Bhangra- Week 1!

Monday 24th January 2011
On Monday we had our first lesson of Bhangra. We watched two examples of up and coming Bhangra stars in India. We had a few technical issues at frist but we got them sorted and we enjoyed watching them. I enjoyed watching the bhangra videos becuase they were very up beat and the music was very catchy. I couldnt stop singing it all day! We made our way back to the TC's and Miss Dolan taught us some basic moves. From these moves who routines are choreographed. The moves are simple yet very effective.

Tuesday 25th January 2011
Lesson One!
In lesson one we were told we had to choreograph a simple bhangra routine using the moves we were taught yesterday. I was in a group with Shauna and Laura-Ann. We had to include things like :
- A lot of facing each  other.
- Interaction with each other.
- Different directions.
Although we have been told that bhangra doesnt use many cannons we tried to encorporate some 'bhangra style' ones. We started with different hights and then went from a line into a circle into a line. From there, all the other groups performed their dances after us.

Lesson Two!In this lesson we were told to add some western feel into the dance. In other words we added street in that was also in a 'bhangra style'. We tried choreographing in our little groups but some members of the group werent street orientated and were stuck. So we had an idea that once the last group had performed we weould all come together and do the street section together. There are 3 of us in the performing arts group that would be classed as 'street orientated' we came up with a couple of counts of eight that were simple street move that were 'bhangra' and 'simple yet effective' if performed in unison. Once we'd choreographed the dance we just kept going over and over it so that we were all okay with it and remebered it.

Wednesday 26th January 2011On Wednesday all we did was keep going over the dance and added a little bit more street. I enjoyed this lesson because i prefer street and i also enjoy bhangra! In my third lesson i am really really enjoying bhangra!

Thursday 27th January 2011
Thursday we had a costume design lesson. It was a kind of finishing/ begining lesson. I had finished all of my 'We Will Rock You' so I boarded up my corset research and my evaluation. I had lots of space on my big board so i added a sample of joining and sticking.

Friday 28th January 2011
Friday we had yet another exciting bhangra lesson. In this lesson we had to develop the one element that bhangra and street share. Isolations. We first did isolations of the hands, then head and then ribs/chest. We kept going throught the dance so that we again remebered it. At the end of the lesson Miss Dolan set us a task from the assignment sheet. We have to research bhangra and its due in in two weeks. I havent yet started the task but i am looking forward to it!

Ontop of all of this we are still looking at assignment 3! At some point in the next week Miss Dolan is going to check that we are keeping ontop of it and are on track to finishing the assignment in April!

Overall i am LOVING bhangra!

Wrapping up module one in both dance and costume design...

Well the past few weeks have definitely been busy! We've been doing evaluations on our term in dance. In the evaluation we included what we enjoyed about DV8 and what we think we could improve on. Also we did an evaluation of the performance evening. Which you will be able to see on the blog. We had to check through our pink sheet thoroughly to make sure we had all of the evidence!
And at the same time we had to finish all our costume design work too. I haven't yet uploaded pictures of my finished boards but i will do this in the near future. We took our practical folders home to make sure everything was perfect. We had to have all our fabric swatches on our research boards, all annotations were on our sample boards and finally all dyed swatches were annotated and some were on our historical boards.

Overall i have enjoyed both historical costumes and DV8. I have learnt new skills and will use them in later life!

The week of the performance!!

Monday 6th December 2010

On Monday we just worked on our duo's for the performance on friday night. We were in the TC's so it was hard to move about without hurting ourselves or other students.

Tuesday 7th December 2010

In the first half of our double lesson on Tuesday we were still in the TC's and we worked on our group dance called Ramalama, Our group dance heart beat and some duo work. I found this tiring and slightly hcallenging ot perform to my full potential because there was hardly any room to dance and i didnt want to hurt myself or any others. In the second half of the lesson we worked on our group routine, i again found this slightly challenging because some members of our group couldnt remember the routine which then makes some other members of the group look weaker?
After school i worked with my friend Sophie on our Rock'N'Roll routine for friday. It was quite challenging because we had to work out the routine and one of us had to change to boy footwork.

Wednesday 8th December 2010

On Wednesday we had the hall so we did a brief run thorugh of the show on friday. this was challenging in some ways because moves that had worked in a smaller space didnt work out so well on a larger floor. So we had to change parts of our duo dance.
At lunch i constructed two of my rosettes for my costume construstion work.

Thursday 9th December 2010I part finished all four of my rosettes in my costume construction lesson. I also helped a friend in my group, i demonstrated how to use a glue gun and how to glue tartan.

Friday 10th December 2010
We again did a review of the show in the hall and had to adapt our routine.
Review of the Show.

Our show was for our practical assessment of the past term and the choreography we’d created. Most of the dances performed were inspired by DV8. We had guest dancers to break the dances up and give us a chance to recover.  In our show I performed in 3 whole group dances, 1 small group dance, 1 duo and a rock’n’roll presentation. The show was on the 10^th December and was attended by 78 friends and family members. When we started organising the event we decided that tickets would be free but programs should be brought. All money raised would be divided between C.R.Y foundation and the performing arts fund. Overall we made £95.42. We had the KLSA providing drinks and snacks in the interval. In the various meetings we had to organise our evening we were all allocated jobs, mine was to ask the KLSA to provide the catering for the interval. Within our show we had a presentation to explain the DV8 theory.  Under task three in my portfolio is examples of our advertising, the posters, tickets and programs. Here is a pictures from our evening as evidence:

 

Corset Research!

I have researched corsets and I have found out that a corset is a garment that girds the orso and shapes it according to the silhouette of the day. It is known to clinch the waist and support the breasts.

16^th to 17^th century corsets.

I have discovered that the earliest corsets were called ‘payre of bodies’, they were usually worn with a farthingale. A farthingale is a stiff cone that holds out the skirt. These early corsets turned the upper torso into a matching cone or cylinder; they had shoulder straps that ended in flaps at the waist. This corset flattened the bust and therefore pushed the breasts up. At this point the function of the corset was less too make the wait smaller but too emphasise the curve of the breasts. I have found that by the middle of the 16^th century corsets were commonly worn by women, they were made of stiffened multiple layers of linen with wooden busks or shafts that were inserted in a pocket situated at the front of the corset to keep its figure and shape. In this form, the corset survived until 1860.

18^th century corsets.

I have found that the predominant shape of the corset in the 18^th century was an inverted conical shape. They were usually worn to create contrast between the rigid corset structure and heavy, full skirt. After research the primary purpose of the corset in the 18^th century was to raise and shape the breasts, tighten the midriff, support the back, impose posture that will help women stand straight and slightly narrow the waist. However, jumps of linen were also worn instead of corsets for informal use. I have seen that 18^th century corsets were not uncomfortable to wear and did not restrict breathing; they allowed women to work although they did restrict bending at the waist.  It was thought that this protected a persons back because you lifted with the legs.

Late 18^th century and early 19^th century corsets.

I have discovered that corsets became much less restricting with the creation of the high- waisted empire style which deemphasised the natural waist.  Many women still wear some form of crop corset now a days. I have found that in contrast with the high-waisted empire style corset there were corset that intended to exert serious body-shaping force, they were long and extended way below the natural waist, they were laced at the back and stiffened with boning.

By 1800, the corset had become the common method of supporting the breasts, as the waist had been risen to just under the bust line. I have seen that although corsets were still used to slim the torso this was not their primary purpose.

Transition to the Victorian corset.

I have researched and seen that when the waist line returned to its natural position in the 1830’s, the corset was again used to support the breasts and to narrow the waist. Although, it is known to have changed its shape to the hourglass silhouette, it is considered, even now the typical shape for a corset and Victorian fashion. In this same year, the term corset was first used. I have seen that in the 1830’s artificially inflated shoulders and skirts made the waist look narrow, even with the corsets laced only moderately.

The Victorian Corset.

I have found that when the exaggerated shoulders disappeared, the waist had to be clinched tighter in order to achieve the same effect. The fashionable silhouette of the mid to late 19^th century was an hourglass figure. The corset now differed from the early designs in numerous ways; it no longer ended at the hips, but flared out at several inches below the waist. I have found that the corset was exaggeratedly curvaceous rather than funnel shaped. Spiral steel corsets curved with figure. Whilst many corsets were still sewn by hand, there was also a thriving market in cheaper mass-produced corsets.

Late 19^th century corsets.

During my research I have discovered that there were concerns about reports that tight lacing caused a movement for rational dress. It was in the late 19^th century that medical evidence became know that corsets could damage women’s health. Many doctors thought that the corset damaged women’s bone structure particularly in pregnancy and that women that laced there corset tightly were ‘condemned for vanity and excoriated from the pulpit as slaves to fashion’. In reality tight laced corsets would cause indigestion and constipation. There was a rare cause of plethora of aliments associated with tight corsetting at the time ranging from hysteria to liver failure.    

First week back in performing arts..

We came back on the wednesday and had a costume design lesson on the wedesday and the thursday. All we did this week is complete the sample board, we had to include a sticking, weaving, pleating, joining, dying and sewing. I have only got the last two to complete and i will upload a completed version of my board next week along with a copy of both my evaluation essays, along with pictures.

The week after our performance!!

Monday 13th December 2010
On Monday we were in computer rooms. We were completing rehearsal logs and comparing with our blogs to see if they matched up. As a group we created a questionnaire to give out to our audience, this would help us in our evaluation essay. We also looked over task 3 of assignment 1! I enjoyed this lesson because it was simple and i enjoyed remembering what we had done over the term.

Tuesday 14th December 2010
All we did on Tuesday was to make sure our blog was up to date and finished the blogs. I wrote in my diary everything that i had to complete over the christmas holidays.

Wednesday 15th December 2010
We had a costume design lesson today, we were not in our usual classroom so we found it difficult to do things. We wrote our assessment plan for costume design and then we had to write it in our diary's to complete over christmas.

Thursday 16th December 2010
Today in costume design finished adding samples to my research of materials boards. I also cut the remainder of the tartan so that i can finish my rosettes at home with my glue gun. I also took pictures for my assessment essay to complete at home.