Tuesday 16th December 2014- pre show rehearsal day

Today, the final day before the performance dates, we had a long day of rehearsing outside.

We started off the day by completing designated jobs that we were given to do in the getting ready for performance process by Grainne. My job was to complete the final draft of the programme with Bryleah. We had to copy and paste the cats photographs in to the correct page, write a synopsis for our version of the musical and create a page of special thank yous we felt that needed to be given in the programme as these people had contributed hugely towards the making of our musical. As part of the publicity and marketing team, this was my main focus through out the advertising process of in to the woods as the programme to any show is essential so that the audience are aware of what's going on and are not left in the dark about any aspects. This was our final product. 

 

After we had all completed our tasks, we were ready to rehearse outside for a whole day to perfect our musical. 

Our cast goal today was to ensure we had fully rehearsed every scene and that the musical ran seemlessly from out focus through to another. It took us hours of rehearsing today to feel comfortable with the performance. We had to thoroughly repeat certain scenes to ensure they were going to legistically work out in the performance space we had available to us. For example, we had to go over the whole witches transformation scene many times to make sure that the feeding go the food to the animals was going to work and the year 13s had enough room to edge on to the stage discreetly to cover the witch up whilst she was getting changed, using efforts originating in a physical theatre style.

My personal main focus for today was to perfect my solo, Giants in the sky. I felt that by the end of the day, I had achieved the standard of performing this song deserves. I did this by practising the song in the actually area i will be performing in tomorrow and Thursday. To get a feel for the surroundings and tech system really helped me develop my confidence with it. 

I think we, as a cast confirmed today that all of our final efforts over the past couple of weeks to pull the performance together have definetly payed off. Everyone worked as a team today, helping each other out with everything from last minute recapping of lines to painting set. 

Monday 15th December 2014- start of show week

Today in our weekly lesson with Lena, we used this time to get in final rehearsal in before show week!

In this lesson we focused mainly on running the whole performance through with out stopping with Katie and getting our feedback about what we need to improve and work on afterwards. This process that we have been doing every week with Katie has personally really helped me to develop confidence in the performance as I feel comforted when coming up to a performance, by running it through as many times as possible with out stopping. I think I benefit from this as I like to repeatedly go through my entrances and exits exactly as it will be on the actual performances. 

After college, we did a full run through of the show in costume! We really needed this so we could feel reasured as to the order of which the scenes were running and where we needed to be as the woodland space is extremely dark at night.

In an effort to prepare the area for performing, in this after college rehearsal, we had to focus on building the seating up for the performance and getting all of the tech things in place for the performance. Everyone worked together to make this process quick, as it took us under an hour to set the seating area up which we had done before in the past in over an hour.

The main focus of this rehearsal was to see what the performance was looking like in the dark, and the answer is really good! Looking at the performance in the dark now with the lights, I think if everyone really projects their vocals whilst singing and delivering lines their lines in the same way, then the performances will look really professional and well structured.

Btec dance performance- end of term self evaluation

Firstly I took in to consideration how well I thought I had been doing in each of these physical and interpretive skill areas following by deciding where I believe I am on the scale at the top of the sheet.

I felt my strongest physical skill whilst performing my solo, Giants in the sky, was my use of extension. I felt is showed through to the audience especially whilst I was lifted in to the air, I used my arm and gestures to clearly indicate to the audience what the song meant to my character jack and how at the age of 12, how excited he was. Here, extension was my strongest aspect and I felt this linked in well with my high level of vocal projection.
 

I felt an interpretive weakness of mine was that at points in the song I forgot to make prominent facial expressions and this I need to work on to maintain this through out a performance. I believe this was because being lifted in the air, distracted me from my expressions as I was paying more attention to balancing on John and Magic's shoulders. To preventing this from happening, it would have been a good idea to rehearse the lift a few more times in the outside performance space to ensure I felt fully comfortable with this. I believe this would have taken the edge off of the piece and enabled me to focus more on my facial expressions and developing these to improve my characterisation of Jack.

I plan to think about my target improvements over the Christmas break and develop on these during our next dance unit in the new year, which will be a medley of Grease songs, with movement phrases. I will know if i have achieved these targets by watching back the Grease performance, on video and carefully watch out for corrections where appropriate.

Another strength of my performance was the way I used the dance techniques, extension and focus in the Witch's song, stay with me. This dance included a large amount of cannon movements which required each dancer to perfect the move to give the overall effect, our precise and definite movement to the audience. I feel I used good extension in my arms to emphasis the meaning nehidn the dance, long arm gestures represented how much the Witch wanted Rapunzel to be her little girl forever and stay with her. My focus was always on my hands as I believe when dancing, if you chose one place to focus on and when appropriote, spot, gives an overall better look to ones' dance performance.

Finally, my target to improve on for out next dance project after the Christmas Holidays is to work on my balance techniques. I feel when holding freezeframes, particularly an arabeaque position, my balance here can come off point. To imrpove this, I will use some balance exercises before I dance, such as holding one leg in the air and elavting this (which also improves flexibility). I will then find my balance and repeat this as the more you repeat a move, the better you willl become at it. By the next time I complete an evaluation of rdance, I hope balance is something I have developed and improved on. To ensure this happens, I plan to focus on my balance in dance lessons outside of college aswell as doing balance related warm ups before I dance.

Friday 12th December

Today, myself and Kat worked on the choreography of my solo, Giants in the Sky with the year 13s for my chorus dancers. Having the year 13s here works really well as they give the stage more movement and levels for the audiences enjoyment. 

At one point in the song, the lyrics I sing are 'A big tall terrible giant at the door' I am going to be lifted up onto John and magic's shoulders, supported by the others aswell. This gives the idea that I, as my character Jack, am climbing the beanstalk where he finds wealth. After, I am lowered down where I 'scramble down to the world below' with my new found wealth. 

The year 13s have really helped me being this song to life by performing movements that resemble a beanstalk in the background. 

Also today we staged the finale song with the year 13s involved. This is now looking better with more of a packed stage and volume. However I think we need to still work on putting more energy into this scene as it is the finale and needs to be action packed. 

Tuesday 9th December- ITTW

Today in musical theatre we went through the props list to see if we had arranged all of the props needed for the musical. At this stage, it is now only a matter of both buying a couple of bits and bobs from the shops and asking people to bring in some things from home. Collectively as a class, we have all the props available to us that we need for ITTW to be a success. 

For the main part of the lesson, we went outside in to our woodland performance area and ran through scene two. In this lesson, I believe, as we spent over an hour and a half working in it slowly, that we have now perfected it. We have now broken down this scene I much they every little aspect we have worked on is now coming together as a brilliant piece of theatre. We mainly worked on timing to achieve this in this lesson.

Overall, a productive and efficient use of rehearsal time.

Thursday 11th December- ITTW

Today in our lesson, we ran through scenes 3 and 4, following on from our last lesson on Tuesday. Today we ran through these scenes and tidied up certain pieces in need if work. At this stage, this is all we can do as it takes a long time to go through the scene to perfect it however it is something that needs doing to each scene. We are however, getting through the process well. 

The scene we rehearsed in detail today was scene four, especially towards the end when milky white comes back to life and the potion is made to make the Baker's baby. This scene needed work because there is a lot going on and a large amount of lines to be spoken in a short space of time. A few of the lines are also intended to be spoken over the top of each other which again is a difficult element to make work when it is a high energy scene, and also contains vital information that the audience must understand. 

Tuesday 9th December- ITTW

Today in musical theatre we went through the props list to see if we had arranged all of the props needed for the musical. At this stage, it is now only a matter of both buying a couple of bits and bobs from the shops and asking people to bring in some things from home. Collectively as a class, we have all the props available to us that we need for ITTW to be a success. 

For the main part of the lesson, we went outside in to our woodland performance area and ran through scene two. In this lesson, I believe, as we spent over an hour and a half working in it slowly, that we have now perfected it. We have now broken down this scene I much they every little aspect we have worked on is now coming together as a brilliant piece of theatre. We mainly worked on timing to achieve this in this lesson.

Overall, a productive and efficient use of rehearsal time.

Monday 8th December- ITTW

Today, Katie lead our lesson and we ran through the whole of In To The Woods. This is the second time that we have done this, ran the whole musical with minimal pauses, and everyone I have spoken to feels that this is the most beneficial way of rehearsing at this stage. We think this due to the fact we are all aware if what we need to improve on in terms of perfecting the performance and running through with out stopping is the best way to improve these elements, through repetition.

The opening of scene of act 1 is a song, sung by myself, Jack, Cinderella, The Baker, his wife and the two narrators. I fell as though this song has not been treated as a song and until today, we have never actually rehearsed this song as a song, only as another scene. Today, Katie listened to what myself, Livvi, Luke and Bryleah were saying, which was that we have not yet been taught how to sing this. She listened and took this on board and we went through it a good ten times as it is a tough song to sing as it is at a fast pace and skips between characters regularly. 

After a lot of hard work, we managed to perfect the song's timing and even when we want back to the song half an hour later, we remembered it and did it justice for the first time. 

I feel today was beneficial because we got the grips with the opening which is the first taste the audience will have of us, therefore needs to be musical like, over exaggerated and effective which I believe we have now made it. 

Friday 5th December/ singing and dancing

Today was our lesson when we are taught singing by Kim and dance by Kat. Recently we have been combining the two lessons together to work on our musical skills of singing, dancing and acting at the same time. 

Today in the lesson, we did two full run throughs of the music and dance side of the musical, everything included in the backing track. We did this once with the backing vocals and once with out. Again, the second time went better because the first time, despite the fact we had the support of the backing singingers, everyone knew what they were doing and which parts of the scenes needed extra work or effort. 

For me, I think the second time I sang giants in the sky, my solo, actually felt like the best I'd ever sung it in front of my class. It was the first time I had managed to project my head voice notes loud enough to the audience and I used diction to pronounciate the words properly, making telling the story of the song easier for me. I also used a change in articulation through out the song therefore I sung it how it is meant to be. Overall, very happy with this now. 

One thing I need to work on is my small solo song, saying goodbye to Milky-White. The first time I sung it, went better than the second because I had the backing vocals to support me through the timing, which was what let me down the second time. This is something I will go through in my spare time, listening to the backing track wth out vocals so I can get used to and familiar with the timing of the song. 

All in all, the musical side is shaping up well to In To The Woods. One of my favourite musical numbers is the witches rap. The way Izzy is projecting her voice and making full use of her characterisation skills really pays off, especially when watching her with her backing dancers from year 13, this song is looking really good at the moment. Another of my favourite pieces is The Baker and his wife's It Takes Two dance. The way Bryleah and Luke use their facial expressions to convey to the audience their feelings for each other and the situation works well with the lyrics if the song. One number I think needs work is the very opening song. It is all staged well and everyone is aware if where they are meant to be and the actions they're doing however most if te cast in stage at that point, are not fully familar with the order in which the song is to be sung. I think we need the have a session in which we rehearse this together in. 

Finally, we went in to the theatre to choreograph the end of scene 1 because the staging has now changed from our original idea. Kat helped set us out in our formation and added a couple more moves in to the dance to mix up the levels for the audiences enjoyment. Now we have sorted this song out, I think we are almost ready to perform! 

Thursday 4th December- ITTW lesson

Today our teach wasn't at college so we had Ashley, a trainee teacher, step in for us. Today we ran through the whole of the musical with the backing track. We started off in the theatre, where our first scene takes place. We ran through the first scene with out stopping, which went ok but we realised it does need to be worker on and improved, especially the opening song where the characters, including Jack, Cinderella, The Baker and his Wife are getting confused on where to sing as it is a complex pattern with no real continuity amung the order in which the lines are to be sung. 

After, we transferred outside to the wood to rung through scenes 2 to 5. This was the first time we had done this as a while cast effort, running through the while musical with the backing track with out stopping. I believe by doing this, we hit a small milestone is achievement as a cast. At this stage, there is obviously going to be certain parts of songs or scenes that need work, which there was; however as a whole, I think everyone pulled their weight and the musical is really starting to come together nicely now. Before this lesson, I was anxious as to whether or not we would be ready to confidently perform in Wednesday and Thursday of te following week however I know have no doubt that we will be ready if we keep up the hard work!

Finally, we we had finished we went back inside and ran through scene 1 again as this was the scene which was worrying us the most. This second time we ran it through, actually went surprisingly well which everyone was happy about. The first time, the cast was slightly confused and unsure as to where to go and what to do once in stage however this changed the second time, with most of the cast fully confident as to all if these things.

I believe that we will be ready to perform In To The Woods on Wednesday 16th and Thursday 17th December! 

Tuesday 2nd December- ITTW lesson

Today, we started the lesson inside in the dance studio, discussing and doing some exercises about character building and vocal techniques. 

Firstly we looked at our individual character super objectives which we created at the start if the year. Mine for Jack was: 'To maintain his relationship with Milky-White'. I wrote this as his super objective, meaning goal through out the performance, because Jack starts off the musical as a foolish and naive young boy with people's best interested at heart however ends the musical as a rich and matured lad who has grown up after his experiences durig the play. His super objective indicated that a best friend is a friend for life and no matter how much life changes, the friendship between two people shouldn't majorly alter. 

In the second half of the lesson, we went outside, in to the woods to run through scenes 4 and 5. This was carrying on from our last rehearsal with Grainne. 

I benefited from today because it have me a chance to run through my ques in the outdoor space, which I felt I needed to do.

What everyone got out of today was that we all still need to be sure of the lines to the final song as at the back end of the song, seeing the men and women take turns, we all got a little confused as to when our lines came in and what order to sing them in. To solve this, the whole cast need to go and away and re learn this song and then have a whole cast rehearsal of this song without movement as some point next week.

Monday- Lena's Lesson

Today in our weekly session with Lena, we had a slight change if plan. We were going to work on our variety reports and some of us work on some songs for In To The Woods, however we decided that we would instead, run through In To The Woods chronologically. Everyone in the group felt this was needed as we have not yet run the whole performance from start to finish. 

It really helped that Katie directed this run through as she didn't stop the backing track unless something went really wrong. It was helpful for the whole cast the see where we were at in terms of how much work we all need to put in to make the musical come together and come to life. 

I have got from this run through that I need to revise my entrances and exists and keep practising my solo, Giants in the Sky. 

After, we all say down and spoke about which scenes and songs needed more work and how we were going to improve them in time for the show. Also to finish off, everyone in the cast was asked if they had their costume ready for the decline, which is tomorrow. Ore or less everyone does and will be bringing what they have to the rehearsal tomorrow.