Practical Skills

Healthy Performer
23/04/19

This term we are learning about flexibility and what it takes to become flexible. We watched a video explaining the correlation between strength and flexibility and then made some. notes, as well as learning about types of stretching.

Ballet
24/04/19

Today in Ballet we began with some side lunges at the bar with a port de bras. This helped us warm-up for our barre exercises. We did our normal barre exercises and I was told to focus on holding my turnout when doing tondues to the side and back. When pointing my foot to the back I should feel resistance as I have to keep my hips straight whilst turning out as much as I can. We then moved on to turns from fourth and then from a lunge. We also did turns from fifth. I worked particularly on my relevé before my turn to keep myself balanced. We then moved on to arabesques and we went back through things to remember when doing an arabesque. These include holding your back and stomach muscles, keeping your eye line towards your top hand, stretching through the leg and foot, relaxing the elbows and making sure the turnout is even in both feet.  Lastly, we did jumps and did petit assembles before moving onto sissonnes and full assembles. Here is a video of my progress so far on my jumps:

Healthy Performer
28/05/19

Plumb line theory states that a string with a weight on the end should pass through the ear lobe, shoulder, middle of the knee and middle of the ankle.

My posture is mostly good however my knees do not fullly straighten in my natural posture so it is hard to asses that part of my posture.

We talked a lot about posture and the different things that good posture is made up of and can help with.

This is a poster we made about posture

 

 We used this information sheet (source unknown) to gather some more information about posture. 

Acting Task

02/04/19

Today we were asked to write a few sentences about our character in the first person to prepare to be in the 'hot seat' next lesson.

My name is Riff Raff, I have a sister called Magenta and we are aliens that come from the planet 'Transexual'. I serve as a slave to Frank who is my master but I am getting sick of him treating me so badly. I answer to his every command and never receive any thanks. He also took credit for my creature after I put all the work in.

This task helped me to put myself in the mindframe of Riff Raff and understand some of the underlying motives and emotions he feels throughout the play.

Character development through my practical skills

Singing

This year we worked on various vocal techniques such as projection, breathe control, memorisation, stage presence and diction.

In terms of my vocal preparation for Rocky Horror 

• I worked in singing lessons on accuracy of pitch/harmonies to deliver the songs in a concise way
• I listened to original recordings and went through notes with our singing teacher
• I worked on interpretation, to deliver the song in a way that was relevant and effective to the style 
• I researched the character and considered which techniques could contribute to successful interpretation

In the matinee performance of Rocky Horror I felt I was well prepared to deliver an accurate performance, however some things were played safe meaning the show could not reach it's full potential. For example, we didn't give as much vocal energy in certain songs, this was because we felt some apprehension about getting things wrong.  This may have been as we found an audience of other students quite intimidating to perform our first show. Personally I felt that I drew on my dictions skills well in this show.

In the evening performance my voice sounded more confident and I managed to project to the audience. My voice sounded shaky at times during 'Time Warp'  as I let the movement affect the quality of my singing.

Over the summer, I will aim to improve my projection, breathing technique and repertoire for auditions.

Acting

In our acting lessons we worked on thinking about the background and emotions of our character so that the dialogue could be delivered effectively.

My acting preparation was as follows:

• I spent time at home rehearsing lines 
• I took inspiration from different versions of the character I found online
• I worked on my accent and tone for the character
• I needed the voice to be much deeper than my natural voice so practiced this both in acting lessons and at home

In the matinee performance I delivered lines effectively and suitably for the character but my projection could have been better. I made sure I delivered all my lines to the audience by always having my body facing the front. There was however one line that I felt I could have improved upon.  On reflection this line needed more practice and thought as I could not be seen so more had to be conveyed by the tone of my voice.

In the evening performance I projected better, however, there was an incidence where I was facing away from the audience so my facial expressions got lost.

Dancing

In dance lessons I focused on my posture and physicality in the choreography. I found ways of adapting dance moves to fit my character. I slumped my shoulders when walking forward and kept my arms in-front of me most of the time. I chose to contrast this with good posture at the end of the show when Riff Raff enters as an alien.

As we were rehearsing I could check my posture in the studio mirrors to develop and enhance the physicality I was portraying.  I also reflected on videos of my performance and thought about areas where I could do more with my physicality to portray the character effectively.