Rock Challenge 2012

This amazing day started by waking up early and getting to school for 7:45am and we were all very sleepy, we left at 8 am from school and started our journey to Stevenage. When we arrived we were all very excited as this is one of the most important days on the school calender for us! Some schools were there already but we were the only premier team there. As we are a premier league school we only showcase and the other schools compete, this is a way is better for us because we can relax a bit and watch the other schools without them being our competition, however this can be a downside as some of the dancers feel that this means that they do not have to put in as much effort. They are wrong as this can mean we have to put more effort in to show the open league schools why we are a premier school. We got to be a premier school by winning numerous rounds over a period of years. When we got this amazing upgrade we were overwhelmed. This day was even more exciting as Miss Dolan our teacher was being the co-host throughout the evening!!
Once all the school had arrived it was time to start rehearsing, we watched a few schools and there were already a few that stood out from the rest, everyone had really upped their game and it shows how much people want to win and how much people love the rock challenge experience. Soon it was our turn to rehearse, so that meant hair up and shoes off, health and safety and all that.
We all got into our starting positioned got into character and performed. I did not start on stage so i guess it wasn't as pressuring but we had to crawl along the bottom of the stage at the back behind the boards so that we could create that element of surprise.
My part this year was to be part of Oberon's army from 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' we marched on and as soon as we started you could feel the stage shaking. We performed and rehearsed twice and watched the rest of the schools.
It was the morning production meeting and it was very exciting, one of the rock challenge staff was Josh, and he used to come to Kings Langley and he was in fact a main part 2 years ago so this was almost like a claim to fame for us.
After this was lunch time, this gave us a chance to rehydrate and make sure that we ate so nobody passed out.
We continued watching the rest of the schools, and one school really stood out for me and thankfully this school won, this was 'Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School' I thought their drama skills and their dance skills put together were captivating and i couldn't take my eyes of some of their main parts. Their entire performance was amazing and they truly deserved to win as i don't think they could have done anything to improve as they put their heart and soul into the performance.
The last schools to perform were the 4 primary schools and every single child in every single school looked as if they were having the  time of their lives up on that stage and it really made us smile and i suppose that is really what rock challenge is about, apart from obviously the rock challenge ethos, a natural high.
Before we knew it, it was time to start getting ready. We had a few difficult decisions to make about the make up for Oberon's army, some was too simple ans some just didn't look right. In the end we just went with the traditional army camo make up. We used this as a sort of experiment as when evaluating our performance you cannot see any of the army's expressions due to the excessive make up.
However the performance went amazingly well and nothing went terribly wrong.
We got many awards including choreography and costume design which in my eyes and for me were the best awards seeing as we choreographed it and made some of the costumes.
As rock challenge is part of our btec course we had to evaluate the performance the next day in our lesson, unfortunately another teacher had the DVD so we couldn't. But instead we evaluated some formations, costumes and make up design using the pictures on the nick scott website. From this we discovered that the Athenians hair needed to be bigger and the make up needed to be more doll like, the fairies costumes needed to be more flamboyant and the makeup bigger, the army needed all boiler suits down and hair bigger yet make up to be smaller, drama skills needed working on and some timings as the camera caught a few people out (including me).

When evaluating our performance i think we did extremely well especially as we wanted to keep a few tricks up our sleeve for when we compete in portsmouth on the 9th of may! Some of the drama skills need working on and everything needs to be polished. To improve i think as a cast we need more focus but overall it was amazing!

After a very tiring but amazing day we all went to bed still buzzing with adrenaline from the spirit that flies thorugh the rock challenge day!

Musical theatre evluation

Cabaret Piece.

I was in a group with Shannon and Shauna and we were given the song ‘Cabaret’ to sing from the production Cabaret. All three of us are very shy when it came to singing, but to get a distinction we had to sing a solo so we decided that we would divide the song up so that we each got a solo and then we would sing the chorus and any other bits altogether or in twos. This was also a good idea as we had to dance at the same time, and dancing and singing confidently at the same time is difficult especially if you aren’t the most outgoing person when it comes to singing. With musical theatre you have to be very over the top and characterised so we had to do some research on the film and storyline first. We all agreed that it was definitely the singing we needed to focus on most, being so we decided to choreograph the dance routine first as we knew we could get this done quickly and we could then focus on singing techniques. (Choreography notes in folder section ‘Musical theatre’). We made sure that all the choreography was facing outwards towards the audience because if we turned our backs it would ruin the effect completely. We all found this task challenging, but our performance went well and we enjoyed it. To improve myself I think I’d just have to have more confidence in myself. I will use this confidence when singing in our end of year show.

Monologue. ‘And turning stay’

Our monologues were a solo piece and we were each given a different piece to perform. We were all given a sheet with our monologue on and we were told to annotate it and learn it. This was homework so we spent no class time on it. The day we filmed it we did so in the drama studio and used the lights. I had the piece called ‘And turning Stay’ which is about a break up between a couple. I have never been in this situation so I had to link it to a time when I thought maybe a relationship of mine was close to breaking. This would help me portray the emotion in the performance. The things I found difficult in the task was probably remembering the lines but I think everyone has that difficulty, one other thing that I think maybe hindered my confidence was the nerves when you get in front of the camera, it’s almost as if your mind goes blank and you can’t remember anything, but once you conquer that its fine. To improve I would say I had to add more emotion into the performance and maybe have more confidence with it. Evidence of this is on the kls performing arts blog

Costume Construction Evaluation

I have made a costume for Rock Challenge, our school production. The theme is ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.
I have used netting and elastic to form the basic skirt. I have added strips of different coloured satin to the waistband. My colour scheme is purple, yellow and gold. I have also added extra sparkly strips to make it look fairylike and magical. I have also added a few flowers and leaves as decoration so that the skirts fit the theme.
I have made these pieces by ripping strips of material from big parts of material. To make roses firstly you cut out a wide strip of material and fold it in half, tacking with a needle and tread all the way down the open side of the fold. Once at the end slightly scrunch up the material. Fold the edge of the material down where you finished sewing, make sure it is tight at the bottom and tack until secure. Twist the material around so that the bottom of the rose will be in a spiral shape. Every so often tack the bottom of the rose tightly. Once at the end of the material, fold the edge down as you did at the beginning and hide the open seem. tack securely and tie a knot at the end. Secondly we learnt how to make the leaves. Firstly you cut a strip of material, half the size of the material you cut for the roses, place the leaf template on top  and cut around it. Once you have many leaves cut of of material pair them up, pin them back to back. Tack round the edge leaving a small gap at the end. Turn the leave inside out using the hole left. Finally tack neatly along the open edge. Your leaf is complete.
The costume will be work with light pink tights and a dark pink leotard with matching coloured ballet shoes. The leotards will have roses and leaves on too. I have ensured that the costume is well made and fits correctly. It will have lights underneath to add effect on stage. This will improve the overall appearance of the costume and make it have a more magical feel.
I will also help to make the main character costumes such as Titania, Cobweb, Mustardseed and Peaseblossom by adding roses to the costume and spraying the costume base (leotard) a different colour.

jazz evaluation

Workshops I was in.

When we originally found out that we have to lead a workshop I was apprehensive but as soon as we started choreographing I found that the leadership skills almost came naturally. Whilst in the workshops I explained basic steps alongside more technical steps. Throughout the workshop I helped my fellow team members and ensured that the other members of the class understood what they were doing. Each section was broken down into individual sections and these where performed to the music once half completed and fully completed. When each section was put together it was also put to music then too. Overall I enjoyed leading the workshop that I did because it boosted my confidence and I enjoyed teaching members of the class a new style. I think our workshop went well.

Workshops I took part in.

The two workshops I was in were the lyrical jazz and the street jazz. Out of the two I would say I found the lyrical jazz more difficult because I have not been trained in that area of dance whereas I have been for street. During the workshops any steps that I or any other member of the class found difficult was explained and/or repeated again. However in the lyrical jazz workshop I did enjoy it because it gave me a chance to learn a dance or style that I dint usually dance out of choice. It gave me an insight to the style and I would definitely dance it again. Although some moves were difficult I found both the workshops easy to handle and nothing was too challenging, the only difficulty if any was the space we had to dance in.

Overall.

What I did.
During workshops I directed class members on how to do technical moves and execute them correctly. I helped other members of my group when/if they got stuck and I helped any member of the class that didn’t understand something. When taking part in a workshop I listened and participated, I questioned if I found difficulty and I learnt fantastic routines of different styles within jazz.
What style I preferred.
Out of the two workshops I participated in I would say that I preferred the street jazz to the lyrical jazz. Most probably because I have been trained in that dance area. However I did enjoy participation in the lyrical jazz as I loved the choreography and the way the space we had was used. I enjoyed the Rock’n’Roll jazz workshop that I partly led because I am also trained in that area of dance too.
What was involved?
The things we had to do were lead a workshop in a dance that we had choreographed in a group to the rest of the group, we also had to take part in workshops and it had to be filmed as evidence.
How could I improve?
If I were to re-do this task I would probably do a few things to improve these would be:
-Be more confident in speaking
-Go round and ensure each member of the class understood and perform one-to-one help if needed
-Face the class so that it was easier for them to see and understand
-Teach the class in better surroundings.

Organising our end of year varity show!

In the past couple of weeks we have been working on choreographing some routines for our end of year productions. It took us a while to decide what sort of theme we wanted to do, and we have to have a theme so that we dont stray. Originially we decided on an Oscar award ceremony and that all the nominees will have their performance as their clip shown before the winner was announced. We then decided that this would cause the evening to be too static and it would be reliant on a compare and we wouldnt have this. Because this would be difficult we had to change the theme. We decided on a more story based theme. Eventually after about 2 hours of discussion we decided that we'd use the story Annie, although we'd do an adaptation of the film and not use the whole film. We decided that we'd use the idea of each orphan having a dream and that dream would be a performance. We've also decided that we will have guest performances from people we knew.

SO far we have decided on 4 performances and have mainly choreographed all of them. The first two are directly linked to Annie because they are from Annie. We begin with 'Maybe' with all of us sitting on the stage, this will then lead into 'Hard knock life' with us being the orphans. The other two performances we have decided on are from the production 'we will rock you' this will be evidence for making our costumes that they are durable on stage. The songs we have choreographed to are 'Dont stop me now' and 'somebody to love' So far we have all contributed to choreography although trying to choreograph at he end of the song 'dont stop me now' got difficult so we have, moment, left that and have continued choreograph 'somebody to love' with our main sing Chloe Stockman.

So far i am enjoying putting together our variety show, even it is the beginning of the end of an amazing two years in performing arts.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Basic Overview.

The play is set in Italy and it starts with two young lovers, Lysander and Hermia, escaping to the forest to escape the strict instructions of Hermia’s father. Hermia’s father says that she is promised to Demetrius, he is another young man that loves her. Demetrius follows Hermia and Lysander into the forest because a girl called Helena told him, Helena is in love with Demetrius. Once they are all in the forest the wander into the fairy world which is ruled by King Oberon(a god) and Queen Titania (a goddess). Oberon and his servant Puck cause absolute mayhem amongst the young lovers with a magic potion that causes both Lysander and Demetrius to fall in love with Helena. This causes a rift between the characters which eventually causes a brawl/wrestling match, in mud! Meanwhile Oberon uses the same potion on Titania which causes her to fall in love with the local weaver and actor, Nick Bottom. Puck has previously furnished him with the head of an ass. Titania woos bottom in her boudoir in the woods, all the fairies attend. Oberon soon tires of the whole situation and rights all the wrongs he’s performed. He pairs Lysander back with Hermia and Demetrius with Helena and reconciles with his own queen, Titania. In the final part of the film, Bottom and his troupe of ‘rude mechanicals’ perform their amateur play, which is based on the tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe, before Duke Theseus and his wife Hippolyta and the rest of the court. This unintentionally produces a comedy.

The Characters.

Titania- Titania is the queen of the fairies and she is married to the king of the fairies, Oberon. She is a very proud character. She resists the temptation of the Indian prince that her husband gives her.  She temporarily falls in love with Nick Bottom whom head has been transformed into an ass’ head.

Oberon- Oberon is king of the fairies, he is married to Titania although not so sure about her at the beginning of the play. Because Titania didn’t fall into his trap of the young Indian prince, he wants revenge. Oberon causes Titania to fall in love with Puck who’s head has been transformed into an ass’.

Bottom- Nick bottom is the overconfident weaver who is chosen to play Pyramus in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus‘s marriage celebration. Bottom is full of advise and he is extremely self confident, although he usually makes silly mistakes and gets his words mixed up. When Titania temporarily falls in love with him he becomes arrogant but he is unaware that his head is that of an ass.

Puck-  Puck is Oberon’s jester and he is very mischievous. He enjoys playing pranks on people.  He causes some of the upset with the magic and he is the character that turns Bottoms head into an ass’ head. His high spirits and mischievous ways makes the atmosphere seem golden.

Peaseblossom- Peaseblossom is one of the fairies that is ordered by Queen Titania to attend to Bottom when she falls in love with him.

Mustardseed- Mustardseed is another one of the fairies that is ordered by Queen Titania to attend to Bottom when she falls in love with him.

Cobweb- Cobweb is yet another of the fairies that is ordered by Queen Titania to attend to Bottom when she falls in love with him.

Moth-  Moth is also one of the fairies that is ordered by Queen Titania to attend to bottom when she falls in love with him.