Friday, 19 October 2012
Singing (Written piece on vocal exercises)
At the beginning of performing arts I didn't know much about singing and how certain vocal exercises are sure to help you improve and develop your vocal techniques. I wasn't a great singer and I'm still not a confident singer however I have noticed I can sustain notes and my pitch has got much better, it sounds less like I'm straining my vocal chords. Doing vocal exercises is a great way to warm up the voice before using it. Not only do vocal exercises help the voice, but whole body warm ups do as well. We don't realise that whilst we're using our voices, we're also using the whole of body. Our posture needs to be long and straight so we don't cut the air off. The most common muscle we use is our diaphragm. It helps to stretch our abdomen, back, neck and shoulders so we can avoid stress which has an impact on the sound of our voices. For the vocal training we use breath control, diction, blending and balance.
There are a wide variety of vocal exercises: Breathing awareness, humming, long vowels, sirening, 5 note scale, major triad, minor triad, major vs minor, note endings. tone vs semitone, crescendo diminuendo and arpeggios. All these vocal techniques will help your vocal chords. During our singing lesson, we use humming, vowel sounding and diction. These exercises are very helpful personally. I can now sustain a note I'm singing and also my pitch has improved. I find because of where I'm from and the accent I have possessed the diction exercises help a lot. My accent involves not pronouncing some letters in certain words, so the diction will help me to pronounce those words when singing. I also find my vocals sound a lot better, more alive and loud when I'm standing compared to when I'm seated or hunched. I personally think we should include whole body warm ups as well as the vocal warm ups, this will ensure the whole of our bodies are warmed up, and we will benefit the most when singing.
Singing
15th October 2012
Targets for 22nd October 2012:
- To create a harmony to Destiny Childs Say my name with my group.
- Warm up body and vocal chords before singing.
- Write all work down.
Review for 22nd October 2012:
To get the performance I want for our harmony to Say my name, I feel we need to research more into harmony's so we have a better understanding of what it is we are supposed to convey in our performance. We are working as a group so it will be best to find harmony's that will suit us all. Also we need to do vocal warm ups and body warm ups that we think will not only help us as a group but individually when we rehearse, so when it comes to our performance we know what most suitable warms up are so we can do them before our performance. The song is quite fast so doing diction warm ups will help, because we need to make sure we pronounce every word clearly, so our voices don't fade away.
At the moment I think our group is working at a slow pace and we need to pick it up. It took us 2 lessons to find out which song we are going to use, even though we have 5 weeks to do this, we only have 1 lesson a week to create something and rehearse. I think the sooner we create some harmony's the more time we can spend rehearsing them.
Targets for 22nd October 2012:
- To create a harmony to Destiny Childs Say my name with my group.
- Warm up body and vocal chords before singing.
- Write all work down.
Review for 22nd October 2012:
To get the performance I want for our harmony to Say my name, I feel we need to research more into harmony's so we have a better understanding of what it is we are supposed to convey in our performance. We are working as a group so it will be best to find harmony's that will suit us all. Also we need to do vocal warm ups and body warm ups that we think will not only help us as a group but individually when we rehearse, so when it comes to our performance we know what most suitable warms up are so we can do them before our performance. The song is quite fast so doing diction warm ups will help, because we need to make sure we pronounce every word clearly, so our voices don't fade away.
At the moment I think our group is working at a slow pace and we need to pick it up. It took us 2 lessons to find out which song we are going to use, even though we have 5 weeks to do this, we only have 1 lesson a week to create something and rehearse. I think the sooner we create some harmony's the more time we can spend rehearsing them.
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Acting - Scenes
A few weeks ago we was put into small groups and was given a small scene. I was paired with Nicole and we got given scene one in 'That Face'. We read over the script a few times to get used to it, and we found that it is quite a deep play and there are a lot of emotions involved in our characters.
The scene is about two girls who are friends (Izzy and Mia) and they attend boarding school. They are in the middle of an initiation test on a 13 year old girl who is a 'newcomer'. Izzy and Mia both feel that the 13 year old, Alice, needs to learn who is in charge around school. During their test on Alice, Izzy the head girl finds out that Mia drugged Alice with Valium; Izzy starts to panic and you see a frightened side to her whereas Mia stays calm and teases Izzy about being scared.
The first time we performed the scene infront of the class, I was very nervous. Acting isn't my strongest talent but I think I done really well. I think I showed the emotions through body language and the tone of my voice. I also think me and Nicole bounced really well off each other, it always flowed; even when the audience would laugh at a certain part we kept our focus and carried on. I thik we need to work on knowing where our characters would be on stage, so we're not improvising the whole way through the scene. We also need to learn our lines, I think once we've learnt our lines our characters would be expressed so much more, because looking down at a script constantly helps lose the character and if you can't find where your next line is, there will be a long silence.
The scene is about two girls who are friends (Izzy and Mia) and they attend boarding school. They are in the middle of an initiation test on a 13 year old girl who is a 'newcomer'. Izzy and Mia both feel that the 13 year old, Alice, needs to learn who is in charge around school. During their test on Alice, Izzy the head girl finds out that Mia drugged Alice with Valium; Izzy starts to panic and you see a frightened side to her whereas Mia stays calm and teases Izzy about being scared.
The first time we performed the scene infront of the class, I was very nervous. Acting isn't my strongest talent but I think I done really well. I think I showed the emotions through body language and the tone of my voice. I also think me and Nicole bounced really well off each other, it always flowed; even when the audience would laugh at a certain part we kept our focus and carried on. I thik we need to work on knowing where our characters would be on stage, so we're not improvising the whole way through the scene. We also need to learn our lines, I think once we've learnt our lines our characters would be expressed so much more, because looking down at a script constantly helps lose the character and if you can't find where your next line is, there will be a long silence.
Singing
Over the last 4 weeks we have rehearsed 8 songs.
1. Sway
2. It don't mean a thing (ain't got that swing)
3. Wouldn't it be lovely
4. Got you under my skin
5. Can't help loving that man of mine
6. Sunny side of the street
7. Somewhere
8. We'll meet again
We all had assigned songs, so some of us worked in groups, some did solos and duets and we also done a few songs as a whole class. A few people in the class also got the role of choreographing a dance routine for each song. I was one of the few people, and I found it quite easy coming up with a routine and remembering the lyrics. I think at times the class as a whole lost focus in rehearsals but on our performance day we performed the show very well. We was asked to sing two more songs at the end. I'm not a singer and I found it quite embarrassing to sing infront of people but when you see the elderly people singing along in the audience it makes it all worth it. I enjoyed the show very much however at times I felt like the rehearsals were a bit boring and I lost focus and ocassionally distracted others. I now know in rehearsals to keep my focus and work a lot harder than what I had done.
1. Sway
2. It don't mean a thing (ain't got that swing)
3. Wouldn't it be lovely
4. Got you under my skin
5. Can't help loving that man of mine
6. Sunny side of the street
7. Somewhere
8. We'll meet again
We all had assigned songs, so some of us worked in groups, some did solos and duets and we also done a few songs as a whole class. A few people in the class also got the role of choreographing a dance routine for each song. I was one of the few people, and I found it quite easy coming up with a routine and remembering the lyrics. I think at times the class as a whole lost focus in rehearsals but on our performance day we performed the show very well. We was asked to sing two more songs at the end. I'm not a singer and I found it quite embarrassing to sing infront of people but when you see the elderly people singing along in the audience it makes it all worth it. I enjoyed the show very much however at times I felt like the rehearsals were a bit boring and I lost focus and ocassionally distracted others. I now know in rehearsals to keep my focus and work a lot harder than what I had done.
Tuesday, 17 April 2012
Dance - 17/04/12
Today in our dance lesson, we watched a few clips of performances and we had to guess which ones were physical theatre or not. Whilst watching the clips I thought I got the hang of it, and thought I had the right answers down, but when we went over them I had got 2 wrong. I feel I should research more about physical theatre however I did learn quite a bit from that lesson.
Company Choreographer Physical Theatre?
Foose Rob Foose No
Phoenix Dance Street Darshan singh bhullir Yes
Royal Danish theatre Glen Tetley No
Cirque Du Soleil Andrew Watson Yes
Tanz Theatre Pina Bausch Yes
In our next lesson, we sat in a circle and was handed a piece of paper each. We each had to write down any occupation, fold the paper over and pass it along, then we had to write a location anywhere in the UK, fold the paper over and pass it along. Then we had to write down a title of any song and do the same, then we had to write down a saying or a phrase, also fold the paper then pass it along. Once we had done this we got into groups, and read the list of things that we had on our paper. We then got given a large piece of paper and had to write down a connection from one character to another. This will help us with our introduction of physical theatre.
Whilst working in our group we wrote down what types of things we could include into our introduction, we added dynamics and changing from one character to another. After a short while and frustration we came up with a short introduction piece that involves, a book, head phones and 2 helmets. These are the props from our characters. An Italian Teacher, Builder, Police Officer and a song writer.
We found coming up with the introductory piece quite hard to come up with at first, we didn't know how to start or finish; no clue at all. The purpose of the lesson before was to help inspire us for our physical theatre piece, but at the time we didn't think of using what we watched. I think to overcome a total loss of what we are doing, we just need to stop what were doing and think about what we have learnt in previous lessons that could help build a piece.
Company Choreographer Physical Theatre?
Foose Rob Foose No
Phoenix Dance Street Darshan singh bhullir Yes
Royal Danish theatre Glen Tetley No
Cirque Du Soleil Andrew Watson Yes
Tanz Theatre Pina Bausch Yes
In our next lesson, we sat in a circle and was handed a piece of paper each. We each had to write down any occupation, fold the paper over and pass it along, then we had to write a location anywhere in the UK, fold the paper over and pass it along. Then we had to write down a title of any song and do the same, then we had to write down a saying or a phrase, also fold the paper then pass it along. Once we had done this we got into groups, and read the list of things that we had on our paper. We then got given a large piece of paper and had to write down a connection from one character to another. This will help us with our introduction of physical theatre.
Whilst working in our group we wrote down what types of things we could include into our introduction, we added dynamics and changing from one character to another. After a short while and frustration we came up with a short introduction piece that involves, a book, head phones and 2 helmets. These are the props from our characters. An Italian Teacher, Builder, Police Officer and a song writer.
We found coming up with the introductory piece quite hard to come up with at first, we didn't know how to start or finish; no clue at all. The purpose of the lesson before was to help inspire us for our physical theatre piece, but at the time we didn't think of using what we watched. I think to overcome a total loss of what we are doing, we just need to stop what were doing and think about what we have learnt in previous lessons that could help build a piece.
Singing - 17/04/12
Today we started our 4 week rehearsal until we have to perform at an old people's home in Banstead. Before the half term the whole class altogether learnt 3 songs for our performance, but may still have around 6 or 7 more to learn before the deadline. We have already learnt Micheal Buble's Sway, Duke Ellington's if it aint got that swing, July Garland's Cant help loving that man of mine. These songs are based very much around the 40's and 50's. This is the sort of music the people at the homes will enjoy. I'm not a strong singer at all and I find singing infront of people daunting, however knowing its for a good purpose and others will get enjoyment out of it plus it will help boost my confidence massively. The other only weakness I have is singing these songs the way they were sung, the music has changed dramatically over the years and I'm used to modern music, whereas this is more jazz and swing based. I may see this is as weakness but it can also be made into a strength; learning to listen and sing along to different types of music. I also feel I can co operate the charlston dance into one of these songs during an instrumental, which will also help my dance skills. I've always wanted to try and learn the charlston and I feel this is a great opportunity to do so.
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Abu Hassain
I felt this story was sometimes a bit messy however I feel it sort of worked, because the story was so funny and played brilliantly by Abu Hassain (Bradley) it didn't need much choreography. I feel as though I could have tried to control myself and didn't laugh at times, so on my next production if there is a funny part I will have to control it, because it looks a bit silly when the people acting find the story funny as well.
The Story Without An Ending
I don't really have any bad comments about the last story, I think it was full of energy and chemistry. Sharazad and Sharayer spoke gently and so effortless but it made a huge impact. I feel like I could learn something from these two characters and also the people who played them. They may have tried hard but it didn't show, their lines flowed naturally, and everyone saw the connection between them.
The Envious Sisters
This story was about 3 sisters who wished to marry; the baker, the cook and the King and when their wishes came true the two eldest sisters felt hatred and jealousy towards their younger sister who married the wealthy king and they tricked their sister and the king into beliving she gave birth to a dead dog, cat and a mole. I played the younger sister, at first I didn't know how to approach this character. I didn;t know whether to make her timid or an outgoing young woman who only wants the best for everyone. I decided to go with the second option, this character was different from any of the other characters I had played in the previous stories, she was more laid back and airy and earthy. The two envious sisters we're caught out and punished and the 3 children the younger sister had actually given birth to but raised by the King's steward were reunited with the King and their mother.
This is quite a long story and it needed consistancy, sometimes I felt it lacked it. I also could have helped secure the consistancy, by keeping my character upbeat and to always say my lines with a bit of 'umph'. I will take this self feedback and bring it into our next production and make sure I'm constantly aware of my cues.
This is quite a long story and it needed consistancy, sometimes I felt it lacked it. I also could have helped secure the consistancy, by keeping my character upbeat and to always say my lines with a bit of 'umph'. I will take this self feedback and bring it into our next production and make sure I'm constantly aware of my cues.
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
The Story of the Little Beggar
The Story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
To improve on our characters as the forty thieves, we could have made our gestures much bigger for example we could of scratched our faces and given an evil stare towards the audience; and also involve large facial expressions.
Prologue
Here are a few pictures from the prologue.
In the bottom picture you can see 7 girls standing in a line, this is an image to show the audience how many girls were killed by King Shahrayar because he thought women we're all liars and cause pain towards men.
The picture with the pink fabric, is portraying a window and King Shahrayar over looking his (at the time) wife meeting and showing affection towards another man.
Monday, 5 March 2012
Arabian Nights - The woman who wouldn't eat
Today we started the story The woman who wouldn't eat. We marked our way through the beginning of the story. We got given some of our roles, I was Amina, the woman who wouldn't eat. I don't have lines to say in this story apart from a spell with turnt Amina's husband Sidi into a dog but everything else I had to do was through action and expression. I found this quite scary to tackle at first, but with a bit of practice I found my way through. I think every little detail is a new skill. By learning this new skill I feel I can take it onto a next production.
Thursday, 2 February 2012
Acting - Gavin
Thursday 2nd February 2012
Today we learnt what the definition of element is. We also learnt what the elements are. Earth, Water, Fire and Air. We had to give the characters in 1001 Arabian Nights these elements. (Which element suits a character best).
We also had to let ourselves go by moving around the space using different parts of our bodies. We played with happiness, sadness, anger, love and fear. We found that it helped us clear our emotions. I personally felt my emotions had been building up inside and it was nice to let them out and feel relaxed. At the beginning I did feel a bit silly, but when everyone started getting into it, it didn't matter if people were watching. I found that my movements did relate to the word Gavin was shouting out.
Later that day we also acted out the first part of 1001 Arabian nights in groups of 4. We had to use our body language and voices to express what element we think these characters are. I found this quite easy, and great to learn new skills on how to become a certain character and their personality.
At the end of the lesson we done call and recall, we each had a stick and Gavin hit his stick on the floor to make a sound, we then had to play this sound back at him by hitting our sticks on the floor. We then got into groups and altogether we played a harmony using the sticks.
Today we learnt what the definition of element is. We also learnt what the elements are. Earth, Water, Fire and Air. We had to give the characters in 1001 Arabian Nights these elements. (Which element suits a character best).
We also had to let ourselves go by moving around the space using different parts of our bodies. We played with happiness, sadness, anger, love and fear. We found that it helped us clear our emotions. I personally felt my emotions had been building up inside and it was nice to let them out and feel relaxed. At the beginning I did feel a bit silly, but when everyone started getting into it, it didn't matter if people were watching. I found that my movements did relate to the word Gavin was shouting out.
Later that day we also acted out the first part of 1001 Arabian nights in groups of 4. We had to use our body language and voices to express what element we think these characters are. I found this quite easy, and great to learn new skills on how to become a certain character and their personality.
At the end of the lesson we done call and recall, we each had a stick and Gavin hit his stick on the floor to make a sound, we then had to play this sound back at him by hitting our sticks on the floor. We then got into groups and altogether we played a harmony using the sticks.
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Contemporary Dance
Tuesday 25th January 2012
Today we learnt about the 4 factors when you move to another space, the effort graph and the eight basic effort actions and Rhythms.
The 4 factors are Space, Weight, Time and Flow.
Effort Graph -
Eight Basic Effort Actions
- Dab (like a painter)
- Slash (like a sword)
- Wring (wringing out a towel)
- Press (like a button)
- Flick (A fly)
- Glide (ice skating)
- Float (flying)
- Thrust (Punch)
Dab - Sudden, light, indirect, bound
Slash - Indirect, sudden, strong, bound
Wring - Strong, sustained, indirect, bound
Press - Strong, sustained, direct, bound
Flick - Free, sustained, indirect, light
Glide - Free, sustained, light, indirect
Float - Free, light, indirect, sustained
Thrust - Strong, direct, sudden, bound
Rhythms
Rebound ---o--- (bound and light)
Impulse o------ (De cellerate)
Impact ------o ( Accellerate)
Continous (Same all the way through)
Swing ---o--- (Weight in the middle, free and strong)
Jamie chose 3 characters from the film Harry Potter and told us to fill in their rhythms, their eight basic effort actions, and their effort graph.
Professor Snape Luna Lovegood Bellatrix Lestrange
Thrust Free Strong
Slash Light Sudden
Wring Sustained Bound
Press Indirect Direct
Strong Float Thrust
Bound Glide Wring
Sudden Dab Slash
Direct Flick Float
Impact Swing Impact
Continuos Continuos Swing
Rebound Rebound
Then we were told to do one for ourselves:
Swing
Impact
Float
Glide
Flick
Dab
Free
Bound
After we done written work, we learnt a dance phrase that involved balancing our bodies when on one foot doing a table top.
Today we learnt about the 4 factors when you move to another space, the effort graph and the eight basic effort actions and Rhythms.
The 4 factors are Space, Weight, Time and Flow.
Effort Graph -
Eight Basic Effort Actions
- Dab (like a painter)
- Slash (like a sword)
- Wring (wringing out a towel)
- Press (like a button)
- Flick (A fly)
- Glide (ice skating)
- Float (flying)
- Thrust (Punch)
Dab - Sudden, light, indirect, bound
Slash - Indirect, sudden, strong, bound
Wring - Strong, sustained, indirect, bound
Press - Strong, sustained, direct, bound
Flick - Free, sustained, indirect, light
Glide - Free, sustained, light, indirect
Float - Free, light, indirect, sustained
Thrust - Strong, direct, sudden, bound
Rhythms
Rebound ---o--- (bound and light)
Impulse o------ (De cellerate)
Impact ------o ( Accellerate)
Continous (Same all the way through)
Swing ---o--- (Weight in the middle, free and strong)
Jamie chose 3 characters from the film Harry Potter and told us to fill in their rhythms, their eight basic effort actions, and their effort graph.
Professor Snape Luna Lovegood Bellatrix Lestrange
Thrust Free Strong
Slash Light Sudden
Wring Sustained Bound
Press Indirect Direct
Strong Float Thrust
Bound Glide Wring
Sudden Dab Slash
Direct Flick Float
Impact Swing Impact
Continuos Continuos Swing
Rebound Rebound
Then we were told to do one for ourselves:
Swing
Impact
Float
Glide
Flick
Dab
Free
Bound
After we done written work, we learnt a dance phrase that involved balancing our bodies when on one foot doing a table top.
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Principles of Acting
Thursday 19th January 2012
Today we performed the play The New World Order in groups of 3. We performed and then got feedback from our peers. We got feedback about our strengths and also what we could improve on.
We then sat down in a circle and played one word story game. We had to say one word going round in a circle to create a story. At first we found this hard and didn't know how to approach it, but by the last try we created a story.
(Not finished)
Today we performed the play The New World Order in groups of 3. We performed and then got feedback from our peers. We got feedback about our strengths and also what we could improve on.
We then sat down in a circle and played one word story game. We had to say one word going round in a circle to create a story. At first we found this hard and didn't know how to approach it, but by the last try we created a story.
(Not finished)
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Dance Lesson 3
Tuesday 17th January 2012
Today we watched 3 dance clips. 'Yesterday' choreographed by Yasmin Vordimon in 2008. 'The Car Man' choreographed by Matthew Bourne in 2000, and 'Rooster' choreographed by Christopher Bruce in 1991. We watched them twice over so we can watch in detail and analyse the piece.
Yesterday:-
Actions
- The dancers keep very still
- Use some aspects of capo-era
- Strong and powerful movements
- The relationship between the two is intense
- Use of a prop (Pillow)
Dynamics
- Fast paced movements
- Punchy and explosive
Space
- They use the whole space around them. They take advantage of the space.
Aural
- No music used, the man talks to the audience but is still effective.
- The lighting allows the audience to focus on the two people on stage.
- The set is neutral, they want the audience to concentrate on the two people, and what the story is about.
The Car Man:-
Actions
- Movements are in sync (in time with each other)
- They use aspects of ballroom dancing (Argentina Tango)
- They use props (Tyres, cloths and cars)
- Repeated movements
- Use of levels
Dynamics
- The dancers were in rhythm, their movements hit a beat every time.
- Powerful movements
- (Women dancers) Flowing movements, elegance.
- Movements speed up to the music (Shower scene)
Space
- Good use of space
Aural
- Dirty, ripped mechanic clothes suggest hard work, the movements are a metaphor for hard work.
Rooster:-
Actions
- Balanced their weight from one side to the other.
- Creating movements whilst attached to two other people.
Dynamics
- Free movements
- Their legs flowed
Space
-They used half a stage, and got into a line and then as they got into the routine they spread out a little more.
Aural
- There was attitude, cockiness and loves them self a lot.
Analyzing is a good way to open a story up and find out what it's all about, the ins and outs.
Second Half
After watching and analyzing the clips we got into groups and choreographed a dance piece based on the clips. We found it quite easy coming up with movements because we saw what movements they used in the clips, we just found it a little hard linking them all together and keeping up with the rest of the group. I don't think we had a sense of speed, we just went and did it till it was over.
In my opinion I think the performance went well but could have been cleaner and a bit more to show. I think in the future I will have to work on spotting, and being able to choreograph a good piece, I find improvising a dance is my strength.
Personally I enjoyed watching 'The Car Man' the most. I found it entertaining and upbeat and there was so much going on you didn't want to look away. I liked the fact that their movements were large and they acted as well. They used their levels well, they weren't all doing the same thing and the same time. I also enjoyed watching how they worked with their props. They didn't drop them and not grab them a certain way. It's like they were just doing their daily jobs but dancing around. Their arms and legs were well extended, and going in and out of lifts was well done. The women's dance moves were well executed and elegant.
I think after doing this work it will help us in the future because it has taught us new movements, that space is important unless that's the point in the routine. To always make sure the movements are large and not boring. Also the Yesterday clip taught me that you don't always need music to get a point across. The man used his voice to tell the audience what he wanted to portray through dance.
Monday, 16 January 2012
Principles of Acting
Monday 16th January 2012
Today we read and analysed the script of The New World Order. We then got into groups of 3 and practiced them. Us becoming the characters in the play and acting it out. We will perform the scene Thursday 19th January.
In my opinion I think the play is about someone cocky who likes to run their mouth a lot and thinking they can get away with it. Someone who's trying to change a certain something; Des and Lionel don't like this and they decide to do something about it.
Today we read and analysed the script of The New World Order. We then got into groups of 3 and practiced them. Us becoming the characters in the play and acting it out. We will perform the scene Thursday 19th January.
In my opinion I think the play is about someone cocky who likes to run their mouth a lot and thinking they can get away with it. Someone who's trying to change a certain something; Des and Lionel don't like this and they decide to do something about it.
Friday, 13 January 2012
Principles of Acting
Thursday 12th January 2012
Today we learnt about The Stanislavski System. It has 10 Elements.
1. The Given Circumstances
2. The magic if
3. Imagination
4. Concentration - Outter, Inner, Outter World.
5. Relaxation
6. Truth or disbelief
7. Units of objectives
8. Effective sense memory
9. Communion
10. Adaptation.
We also learnt the 7 levels of tension
1. The Jellyfish
2. The Californian
3. Neutral
4. Alert
5. Suspense
6. Passionate
7. Tragic
We learnt to improvise, firstly some people had to open a letter and react on the spot to what it said, whether it was good or bad news. Then we were told to sit on a chair and get into a zone where we could imagine sitting in a french cafe. French music was on in the background which helped us connect. We then had to pick up our cups of coffee from the floor and examine it. Smell it, taste it, the texture of the cup and the coffee. Then Gavin gave us dark chocolate and we had to do the same with that. After that exercise we put the coffee and chocolate under our chairs and then had to go back into that zone in the french cafe and pretend we had the cup of coffee and chocolate in our hands. We had to imagine we could smell, feel and taste it. This was helping our imaginations as actors.
Today we learnt about The Stanislavski System. It has 10 Elements.
1. The Given Circumstances
2. The magic if
3. Imagination
4. Concentration - Outter, Inner, Outter World.
5. Relaxation
6. Truth or disbelief
7. Units of objectives
8. Effective sense memory
9. Communion
10. Adaptation.
We also learnt the 7 levels of tension
1. The Jellyfish
2. The Californian
3. Neutral
4. Alert
5. Suspense
6. Passionate
7. Tragic
We learnt to improvise, firstly some people had to open a letter and react on the spot to what it said, whether it was good or bad news. Then we were told to sit on a chair and get into a zone where we could imagine sitting in a french cafe. French music was on in the background which helped us connect. We then had to pick up our cups of coffee from the floor and examine it. Smell it, taste it, the texture of the cup and the coffee. Then Gavin gave us dark chocolate and we had to do the same with that. After that exercise we put the coffee and chocolate under our chairs and then had to go back into that zone in the french cafe and pretend we had the cup of coffee and chocolate in our hands. We had to imagine we could smell, feel and taste it. This was helping our imaginations as actors.
Dance Performance Lesson 2
Wednesday 11th January 2012
9-10:30: Today we did a warm up which involved, sprinting across the theatre, and then grande jete. This helped us work and stretch out our muscles, before we started the contemporary dance piece we started the day before.
We performed the dance piece one at a time in small groups. At the end of the dance we stretched out, for a cool down. We did consistent bounces on the spot and a few roll downs.
11 - 12:30: This lesson we read a poem (DUCLE ET DECORUM EST) we had to share with the rest of the class our interpretation of the poem. We analysed the poem and shared what line or word in the poem really hits us. I chose "like old beggars under sacks" I chose this because old beggars are fragile and sad and I think its a good metaphor for the actual story of the poem.
After we read, analysed and shared our ideas, we were told we had to create 8 movements that related to the poem. Once we got our 8 movements we had to link them up so they flowed and as one dance piece. At first I was afraid because I didn't know I could come up with dance routine just like that, personally I'm not very good at choreographing, but I gave it a try and I am personally pleased with myself. We found out the poem was about someones personal account on the war and how suffocating and scary it is. So our movements were hunched and the dynamics changed, we had slow and fast movements, this is because in the war, when fighting everything is going to be happening very quickly and then once your back at the bunker you have time to reflect on the day.
9-10:30: Today we did a warm up which involved, sprinting across the theatre, and then grande jete. This helped us work and stretch out our muscles, before we started the contemporary dance piece we started the day before.
We performed the dance piece one at a time in small groups. At the end of the dance we stretched out, for a cool down. We did consistent bounces on the spot and a few roll downs.
11 - 12:30: This lesson we read a poem (DUCLE ET DECORUM EST) we had to share with the rest of the class our interpretation of the poem. We analysed the poem and shared what line or word in the poem really hits us. I chose "like old beggars under sacks" I chose this because old beggars are fragile and sad and I think its a good metaphor for the actual story of the poem.
After we read, analysed and shared our ideas, we were told we had to create 8 movements that related to the poem. Once we got our 8 movements we had to link them up so they flowed and as one dance piece. At first I was afraid because I didn't know I could come up with dance routine just like that, personally I'm not very good at choreographing, but I gave it a try and I am personally pleased with myself. We found out the poem was about someones personal account on the war and how suffocating and scary it is. So our movements were hunched and the dynamics changed, we had slow and fast movements, this is because in the war, when fighting everything is going to be happening very quickly and then once your back at the bunker you have time to reflect on the day.
Dance Performance Lesson 1
Tuesday 10th January 2012
Today we learnt the basic techniques of dance. We learnt how to plie. We learnt how to do this by standing against a wall and plieing, this helped keep our backs straight and not push or bottoms out. At first I found this hard cause when I dance I never thought about pulling my bottom in and you don't realise you are doing it, now that I have learnt to keep my bottom in the dance moves are more cleaner and the sequence looks tighter.
We also learnt a dance, that consists of levels and turns. It is a more upbeat contemporary piece. I found it easy to involve levels and turns because I'm a dancer and I have been doing this for a long while.
Before doing all this, we did a warm up which involved roll downs, which would help stretch our spines out. We also did a foot workout, which was learning how to bounce in a ballet position. This was quite a hard workout because your always moving, there is no time at all to stop and catch a breath, I do feel that this workout will help in the future and also keep us as performers fit and healthy.
Today we learnt the basic techniques of dance. We learnt how to plie. We learnt how to do this by standing against a wall and plieing, this helped keep our backs straight and not push or bottoms out. At first I found this hard cause when I dance I never thought about pulling my bottom in and you don't realise you are doing it, now that I have learnt to keep my bottom in the dance moves are more cleaner and the sequence looks tighter.
We also learnt a dance, that consists of levels and turns. It is a more upbeat contemporary piece. I found it easy to involve levels and turns because I'm a dancer and I have been doing this for a long while.
Before doing all this, we did a warm up which involved roll downs, which would help stretch our spines out. We also did a foot workout, which was learning how to bounce in a ballet position. This was quite a hard workout because your always moving, there is no time at all to stop and catch a breath, I do feel that this workout will help in the future and also keep us as performers fit and healthy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)