The performing arts department is full of hard working and competitive with such high levels of skills. I have recently been looking at a few websites and researching what skills you need for the performing arts- musical theatre section when applying for university and what to expect.
Above, is one of the random university courses that I have clicked on. From looking into the, I have seen and realised how hard it is to get in. 48 out of thousands of students are enrolled for this which means these 48 people that have been enrolled have had either years of experience or have a high standard of potential in them.
The other website I have had my eyes on is Italia Conti:
I have had a look on the 1 year performing arts foundation course as I feel that it would be more suitable for me rather than the 3 year diploma. The 1 year foundation class says that it would give students like me a chance to improve my training for singing, acting and dancing. It makes more sense because I am not as good as a dancer than I am as a singer. Training at Italia Conti already looks like a hard working course that is 5 days a week. Doing this course, improves your discipline, creativity, collaborative side and technical skills and as well as the 3 major things; acting, singing and dancing. This course pushes you to your limits to make sure you are the best you can be.
I know that this foundation course would probably be most suitable for me because it allows me to be with people that are more at my standard of training which makes things easier because it just focuses on making yourself a better performing arts student and also, gets you ready for next year if you would want to do the 3 year diploma course.
These kind of university's all look for a high level of singing, acting and dancing. For singing they would look for high vocal range, a strong voice, confidence and being able to adapt into a different character. For acting, they would look for knowledge on your monologues/scripts you know and being able to adapt into different characters and changing the dynamics of your voice, how you communicate with an audience and having the right body language and attitude. For dance, the use of technical skills that you mainly need is good use of core stability, alignment, posture and being able to take in corrections. You need a high level of standard of these three things.
Your past experiences are something they want to hear from you so you need to make sure that you have as much experience in musical theatre as possible. The more experience- the better. They want to know whether you have been in any musicals or any acting/ dance pieces and what roles you played. Also, what kind of qualifications do you have and work that is related to theatre. If you have had any experience in lighting/staging/writing any plays. They want to know what you learnt from all these experiences and what skills you gathered from doing these things.
Other skills that they may want to also know about you is if you have done any additional classes like music theory or ballet classes that you have stuck to.
One of the main things they see in you when you first walk into audition for university is how you present yourself and speak. They want to see outstanding attitude from you and will most probably ask you about your goals and aspirations. You need to portray yourself with a positive, prestigious kind of attitude.
You need to make sure you stand out in front of all the other students auditioning, so you shouldn't be afraid to not blend in with the others. They look for a person with interest, independence, creativity and someone who can listen but is full of ideas and good energy.
The reason why I have chosen
this song is because back in my acting school- which was a few years ago, I
played the character who sang this song called Velma. I love how sassy she is
and I also love the costumes that she wears.
I also think that it makes
things easier for me because I already know what the character is
like. Not that I chose it because it makes everything more easier, but
with the knowledge I already know from this scene I can adapt things like the
choreography and the script that builds up to the song. Make it more of my show
less than the Broadway version.
All I need to do is get a few
of my class mates to get involved in this scene while I sing and make
up some choreography to make it more alive and seem more like a
musical. So when I come back to college, I will be gathering up everyone in
class and get them to learn a simple easy dance and show them a video from the
modern hairspray film which stars Zac Effron in it. Watching this particular
scene from the film I hope will give everyone an idea on how to act character
wise and how to position themselves body wise.
Also, because my friend
Blessing has chosen to do Costume for Unit 8, I have asked her to sort me out a
few dresses that relates to the time which is in the 60s. This will be a fun
thing to do as I love the fashion in the 60s and Blessing has a real passion
for fashion so I know that she will make some amazing costume and ideas.
Below is a picture of the dresses
that I have in mind, I just think I need a little brighter colours but that
shouldn't be a problem at all for Blessing.
13/04/2016
REASEARCH AND CHANGE IN TODAYS CLASS:
Today I had a change in mind
what in what I actually want to do. I had a whole change in song and so I done
some research and looked at the soundtrack of the musical Hairspray. I was
looking at the sound track on the website:
I have now made up mind
and have decided to perform the song 'I Can Hear the Bells’. I will be performing
on the side with Tashan who will play the character Penny and my other friend
Panashe who will be playing the character 'Link'. They won’t be doing much
singing because this song is mainly sung by 'Tracy'. I will also be having the
rest of my class in the performance as the ‘’cool’’ high school people. Also,
at one point they will change form into a chorus. The reason I want a everyone
to form into a chorus is because it makes it seem more cheesy and more of a musical.
What is my 'Brief?
My brief is to create a collaborative review style performance with the
loose starting point of decades for an internal and external audience.
Adaptation of proposal:
The reason why I had a change in mind for my
song is because I wanted to go for something I had never done before. I wanted
to challenge myself and be a different character. I also feel that it is a good
song for me to sing because it fits in nicely with my vocal range and so I wouldn't have to stay focused on the singing bit for too long; it's more of making up the choreography which I know will be challenging.
While in the process of changing the song, I watched the 2007 film and
had a listen to all the songs that were playing. I really liked 'I can hear the
bells' it just captured my ears and I felt that I could do something with it
more.
I stayed with the same musical to make things easier for myself; I
also really like hairspray the musical. I like the story line and the
characters init.
How does my proposal link to and answer the
brief?
My proposal links to my brief because it is set in the 60s and fits in
with the style of decades.
Have you changed, adapted or added anything to your
original proposal idea and why have you do so?
I have changed the song. Originally, I was meant to be singing 'Miss Baltimore
Crabs' but had a change in heart and decided to do 'I Can Hear The Bells' the
only reason why I changed was because I wanted to go for a different character as last time when I done this show with my acting school, I was the character
Velma who sings the song I was originally going to sing. I wanted to challenge
myself and adapt to the character of Tracy.
What will be your role? What will you do?
I will be playing the role of Tracy who is a sweet, confident and bubbly
girl that dreams big. In this show, she isn't a 'cool kid' like the others
around her and she hardly gets acknowledged, the only time she
does so is because of her weight. I will be singing, acting and there
will be a few choreographic bits on stage with the ensemble that will be behind
me. I have decided to have an ensemble to make up the stage more and make it
look full with a high school kind of atmosphere.
I will be making sure that everyone in my class will be involved to
learn the ensemble piece and make sure that they all have outfits sorted
out.
I also need to have a little acting piece at the very beginning of the
song so it makes actually makes sense in what I am singing.
What researches will you need to undertake/
have you already done to support your proposal and its development?
The researches that I will be doing very soon is comparing the Hairspray
films (1988 and 2007) together and use some ideas and ways of how they act and
how they speak because they have American accents. I will also be looking at
the set to give me some ideas on how I want the stage to look like. I know that
I already want lockers on stage so it gives the atmosphere of a
school corridor and teenagers just messing about and chilling. I need
to also look at the Broadway version on stage to give me some useful ideas on
how to interact with the audience and when to go to other characters. This will
help me figure out the props I may also need.
When choosing the song I wanted to sing, I realised that I can't have
anything too complicated because most of the hairspray songs have a lot of
choreography and I wouldn't of been able to teach everyone in time because we
all have so much to do individually, and so that is why I decided to sing 'I
Can Hear The Bells' because for Tracy, Link and Penny they don't hardly move.
Tracy is just dreaming and imagining Link in her arms and singing while the
ensemble behind her are what makes up the whole piece. For the Ensemble I will
just give them something basic to do and make the movements small.
What sources will you/ have you already used for
this research?
So far, I have mainly been on only YouTube to
have a look at the old version of hairspray and the new one. I have also been
using YouTube for learning the song lyrics and singing an instrumental version that I will be using on the performance day. I have
also had a look on Google Wikipedia to look at the director of the 1988 version
and see what made him make it and why. Google is again, another source that I
have been using to do my research on the 60s fashion and I found that dresses
were a big thing back then and a lot of checked patterns were also quite
popular. From my research, I have been comparing the two films and how they are different. Hairspray 2007 for me is the best version because it is more musical and modern. I tried to watch the 1988 version but I lost intrest quickly and instead of continuing to watch it, I had a look on this website comparing the two films together. http://www.moviesmackdown.com/2007/08/hairspray-2007.html
From this website, I found that the 1988 version is a movie with music init and the 2007 version is an actual film thats a musical. The 2007 film embraces the story line even more but changes some bits by making it look more modern and the clothing even better. They also casted some well known actors like John Travolta who played Tracy's mum and Zac Effron who played the character Link.
What stuck out to me the most about Water was that he usually writes more serious things that are rated 'X' and for the first time he was rated a 'PG' for Hairspray. \ What practitioners/artists/performers will
you have looked at for inspiration and insight?
I have mainly looked up to the modern 2007 version of hairspray because
I like the clothing more and the dresses are amazing. I love the colours that
they wear and how their hair is. For Tracy, it is different because she will be
wearing something that stands out more because she is a big girl and is
different to the other girls and dancers out there. The pretty high school girls in dresses stood out for me the most and Link who was in a suit and had his hair jelled back looking slick.
How do you expect your research to inform and help
your creative and development process?
By researching more about the scene that I am doing, it will help me
realise what kind of attitude I need and how I need to hold myself... it will
just help me with basic ideas on props and set and everything like that. It
will also help me with my acting bit in the beginning because I have so many
shows to look at that different companies have done so I can see what their
ideas are and make it more of my own.
1988 Hairspray
2007 Hairspray
Who else will be involved in your piece?
Who will you need to collaborate with and how will you organise this?
My friend Panashe will
be 'Link' who is one of the most popular boys in school and is a star on The
Corney Collins show- and who is also Tracy's massive high school crush.
Tashan will be Tracy's best-friend called 'Penny' who is a sweet, dopey girl
that always has a lollipop in her mouth.
For the rest of the class, they will be the ensemble and will help me
make it more of a high-school atmosphere while doing some simple choreographic
movements together.
As soon as I have the acting piece sorted out for the beginning of the
scene, I will then work with the ensemble so everything should be put together
nicely. I am also in some other collaborative pieces that are; Annie- Hard knock life, Cahleyah- Hiphop, Carnival, Documentary and Time Wap from Rocky Horror. At the moment, a time table is being sorted out which will give us a chance to prepare ourselves for our rehearsals we have coming up and makes everything more fair so we are all working on our collaborative pieces for an equal amount of time.
What practical skills will you need to use to
develop your project?
I will need to be able to communicate properly and make sure that everyone is understanding each direction/idea I have. I also will need make sure that I have good problem solving so that I can set high standards for everyone in class and push them to make it the best they can be. This will be hard for me to do because sometimes the people in class will take me for just a friend and not take rehearsals seriously so I also need to be able to act professional and serious for this to work.
The other main practical skill that I need is Personal development. This is an important skill to have because I need to make sure I present myself well in my rehearsal classes and make sure that I am also progressing myself as well as others. I need to make sure that I don't get myself too stressed out because it can lead to health issues and feeling drained.
Which other pieces will you be collaborating on as
a performer? What skills will you be using and how will you organise your time
in order to contribute?
The other piece I am involved in:
Esther: It’s the hard knock life- Annie
Rhiann: Carnival
Maddie: Time Wap: Rocky Horror
Tashan: Documentary Cahleyah: Hiphop
For this, there will be a lot of skills needed.
1. Patience 2. Time
3. Working as a team
4. Stamina
5. Organisation
I feel like these are the main skills we need to make this whole
collaboration work. We all want it to look good and show everyone what we are
capable of so it makes us work harder. We have started off by doing Maddie's
and Esther's piece which are already pretty much finished, it just needs some
polishing up to do. We have also been splitting ourselves up into groups when
not needed, to either work on our piece individually or work with others that our
in a piece. Everyone is doing really well at the moment and we are even staying
behind to finish up and get things done quicker so all we need to actually do
it just make it even better.
Next lesson, I will be writing a short script for Panashe and Tashan to
start of the song and just get the acting scene over and done with so I can
work on the ensemble. I will also be working with Philip (My singing teacher)
on the 21st of April to practise my singing bit and hopefully get
some advice from him on what I can improve on and to also work on my
American accent.
18/04/2016
Today my acting
teacher, Sharon will be helping me out and giving her opinion on my ideas of the
scenery on the stage and set. I want the lockers and the pretty girls in their 60s style dresses Upstage right and I want the Link and he's friends sitting down on a chair/bench Upstage left. This will give it a high school affect. I had this idea because I got inspired from the broadway version on youtube which I will be posting somewhere below. Tracy and Penny will be entering the stage once everyone is set up in their positions and the lights come on and that where the acting scene starts (before the song) but I will be sorting that out by the end of today.
Below, I have the lyrics to the song that I will be singing and the
characters that are involved in the song which are I (Tracy), Penny and the
Ensemble.
Tracy: I can hear the bells
Penny: Tracy, are you alright?
Tracy: Well, don'tcha hear them chime?
Penny: I don't hear anything..
Tracy: Can't 'cha feel my heartbeat keeping perfect time?
And all because he...
Touched me
He looked at me and stared, yes he
Bumped me
My heart was unprepared when he
Tapped me
And knocked me off my feet
One little touch
Now my life's complete 'cause when he
Nudged me
Love put me in a fix, yes it
Hit me
Just like a ton of bricks, yes my
Heart burst
Now I know what life's about
One little touch
And love's knocked me out and,
Tracy (& ensemble):I can hear the bells
My head is spinningI can hear the bells
Something's beginning
Everybody says
That a girl who looks like me
Can't win his love
Well, just wait and see 'cause
I can hear the bells
Just hear them chiming
I can hear the bells
My temp'rature's climbing
I can't contain my joy
'Cause I fin'ly found the boy
I've been missin'
Listen!
I can hear the bells
Round one
He'll ask me on a date and then
Round two
I'll primp, but won't late because
Round three's
When we kiss inside his car
Won't go all the way
But i'll go pretty far!
Round four
He'll ask me for my hand and then
Round five
We'll book the wedding band so by
Round six
Amber, much to your surprise
This heavyweight champion
Takes the prize and...
I can hear the bells
My ears are ringing
I can hear the bells
The bridesmaids are singing
Everybody says
That a guy who's such a gem
Won't look my way
Well, the laugh's on them 'cause
I can hear the bells
My father will smile
I can hear the bells
As he walks me down the aisle
My mother starts to cry
But I can't see 'cause Link and I
Are french kissin'
Listen!
I can hear the bells
I can hear the bells
My head is reeling
I can hear the bells
I can't stop the pealing
Everybody warns
That he won't like what he'll see
But I know that he'll look
Inside of me yeah,
I can hear the bells
Today's just the start 'cause
I can hear the bells
And 'til death do us part
And even when we die
We'll look down from up above
Remembering the night
That we two fell in love
We both will share a tear
And he'll whisper as we're reminiscin'
Listen!
I can hear the bells
Ensemble: She can hear the bells
Tracy: I can hear the bells
Ensemble: She can hear the bells
Tracy: I can hear the bells
Ensemble: Bum, bum, bum, bum!
I have been doing my research on how I would like it to look like
roughly on stage and below I have attached a video that I found on YouTube.
This is the closest that I have found on how I want it to roughly be and look
like- I will obviously make it more of my own and have different props on
stage.
I have been comparing all of the hairspray productions together.
The original 1988 production with the actress Divine in it and the
Broadway theatre production and the Modern version with Zac Effron in it.
Watching all of these I have noticed how different it is compared to the
original. John Water was the director of this production and I found that it
was more of a romantic comedy with music init. It was more based around how Water
grew up in his childhood and about the racial segregation.
The modern one is based on the original, but it isn't exactly the same
as the original as in the modern one, there is new songs and new choreographic
movements. The only thing that is pretty much the same is the look of the
characters and the costume designs are somehow similar but improved since the 1988 film. The new one has singing where
they would sing in almost in every scene and sing their emotions and how they
are feeling at the time. However, in the original most of the singing and music parts would happen in 'Corney Collins Show' where all the ''cool'' and
''popular'' kids would go dance and sing.
Tracy's dream was to go on the 'Corney Collins
Show' but people took her for a joke because she wasn't popular and they
made fun of her weight because she is fat and wants to dance. So in my scene
that I will be doing, I will have to keep in mind that people look down on
Tracy and don't acknowledge her. What I like about Tracy is that no matter what
people say she still acts herself and follows her dream in becoming a dancer on The Corney
Collins Show. She is a fun, friendly, bubbly character that doesn't judge
people.
20/04/2016
The only changes that I really made since my original proposal was
changing the whole song. My new proposal has been changed this week by me
realises that instead of just three characters on stage, I need more and so I
have now got an ensemble for the song. This ensemble will be the popular kids
in school looking down on me but also, they will be doing some choreographic
movements. For example, in the song when Tracy is ''imagining'' she sings about
getting married and so at this point I had the idea of the ensemble making two
lines to implicate that it is an isle for Tracy and Link to walk down with
confetti getting thrown in the air. This week I mainly worked with my class to
give them an idea on how I want the whole thing to look like and be set up. I
even used things like paper and yoga matts to mark what is what. The papers
where in a horizontal line on stage and indicated that they were lockers- this
is where the girls would be mainly at giggling and looking pretty. The yoga
matt is where Link and 3 other friends are, the yoga matt is a table that they
are around and Link's back is facing towards Tracy when she enters from front
stage left.
My role hasn't really changed what I am finding hard the most is making
up the little movements for the ensemble that I decided to add a few days ago.
And because it is quite a long song I don't want the same movements to be made
again and again as it will make it seemed dragged on and boring. Next week is
when I am going to focus on the movements for the ensemble. Another thing that
has changed is that the ensemble is also singing in 3rd harmonies with me when
it comes to the chorus and final bit of the song. All they are doing is just
longing out the words for example, when I sing the chorus ''I can hear the
bells'' they sing the word ''bells'' with me but they hold on to their notes
while I sing on top ''Just hear them chiming'' it just sounds more full and musical.
Because As well being a main character in the performance, I am also a director
which is hard because I have to make sure everyone is doing the right thing at
the same time and it can be hard because not everyone is always focused because
it is a long day of doing different rehearsals and everyone wants to do theirs-
luckily Caleyah made a time table which came in really handy, I will be putting
it on my blog very soon.
The main research I have so far done is actually looking at costumes and
looking into each character and seeing what their personality is like so I can
explain to the actors playing the role, what they may need to think about and
how they may need to position themselves on stage. I have also watched the two
films of hairspray 1988 and 2007 one which gave me a couple ideas on how I may
need some of my choreography to look like. The main research sources I have
been on is Wikipedia and YouTube to get the instrumental. The only thing with
the instrumental that I am using is that it has backing vocals. Luckily my
singing teacher, Philip has found a version without them and it sounds much
more professional and clean. He sent the one he found via email.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hairspray_(2007_film) this
website of the 2007 film has helped me out with who the characters are and how
they are seen by others. Wikipedia is one of the most handy search engines that
I have been using. The research I have been doing about the whole show has
helps me a lot. I liked the way how Tracy looked dreamy throughout the whole ''I can hear the bells'' scene and how she was barging past people and smiling. In
the theatre production, I liked how the ensemble had bells in their hands and
every time a bell went off in the instrumental the ensemble rang a bell one by
one. I also liked the idea of time freezing as soon as Link touched her and
everything turned into how everything looks in her head and how suddenly
everyone are noticing her and her and Link are holding hands but as soon as the
song is over, everyone gets back into their positions of how they started with
and Tracy is standing in the middle of the stage looking dreamy and full of
happiness. I really liked that idea and I am actually going to use it but make
some choreographic changes which I haven't decided what to do yet.
From the link above, I have looked at the three main characters in the
section where it says ''Cast'' which gave me an insight on what they are like
even though I have done this show before and I already know, it was to just
refresh my mine.
I have been watching the modern film of hairspray and a few Broadway clips on
YouTube for some inspirational ideas on how I may need to present myself on
stage etc. I gained from this research that Tracy is just an overweight,
unpopular girl in high school that is all for segregation. Her dream is to be
on her favourite dance show called 'The Corney Collins Show' to dance and show
of her moves. She then later achieves her dream and in the end she is adored by
everyone and even ends up with her big school crush Link.
As well as working on my own musical piece, I am also collaborating in
Maddison's piece which is called 'Time Warp'' I have my own verse to sing and I
have also been learning choreography to this song with the rest of the class. I
am having a lot of fun doing this but it can be stressful at times because I
have so much work to do with such little time. The other piece that I am
collaborating in is Esthers musical piece which is from the musical film Annie.
It is with the whole class and we are singing the song 'It’s the hard knock
life'. Rehearsals are going alright as we are all following the time table.
Before my rehearsals, I make sure that everyone is warmed up vocally and
also physically. I start of the rehearsals by doing a quick vocal exercise
which involves doing some lip trills, sirens and going up and down the scale on
piano. For physical warm ups, I don't really need to do anything because
everyone is already warmed up from rehearsing beforehand so that comes in handy
as not much time is getting wasted. I am trying to make my rehearsals be as fun
as possible because I know that some people lose concentration really easily in
my class so I have been talking to everyone and always give them positive
feedback. What I need to do next is sort out some proper choreography for next
week and shows the class. By next week I will have my choreography finished.
The last two terms have helped me mainly on how to work as a team and
even technically. For the first term it gave me a chance to realise how hard it
is to sing and dance at the same time and so since the beginning, my stamina
has improved a lot. I have also been making sure that everyone’s feet always
stays pointed when they are making a dance move.
Today as a group, we discussed and sorted out the backstage roles.
This is what we came up with:
REHERSAL DIRECTOR- Caleyah/Lauren (me)
COSTUME- Blessing
WARDROBE ASSISTANCE- Rhiann
PROPS- Esther/Jahmai
POSTER- Ellie
PROGRAMME- Maddie
SOUND- Panashe
LIGHTING- Tashan/Blessing
VIDEOGRAPHER- Tashan
My role is important to the success of our production because it is my
duty to make sure that everyone is warmed up and ready to start rehearsing. I
have to make sure that I have a time table and rehearsal plan for the day. I
will organise myself by being the first one to arrive on the day and make sure
that everything is all here and everyone is coming in on time.
REHEARSAL
TIMETABLE:
MORNING
AFTERNOON
TOTALHOURS
MONDAY
Annie/Time(w)/Carnival
Hairspray/Hip Hop/Spoken works
Costume/ Group discussion
6 HOURS
TUESDAY
N/A
N/A
N/A
WEDNESDAY
War brides (Ellie)
N/A - Enrichment
1 HOUR
THURSDAY
N/A
Annie/Evolution of music/ Hairspray
2 HOURS 1/2
FRIDAY
Hip hop/Annie/War brides/ Spoken words
Time(w)/ Hairspray
4 HOURS
I have finally worked out the short acting scene bit before Tracy starts to sing. This is from the broadway version and because it is so short I memorised it from watching the broadway clip on youtube. Here it is below;
*PENNY AND TRACY WALK ON STAGE IN THE CORRIDOOR
NEAR THE LOCKERS
THE GIRLS BOTH PAUSE WHEN SEEING LINK*
PENNY: Look Tracy- It's LINKKK!
TRACY: So close and yet so far away
*LINK IS TALKING TO FRIENDS AT TABLE AND LAUGHS. HE ACCIDENTALLY
BUMPS INTO TRACY AND ACHKNOWLEDGES WHO SHE IS FOR THE FIRST TIME*
LINK: Sorry lil'darlin, didn't mean to dent your
doo
*LINK WALKS AWAY AND EVERYONE AROUND HER FREEZES
EXCEPT PENNY*
Today we showed the whole class what we have so far and gave each other
some feedback on what we though were good and what could need improving
on.
Below is some feedback that I got which involves my strengths,
weaknesses and what I know need to do to improve my performance.
My main feedback was to completely finish and polish my choreography for
the ensemble. I 100% agree with my class because I know that this is the only
weakness that is holding me down. I thought that it would be easy to make
choreography to this song but if I'm being honest, I am finding it really
challenging and stressful because everyone’s piece is finished and just needs
to be tidied up- but mine needs 1 minuet and a half of movement. This I know
for sure is something I need to work on.
I also had some feedback from one of my class mates saying that I need
more chemistry with Link and it needs to be more about Tracy and Link rather
than the ensemble. This was good feedback for me to receive because it made me
think that I'm overthinking the ensemble movements and I need to just give them
more subtle things to do.
My role contributes to the success of this project because I have to
make sure that everyone is together as a team and making sure we all act professionally.
As the rehearsal director, it is also my job to make sure that everyone is
vocally warmed up and also physically so everyone is ready to work to their
best ability. My role is also even more important because it is my job to point
out what is going well and what isn't.
Questions for blog/log;
Warmed up- why?
Before rehearsing, I have to make sure that everyone is vocally warmed
up as the ensemble is singing in a 3 part harmony with me at some point in the
song. Philip, who is my singing teacher gave me a few warm ups to do which
involves lip trills, tongue twisters and sirens. It is important for me to warm
up as well as the ensemble because I have to make sure that my voice is ready
for me to sing the best that I can. It is also important because I wouldn't
want to stretch or damage anything before the show. For any physical
warm ups, there isn't much to do as everyone has been rehearsing all day and up
and so everyone is already warmed up which is good because it doesn't waste any
time.
Targets today- achieved or not? Going forward?
My target isn't fully achieved yet even though I have done a lot today.
I still need to focus on my choreography for the ensemble but I am still
finding it hard because I don't want to overdo it because if I was to make big
movements it takes away the story and focus of the song and so the audience
will focus more on the ensemble rather than me and Link. Today I had a change
in the person who is playing the character Link. Panashe didn't want to be Link
and so that left Jahmai to take on the role and I am happy about that. I am
going forward but I feel like I am going forward extremely slow and so I need
to up my game and start focusing and working hard 10 times harder than I
already am.
What decisions have you been making today as you
progress/
what feedback have you been given and how is
this helping you shape the piece? Today I got a lot done in Sharon's class which I am
extremely happy about. Most of my choreography is done and cleaned up. I have
also made my acting scene look tidier and everyone now knows what they're
doing. All I need to actually do is finish of the rest of my choreography and
fill in the empty spaces of choreography when I am singing.
What sources and approaches are you using outside the
rehearsal room to assist with progress?
The only thing I am actually using right now is the backing track of the
song and learning the lyrics from the back of my hand. I am just mainly working
on myself and making sure I sing with an American accent perfecting it. Acting
class with Sharon has actually helped me improve a lot also as she keeps
reminding me to articulate and project my voice towards the audience. I also
need to remember to never turn my back to the audience as I have a habit of
that sometimes and forget that it looks unprofessional and the audience won't
be able to hear me.
Blog questions/answers:
Over the
past week I have changed pretty much most of the choreography I started off
with because it didn't set the mood of the song and it looked to fake as the
dancing looked forced and repetitive. I found it really hard at the start
because coming up with choreography to the song was hard and singing at the
same time I found was quite difficult for me. But we all managed to get through
it in the end and I adapted the choreography that I saw in the Broadway video
from YouTube. I liked how the Broadway version was because I liked the idea of
the chorus making it more full and dreamy. I was recently looking at what kind
of lighting I wanted and decided to use dreamy colours like pink and purple and
orange- all of them type of colours. I also was looking at the smoke machine
affect and asked the lighting technician Jack to see what he can do. The whole
point in the lighting was to see the transformation of what Tracy is feeling
and seeing from when Link didn't touch her and after he touched her. I also
made a isle out of the chorus so it looks like I am walking down on my wedding
day and Link is at the very end waiting for me. I also changed the bells in the
hand to touches so the chorus can shine the light on me and Link and make it
look light and eye catching to the audience.
Since last week’s milestone presentation- I have changed and adapted
pretty much everything because to me, everything felt very repetitive and there
were a lot of empty spaces of choreography missing. I also had a talk with the
whole group and made sure that they should be in character always and I told
them how I want to see the transformation from them looking down on me at the
start and then suddenly looking happy and dreamy as soon as I start singing.
For the girls in the corner near the lockers, I made up a little something for
them to do which was just flow around each other and move around in circles
filling in gaps of each other and just looking pretty in there dresses because
for me, costume was just important and gave that something extra that the song
actually needed. For me, I just had to finish and polish of the choreography
and I have done so. Everyone seems happier with the choreography and is more
focused which makes everything more easier to work as a group and get things
done. Also, we made some changes in the vocals in the song and I put a stop to
the harmonies in the chorus group because not everyone could do them and some
people found it hard.
I worked and rehearsed by making sure that everyone knows what they are
doing and I also made sure that if there was one mistake that was made, I was
start the whole thing from the top until everyone was confident and got
everything right. I made sure that everyone made their movements big and made
sure that they kept smiling and looked full of energy. I also made sure that
everyone’s eye level was up during the whole rehearsals so they would get used
to it when performing in front of an audience. I worked individually by doing
my singing at home and going over and over the song until I felt confident
enough as the song is pretty high for me. When I see my singing teacher Philip,
I am going to ask him if he can bring it a semitone down if it is even
possible.
I have worked to finalise my technical aspects
of my proposal by watching the second year performance I recently watched and
gathering some ideas that I quite liked and thought what would fit in nicely
for my proposal. I quite liked the spotlight and will use that at some point in my piece when talking to the lighting technician Jack. Most of my
lighting ideas have been in my head and on paper as I already know what I
actually want and don't actually need to do any research which makes everything more simple. I will be writing about my lighting ideas more later on in my blog. All I need to do know to finalise these arrangements is talk to
Jack and explain to him what I want and when I want it. I will do this when we
go through a tech run through of the show. Having these elements in the show
will add so much more to my proposal and make it seem more of a real taste in
atmosphere. This will give the audience a guide on how to feel and what
emotions I am feeling at the time.
Working with the costume designer has been one of the most stressful
things that I have had to deal with throughout the whole build up to the show.
It was very last minute when we was told that we don't have any costumes for
hairspray so the ensemble had to bring in their own clothes last minute and we
had to make do with the costumes that the college already- during the show
week. Blessing ordered the hairspray wig last minuet and we was all thinking it
wasn't going to come on time and there was just a lot of stress going on. We
all spoke after and sorted everything out and rose above everything which is
what we needed to do. We had to find a costume for me that communicated me as a
big girl that is in school. I had to have a big hairstyle that would set the
60s mood more and wore white long socks to make myself look younger. It was an
extremely short dress but I was able to move in it which was a benefit because
I had a fat suit underneath me.
The only things that I need to prioritise the most right now to ensure
my proposal is ready- is just the timing of the ensemble and make sure there
movements are big and smiley. I need to also make sure that there is chemistry
between Tracy and Link which I can do that in no time. I am also going to
question Philip about bringing the track a semi tone down which I feel quite
confident he will be able to do that. The work I have now I am pretty happy
about. Compared to the previous choreography I had- It is so much better and
more organised. Everyone seems more ready to work as we don't have long left
till performance week. The only research I could probably do is to just have a
look at lighting even though I already have in mind what I want- but it's just
to give me more options and ideas for me.
Everything fit in really well; I am now ready to perform.
Technical rehearsal week- Part 1 (Friday/Monday)
6th/9th May
One of
the easiest things in the technical rehearsal was deciding what kind of
lighting and fades I need. Because it was a dreamy song I wanted the audience
to see the change from the acting scene in to the song. So I decided to have
the same lighting throughout the acting scene which was a warm effect that
allowed the audience to see all the actors on stage but focused on Tracy and
Penny more so the audience would know where to look and once Link spoke it
would light up also more on him. This worked really smoothly and once the
song played I decided to have dreamy lighting effects throughout that were
pink, purple, blue kind of effects which went really well and as the song was
building up more I asked the technician, Jack to add in some smoke to give it
that even more dreamier effect. I was really happy with all the lighting as it
was how I imagined it all in my head. Coming towards the very end of the
song I wanted the audience to once more see the transformation from Tracy's
dream world back into reality and so I finished it off with the spot light on
me back into the spot I Tracy was in where Link touched her and then Penny
jumping in Tracy's spotlight and hitting her on the head in sync with the music
and then lights went out.
The only problems that occurred in the tech rehearsal were the backing
track as I was still in the process of waiting for Philip to sort it out for
me. It was high and out of my comfort zone which made me thought more about how
I sing and made me forget the lyrics. One other thing would be the circle bits
in the middle of the song were the ensemble would gather around Tracy and Link
in a circle and do some movements. I later on changed the circle movements into
something more basic and easier to remember as some other the dancers were
stepping the wrong was or stepping onto each other which looked pretty messy.
As well as working on my proposal piece, I was also in most of my other
class’s performance pieces and had to learn other choreography moves, lyrics
and also be my own character at the same time. I was in Annie- It’s The Hard
Knock Life which was directed by Esther, I was in Rocky Horror- Time warp-
Directed by Maddie, I was in Carnival- Directed by Rhiann, Hip-hop dance piece-
Directed by Caleyah and other ballet pieces like ballet- Romeo and Juliet and
also Waterloo sunset. This was what made the whole show a challenge but also
fun and something to remember. It was challenging because of the rush of
changing and having 10 seconds to change till the next performance. We all got
through and made a great show, we just need to perfect the changing part and
being faster so the audience isn't left waiting.
After the tech run through, we all as a whole group realised our weaknesses
from the show and stayed behind for 2 hours extra sorting out and tidying up
our collaborative pieces we were all in. Once thing we had to work on the most
was the Annie performance because a lot of people wasn't comfortable with the
key of the song and it was out of most of our vocal rage. The other thing about
the performance was the choreographic side as it looked messy and some people
didn't know what they were doing. We finished off with Annie and worked on the
vocals and you could see such a huge difference in energy once we all realised
we need to all work together because if one person doesn't look good, it puts a
downer on the rest of us.
For the other performances that I wasn't in, I stayed behind helping
them out and telling them what is working and what isn't. Most of them were
struggling with making eye contact so I was just encouraging and being
positive.
Full technical and dress run through- Part 2 (10-11th May)
Once we had everyone’s lighting all sorted out and costume, we then the
next day done a full tech and dress run through and on the 11th performing it
to a small group that was the second years in the same class as us.
The strengths was that we all worked extremely well as a group to make
the show happen and make everyone else's proposals perfect and the way they
should be. We always gave each other some critical feedback on what we could do
better which is what I love. We all listen to each other which is one of the
main things you need when working on a show. The only weakness I would say
would be we still need to work on our timing for when back stage, changing into
our next costume because the audience on Wednesday was kept waiting for a few
minutes which isn't what we want at all.
I know that also for the group performances we need to put in so much
energy or else it will get boring for the audience to watch so we need to add
in more character to it and make it actually look like a show and that we want
to be there.
The only issue for me backstage was changing into the fat suit. It was a two person job to put the outfit on but because the costume
designer was doing something else, I struggled quite a bit and it took me quite
a while and my costume wasn't on properly as I looked more pregnant than fat. I
spoke to Blessing after and she said for the next show she will definitely be
helping me so it doesn't delay me.
Luckily though out my rehearsal and performances, there was no technical
issues that arose and everything ran really smoothly thankfully.
For the other performances that I was in, we all
got some feedback from the second years that was watching. They said that we
all need to be so much louder and our energy levels need to rise. We already
know this, we just need to work on it and so we stayed behind and got a lot
done that day once again- all we need to remember is to make sure our
energy levels are high. Once someone says ''energy'' we suddenly become full of
energy when performing- the way it should be. The other feedback we got from the second years was
that everyone needs to look like they're having fun rather than dead. Eye level
with the group pieces was one of the other main things we need to make as some
people where looking down or just looking in one spot only. Another thing we
got told in our group pieces was to recognise each other on stage and have any
sort of connection instead of looking like strangers on stage because it looks
odd and uncomfortable to watch which I can imagine.
The only main feedback that I got was to not move about so much because
it is distracting and shows that I look nervous or don't know what to do. I
also got told to sing even louder when I start walking towards the back because
from the audience point of view they couldn't hear as much as when I was at the
front signing and so I took that feedback in.
We as a group used the dress runs very seriously and it was a good thing
we had a few dress runs before the actual show because we all didn't realise
how hard it would be and how alert we need to be to know who goes on next and
who comes on from what side. It helped so much because Tuesday and Wednesday
made us all think how quick we need to be to not keep our audience waiting
sitting in silence.
We used our remaining time trying to make every single performance
perfected even though it was impossible because no show is perfect but this
spare time just gave us more of a chance to tidy up some choreography and
setting out props.
As well as rehearsing our performance, it was also important to make
sure we are organised with our own clothes that we have to bring in and our own
props. A lot of the ensemble brought in their own 60 outfits which were nice
flowy bright dresses. Talking about preparation, it was also important that our
bodies and vocals were warmed up so I done some vocal warm ups with Panashe
doing a few lip trills and sirens and going up and down the scale and doing
some breathing techniques. It was also important that we had all of our
costumes and make up all prepared and organised for the next performance so that
there would be no issues or anyone stressing saying they can't find anything.
My other assigned roll was to be the rehearsal director with Caleyah and
also the singing warm ups with Panashe.
Strengths: I knew what I was doing and what quick warm ups I
need to do so that people wouldn't get bored or distracted. Even though it took
a while to get peoples attention, I still got through it- it just took longer
than expected. One of my main strengths was that I was organised and loud. I
was understanding while being a rehearsal director but I had to remember to
have that slight strictness because at times people would want to make jokes
with me and try to make me laugh. Thankfully I found that working in the
changing room would be better, and it worked even more coming towards the show
because people was nervous and so we would just do some quick breathing and
scale techniques.
Weaknesses: It was hard getting everyone’s full attention at
times because a lot of people get distracted and start to have different conversations
so I figured that I was better off doing it in the changing room where everyone
was in a small room and more chilled. I found it harder when we were in the
theatre and everyone was in a circle looking because not many was taking it
seriously.
When being the rehearsal director I found it hard because I would have
little arguments with people when they didn't agree with me or when people were
''tired'' to work to the best of their ability.
CHANGES BEFORE PERFORMANCE ROUND THE CORNER:
On the performance day the wig thankfully came so the costume was all
complete and everyone had everything which made everything less stressful.
The only thing I had to change was mainly the ensemble when circling
Tracy and Link in the middle, I just had to tidy up the steps and make sure
that everyone was doing the right thing while I sat out watching them to see
what was going on as some people would be stepping at the wrong time which made
it look messy. Once that was sorted Philip finally got back to me about the track
and told me he found a version that is a semitone down, I tried it and I felt
so much better in myself, my voice didn't break and it just made me feel even
more ready for the performance today because I had no worries about stressing
my voice and hearing it break as it is out of my vocal range. I done a quick
run through with everyone to make sure that everyone got use to the semitone
down version and it just worked out really well in the end.
Everything fit in really well; I am now ready to perform for tomorrow.
EVALUATION:
MY PROPOSAL
My research mainly sourced from YouTube videos, Wikipedia and the film
itself.
YouTube benefited me a lot by giving me a chance to see a different
insight of the scene and gave me ideas on the staging and the acting from the
ensemble part. For example, I changed the bells in the hand to torches due to
the level of effect a light would have on my audience as its more intense
especially towards the end when the ensemble was circling Tracy and Link
and done a movement with the touches that really fitted in well with song and
atmosphere.
Wikipedia gave me a vivid perspective of the play with more
understanding due to the depth text can go into; I came away with a better
grasp of each character being showcased allowing me to correctly choose my
cast. Watching the film helped me in a different way to the two others, it
allowed me to observe the way they presented each character and how they wanted
them to be portrayed, in addition it also inspired me on which costumes would fit
my cast.
Doing this research has helped me a lot, inspiring me on how to create
my play and what the audience are more engaged to it also allowed the quality
of my ideas to improve.
The most effective research for me would have been when looking at the
Broadway clip on YouTube of my chosen proposal piece. The reason being because
it gave me an overall view on how it should feel and look like- this for me is
what actually helped me the most with the ideas because I realised that I can't
be over the top with the ensemble movements and it should be mainly focused on
Link and Tracy.
Over the period of this project I have gained experience and knowledge
of being backstage where I’ve had the opportunity to exercise my preparation,
organisation and communication skills in order for things to run smoothly. It
has also helped me to deal with my stress levels as sometimes it can get quite
a bit difficult because everyone feels under pressure or is rushing to get
changed for the next piece. I also learnt in a way- to actually listen to my
class mates to hear any feedback that they are giving me or something they feel
that I can improve on or isn't working. Most of all, from this whole
experience, I have learnt how to work and communicate as a team. Because it was
are first time we was all so nervous and everything felt quite rushed, but we
got there and made a great show by the end. One of the main things that I have
to add is that you have to always, always make sure that every single rehearsal
is full of energy and your all because if one doesn't put in the good work and
effort, the we are all going down and won't be looking as good as we should be.
I started with a group discussion when talking about my project. I was
establishing the individual roles and responsibilities to my class and showed
them the clip of the Broadway version and told them my thoughts and ideas on
how I would like to expand of it more and make some slight changes with
lighting- which were to make it look more dreamy and have some effects in like
the smoke machine to show the difference between two worlds, and they loved the
idea of it. I explained to the girls in the ensemble how I want them to be
girly and sway there dresses. They helped me a lot because they naturally had
that perfect dreamy attitude. Also, they collaborated with me by bringing in
their own costumes of the 60s dresses which helped massively because there were
hardly any 60 dresses in the costume room in our college.As for the boys, I told them to just act ''cool'' and vain which is what
most of the boys in hairspray are- especially Link. They collaborated with me
by also following the choreography I was giving them and taking it in without
coming back the next day saying they forgot it. This helped a lot for me and
coming towards the show I actually felt less stressed.
The performance of the ensemble and the characters Penny and Link help
so much with the progress because when everyone was here and listening, a lot
of things would get done with. They helped me out a lot by giving me some
constructive criticism and just being straight up with me about what they think
doesn't look right. I remember when I first started off with the whole
choreography Panashe which was in the ensemble told me that he thinks it needs
to be more about 'Tracy and Link' instead of Tracy being a part of the
ensemble. He made me realise where I was going wrong. I was overthinking the
choreography way too much and instead I need to make more of that connection
with Link. Sometimes we would have our bad days when some people would get
distracted easily and would make it hard for me to teach and share my ideas,
but we usually got through to it in the end and it always turned out into a
productive lesson.
In the future, I would say that the only thing I would probably change
is to add even more energy and exaggeration of when Link touches Tracy. Next
time, I will also change the script up to something more of my own and have a
few comedic moments in it but still keep it short and sweet before the song
starts. One other thing I would work on next time is to make the choreography
cleaner and make the movements bigger and exaggerated. I learnt that repeating
things again can be extremely boring from the audience’s perspective and so I
had to make sure I don't repeat myself to much with what I make the ensemble
do.
This links to my goals for progression because I now know what I need to
consider when making up choreography, I need to think more out of the box
rather than in it because I was over thinking way too much and stressing myself
out about making ''right'' choreography when really there is no right. It’s how
you want it to be; only just I was trying to hard so it started then looking
like a dance piece...
MY COLLABORATIVE WORK
I contributed to the collaboration process of 'Annie' by being one
of the orphans and having to stay in that kiddy character constantly. I was
following the choreography that the director of the show, Esther made. I gave
her a few ideas on helping her with what I think works and what is looking too
repetitive and she took it in and made some better moves. I also helped Esther
with projecting her voice more because she has the habit of going into her head
voice a lot after singing a strong bit loud and clear. So instead of going into
her head voice, I said to her to just speak the words in time with the song in
her American accent.
In 'Time Warp' I was the Maid character init. Maddie, who was the
director said that I just have to be weird and showed me a video from YouTube
of the actual song from the film. This was one of my favourite pieces of the
song because it was so very catchy and the costumes were pretty cool. During
the process I was trying out different, weird voices but it didn't work that
well out for me as I kept losing the accents so to make it easier I just ended
up projecting my voice extra loud and made my body language more weird.
In 'Old School hip-hop' by being one of the dancers of the group.
For me the dancing shows were the hardest because singing is more of my
stronger sides. I found it hard at first because I was thinking that my
movement memory isn't all that, but it turned out it actually has improved a
hell of a lot and that I am happy about.
In 'Annie' you needed to be able to adapt to a different character and
staying init. One of the main skills that you needed for this was projection
and little girl/ boy attitude. We projected our voices by shouting and
articulating our words. The choreographic side was big movements and being
playful with one another. You needed that connection on stage with Annie and so
we had to interact with one another by either play fighting or doing something
like skipping.
Connection as a team needed to be one of the main skills that you need
for 'Time Warp' especially when performing it. We used this by always looking
at each other the start of the performance is a great example because we are
all crawling on stage while in deep contact with one another moving into the
beat of the music. You also need to be interacting with the audience and I done
this by actually looking at the audience and singing out my lines ''I see all''
and pointed at them. Eye contact was always up and the projection of my voice
was loud and clear for the audience to hear and understand.
Movement memory was one of the skills I needed for this piece and I used
this by remembering the moves naturally but in deep concentration when it was
shown to me. You also needed good, sharp timing for this song because some
moves where quick and if u do it out of time it makes the whole group not look
as good.
My skills developed from 'Annie' because it gave me a chance to sing in
a vocal range that was out of my comfort zone, but doing this made my
confidence go up and made me realise that I have to look and feel comfortable
on stage. It helped develop my skills in being a different character and having
to not slip out of that role. I also learnt that if sometime goes wrong in
stage for example, my broom at the end fell off during a show and I just had to
get on with it and not react while the audience members were laughing. This
helped develop my concentration in performing skills because I didn't corpse or
show the audience that I made a mistake.
My skills developed from 'Time Warp' because it made me realise
the energy levels that need to go into this song because it is such a popular
song that everyone loves and knows. Keeping that connection one stage was the
one development I felt improved the most because I usually don't make
connections of stage. I realised that having that connection on stage can add
so much more to the show and make it look 10 times better- especially if you're
interacting and keeping your eye levels up to the audience at the same time.
My skills developed from 'Old School hip-hop' by helping me feel and be
more confident about dance. Although I'm not a dancer, it gave me the chance to
actually know what it feels like to be in just an upbeat dance performance.
This helped with my timing and movement memory a lot because I felt that since
then it has improved so much.
My additional role was being in charge with Panashe with the vocal warm
ups and also being the rehearsal director. This contributed to the overall
success for the final show because it was my duty to make sure that everyone is
vocally warmed up so they can sing to the best of their ability without
straining any muscles in the neck. The breathing techniques that I was doing
helped a lot because not everyone in the group are singers- more stronger
dancers so they needed help with projection and breathing properly in from the
diaphragm.
Being the rehearsal director has helped contribute to the overall
success too by allowing me to be watching the show in rehearsals from the
audiences perspective and seeing what they're doing wrong. Most of it was
just mainly keeping their eyes up at the audience and not looking down
and also bringing the energy back up because sometimes (and we all have a habit
of it) we allow the energy to go down because it either been a long day and
we're tired. It has also allowed me to actually see where people are going
wrong in dace formations, and this was mainly occurring in 'Carnival Dance' at
the very start of the song but they got it in the end. Also, in 'Annie' when
singing the chorus people wouldn't be paying enough attention to their
surroundings and formations which was a huge habit because the mistake was
being made over and over again- even I was out cause out of my formation.
I learned from this experience to be more organised because
un-organisation leads to stress, and stress leads to arguing with people that
you're working with. As a whole group, I know that next time it will be much
better as we know what we are doing. I have more of an understanding of how
alert you need to be backstage and there is hardly any time to sit down- there
is no time to sit down for a break!
From this
experience I felt that at the start of the whole collaborative work, there was
a lack in communication which leads up to stress coming towards the show
because everyone was unorganised. I will use this whole experience in the
future for my next show coming up by making sure that my communication skills
are stronger. Below are the tech rehearsal run through from the 11th-12th of May:
