Tuesday, 7 December 2010

week nine in btec performing arts....

Monday 29th November 2010On Monday, we had an ICT lesson. We created the posters, invites, tickets and programs for our examination performance on Friday 10th December. Our theme was blue and silouettes of dancers. Next week i will upload a picture of all the items!
Tuesday 30th November 2010On Tuesday we were in the temporary class rooms. We didnt have much space but we made the best of the resources available! We continuously practiced our DV8 style duo's so that they are perfect for Friday.
Wednesday 1st December 2010

My We will rock you skirt in progress.

WOO, its December. Nearly christmas. Wednesday's lesson was for costume design. In this lesson we constructed our skirts, i used red tartan and the glue dun to assemble it. Obviously its slightly long for the theme 'We will rock you' so i will shorten it and hem it at the bottom









Thursday 2nd December 2010.On Thursday's lesson our research on 'We Will Rock You' was due. I boarded up my research ready to go on display for friday. Here is my board

Sunday, 28 November 2010

an interesting and exciting week in btec performing arts....

This week in btec performing arts we've been doing lots of different things. We've had 3 single lessons and a double. Mainly this week we've been working on our group routines so that they are ready for our first performance on friday the 10th December. I've really enjoyed working on the group routines because half way through the week we'd made some of our dance up and we realise that we didnt like it. So we scrapped some of it and re-chorographed it. Now we're happy with it. We've made it so that everyone in the group is able to do the dance and do it well! The other group have finished their dance so now its pressure to get the dance done but we've all got our own idea's to put together which might be challenging but then again it could be a miracle in the making! Our group has a mixture of talents. We can blend them together to create something unique and possible hilarious and cheesy(we'll have to wait and see if our audience likes it). Our music is quite upbeat so we're trying to blend disco and a DV8 style contemporary together. This is hard because we want to make it up beat and unique, but then we want to be daring and flowing. It can be extremely fustrating at times but then other times it can be wonderfull. This week gave me a real insite to what a choreographer has to be like. Not only do you have to create an outstanding peice of choreography but if your dancers cant perform it, theres no point doing that paticular move? Although this was a slightly concerning thought, i had brilliant fun this week. I'm really enjoying performing arts. Especially as i got a distinction on my DV8 essay, I'm very prid of myself. Even if i do say so myself!.

Also in costume construction we have started constructing our costumes! How exciting! I currently have the top half of my skirt, I need to start making my tartan and denim rosette! which will look really effective! during the week i will try to upload a picture of my costume and rosette!
As for now, I'm off. I hope you've enjoyed hearing my week.

Monday, 22 November 2010

week nine in btec performing arts...

The work we did this week in btec was just our group work. This was both fun and challenging because it was good to work with other people of different abilities but at the same time it was challenging because of the different abilities.
In costume design we boarded our stuff up and annotated them. We put the faces on our models and added the texture into the clothing. This was most of our lessons. Although this doesnt sound much it was extreemly challenging, because you had to take your time with the annotations to make sure that you had it correct.
I enjoyed these lessons because it allowed me to express my ideas on we will rock you! 

Sunday, 14 November 2010

week eight in btec performing arts...

Monday 8th November 2010
On Monday we planned our christmas show! We all sat down and decided who was going to do each job. We all wrote down the jobs, how we are going to set up the hall, catering, risk assessment ect. Our show will be christmas themed. My job was to organise catering, i had to get in touch with the head of the KLSA to ask if they would do our catering. I spoke to the head of the KLSA and they have agreed to do our catering. At the interval we will have mince pies, coffee and tea. We will also have juice and biscuits in case there are children attending. I enjoyed this lesson because it taught us how to use business skills and have a rel insite to what is needed for a good performance. It taught me that its not just the performance that makes the evening, its the setting, company and overall feeling of the area. Comfort is the key.

Tuesday 9th November 2010
On Tuesday we had our double lesson. In the first lesson, we learnt a dance choreographed by Ms Dolan. Its slightly strange and weird but i really like it. It taught us that not everything has to be pretty and perfect, things can be abstract and unique. In the second part of the lesson we worked a bit on our couple routines that are inspired by DV8, also we worked on our group routines. This lesson was unusual but good. It was nice to learn a dance choreographed by someone else, as a little break from constant choreography. It also gave us more choreographic ideas.

Wednesday 10th November 2010
Wednesday we worked on Ms Dolan's dance again, we developed it, added cannons and observed each others ability and saw what worked and what didnt.

Thursday 11th November 2010
Thursday was costume construstion. We boarded up all our research on tartan and denim. We put examples of the materials on the boards along with our costume designs. I enjoyed this lesson because its nice to see what materials look like together. It also gave me ideas on what my costume might look like.
Friday 12th November 2010
Friday's lesson we spent on our group routines. I enjoyed this because we could interpret more people into the dance. It gave us a chance to mix things up a bit and use different ideas. In our group we have different ability's of dance. So it was challenging to find something we could all do. But this was good because we had to think more. Although it was simple we had to make it look effective. It was good to interpret other peoples idea's into the dance, not just our own.

Monday, 8 November 2010

Week seven in btec performing arts....

Most of this week i have been absent from school with a sinus infection which made it very hard for me to move about without feeling dizzy or faint. I missed practical lessons but came back to school on thursday ready for my costume construction lesson.
Thursday 4th November 2010
On Thursday in costume construction we continued with our cotume designs for 'We Will Rock You'. We did a few more models with different design outfits to get an idea what we were working towards. We put the final details on some of our costumes. For example drew the different coloured lines on the red tartan skirts. I enjoyed this lesson because it again made me thing really hard about what the real cotume industry is about and how hard it is to think of unique costumes that show personality as well. I also gave in my research on tartan and pictures of vivian westwood. I think Vivian Westwood is one of the most inspiring designers of all time.

Sunday, 24 October 2010

Week six in btec performing arts...

Monday 18th October 2010
On Monday Miss Dolan wasn't in so we re-watched Enter Achilles (by DV8) and made notes on how DV8 perform action, space, dynamics and relationship. We stopped and re-winded the DVD to make these notes.
Under action i wrote:

1) A lot of travelling + contact that's natural.
    Stretching and reaching.

2) Interlocking, flowing, reaching, lifts, hunched.
3) Rolling, spinning.
    Interlock, childish(boy at heart)

4) Killing manhood

Under space i wrote:
1) Work their way around objects, involve them.
    Travelling not just standing still.

2) A big group, moving in unison.

Under dynamics i wrote:
1) Dynamics vary, high-low, floor work, not contained- very free.
2) Quite contained but yet very flowing, choreographed.
3) Flowing and continual.

Under relationship i wrote:
1) Contact with each other, rolling over each other, interact with each other, friendly, competition, outside looking in.
2) Big group(stereo typical man), one outside(showing emotion)
    Gang sticking together push out the unique one.

3) Using a prop to interpret story and meaning.
4) Competition with each other.

Tuesday 19th October 2010
Tuesday was our double lesson. In the first lesson we were in the Tc's so we had little room. Instead of just dancing we looked at the certain elements of the 'Get The Box' dance. My partner and I made up the moves for:
-sink to the floor

-grab and pull leg
-racing start
-lift onto back
-crawl to object in slow motion
-raise object in slow motion
-raise object without using hands
We wrote our rehearsal log and thought about how we could make these elements flow using dance. It was challenging because you start to use the same moves twice. Lloyd Newson was incredibly smart to make everything flow without repeating himself.
In the second lesson we were in the hall so we put all the components together. It was all about trial and error because some of the moves we'd thought up in the previous lesson didn't work so well with the choreography we'd planned. In the end we'd made up most of our routine and polished it. I really saw what its like to be a member of DV8.

Wednesday 20th October 2010
On Wednesday we just kept going over and over our routine. We didn't actually make up anymore of the routine but we really concentrated hard on making it flow with unique and daring choreography. I really enjoyed this lesson because i learnt to trust my partner and use daring moves. My mind frame was in what i would imagine Newson's mind frame to be in when he created DV8's performances.

Thursday 21st October 2010
Thursday's lesson was a costume construction lesson. We looked at the research we'd done on denim. Then we were shown how to design a costume. First we traced the model off of the template very lightly with our pencils. After this we drew an idea of a 'We Will Rock You' style costume. Once we'd drawn this we used water colours to paint our design. We were meant to do 3 but i was steady with my hand and i only made one design. I really enjoyed this lesson because it gave me a good in site to the costume construction industry and how West End productions create their costumes.

Friday 22nd October 2010
Friday's lesson was dance. We discussed assignment 3 again so we definitely knew what to do. By the time everyone had said their piece half the lesson had gone. We had half an hour to re-go over our partner dance.

Sunday, 17 October 2010

Week six in btec performing arts....

Wowie, week six already. We've been doing btec for a month and a half, its gone so quickly! This week we only had 2 practical lessons which were both DV8 work shops and working on our own choreographic pieces. I now see how challenging it must have been for Newson to include experimental choreography and make it flow! We also had 2 costume construction lessons, we boarded up our research on materials in one lesson and then in the second we started researching jean because we're going to start making our 'We Will Rock You' inspired costumes. I'm really looking forward to making these as it will be a chnace to let go and have fun with our own idea's. We've had to find our own pair of jeans that still fit us around that we can tear to pieces and coustomise! Well i've talked a lot so i'm going to show you my final draft of my DV8 essay. I hope you learn something!

My DV8 Essay!




An Introduction to DV8
Dv8 are a contemporary/ physical theatre dance group. They were created in1986 by Lloyd Newson. Lloyd Newson is also the choreographer. All the work that DV8 perform reflects Newson’s views on social, psychological and political issues. Newson uses abstract, contemporary dance to portray these issues. Newson chooses dancers according to the subject of the performance, and whether they will be suitable for it. Due to this DV8 have no permanent members, although many of these dancers have contributed to the great success of DV8. The company name refers to Dance and Video 8 (super 8 mm), and plays on the word deviate, Meaning deviant or perverse. The dancers that are part of DV8 claim to have become frustrated disillusioned with the preoccupation and direction of modern dance.  [
Lloyd Newson
Since 1986 Lloyd Newson has been the director of DV8 physical theatre, and he has had a huge impact on the world of contemporary dance. His works, on stage and on film, are constantly winning major awards. Newson was born in Australia and his interest in dance arose from studying psychology and social work at Melbourne University. He was soon awarded a full scholarship to The London Contemporary Dance School. Newson had worked with/ danced with/ choreographed for many dance company’s which include Ensemble, Impulse Dance Theatre/New Zealand Ballet Company, One Extra Dance Theatre and Extemporary Dance Theatre. At the Extemporary Dance Theatre he tried to mix ballet with modern dance, making contemporary dance.  After working with these company’s he wanted to let his choreography loose, so he created his own dance company- DV8. Little did he know that DV8 would be a world extravaganza?  From the beginning Lloyd knew that his work and choreography would not only look amazing on stage but it would be portrayed fantastically in film as well. Therefore he gained the help of two filmmakers, David Hinton and Clara von Gool, they made 3 of DV8’s performances into films. Including DV8’s latest film ‘The cost of living’ which was made in 2004/2005. Newson himself directed the filming of it and the film has won 16 international awards.  A few people that inspired Newson to use such dramatic subjects in his dances are Martha Graham, Isadora Duncan and Merce Cunningham.




The people that inspired Lloyd Newson
Martha Graham.
Martha Graham was born in Pennsylvania on the 11th May 1894 and died on the 1st April 1991. She was strongly discouraged to consider a career in performing arts, despite this she was an American dancer and choreographer and she is considered one of the main figures in modern dance. Some people say the influence she had on dance was equal to the influence Stravinsky had on music and what Picasso had on visual art. She was an inspirational dancer and choreographed amazing and astounding moves. Graham invented a new language of movement and used it to reveal the emotion in her dances. She danced and choreographed for over 70 years. She was the first dancer ever to perform at The White House, the first dancer ever to travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, as well as the first dancer ever to receive the highest civilian award of the USA: the Medal of Freedom. Graham’s famous words were:” I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable.”
In 1926 the Martha Graham centre of contemporary dance was established. Following this in1936 Martha named her work as “Chronicle”, this signified a new era to contemporary dance. The performances brought serious issues to the stage in a dramatic manor in order for the public to see the importance of the subjects. Her largest and greatest work, Clytemnestra, was created in 1958. Graham’s style of dance was based on the contraction and release of the body. Graham preferred the term modern dance instead of contemporary dance. She thought that the concept of modern dance is that it was constantly changing so, therefore had no definition. Unlike DV8, Graham never had any of her dances recorded or photographed because she stated that
performances should exist live on stage and in no other form. At one point in her life, Graham burnt all of her diaries and choreographic notes to prevent her work from getting out before it was premiered on stage to a live audience. She worked with still photographers only (photographers that take pictures of certain moves whilst the dancer is standstill).  She started her career as a dancer late on in her life and was still dancing in the 1960’s, soon Graham turned to alcohol to repair her declining body. In Graham’s biography (Blood Memory) in 1991 she claimed her last appearance onstage was in 1970 in her production “Cortege of Eagles” when she was 76 years of age. She is said to be one of the most important choreographers in dance history, she wished to be remembered as a dancer. Graham inspired DV8 and Newson because she invented a new language of dance. She moved in a unique way and didn’t follow a crowd, like DV8. She also inspired DV8 to express important topics through dance using these inventive movements. When Graham’s dance style was based on the release and contraction of the body, she inspired Newson to choreograph around the idea of it. Making the dance detailed yet simple.
Isadora Duncan.
 Isadora Duncan was born in America on May 26th 1877 and died on September 14th 1927. She was a dancer who was considered by some the creator of modern dance. She lived in Europe and the Soviet Union from the age of 22 until when she died at the age of 50. She was popular in New York in the later stages of her life. Isadora Duncan liked flowing scarves, but tragically this was the cause of her death! Whilst Duncan was wearing one of her scarves she rode her automobile, the scarf became entangled around her neck and broke her neck. Duncan was born in San Francisco and was the youngest of four children. Her siblings were Elizabeth, Augustin and Raymond. Duncan’s ancestors were of Irish and French origin. At the beginning of Duncan’s childhood she attended school but her individuality made it difficult for her to fit in so she dropped out. Her family were very poor, to earn money Isadora and her sister taught dance lessons to the local children. In 1895 Isadora joined Augustin Daly’s theatre company in New York and soon became mesmerised by the theatrical form. In 1899 she moved to Europe, her first move was to London and a year later to Paris. Within two years Duncan had achieved great success. In 1909 Duncan moved to two large apartments and she used the ground floor as a dance school. She rejected the traditional ballet steps as she liked her dancers to use improvisation and emotion in their performances. Duncan believed that classical ballet had strict rules of posture and movements and that it was ugly and against nature. She gained a wide following that allowed her to set up her dance school.  Duncan became so famous that she inspired other artists to create sculpture, jewelry, poetry, novels, photographs, watercolors, prints and paintings of her. In 1916 she traveled to Brazil and performed at Rio de Janeiro’s Theatro Municipal in August of that year and at Sao Paulo’s Theatro Municipal in September with a pianist called Maurice Dumesil. In 1922 she acted on her sympathy for the social and political revolution in the Soviet Union and moved to Moscow. The Russian government failed to support the extravagant promises of Duncan’s work.  They sent her back to the West in 1924.  Throughout her life Duncan did not like the commercial aspect of performance as it distracted her from her main aim. To teach the young, the beauty of dance. Duncan was dedicated to was the founder of three dance schools of which she taught young girls dance. At the first dance school the girls were dubbed as ‘isadorables’ They took on her surname because they performed with Duncan but also independently. The second school was short lived as it was created prior to world war one. The third dance school was in Moscow during the Russian revolution. In a way, Isadora Duncan created modern dance because of her hatred of classical ballet. Isadora Duncan inspired DV8 and Newson because she rejected the rules of classical ballet. Duncan’s dances were usually improvisation and emotion, DV8 use this idea because all or many of their movements are natural leads. When you improvise you do what feels natural to you as a dancer so DV8 include the term improvisation in many of their dances. When Duncan created emotion in dance, she put feeling into it so as the audience you could relate to the performance. When DV8 used Graham’s idea of a meaning behind the dance, they linked it with Duncan’s emotion. DV8 dance about issue’s that concerns them, to relate to the audience they put emotion and acting into the dance.

Merce Cunningham.
Merce Cunningham’s real name was Mercier Phillip Cunningham and he was born on April 16th 1919 and he died on July 26th 2009. He was an American dancer and choreographer for about 50 years. Throughout his life Cunningham was considered one of America’s greatest dancers. He was a choreographer and teacher of The Merce Cunningham Dance Company. Cunningham had a profound influence on modern dance. Many of the dancers that trained with Cunningham made their own dance company’s after training with him. In 2009, the Cunningham Dance Foundation announced the Legacy Plan, a precedent-setting plan for the continuation of Cunningham’s work and the celebration and preservation of his artistic legacy. Merce Cunningham earned some of the highest award possible for the arts, these awards were:
  • National Medal of Arts.
  • MacArthur Fellowship.
  • Japan’s Praemium Imperiale award.
  • British Laurence Olivier Award.
  • And was named Légion d’honneur in France.
He was born in Washington in 1919. In 1937-9 Martha Graham saw Cunningham’s work and invited him to join her dance company. In 1939 Cunningham moved to New York and worked with Graham for 6 years. In the summer of 1953, as a teacher in residence at Black Mountain College, Cunningham formed the Merce Cunningham Dance Company as a forum to explore his new ideas on dance and the performing arts. He choreographed over 200 dances in his lifetime. He created Merce Cunningham Dance company in 1953, guided by their leader’s radical approach to space, time and technology, the company created its own distinctive style which reflected Cunningham’s technique and illuminating the near limitless possibility of human movement.  Merce Cunningham was considered the most relevant person in modern dance. Cunningham inspired Newson to make DV8 daring by his idea of ‘limitless possibilities of human movement’. This reflects the way DV8 use Martha’s sense of story, Isadora’s sense of emotion and then Merce’s sense of flexibility.
DV8 and their dances.
Enter Achilles.
Entre Achilles is a contemporary dance  performed by about 12 men. The story behind it is about how men don’t show their feelings and if they do show their feelings they are classed and gay/homosexual. As Lloyd Newson himself if homosexual he likes to portray feelings and opinions on homosexuals.  He shows the stereo-type of a man and how if your not like that you can be classed as gay/homosexual.  He also shows how the man is expected to be the superhero all the time and what happens when a man is expected to be something he cant be. It also shows that many people think men cant be subject to bullies. Which is false because many men are insecure about their sexuality, confidence and feelings. Lloyd Newson wanted to show this in his dance, so that it would become more public and known world wide. 
Conclusion.
Overall Dv8 are an outstanding dance crew. They are not predictable and use meaningful subjects. That will mean something to their audience. Although sometimes the  story behind the dance isnt always clear, its embedded somewhere within the drama. The dance they perform is always flowing and they hardly ever leave contact with one another unless there is an acting section put in that is relevant.  Dv8 are daring and inspiring, they have an incredibly talented choreographer who will go far in life and make rare subjects more known in the public eye.
By Chloe Green

Sunday, 10 October 2010

Week five in btec performing arts....

Monday 4th October 2010
On Monday, we were in TC3. We had little room, but we did our best. We continued with the work we did last tuesday. The DV8 workshops. 2 of the members of my group werent in so i went in a group with Chloe, Shauna and Alice. We improved our work dramatically. We considered many natural moves and DV8's style. About interlocking and entwined movements. I really enjoyed this lesson because it almost put me in Lloyd Newson's mind. How to think about it properly. It was really difficult and for Lloyd Newson's choreography to look so easy, is amazing. Lloyd Newson was an amzingly clever man for the choreography he created. Although i enjoyed this lesson, i found it difficult. It was really fun to do challenging moves and have trust in each other.

Tuesday 5th October 2010
Tuesday was our double lesson. The first lesson we mainly spent discussing assignments and sorting through our portfolio's. We were then shown a slide show which had a selected amount of moves that we had to include on a dance. You had to go in pairs and create a dance. We only got time in this lesson to choreograph a few moves. In the second lesson we continued this dance. It was difficult because we had to interpret what we'd done in mondays lesson into this new choreography! We had to include things like sink to floor back to back without using hands. We havent finished it yet, infact it was so difficult trying to organise the alocated items in the correct order so it flowed took up alot of time. Trying to make it flow was difficult but i enjoyed  the challenging task. The mind frame you had to be in was deep consentration. If you werent focused you would not be able to do this task. i enjoyed this lesson overall.

Thursday 7th October 2010
Thursday's lesson was with Miss Hearne in costume construction. To begin with we were given homework to get samples of the materials we'd researched for previous homeworks. Once we'd been given this homework Miss did a demonstration on how to weave with material and then we did it for ourselves with our own colour scheme. I really enjoyed this lesson because it gave us an insite to the actual costume construstion industry. I learnt in this lesson how to weave and i loved it!

Friday 8th October 2010
Friday's lesson was our presentations on DV8, it was the deadline for assignment 1 task 1. I did an essay so i gave it in and then talked through my collage. I think i will improve my collage because it was too small. Once my essay has been marked officially, i will post it on here so you can see it. I found out alot doing the essay and Lloyd Newson inspires me!
Overall this week has been amazing!

Sunday, 3 October 2010

Week four in btec performing arts...

Well wow. Week four already, i cant believe it! They say time fly's when your having fun- so far i've enjoyed performing arts so much! I've learnt loads in such a short space of time. Well here's my review of the week. Hope you enjoy!
Monday 27th September 2010
On Monday we were up in the drama studio so we didnt have much space, but we tried our best and still had a great time.
Our first/ warm up task was to get into pairs, stand back to back and move around the room but it had to be flowing. This was interesting because you had to think, if i go one way my partners going to have to do the other way and that might be hard for them because we have to stay back to back. Our second/ main task was to say in the same pairs we and had to work out a way of travelling from one side of the studio to the other. But we couldnt travel in any ordinary way, no, we had to travel in the style of DV8. So everything was flowing and natural. So if you started on the floor you couldnt suddenly get up and do a lift because 1) it didnt flow and 2) it was forced and interpreted. This was incredibly fun, not only did it get us out of our normal choreographic minds but it gave us a bit of problem solving to do. It also made us work as a mini team, you had to put trust in the person you were working with. Although we were choreographing, it was a natural choreographing. It gave us a good insite to how DV8 work and how we can interpret this in our final DV8 assesment.

Tuesday 28th September 2010
Tuesday's lesson was in the hall so it was easier to move about with personal space. We continued on from the work we did on Monday as a starter/ warm up. Then as the main part of the lesson Miss Dolan made it more complicated. We had to work in groups of 6 and do the same. This was more challenging because only 3 people could move at one time and they could not be standing next to each other. This made us think more about how we could move forward in a semi-creative way. I was quite hard but alot of fun, it made us think alot more. As on Monday, it gave us an insite to how DV8 work. I think these two workshops will help us understand how and why Newson choreographed DV8 like he did.

Wednesday 29th September 2010
On Wednesday we had a costume construction lesson with Miss Hearne. A couple of lessons we did our pain colour palets. This lesson we did the same, but with magazines. We looked through many magazines and cut/ripped pages out that had our colours on them. Then once we had enough pages we cut the bit of the page that had our colour on and arranged them on a strip of card in order. From darkest to lightest. This took up the whole lesson as most of it we were browsing through magazines. I think this lesson helped us understand that there are many shades of one colour and that those colours can be presented in different ways.

Thursday 30th September 2010
In Thursday's lesson we had another costume construction lesson. In this lesson we developed from Wednesday's lesson. We made our mood boards for our chosen colours. I decided as gold and cream were, in a way, on the same colour palet i'd do them on the same mood board. In previous lesson's we had collected images of 19th and 18th century costumes that had our colours on them. So, we arranged these in a decorative manor on our A2 piece of paper, once we'd arranged them we were allowed to choose a few samples of material from Miss Hearne's box. When we'd placed them on our board and had checked with Miss that it looked alright we glued the pictures and material down. I enjoyed this lesson because it made me look in detail at what historical cotumes are like, it also made me think of what designs i could use for my costume. Here is a picture of my cream and gold mood board:


Monday, 27 September 2010

Week three in btec performing arts....

Monday 20th September 2010
In Monday's lesson we watched DV8's video. I really enjoyed watching this because I had never properly watched contemporary and understood the story behind it. The way they interpreted dance moves into every day male life. The clip we watched was Enter Achilles, its all about how men don't express their feelings and when they do, they can be classed as gay. DV8 presented the typical male sterio type incredibly well when they were dancing with the pint glass, stroling round the bar and cheering. I learnt alot in the sence that how they're moves flowed together. Not once did they stop, get up, and move on. Every move performed flowed into one-another and was natural to body movement and the subject of dance. Even though the dance was choreogaphed, it didnt look like it. Which is extremely clever because you have to know what each other is doing in order to trust them and take risks in contemporary dance.

Tuesday 21st September 2010
Tuesday we had a double lesson over lunch time. In the first lesson we continued the simple contemporary dance Miss Dolan had choreographed. We added floor work and signing dance(which is where you dance to the words). So that we could move on in the lesson after we continued to perform the dance until we knew it off by heart. We recorded our progress as a class and there is the video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Vz41UzvRaA
In the lesson after lunch we got into pairs or trios and choreographed our own ending. When choreographing we had to keep in mind the DV8 element of dance, flowing lines and movements, trust and to let go bt at the same time to be controlled. We also had to put a story behind our dance and put emotion and acting into the dance when performing it.  I went with Chloe Stockman.  Our story was: Supporting one another after a family death. We decided that as I was the smaller one i should be lifted to show that I was the one that maybe needed more support. We used leaning to show the ups and down of grieveing and we used close controlled movements to show the advantages of having family around when a loss is present. We used a sort of conter ballance to show the support and help after loosing someone. Here is our choreography- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ISliccCigs
 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmbbS7sGYAo

Wednesday 22nd September 2010Wednesday's lesson was to do with assignment one, task one. Miss Dolan allowed us to plan our presentation/essay and maybe even start it. I have chosen to write and essay on DV8, Newson, the people who inspire him and  the purpose of the dances because I think I am a stronger essay writer than I am speaker. I am looking forward to starting this task because it will be interesting and may give me idea's of what story's i can put with dances I choreograph. I enjoyed this lesson because it helped me to work out what i will do, how, when and why. I can follow my plan very closely and this will show in my work.

Thursday 23rd September 2010
Thursday's lesson was with Miss Hearne. Unfortunately, Miss Hearne was ill but while she was recovering she set work for us to complete. We had to cut patterns, colour and anything that inspired us, that was to do with our colours for our cotumes, from magazines and put them on a mood board. My colours are: Pink, Creams and Golds. I learnt alot in this lesson because I saw how many different shades of my colours there were, how many different patterns I could use and different effects i could use. Next time I create a mood board I will maybe cut bigger images out and arrange my pictures/cuttings in a more artistic way. Overall I enjoyed this lesson, it was relaxing but interesting and it has made me more inspired to do well in this course.

Tomorrow at Kings Langley Secondary School there are open auditions for Rock Challenge. I am looking forward to this and will write up about my evening in the near future.

Wednesday, 22 September 2010

An Introduction to assignment 1 of dance development

Wednesday 22nd September 2010Today we looked at assignment one in great detail. We were explained what we could include in the task. Assignment one is on DV8, in task one you can choose if you want to do a powerpoint presentation on DV8 or write and essay on DV8. I have chosen to write an essay on DV8. Because an essay is more complex than a powerpoint, i decided that i would plan my essay in detail today. I chose what i would put in my essay.
I'm going to include:
  • What DV8 are?
  • Who started them and about him?
  • Who inspires him and why?
  • Why DV8 dance about the topics they dance about?
  • And in the conclusion i will summarise DV8 and say if i like them or not.
I am really looking forward to delving into the depths of DV8 because they are different to noraml dance crews. There is a purpose behind everything, and that comes thorugh strongly in the dance.
Wish me luck in the assignment!
chloe
xx

Friday, 17 September 2010

My First Week In BTEC Performing Arts

Friday 17th September 2010
On Monday we were set our first assignment. Its the third one because its the longest. We discussed what we could do for the assignment and how we could back our points up with evidence. I really enjoyed this lesson because I am starting to understand how the course is going to work.
On Tuesday we had our first practical lesson!! We started  learn a basic contemporary routine that Miss Dolan choreographed. I really enjoyed this lesson because we got an in site to what the practical side of the course will be like. Plus I love dancing so that contributed to my enjoyment.
On Wednesday we had a costume construction lesson. In this lesson we did colour charts of the colours we had picked for our costume in the previous lesson. My colours are pink, neutral and gold. So i did a strip of all the different shades of pink and started my strip of neutrals. I will continue this next lesson along with my gold strip. I really enjoyed this lesson, it was calming and I liked seeing all the different shades i could use.
On Thursday we had another dance lesson. We continued to learn the contemporary dance we'd started in Tuesdays lesson. I really enjoyed this lesson as well, it was active and it was a really fun dance to learn.

Friday, 10 September 2010

Induction Week To BTEC Performing Arts

Friday 10th September 2010
This week we have started BTEC Performing Arts. Its only the induction week but i've really enjoyed myself. In the first lesson the course was explained to us. The whole course sounds really exciting and interesting.
the second lesson we did was Costume Construction, in this lesson we chose the colour schemes for our costumes. I enjoyed this because we had an inside to the world of costume design.
In the third lesson we set up our blogs and tried to make it look nice.
In opur third lesson we went down to the media suit and we tried to mix a sountrack, i will upload this at a later date.

Today we blogged and sorted our portfolio out.
So far I love BTEC Performing Arts.

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