Unit 1 & 2 Induction

Project Workshop 17/09/18

To warm up and loosen up our bodies we walked around the room in different speeds. This also helped us with spacial awareness.
We worked in groups to create a story within movements. At first we worked in pairs and created four moves, then we worked with another pair and put each groups moves together to create a new story.

Project Workshop 18.09.18

We played games that encouraged cooperation within the group. We had to get into a tight group and then follow the person at the front (Shaping, shoaling and flocking). This helped team work. We also took part in trust exercises where your partner had to lead you around by their finger however, you had to walk backwards which meant you had to rely on them to make sure you didn't walk into anyone. This encouraged safety and sensibility whilst working together.

Acting 18.09.18

In a pair with Rina we worked on four movements that we could use to create a story. each movement represented a different character or object in the story. Our first movement resembled a tower which was then followed by one that represented a princess. The third movement was a dragon and the fourth was a prince.
We were then grouped up with 3 other people and had to put our movements and their movements together to expand our stories. The story stayed the same except had more movements to exaggerate what was happening. 

Project Workshop 24/09/18

Today in project workshop we worked on how we move according to the world around us and how we feel. For example, how you would move if it were raining and you were going to miss your bus. We created a series of movements that told a story in pairs and then performed this to the rest of the group. I worked with Ghazall to tell the story of two lovers from the moment they met to the moment they got engaged using Labans effort/shape theory. (Force + Time = Dynamic).

We then worked independently to create our own story's with movements about a journey where something happens.

1. Getting off a bus
2. Crossing a busy road
3. Walking down the road in a cheerful mood
4. hears phone ringing in pocket and answers
5. looks around nervously on the phone and begins walking faster
6. looks behind and jumps in fear
7. starts running away
8. trips and rolls around trying to crawl away
9. curls up on floor to hide
10. danger passes and slowly gets up
11. walks away cautiously
12. turns and puts hands up in surrender. 

This story was to give the impression of a criminal trying to hide from the police but eventually getting caught. 

We had to use the 5 degrees of abstract to make our performance more exaggerated but still easy to understand what was going on. The 5 degrees of abstraction is an exercise we were given so that we could begin to exaggerate our movements and make them bigger. We started off with smaller simple movements and then gradually built them up using 5 different stages. By the fifth stage, the movements were large and exaggerated.

Laban - theory of movement

Project Workshop 25 /09/18

Today we learnt more about Laban Theory. Laban is named after Rudolf Laban who was a movement theorist, choreographer and dancer. He believed the body was an instrument of expression and that you could take normal everyday movements and use those to create a dance which would create expression and something new.

The four main aspects to this movement were:

• Direction - direct/indirect
• Weight - heavy/light
• Speed - quick/sustained
• Flow - bound/free

We also learnt about the Eight Efforts:

• Punch
• Slash
• Dab
• Flick
• Press
• Wring
• Glide
• Float

	DIRECTION	SPEED	WEIGHT	FLOW
PUNCH	Direct	Quick	Heavy	Bound
SLASH	Indirect	Quick	Heavy	Free
DAB	Direct	Quick	Light	Bound
FLICK	Indirect	Quick	Light	Free
PRESS	Direct	Sustained	Heavy	Bound
WRING	Indirect	Sustained	Heavy	Bound
GLIDE	Direct	Sustained	Light	Free
FLOAT	Indirect	Sustained	Light	Free

In pairs we experimented with these movements:

We then went back to our journey pieces. I was paired up with Nehemie and we showed each other what we had worked on in the previous lesson (Abstracted - 5 Degrees). We discussed how we could combine our movements to create a story. We used what we had learnt about Laban to enhance our movements and better show the story and characters. We found that this also made it easier to show a characters personality.

Acting 25.09.18

We rehearsed the play Medea together as a group and then went off in pairs to rehearse it together. The Medea piece was angry during the start and then softer as it progressed.

Warm ups:

We stretched our mouths to make words so we could make better sound. We also did tongue twisters and matched words to emotions and actions.

I need to work on pronunciations and remembering lines.

I showed my emotions well according to the text.

Project Workshop 01/10/18

We started to work on our piece for the induction performance. Me and my partner, Ghazell, made a large mind map listing different scenarios that could take place at a party and our own characters for the scene. We decided to do a scene where both of Ghazell's boyfriends show up to the party and I try to reason with Ghazell, causing an argument which turns into a big fight. We could only use six lines so we had to make sure we chose the lines carefully so they would make sense to the audience and tell the story. We put movements together with the lines to further show the audience what was happening.

Project Workshop 02/10/18

Today we started learning the group movement piece to go along with our scenes. We were all in lines of 3 and in a tight group. To the beat of the music we had to all clap, then jump and then jump and fist pump the air.

We continued to practice our scenes and decide on timings in which everyone would start their scene.

Acting 02/10/18

Me and Alexandra were put into a group with Leah, Ella and Nehemie so that we could all work on the play together. We were given the second half of the play to divide up so that we all got lines. The other group were given the first part of the play to work on. 

Project Workshop 08/10/18

We warmed up and then continued to practice our induction piece and correct areas of the performance.

Project Workshop 09/10/18

During this lesson we went into the theatre to sort out lighting and music to go along with our performances as well as practice our performances.

Acting 09/10/18

We warmed up our vocals and our face muscles with tongue twisters, face movements and humming. We took the two separate groups for Medea and joined them together to make one big group. One group had the first part and my group had the second part. We all rehearsed it together and added on certain improvements, such as the second group was not supposed to come on when the first group did and instead come on a bit later to make it look like we were just gaining interest.

Performances 10/10/18

UAL L3 Performing and Production Arts                                    

(Dance/Musical Theatre) Year 1, Units 1 & 2
Induction performances evaluation/review
 

Medea - Acting

In our first lesson of learning Medea we stood in a circle and went around with each person reading a line. For each line I got I made sure to show emotion that further emphasised how the line was intended to sound and what effect it was meant to have on the audience. This helped the group get a feeling of whether Medea was a sad, happy or angry piece.

Medea has a mix of emotions as it starts off very Aggressive and worried but as the piece progresses it becomes softer and kinder towards Medea.

We progressed by being paired off in groups of two so that we could practise acting out Medea which is originally a one-person act. This prepared us for when we were to act out all of Medea as a larger group. By dividing lines between two people, it later helped us divide the lines by a larger group and helped us make sure we could divide the lines in a way that made sense.

Finally, we joined the two groups together and rehearsed together, one group doing the first section and the other doing the second section. We all had to work together to make sure the piece was entertaining and made sense to the audience.

The performance went well but as a group we could have projected more and practised more so that we could get our lines correct. I did my line well, "I've got to talk to you. Listen to me girl, have some sense, will you?", because I was good at projecting and acting out my emotions. I think I could have exaggerated slightly more with my movements throughout the piece in between lines and reacted more to what other people were saying. Everybody entering at different points during the performance worked really well because it made the piece more realistic helped to engage the audience.

One Short Day - Musical Theatre

In our first lesson of working on One Short Day from Wicked, we began by creating our own character to become within our performance. We had to make a name out of our own name using only five letters. We then had to choose three characteristics for our character. I decided on loud, friendly and easily impressed. The name I chose for my character was Silas. We then had to audition for the two main leads in the song. I chose to sing ‘when he sees me’ from Waitress and got given feedback from the teacher and the rest of the group. They told me not to hold back when coming to a higher note and to believe in myself more. Once we had done this we were able to start learning the dance to song. I struggled at first because it was quite fast paste and I had never danced before however, with more practice I was able to do it well.

In our singing lessons we started learning One Short Day along to the piano. There is a really long note in the first section of the song so Charlie helped us with breathing techniques so that we could hold the note for a long time. I found this difficult because the note was very high and therefore harder to hold, however, with practice I was able to do it. We started off practising the song as a group because the parts hadn’t been decided yet but once they had been decided the two main parts sung their lines and the rest of the group sung the chorus verses.

In musical theatre workshop we practised the dance and added onto it every week and practised singing whilst dancing. I struggled with that slightly because I found myself concentrating more on what I was doing in the dance than what I was singing. To get around this I made sure I knew the song off by heart and practised the dance more so I was more confident. I also associated certain movements to words. In certain parts of the dance the group had problem with space so to overcome this we made sure to space out more and keep a certain amount of space between each person.

In the actual performance we did well projecting our singing whilst dancing and navigating across the stage as a group. We could have improved it as a group if we had looked more enthusiastic and showed more emotion on our faces which would have communicated the excitement of the Emerald city to the audience. I did well remembering most of the dance however, I had one moment where I forgot to pose because I was too focussed on where I should be on the stage. To improve this I could practise on the stage more so I know exactly where to go.

The Party – Project Workshop

We started off by talking about different types of parties as a group with the teacher and then went off into smaller groups to make mind maps of different scenarios that could take place at a party. We had to create our characters and choose a scenario to play out in our scene. Me and Ghazell decided to create a scenario where both her boyfriend’s show up to the party and I tell her she has to choose one of them. This sparks an argument which leads into a large fight. Eventually the police turn up at the party due to underage drinking and I try to get Ghazell to run but she doesn’t listen to me.

Having our scene sorted out we were able to start learning the group dance within the piece. The dance part was meant to represent the start of the party when everyone was starting the arrive. The piece involved a lot of team work because we had to make sure we clapped and jumped in unison. As a group we had trouble with the timings at first and I would often loose count but the more we practised and made sure to count the more we improved.

Once we had perfected the dance we had to add our scenes into the piece so that we all walk out of the group and go off into different spaces in our groups. Me and Ghazell where positioned down stage on the right. After we had all done our scene we were to go back to the middle group and all face the middle of the group whilst dancing. The music for this section was a lot faster and therefore we had to be careful when counting. Once we had faced each side during the dance we all had to begin fighting in slow motion as the music faded out.

The performance went well and everyone remembered their parts and what they needed to do however, as a group we lacked enthusiasm in our movements. To improve it we could have jumped higher and danced about more to make it seem more like a party. Me and Ghazell were good at projecting during our scene however, we could have been stronger with our movements and made it less repetitive. I also couldn’t really hear the other groups so as a group I think we need to work on projecting.

 Evaluative Review – Acting Performances

The level 2 acting students did a large group piece on identity. Within this performance they touched on sensitive subjects such as bullying and self-hate or self-loss. Through their piece they showed acknowledgment that bullying often takes place in school or college and that it can be caused by individuals or large groups. They showed the audience how bullying could cause a person to feel hatred towards themselves or others. The level 3 acting students did much smaller group pieces from Greek plays which was very different to what the level 2 actors did however, some of the Greek pieces were focussed on forms of hatred and loss.

Many sections of the level 2’s performances were delivered well as they showed a lot of emotion within their piece which helped get their points across to the audience. However, I felt that there was a lot of unnecessary swearing in places that didn’t need it. They also had certain characters swearing that didn’t work well with their character or make sense. They should have used less swearing and used more emotion in their movements, and more force in their words to give off the same effect. The level 3 actors were good at delivering their characters and situations through their emotions, body language and speech. However, some students weren’t able to do this and wouldn’t project as much as they needed to. In one specific performance, one of the students had clearly worked very hard and had practised a lot and made sure to stay in character even when things went wrong, whereas the other forget their lines and wasn’t able to project and when forgetting their lines was not able to stay in character.

A specific performance that stood out to me was from a Level 3 acting group, Teigan and Kieran. I had seen this particular performance before in other acting groups but this one was different as Kieran brought comedy into his character to make an upsetting, angry scene more comedic. Teigan showed the upsetting parts of the scene through her character. Both characters were different but complimented the play nicely. This was more entertaining to watch.

The audience to each performance included performing arts students so the age range was about 16-20. Their response to the performances were different depending on the performance. During a funny performance they would laugh and during a sadder performance they would stay quiet. There were some pieces that got a greater response because they were funny and this entertained the audience more. Also, performances that the actors were able to become their character, especially in an angry scene, would cause the audience to react because it was more enjoyable. During a performance the audience is expected to act in a certain way. They should not talk during the performance or sing along to any songs because this is disturbing to the rest of the audience and the actors on stage. You must also never shout out the actors name once they are on stage because once on stage they are their character and it is distracting. After a discussion with my classmates, sharing our experiences within the theatre, I realised it happens a lot more than I believed. I have personal experiences with people in the audience speaking during a play because when I went to see Aladdin in the west end with my family, the people next to us were speaking the entire time. This really ruined the experience for me.