Category: Dance Skills

The Addams Family

And so begins the next project of my performing arts course, The Addams Family Musical.

I am playing the part of Malcom Beineke, the father of Lucas the boy who is set to get married to Wednesday unbeknown to myself or the other parents.

I am thinking that a lot of my characterisation will come from the Terrence Mann version of the character as he was the original cast on Broadway, however I will only be taking small things to build up my own interpretation.

Stay tuned for the progress as it goes.

Christmas showcase prep week

This week was the week before curtain up and it was spent rehearsing, light plotting and tech setting. This meant as part of the technician team for productions I got to learn how to safely use the talloscope.

 

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These pictures show the process of helping setting up the riggs and then the light plotting process this was to see how the lights would react to the different costumes.

In this week we ran the pieces out of order for light plotting, which was a bit of a pain for cueing the lights as when saving ques it goes into a continuous list, so to re-order things are a bit tricky from what Lee had said. Light plotting consisted of  going through the key points in each scene or piece to see what they wanted and what they could have, also considered was how well the audience could see their faces, this was solved through using front light, these are either warm or cold depending on what mood you want. then we had four booms set up for side light with 4 parcans and 4 side spots of sort, these provided figure and definition to performers, we also had back light the same as front light, then we have intelligent LED’s which can change colour this is where the fun starts with picking colours and transitions. However for more intimate pieces or when they wanted to highlight something we had three fairly tight spot lights to chose from SL SR CS. I found observing and helping Lee very interesting and really, really hope I can help out more in the future with him.

In this week we also worked on setting up the drama studio AKA backstage, this mesnt getting costume rails out and set up it also meant organising the props, before and after every run. door1

This door was used in the opening Alice in wonder land act, on the other side is a countryside painting, it is used in both a practical way and a comedic way.

 

 

November 2018 performing arts blog

This blog post will cover all different skills and what I did and how I improved them through November.

November has been a month for rehearsals rehearsals and you guessed it more rehearsals; In college we are working towards putting on a Christmas showcase, we have been working on some main pieces but have also had the chance to audition solo pieces, another big thing for this month was the musical auditions.

The main stuff was:

Dancin’ Fool

A Town Called Malice

Haqnd Jive

and  Audition prep

 

Dancin fool,

for this piece I really had to work on my characterisation and facial expression throughout the performance. One point I improved was thinking about who am I in this scene, and I decided that I am a cool show dancer there to entertain guests, that is why now in the dance I am very smiley and very very energetic. A big part of this show is the choreography set by Grover Dale, he took inspiration from a pioneer for dance, especially within musical theatre, the great Robert Louis Fosse. Sadly he died aged 60 in 1987, when Fosse was younger he had visions of becoming the next Fred Astaire… this was however short lived as he was told he would never dance due to problems with his legs. His first marriage was to his dance partner Mary Ann Niles, this didn’t last as he had a total of three marriages under his belt by the time he passed over.

Below is a picture of him performing his iconic dance style, this picture is almost a direct reflection of the iconic king of pops’ ‘smooth criminal’. People have said that, “None of his moves where his own and even his style his hats and his glove, it was all Fosse” – Karma.

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MJ

If so and MJ truly has taken his style from Bobs style of dance, we should firstly give him the credit he deserves but also thank him for enabling the phenomenon of MJ.

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Image – Copacabana (1994 Original London Cast) – 4. Dancin’ Fool

A Town Called Malice,

This dance is very chilled and all about the hardships of life,  as a performer it is really important to tell the story that is why a lot of the time during this dance our hands are in our pockets, it is also very reliant of face expression as this is where my emotion and character will come from a lot of the time it is also important as the audience connect with faces and if your face is not telling the story they will not fully believe the story. I had to spend a lot of time working on and rehearsing the second line section as I kept of doing the wrong foot work, however I’ve now learnt the correct footwork and am able to confidently perform it. Paul Weller has said that it was written about his hometown Woking, and also the experiences of teenage life there. The song is also said to be a play on the title of a 1950 novel called A town Like Alice, however Paul Weller denies having read it at the time. The song itself was a hit released as the first single from an album on 29 January 1982, it entered the chart at number one on the British music charts, staying at the top for three weeks, preventing the stranglers from taking the number one spot. The song has also made quite an impact on TV and film, following taken from Wiki – “Town Called Malice” was featured prominently in the 1985 comedy film National Lampoon’s European Vacation, provided the soundtrack for a key scene in the 2000 drama Billy Elliot,[12] and was the opening track to the 2005 film The Matador.[13] It also appeared in the opening sequence of the third episode of the seventh season of The Walking Dead. In the Elementary series Sherlock rehearsed it in 18th episode of the sixth season. It is played before every Millwall F.C. home game and is also played before the second half of Woking F.C. games when they play at their home ground Kingfield Stadium.[citation needed]. The song was used in the opening scene of a season six episode of the CBS series Elementary” titled “The Visions of Norman P. Horowitz”.

 

Image result for men in blazers and cigarettes

 

Hand Jive,

This is a dance based on high energy, big characters and loud costumes. For this dance my biggest challenge was learning to do the dance without a partner 90% of the time, this was hard as there is a lot of partner work withing it and then a whole duets section, however I choreographed the section for me and my partner and taught it to her when I could. This dance also has something called ‘The drill’ in it and this was a challenge for me to learn as it is a rather quick movement. Taken from Wiki – The hand jive is also featured prominently in the Broadway musical Grease (1971) through the song “Born to Hand Jive“; in the movie adaptation of the musical, the song is performed by Sha Na Na. On a DVD audio commentary for the movie, choreographer Patricia Birch mentions that the dance also went by the much more risque name “hand job“, but the title was changed as Grease was aimed at a family audience. Jazz fusion guitarist John Scofield’s 1993 album is called by [Hand Jive (album)] The long-running Walt Disney World musical Festival of the Lion King (1997) uses this[clarification needed] during the song “Hakuna Matata,” and the performers and audience do it while singing the song. The audience is taught the hand jive some time before the show begins. The 2005 album “Midnight Boom” by the band The Kills features the hand-jive rhythm in the song “Sour Cherry.” The band’s goal while writing the album was to write rhythms inspired by old-school school-yard hand claps.

Image result for hand jive

 

We also spent a lot of time carrying out audition prep for the Addams family, this consisted f learning a monologue,  a song and an accent. The males had to learn script for Gomez, this was fun as he is a different character to one in most plays so playing around with it was interesting, the song was Morticia,  a musical number about his wife denying him cheeky fun time.

My actual audition however I flunked due to nerves, I stumbled on lines and songs, however it was a good experience as it was carried out like a professional audition. I got cast as Mal the american Father of Wednesdays boyfriend.

Image result for the addams family musical

Dance and Physical theatre with Jo Monday 1st and 8th October

In these sessions we looked at running a town called malice, and our physical theatre pieces. In a town called malice I enjoy the section along the back wall as it is a really nice cannon and really adds to the character of the piece. I still am struggling with the section after the second diagonal line as I am still messing up my footwork. I need to make sure that that section is set in stone and I am comfortable doing it, I will do this by running that section in front of the mirror and asking my friends or Jo if she can go over it with me at some point. I will aim to have it down by the end of November as I feel this is more than achievable.

After watching DV8’s ‘the cost of living’ we were given the challenge in small groups to re-create a piece from the film and add our own twist to it. My group was made up of me Danilo and Jasmine, we decided to do the ‘do you believe in life after love’ the reason for this is that we found it humorous because of the use of facial expressions and contrast in his character

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(Image above is at the start of the scene and his main expression throughout the film)

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(Image above is during the song and shows how he is set free by the music and the  repetition in his routine starts to waver)

In the piece we are doing however we have added our own narrative, at first it is me and Jasmine doing the same and then I start to enjoy myself more and more until I move around the space having a great time, however as I move back I reveal Dan and him and Jasmine do the dance but begin to do it together and begin to leave; In this case she is supposed to me my girlfriend so I then panic as I cannot find her and I run off,  they then come back on and change to a different dance, I finally come back on and I’m completely broken inside, I lose all enjoyment and get upset. We have tried to look at the timing with the music to make sure things fit, and I do this as the point where I come back on is a slower piece of the track and fits with/ reflects my emotion. To improve I am going to increase my energy when I am enjoying myself, I will do this by improving my endurance this will mean working hard in body conditioning and thinking about being a healthy performer, I aim to look at being as energetic as possible by the Christmas Variety show.

Wednesday at one review with course staff 26th September

Today was all about sharing the different pieces we had so far whether they were finished or not, it was a chance to show things off as a work in progress.

Levels 2 and three first and second years met in the theatre to watch each others work; Work varied from dance to acting to singing and in some cases all three. We were given feedback about each performance and how we can improve them.

We started with Dancin’ fool, this piece is probably our best as we have been working on it for the full time we have been on the course, this was reflected in the feedback that it was ‘very polished’, the next piece I did was a town called mallace, this was good as we have not had as much time to work on this and this was shown in the feedback we received ‘Some bits were cleaner than others’ this is just showing us that there are parts we need to work on, I know that I really need to work on the heel digs as I’m still not getting it.

We then went onto the fairytales which sadly my group could not perform due to and absence in the group and very little time to amend the gap.

Dance with Jo 25th September

Today we looked at practising the prop piece to music and working on the timing to which each group would enter. This went well as groups found que words in the song to let them know when to do certain parts of their piece so this helped keep the piece within the timing. we also did some work on a town called mallace. To improve I can practice a town called mallace at home.

Dance with Jo 24th September

Today’s session was about us working on our prop pieces and the ‘a town called mallace piece’ this was to help get it ready for Wednesday at 1. In the prop piece me and Holly worked on our characterisation and timing to ensure the story gets across to our target audience. In ‘a town called mallace’ we also worked on our characterisation and polishing the piece to make it clean and effective. To improve I need to work on and practice the heel digs in a town called mallace.

Body conditioning and Dance with Karma 17th September

In today’s session we warmed up our bodies to ensure that we were safe while doing the dance session, we used the maniac warm up which is a sequence that we use to limber up and get our blood pumping, this was good as it helped us get ready for the hard work that would follow. We then spent most of the morning up until 12 working on the Dancin’ fool piece, we looked at finishing the piece and then polishing it to bring up the standard. This was good as it meant we were able to rehearse to embed the dance to the point of muscle memory so that we could work on our characterisation, this was important as this piece is all about telling a story through dance, to improve for next week I need to practice the section that is ‘clap clap heel slap bang clap up’ this is to ensure that I am in time and sharp.

Body conditioning and Dance with Karma 11th September

Today’s body conditioning was used as a warm up to ensure our joints were nice and mobile before doing any damage, this is good as it ensured we were following safe practice and also helped towards our health. 

We then went on to practice and improve the Dancin fool piece we are learning for Paris, this piece is a challenge as it is a fast piece however it is fun and a good piece, plus I love challenges. To improve this piece, I can work on being a bit less sassy and improve my alignment on certain parts, in particular the ‘Now you’re talking’ this is important as it need to be snappy and sharp to have maximum effect. 

We then started to learn the hand jive, this was good as it was fast hand work and made us be switched on and in time, whilst on the topic of being in time in this piece it is easy to tell if you’re not as there is a lot of slapping noises being made. To improve I can clean up my foot work and rehearse the hand work. 

 

Dance with Jo 10th September

In today’s session we focused on partner work, we started this by doing a simple counter balance. This was good as it helped us to learn to trust our dance partner, it also helped us improve our control as we had to control our descent and our core. I found this good as it helped me sit lower down than I normally would. The balance consisted of us locking our arms leaning back and lowering down slowly; to improve I could get down lower in this task. 

Then we played a game called hit the deck, this involved us being split into two teams and taking it in turns to run across the room go into plank and roll back with good technique, so this meant rolling from our hands and feet and recovering the position every time. When we reach the halfway point, the next person must run and jump over you and then do the same as the person before. This was good as it worked both on our body work and technique, but it also helped us to bond as a course. 

We then got back into pairs and made a small phrase of dance known as a motif that included a jump, a balance, a roll, a lift and a run. This helped us to engage a creative side into our learning and made us think of different ways to transition into the next movement. Our motif was good however to improve upon it we could have done a bit more rehearsal on it. 

The final thing we then did was slightly more acting based in our case, we were told to grab a prop from around the room and create a scene in which you used the prop in a way that is different to its actual use, we must think about characterisation, storytelling and expressions; in my case I decided to use my rolled up yoga mat as a camera in a fashion camera shoot this was good as it was a unique way to use the prop. To improve next time, I need to use a diverse variety of uses instead of just one.