BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Black History Month is the name of the celebration of black peoples freedom. This happens in October of each year, annually and is celebrated through varied means. Such as performances - dance, singing and acting, speeches, art and so on.

Act 1-  NAACP Troy Black History Month Step Show Performance 

Link to performance-   https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XQvBATa3OD0 

After doing some research, this performance was one of the two I chose that stood out to me. This vocal/movement piece is done my black Americans and is based on their freedom from slavery and how they have equal rights to any other race.

 They use their bodies as instruments, otherwise known as body percussion. This is an effect way of conveying a motive to an audience, as if all of the sound comes from the performers, it instantly becomes more realistic to the audience. 

Another way that this piece stood out to me was how well they used their vocals to project their message to the audience. They used controlled breathing to create meaningful and loud phrases which made the audience feel intimidated, subconsciously forcing them into giving their full attention to the matter in hand and performance. 

I have chosen to analysis this piece because it has strong relations to the theme of black history month, celebrating the rights of black people. And I believe it does this in a powerful way by using strong and certain techniques in their performance. 

Finally, I believe the skills represented in this piece relate to those of mine. What with the use of vocals and body purcussion, both of which I have incorporated into my black history month piece. 

Act 2- Destinee Goodson sings 'Feeling Good' 

Link to clip of performance- picture taken from the video, screenshot

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7kUzoQfhEpk

This was the second piece that stood out to me after doing black history month research and watching several videos of performers from different years. This particular woman singing made me feel a part of the issue and by the end of her singing, I felt as though I knew more about the matter than I did before, despite the fact she puts her message across through a dog that I've heard tens of times. Performers that do this, at performers you won't forget in a hurry, this means the message has been conveyed to the audience successfully!

The way Destinee used pictures behind her of successful freedom and peacekeepers, worked really effectively to just hint and remind the audience throughout the song of why she was singing and just how powerful the cause is. 

Musical Theatre- Singing 26/09/14

Today, in our singing and vocal lesson with Kim, we explored the transition and jump between using your chest voice and head voice.

As a warm up, we split into three groups of roughly five and sung a warm up which consisted of three verses. We sung this in a round, with the first group starting on the first verse and when they had moved into the second, the second group started in the first verse. We continued this for three rounds. This taught us how to concerntrate on our own vocals and also, how to sing in groups. This involved strong listening, silent communication and team work.

For the main part of the lesson, we sang the popular song, 'All of me' by John Legend. In this song, he switches frequently between his chest voice and head voice. He however, doesn't make is subtle, which in theory doesn't sound good because there would be no smooth transition. However, in reality his voice sounds flawless and quite literally brought goosebumps to my skin.

Self assessment on first Dance Performance Plan

Self assessment- Holly Hoskison

The first dance/movement performance we have done this year on this course has been physical theatre. We based our physical theatrical piece around the company, DV8's piece, Enter Achilles. This piece of movement is based on lads on a drunken night out, where they experience having too much to drink, being watched by others and by bullying one man who is socially different. This dance also explores the stereotypical types of men, which leads to deep emotions, explored through exaggerated movements and focus.

My group, Jess, Livvie, Jen, Bryleah and myself, performed our half learnt half devised piece in worthing college dance studio in front of our class mates, also performing their routines.
The key techniques used in the dance were over exaggerated movement. We used our bodies to clearly project to the audience the idea of being drunken men, having a laugh with mates in a pub. Our signature frame of the dance was us being hunched over, acting as if we were out of control of our own bodies. This gave the effect of being drunk, in a sensible and sensitive manor. We also used one prop for the performance. This was a beer cup. The effect of this was we each held one through out the performance. You could say this was the focus of our dance piece, the emphasise the fact of drinking being a large element of the piece.

My personal main physical strength was that I maintained strong posture and used extensions through out the performance. Watching the clip back, I also found my body was in co ordination with itself. For example, as we performed our opening move of passing the beer cup between our hands, I was able to keep hold of the cup, giving a flawless effect to a seemingly clumsy action. This way, the audience could see my characterisation through the fact I didn't drop the cup however at the same time, trying to make it look like I was going to at any moment. That was the aim of the dance.

My main performance strength was that I held good focus on the main object, the cup and help eyeliner on it, following it around the movements. An example of this was the cup. I think this is a strength of mine because I believe it is important for the audience to be aware of the main focus of the performance, therefore I have worked on my attention span to convey this point across clearly to the audience.

My weaknesses in the performance aspect of the dance, was that I needed to use my face to convey emotions through facial expressions. This is important, to build on your character, ensuring the audience are aware of what you are trying to convey to them. This i need to improve on for the overall impression and message of the piece.

My physical weakness in the performance was that my special awareness of other dancers during the performance need to be improved. Looking back at the performance, I did also notice this myself, however in this particular piece, which is based on drunkenness, it sort of fits in with the idea of being drunk, therefore I maybe need to improve this for other performances aside from this. This is because amount group work, it is important to be aware of others to ensure the piece work. It is a team effort and each individual matters. This is something I clearly need to improve on for those reasons, and I will take action to improve my future work.

In conclusion, my targets for the next performance are;

1) To work on my facial expression during a performance. I will do this by learning the routine thoroughly to ensure my focus can be more on other things, such as my characterisation rather than thinking too much about what I am doing, physically. The routines needs to be second nature to me for this to work out. I aim to achieve this for the next dance performance we do for our musical theatre unit.

2) Ensure I take responsibility for where I am performing the moves, e.g. centre stage. I need to do this to ensure I am not performing in a corner because the audience may not be able to see me and plus, this could mean I do not perform the moves to my full potential, which is essential.

3) I need to improve in my special awareness, making sure I am aware where my fellow dancers are at all times.

4) Finally, as a self evaluative point, I feel I need to be more certain and confident about the movements I am making my body produce, this will convince the audience that I am a strong dancer. Also, if I perform with more confidence, I can bring my self confidence up and how I dance. I know I can do it, however sometimes don't perform to my full potential. This is my main target for future performance!

I aim to achieve this for the next dance performance we do for our musical theatre unit. I plan to focus on these four targets whilst in the rehearsal process for our next unit. Rehearsals will start soon for our next unit, which is a musical. As a class, we will be rehearsing this for three months, with the performance scheduled for December time of this year. I believe we will have a few dance sequences to learn for the musical, which will hopefully be a lot of fun.

Musical theatre- Dance session 19/09/2014

Today, we were given some key terms of dance to decided whether they fitted in one of two groups. They were, one, physical skills and two, interpretive skill, meaning performance. 

This is the list we came up with;

PHYSICAL SKILLS

Posture

Alignment 

Balance

Extension

Flexibility

Co-ordination

PERFORMANCE SKILLS

Focus 

Strength

Stamina

Projection

Facial expression

Here are the definitions of each of these key term, I collected as research. 

In this lesson also, we got into our groups from last week, and choreographed an introduction to the drunken dance/movement piece we had started. After, each group showed theirs and recieved feedback from the rest of the class.

My groups feedback was positive and that we had thought well about each member of our group, carefully working out what each person would do. 

Our constructive criticism was to put a little more character into our movement by not thinking about the movement too much.

Musical theatre- Singing session 19/09/2014

Today, we learnt how to use intervals of scales. This has helped us to develop our vocal skills by teaching ourselves to control how me sing notes.

We also as a class, sung 'Don't Stop Believing' in two groups. This encouraged individuals to singn properly from their diophragm, creating stronger vocals than the head voice does. 

In to the Woods Research

In to the Woods is a classic musical written by Steven Sondheim. This is what we are studying and performing this term.
In to the Woods is based on four classic Fairy Tales; Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel.
These are the key moral messages that each of these classic Fairy Tales represent and teach;
Cinderella: the main message of this story is that you should always treat others as you wish to be treated. Also, you should never give up on yourself or let others tell you what you can and can't do, always believe.
Little Red Riding Hood: The main theme here is to be careful who you trust. Always take the morally correct path in life and don't let others lead you astray. If you take the wrong path as Red riding hood did, you can end up getting yourself in trouble or being in a negative situation.
Jack and the Beanstalk: this message is that you have to work for what you want I'm life. Also represents you need to take care when trusting people who are close to you and ensuring they are fully aware of what you are asking them for. This also shows other elements of moral teachings such as not being greedy and thinking before you act.
Rapunzel: the moral of this story is that if you really want something in life, no matter how difficult it is to achieve, with hard work and effort you will get there in the end. Also, this story shows people will try and stop you doing what makes you happy, however you have to rise above this and fight for   rights. Top finally, the story shows that if something is destined to happen or be found out, it eventually will, no matter how short or long the wait may be.

Some of the main characters in In to the Woods are:
Cinderella
The fairy god Mother
Little red riding hood
Riding hoods parents
The big bad wolf
The step sisters
The mysterious man
Rapunzel
Rapunzel's prince
Jack
Snow White
Princess Aurora





Pinterest board video clips
Vocal and singing style: the singing style is very certain of the musical theatre genre and has elements of operatic singing included. The vocals are precisely trained to project out well to the audience and be clear to understand. This style is very typical of this genre as the singing and meaning of em vocals is used to set the atmosphere and situation of the scene. This is done to entertain the audience rather than just being spoken, similar to theatrical performances.
Movement style and choreography: I believe there are elements of physical theatre in this piece, used to express the characters emotions through movement rather than in words. All the movements are done with certainty and purpose. This is done to please the audience as with small movements, the same choreography wouldn't have the same meaning or impact.
Use of stage and performance space: as in every musical theatrical performance, the stage space must be used to its full potential otherwise, the audience will not be able to see key parts of then performance. The stage is there to be used and always must be filled properly. In to the Woods ensures that the performers are not bunched up into a corner but projecting their acting to the audience with meaning and purpose. Not using the space to its full potential also means that the story is not told properly, dampening the atmosphere and giving an insufficient meaning. This is why it
is important  to use the space on the stage, exactly what performers from In to the woods do very well. This makes it a great performance.
Set and props: for any musical, these two elements are essential to ensure the scene looks naturalistic and life like. In to the woods uses props well, such as the cow and the horse and carriage, Setting the scene of the original Fairy Tale. This shows the audience and reminds them if the originals, forcing them to remember the story and morals behind these.
Costume and make up: the make up and costume which stood out to me was the witch. Her face make up was spot on, really highlighting well the typical facial features of a wicked witch, what with the green skin, long nose and ugly wort. The make up of the characters had clearly been pre planned to perfection, with every one looking vibrant and in character under the harsh stage lights. The costumes are well invested in and represent the characters super well and to a high standard, which is what you expect from a musical and more! The way the outfits have been made is clearly done with care and a load of pre planning.

For our version of In to the woods, I think we should put our own original twists on the characters with out loosing their sense of originality as they are. We should make controversial changes to the ideas for example, maybe the witch to have a nice side to her or the princesses to have terrible secrets that they cannot share however the audience know. This is know as dramatic irony. I believe this would make the performance more engaging for the audience, leaving them questioning the classic tales and applying these twists to the real life morals behind the four original Fairy Tales.

Musical Theatre- Dance 12/09/2014

Today in musical theatre, we had out first dance session. It was based around the physical theatre company, DV8s piece called enter Achilles. This piece is based in a pub and starts off with a few men, using their bodies to act in a drink state. They are holding glasses filled with beer which they manage not to spill. Later in the video, you see a man in an orange shirt dancing on his own. This represents the 'outsider' and showed how he as discriminated against in the pub for being different. 

This was the basis of our physical theatre dance piece. We used moves to emphasise the idea of being slightly drunk me an disorderly. We learnt to use unison, everyone moving together, to produce a controversial and well structured piece. 

Below are screenshots of our finished piece.

Also I have uploaded my self evaluation sheet if the lesson

Musical Theatre- Singing 12/0914

Today in our singing lesson, in small groups we made a brain storm which we titled 'work stuff'. We came up with the ideas of what we wanted to get out of the course this year, key vocal related elements we will learn in the course and what skills performers need all round to be successful. 

In my group, we also wrote a short sentence about our personal goals for our singing targets for this year. Mine was to work on my vocal range and technique. I would also love to be a more confident vocalist and have the ability to not get too nerous before performing to large audiences.