Dance sheets- 15/09/15

Lesson 9 - 8/10/15

Lesson 9 - 8/10/15

all- participate in run through, agree on synopsis and volunteer for production role

most- contribute ideas towards improvements, describe production role.

Some- Gain strong understanding of production/role and requirements for next stages of rehearsal.

First thing we did was had to create our own suggested synopsis for our childresn theatre piece. Mine was : 

- Dentist

- Dreamland

- Space

- Stoneage

- Back to reality

- Sleep

- Mermaids/Pirates

- Dentist

- Leaving

We then discussed all of our suggested synopsis' and came up with a final synopsis.

Final Synopsis:

- Dentist arrives/ Timmy collected from school

- Dentist treatment room

- Timmy into space to see galaktic football

-  Lands on Caveman Island (star dust exchange)

- Return journey crash in forest(timmy believes, fairies shrink them)

- Pirates steal Timmy/dust and take him on a mermaid mission ( pirates dont know he has dust)

- Timmy helps mermaids and returns to mum

Then once we had done this we discussed our production roles, by discussing i mean chossing what one we wanted to do. The final production roles were:

Props- Max and Rosa

Costume- Olivia and Elliott

Sound- Talia, Megan and Ash

Lighting- Sam

School Liason- Bubu, Jess and Ash

For sound i need to go through our performance with Megan and Ash and block ideas for music in each scene making sure they add the right atmosphere or help highlight the location in which that particular scene takes place, we then need to learn all the cues and run it theough with everyone else.

We then got up and did a excersize where we were given a scenario and then one by one had to do a freeze frame for someone involved in the scenario this helped us develop our add and accept rule as people would have to base there involvement within the scene with what other people were doing. Once everyone was in their places Rachel would say go and the scene would come to life and we had to go with whatever happened. We then were put into pairs and had to do a mirroring excersize i wasnt very good at this as i kept getting confused between copying sam and mirroring him. After this we then ran through our childrens theatre piece but now fitting it to our synopsis, so we started with the Dentist arriving/ Timmy being picked up section, we ran through it once and then went back and refined so we knew when to put the cross cutting in between the two parts and how everyone else slotted in to the scene. Within this scene we have four sections, The dentists room, waiting room, reception and the car. We then decided in the different parts of the scene who would be verbal and who would be non-verbal. Here was the final decisions.

1. receptionists-Verbal

2. Car- Verbal, Receptionists- non-verbal

3. waiting area-verbal, Dentist- non-verbal

4. Car-Verbal

5. Reception- Verbal, timmy@reception- Verbal, waiting area- non-verbal

6. Waiting area- non-verbal

7. waiting area- non-verbal, receptionists- non-verbal, dentist- verbal

Dance- 6/10/15

Dance - 6/10/15

In dance we went over all the routines/movements we had done in the past lessons, just so that they are always in our minds also it helps us keep the theme and atmsophere of our routines in our minds.

We then sat down and had to create a mindmap on Gangs, by this i mean what we thought of when we thought of gangs so particular words like guns and money. Here is my mind map:

We then had to pick six of our words and come up with a small sequence involving movements that represented the six words that you chose. My words were Money, Guns, Knives, Status, Unity and Identity. We had to make sure that our sequwnce was fluent enough that you couldnt tell when one movement ended to when one began. Once we had finished we performed them infront of everyone.

We then got put into pairs i was with Jess, we showed eachother our movements we then had to create another sequence combining our movements/words that we had chosen originally. This worked well as our different movements went well together once we finished it we kept practising it and adding more character to certain parts so it was more effective also adding different dynamics to make it more diverse for example we start walking forward really slowly then jump sharply into the next movement.

We then performed them to the rest of the group.

The group was then split into two and we had to create a small routine to go in a 'fight scene' against the other group but not actually hurting one another. We started off throwing around ideas that we had, and how we wanted our 'gang' to be represented so we focused on the word unity and how we are all one. We started coming on one by one doing the same thing to show this. This worked well as we really got our characters and theme showing through it, improving our focus as a group so we could then create the intimidating atmosphere that we wanted. Once we did that we performed them facing the other group whilst they were performing to really get across the rivalry theme, we then added music to it making everyone on edge within the pieces making the atmosphere perfect for the wanted scenario.

targets: improve my strength so I can complete contact sections more easily i will do this by focusing on strengthening when excersizing. Also improve my flexibility, to do this i will stretch more times every week.

Lesson8- 6/10/15

lesson 8- 6/10/15

We started off by splitting into two groups, mermaids and Pirates. I am in pirates. We then had to come up with four movements on our own that fit with the stereotype of our characters. For mine I did one where I was holding my pirate hat, one where i was stabbing someone with my sword, steering the ship and looking out at sea. We then got into twos/threes within our groups and showed our different movemnets to one another, once we did that we had to combine them all to create a little sequence and then presented to the rest of our groups. Doing all of these excersizes worked well as it really helps us improve our movement vocab. It was easier for the pirates to create movement as pirates have a lot of stock movement. 

After we created the movement we started on creating characters, this was fun and also easier due to the stereotype of pirates. I made my character the captain and called myself Captain Swan, my characters issue was that she has a fear of sharks. We then had to plan out the ship in our mentally so as group we went round and just said where things were so we could picture the ship in our minds. We then chose a place on the ship in which we wanted to start we then chose four of the movements that we had come up with in a group and had to do them in character, then we had to change the pace of some of the movements or repeat a movement. Changing the pace and using repetition worked well as it really adds dynamics into the performance making it more interesting to watch, we then added music to tie it all together this was good aswell as it really added an atmosphere to the performance and helped everyones focus to get into the theme of the piece. Once the intro section was over we had to start the dialogue but still stay in character with our movement and body languageso we had a juxtaposition of our movement and the dialogue, this helped as it keeps up the characters and theme within the scene.

After this as a group we then had to come up with one issue/problem for the group as a whole. We did this to add structure so we had a beginning, middle and end. The problem the prates encountered was that we hadnt found land in days and so e were running low on supplies but then we encounter mermaids and they can help us but not everyone is pleased about meeting the mermaids. Our ending we repeated the movement section to show how we were going back to routine and how pirates always have to be working because a pirate ship isnt going to sail itself. We then performed it to the other group.

After our break we then started on doing little movement pieces in twos. We had to sit in chairs next to eachother, then one by one we had to do three movements for example crossing your legs, folding your arms and looking to the left. Between us we had to have twelve movements overall in the style of Frantic Assembly. Frantic Assembly are a theatre group who create exciting, strenuous and mind blowing theatre pieces using movement,music,design and text. Using three movements made it easy to keep up a good pace, Sam and i got to twelve quite quickly as we found that putting a narrative to it made it easier to come up with the movements so we did another twelve movements but this time they were more physical like standing up or pushing one another. This was effective as it made the piece more entertaining and gave more atmosphere to the piece. We then performed our duos to the rest of the group, some people had found it hard to come up with the movements so Rachel said to add a story to it to make it easier which is what sam and I had done that we found had made it easier for us. We then had to come up with another twelve but based on our group themes so ours was pirates. This was fun as it made our movements more exciting also we could create them quicker as we could use the stereotypical movements of a pirate to our set. Once everyone had created them we made them link all together by using music making it a mini performance. I liked the chair routines as they were an interesting technique and different to just a dance number or a scene, i think we could incorporate the duo style within the dentist scene as at one point everyone is in a chair so could make it effective to show what is going on within this crazy scene but in a simpler and more unique way.

Lesson 7- 01/10/15

Lesson 7 - 01/10/15

Character work

We started this lesson doing a facebook profile for our character from last lesson. Here is mine:

This worked well because not only did it remind us of our characters but it got us o think about them in more detail and gave us more information to go off of when becoming our characters. Once we had done this we had to start making movement choices for our characters using the infomation we have just created  to do this we walked around the room in partners in a particular situation, we would then change the situation to change how our persona would change how they are walking in this specific situation, this was good because it really got us into character and helped make our characters more visual and visually interesting appealing to our target audience. 

Subsequently we then started making vocal choices to finally finish our image of our character. To do this we were in pairs again and just had a normal conversation but as our characters we had to decide whether we were going to talk high pitched, low pitched, fast, slow, lisp or maybe an accent. For my character i went with low and slow as they arent very intelectual also i made her voice quite rough as it fit with the stereotype of cave people. Once we had done all this and gathered as much as we could about our characters we then had to tell it to someone; we did this because they then have to be our voices for our characters as we mimed them in a normal situation so in this case we were having dinner at a restaurant. This worked well because it showed if you had enough detail about your characters that the other person would be able to do the voice in which you had invisioned and if they didnt then you knew you hadnt either explained right or didnt have enough information about your character. To add to this the mime activity allowed us to develop our skills on the accept and add rule also it helps you develop your insight to other characters.

After this we connected both scenes from last lesson by putting them in a same context so in this case visiting the dentist. What i mean by this is that we took all our characters and put them into the scenario visiting the dentist however to mke it more appealing for our target audience we had two worlds one being the real world and one a dream land so our original characters were in the dream land so for the real world we had to make our characters fit a somewhat normal persona. i played a child in the real world as in the dream world i couldnt really talk, an idea that i dfid is that in my particualr scene in dream land i do lost of gestural movements so i used them in the real world scene as if i was playing to link both my characters and show how the perspective the two worlds are from may have got this view of my character. 

Once we had done this we then gathered back around the whiteboard to discuss other ideas/themes that could link with the other two worlds we have and still appeal to our audience. I came up with the idea Under the sea we then had to think of problems that coukd occur within these places i came up with Pirates kidnapping a mermaid, Shark attacking the pirates and pirates finding their treasure. Ways that could link this with the real world was that the breathing gas that they would have to use to go under the water could represent the laughing gas that the dentist gives you.

Dance - 29/09/15

Dance- 29/09/15

We started by watching a contact section from faultline and discussed the dynamics used within the section and how they complimented the theme and choreography. We then did our our push, pull and lean excersize/warm up this works well as not only does it warm us up but it reminds of the themes of our current stimuli faultline. We then did another warm up excersize in pairs which warms us up even more. Once we were warm we tried out some of the new lifts in our threes from last lesson. These were all about using one another to support ourselves when jumping. After we got the hang of them on our threes we got to create our own little routines based on all the motifs and lifts we had done over the last few lessons so inlcuding all the gestural movements to link with the themes of faultline. In ours we had a ABA structure so we started as a team we then went against eachother before grouping together again to give our motif a more variety of dynamics and more of a drama element. 

When we finished them we then performed them to the rest of the groups, i think that our use of space and dynamics went well to improve need to develop the transitions between each move. Once we performed we had peer evaluation so the others told us what they think went well and what they thought we could improve we took this on board we then went back into our groups and applied the improvements to our routine. Kat then gave me  solo task for this i had to take the original motif from the first lesson and develop it through fragmentation, fragmentation is when you have the same movemnts but you just mix up the order that they are in, so i started the routine from the end. We then started a group routine for this Kat asked me to perform my original motif at the begining but i had to add a bit to the end so i ended where i started. Whilst im doing this the others are behind me doing some of the movements but using different developments to change them around eventually we end up in a V formation. 

Target: my target this week is to practise everything we have done and write down my solo task that i did also keep stretching to improve my flexibility.

My group performance - http://youtu.be/ShkWjHC1Ajs

Lesson 6- 29/09/15

Lesson 6- 29/09/15

LO's: ALL- contribute to argument for specific approach for narrative- decisions made

MOST- Develop clear ideas for characterisation(with longenity)

SOME- Overall vision or ideas that have performance potentials.

We started off splitting into two groups and creating target idea sheets, in this we had four sections which were props, characters, plot/narrative and locations; in each character there were 3 parts the first part we hd to write as many ideas that we wanted that fit the category they could be ideas that we have already done or new ones. We then had to slowly cut the down to a final amount in each section.

Here is our final sheet:

This worked well because everybody got involved so the final storyline had everyones contrubutions therefore everyone was happy with the final result. Once we had created the overall storyline we had to plan how we were going to present it to our own version of Dragons den judges. For this we each took a category and came up with what we had to say and how our own category contributed to our story.i had characters, i explained who are characters how they were connected i then said what each problems they would have how they would overcome them and what this would teach the audience. Our overall presentation didnt go as planned as some of the group hadnt prepared their section enough and made stuff up which we hadnt discussed so our story/idea didnt make sense to do better next time we will need to make sure everyone knows what they are going to say and discuss more.

After both groups have presented our two ideas we then had to have a debate in which section by section each representation of that category had to explain why theirs was more ideal for the target audience. My category happened to be first i was up against Bubu. Whilst we were debating if any others of our team wanted to help and say something they were allowed to add in. By the end the other team had got quite heated and aggressive so our team backed down just to let the other team have it as they were really trying. The debate worked to get us to discuss how everything benefitted our target audience as we were thinking of how each idea was a better way so in the end way we could see the overall best outcomes therefore we got alot more results then what we wpuld have got from just writing it down.

From this we then went back into our groups and adjusted our ideas rom what we gathered from the debate. We then created three different scenes for our scenarios these were , the moment of tension/issue, introduction scene, solving the problem. Doing this helped us refine our final idea as we could make it more realistic but still imaginative and make sure that it works. What i mean by this is when we first started we were all in the same section but when trying things out it didnt work so Max and i became different characters with our own scenario so therefore the story could plan out alot smoother how we planned. I think that our storyline and the way we used cross cutting between the two scenarios worked really well because it ensured that the story made sense but still kept it interesting also didnt make it to complicated for our target audience. To improve we could come up with a bigger way of having to sort out the issues as we resolved it quite quickly so would have to add more in.