to either use gestures or hold my position.
Fly Fly Away
Strength: I sang through the song well. I showed
emotion and engaged with how the character was feeling. I also interacted with
the audience well.
Improvement: I need to work on breathing and
holding particular notes. I also need to stop looking up at the ceiling and
sing out to the audience. I also need to stand my ground and not always move as
it can also be very powerful standing still.
Hard to say Goodbye
Strength: we all shared the parts equally and
Dylan and I showed a good relationship with one another.
Improvement: We need to learn the choreography
and work on timing and continue to learn the lines.
Friday 22nd March
What we did today:
My main focus today was to learn the new version of All that
Jazz that Faith had created. The movement challenged more of Bob fosse and was
more in with the style of dance. Faith taught me the Beginning of the routine
as I would be doing it differently to everyone else and then later on Join the
rest of the group so my main focus was getting the movement correct and
accurate. Dylan and I also went through anything you can do and tried singing
through with the backing and then without the backing and tried to think of
some gestures that we could do during the song.
Strength and improvement:
One strength is that I remembered the choreography well and
was able to add a character whilst giving a dead stare to the audience. One
improvement is timing; at certain parts I am either too early or a little bit
late.
Problem Solving:
A slight problem was we weren’t able to go full out
with All that Jazz because not everyone was in so we continued to learn the
routine so when everyone was here we could teach it to the absent and then we would
be able to move on. This was better than not moving on because we were able to
then when finished add our own style and work on correcting one another.
Monday 25th March
What we did Today:
Our aim for today was to go through You can’t stop the beat
and work on Take Me or leave me with Charlie as Dylan and I wanted help with
the phrasing and the notes. Doing this with Charlie really helped us with our
duet and our phrasing.
Strength and improvements
One strength is I felt more confident with the choreography
and I made sure there was characterisation in my performance even though we
weren’t being any specific characters however in You can’t stop the Beat all
the characters are lively and look as if they are enjoying themselves. One
improvement is I need to work on my timing as in some parts I am late. I also
need to continue to learn the words as I will be singing solo parts as well as
a chorus.
Problem solving:
One problem I found was I felt better if Faith stood at the
front as I felt less confident and wasn’t as confident as Faith with the
movement, so I decided to continue to learn the choreography and practice
thoroughly until I felt comfortable being at the front, although it still would
work out with Faith being at the front as they run to join me so It could
suggest that she want to take lead.
1st 3rd 5th April 2019
What did we do –
During this week we focused on a numerous amount of things
such as last minute changes in routines, costume preparation and rehearsing. On
Monday we spent the sessions going through all the songs and dances and making
sure we all were familiar with the changes that we had made weeks prior we then
worked on our solos and group pieces. Dylan and I started to go through and
rehearse the staging for anything you can do as we had only chosen it last and
wanted to make sure that we had something to work on and prepare for when we
come back after the Easter holidays. We went through the song first as we
didn’t know the song properly. we also wanted to choreograph what we would
doing throughout the song. In regards to the other pieces we ran through them
making any improvements as we had changed hard to say goodbye and all that jazz
it was important that we had focused on them properly. Fridays session we went
spent in the costume department trying to find costumes, I Managed to find my
costumes for You Can’t Stop the Beat, catch me if you can, look what happened
to Mabel anything you can do and had to find my other costumes for the other
pieces.
Problem solving:
In regards to problem solving, the only problem that
occurred was that some of the costumes weren’t available or couldn’t fit which
mean we would have to buy it or go home and find something in which we could
wear. Another problem is that with Anything you can, Dylan and I struggled with
the timing and at some point didn’t think we would have enough time to learn
the song as well as develop it into a performance. With this being a slight
issue we decided to go through the song slowly and focus on the song separately
until we were comfortable
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