21st Feb Jamies lesson

Aim: To start looking at 'The Story of Es-sindibad'

We were looking at how the show emotion through your body and to do this we used different masks with different emotions on the mask.

We have dicided that the story is going to be silent with the story being narrated on recording with music in the background.

The characters in the story (laura,demi,jonny,nicole,paige and myself) had been given the task to shoe emotion whilst wearing a mask, for example jamie told us to be happy, sad and also surprised.

 






After having an idea of how to show emotion through our bodies when then moved on and started creating 'The stroy of Es-sindibad' We used our creative ideas to create an abstract house...



The three merchants (me, paige and nicole) were told to create a tree using props (sticks), they had to use the rhythms of 'Impulse'

I had very good focus during this lesson and listened to everyone I showed very good strong movements however I should have co-operated with the class more.

8th Feb- Belly dancing workshop with Gillian

As part of our arabian nights perfomance we had to have a clear idea of the arabian culture, so Gillian done a Belly dancing workshop with us as many women do Belly dancing in the arabian culture. Gillian has done Belly dancing in the past which helped us know the basic movements.

We Started off by doing a warm up which was very different to any other warm up we have done in the past. We were standing in a circle and had to 'isolate' many parts of our body such as hips, arms and also head. I found this very difficult as it was very new to me because I had never done it before however after doing it for a while I started to find it getting easier and easier.

When we had learnt the movements, we were all told to get into groups and create a little belly dancing sequence.

I never found intrest in Belly dancing however after this workshop with Gillian I have really been excited to perform a show thats based on a different culture.

6th feb Gavin's lesson

Aim: to start blocking the prologue

We did not achieve the target, some people didn't read the script over the weekend when we were supposed to, i admit i was one of those people. So those people had to go to the LRC and read through the rest of the script as a group in a private quiet room, the others then gave Gavin some idea's about how to create the prologue.

Then we had our headshots to be taken in the photography room, the photo's will be used to go on our actors CV.

15th march rehearsal, first run through

The first run through was ok, not great but it could have been better if we had focused more and remembered our lines, however I was always sure that in the next few rehearsals we were definitely going to improve. Their were many times where we had to stop during rehearsals as we had many problems with the unstableflats seen as usually in rehearsals we used flats that only two people could move however when it came to the flats we were using in the performance we found that they were very unstable and had to be moved by four people, one person lifting up the weight, one person taking off the leg and two people rotating the flats. I think the flats caused alot of trouble to the performance as when the flats had to be moved we had to have eight people for the two flats this meant usually eight people would be late for their ques to come on stage.

Feedback:
-Interact with the audience when walking down the rostra
-Think about the emotions your character has
-If your not in the the story then sit on the mats either side of the stage acting like your really interested in whats going on
-Forty thieves instead of acting like the horses come on stage with a strong pace.
-When ali baba is astonished to find all the gold coins David says his lines in mother tongue then snaps out of it and carry's on the with the lines in English.
-Keep the energy going by focusing more and getting into character more.
-Keep the pace going for the little beggar
-Marjarnah had very good diction whilst saying her lines
-Teri was really good at staying in character for Kasims wife
-Bradley was doing really well with the accent is Abu Hassan story
-Have more commitment with the ensemble bit in story of 'The woman who wouldn't eat'
-Projecting our voices on stage because then we immediately
-Becca, Teri and Shanice are really doing well at playing the characters in the envious sisters story
-Movement with the old man was very good but the sight lines need working on
-Old man needs to travel into the centre
-Have the confidence of the performance
-The story without an ending is very powerful
-Needs more focus

20th Feb Gavin's Lesson

Aim: Recap what we did with the prologue.

We improved the bit when shahrayar says the que 'one night only' and the women walk forward centre stage with their heads down in worry- From the start we all said the line 'Until a thousand young girls perished' at the same time. We thought it didnt work as their was no emotion shown, so to improve this we thought only the middle person in the line (demi) turns to the audience and says it herself then all the rest of the girls slowly walk towards our starting position. I felt that the women could have had more movement than just turning around with their hands down and one person said a line, i feel that their could have been a dance sequence as it would show more emotion to line as it is very important in the story.

Once we had improved this scene we moved on creating the rest of the prologue (when Shahrazad asks the Vizier to marry her to the king Shahrayar).We divided ourselfs into groups in the positions we were sitting in using props and sheets to set the scene. I found this scene very good as it builded tension towards the two characters Shahrazad and Vizier.

When we all went for a break Daniella (shahrazad) and Bradley (vizier)stayed behind to improve and practice there lines together and to build more tension on their characters.

We had many ideas for the marriage scene- We used a big white sheet with leona holding it round the edge creating the image of a beautiful white shelter where sharazad and shahrayar get married underneath the shelter with two guards (Charlie + David) either side of the shelter. This was to show the importance of the king, whilst the two groups are downstage left and right.

DULCE ET DECORUM EST

In today's lesson our whole class got given a poem (DULCE ET DECORUM EST) we had to read, analyse, anotate it, underline the sentences that meant something to us or gave us any powerful imagery and provide a starting point for movement ideas and trsanspose these words into dance movements (to do so, we had to observe the tone, theme, determine whether it was abstract or literal or if there was any rhyming scheme or repitition used).

When we had finnished anotating the poem, we individually created 8 different types of movements to run alongside the poem. I chose 8 different quotes for insperation for my 8 movements, i chose to do it in this way because having one quote per movement provided the avalibility for more ideas.

My favourite movement of them all was when i dragged myself across the floor because it gave the impression of trying to escape. I chose to do this in a way to show a panic because of the quote; 'Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!'.

I think the most interesting thing about the poem is that the poet describes alot of imagery throughout the poem, however, he gives a powerfull ending, he leaves the reader hanging on to the question of whether the poem is truthful. He in effect says that you wouldnt describe such horrific imagery to a child "for some desperate glory". This was effected because in the poem it says "To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old lie; Dulce et Decorum est Pro patria mori." My opion of this quote is that i feel the poet is trying to say you wouldn't say this to your children.

Analysing movement

Analysing movement

The Carman

Choreographed by Matthew bourne

Action: what the body does.

-Shows that they are working

-Very physical movements

-Energetic

Dynamics: how the body moves.

-Heavy + quick when working and when taking a shower

-The boss shows much more slower and suttle movements as hes in his office and working as hard as the others

Space: where the body moves.

-Big bold movements

-Two dancers on the floor the rest all standing up showing the different levels

Relationships: with whom or what the body is moving or moves with.

-All the workers show that they are all friends through physical movements with eachother.

Aural settings: the set, the music, the props ect...

-Lighting is very bright

-Steam showing hot water in the showers

-Music changes from sudden and quick working music to jolly and happy to show that their finished working and their free to go.

Analysing movement

Lullaby 2008

Yesterday

Choreographed by Jasmin Varaimor

Dynamics: how the body moves

-movements are very strong + sharp to show a battle between the woman and the disease.

Space: where the body moves

-The woman and the man with the pillow use quite alot of space to open out the space they need to fight around in.

Relationships: with whom or what the body is moving or moves with.

-Man, woman and the pillow (disease)

Aural settings: the set, the music, the props ect...

-Music and lighing at the begining and the lighing never changes

-War
-Victory
-Dying
-Love
-Klub of the eccentric people

Stanislavski

Lesson 1

Stanislavski 10 elements
-Given Circumstances
-Magic if
-Imagin
-Concentration
-Relaxation
-Action/Objective+Units
-Truth/Belief
-Sense memory
-Communion
-Adaptation

Lesson 2

I quite enjoyed lesson 2 as we continued learning about Stanislavski's 10 elements. Gavin gave us a task to improvise using the 10 elements and react to the given circumstances. I found this task quite fun and challeging as my given circumstance was quite complicated and difficult to react to as it was 'escape plans' however I found it quite enjoyable because I had to show good improvisation whilst avoiding much dialogue.

Lesson 3

Lesson 3 was the most intresting lesson because it showed me the importance of focus and concentration needed for a performance and how effective it can be.

Whilst we were sitting on a chair in a space, Gavin told us to focus and really imagin that we were in a Cafe in france. We had to imagin every little detail of the Cafe for example, what colours were in the Cafe, what the Cafe looked like, what the Cafe smelt like ect...

Gavin played some French music in the background to help us imagin the Cafe a bit more.

Once we had focused on the detail of the Cafe Gavin told us to pick up the cup of coffee underneath our chair and again had to focus on every little detail of the cup of coffee for example, what were the colours of the coffee and the cup, what the cup and coffee looked like, smelt like and also tasted like. My opion on the coffee was strange as I normal find that coffee has a horrible taste however after thinking about every detail, texture and taste I found the coffee was quite nice. Gavin also told us to do the same with Dark chocolate, my peice of dark chocolate was wraped up in tin foil and when I was told to look into detail on the chocolate I thought I might aswell do the same to the tin foil. I looked at the colour of the tin foil, what the tin foil looked like, the sound the tin foil made when I scunched it up in my hand and what it felt like. After going into all the detail Gavin told us to replay all the movements we did without using the cup of coffee and chocolate this is called effective memory (effective memory is the art of recalling multiple senses to create the given circumstances of a situation)

What I found interesting is that when I replayed the dark chocolate I rubbed my finger's together miming the tin foil and it was like I could feel the tin foil between my finger's.

Strengths: I feel that during these lessons I had very good focus and concetration which helped me use my imagation easily.

Weaknessess: I feel that in lesson 1 I should have listened more to help me understand the 10 elements.





Journey of Nescot

This morning in Jamies lesson we was told to sit on the floor comfortably in a space, close our eyes and think about our feelings and what it was like when we first joined Nescot college. This then brought back so many memories with all my new friends and made me realise how much everything and everyone has changed for example so many people have gained so much confidence since they started college...including me.

Jamie also told us to think about not only the positive things about the college but also the negative, I think from the very begining of college everyone was always together as one big friendship group and recently everyone is moving on and drifting into their own little groups, however we always feel like a big family.

After thinking and focussing really hard about our experience at nescot, we were told to pick up the peice of chalk that Jamie had placed infront of us whilst we were all thinking about the experience we have had in college. Our task was to draw our journey of Nescot from the begining to what we hope to achieve at the end, for example my target is to gain more confidence and to believe in myself more.

This is an example of my drawing...

Taking the dynamic of an element into our bodies

8th February

Theatre
Teacher:Gavin

Our aim for this lesson was to define what an element is and to explore taking the dynamic of an element into bodies.

Gavin asked our class "What is an Element" there are four elements that are used to help show emotion through many movements and dialogue. The Elements also help performers get into character through the emotions of the elements.

Four elements are: FIRE, WATER, EARTH, AIR

Gavin told us to create movement of an element, for example he told us to create movement using the space with the intension of fire. I thought, well how can I move like fire? but the question is how does fire move? once i had thought deeply about how fire moves I started creating big, bold and sharp movements. whilst moving around using the elements Gavin gave us an emotion for the element to get the drift of getting into character, for example aswell as having the element of fire he told us to have the emotion of anger and how fire and anger can relate. My movements were very fast and heavy, I was using as much space as I could.

There was a range of emotions Gavin told us to use:
-Anger
-Fear
-Love
-Happiness
-Sadness

Arabian Nights

First Scene, Act One
Acting Studio
Teacher:Jamie + Gavin

Jamie and Gavin tol us the Castlists:

Bradley - Visier

Daniella - Shahrazad

Chloe - Dinerzad

Arnold - Shahryar

David - Ali Baba

Charlie - Captain

Teri - Kasim's wife

Jonny - Kasim

Laura - Ali Baba's wife

Cat - Marjanah

Bradley - Baba Mustapha

Nicole - Queen (in first act)

Understudies

Leona - Shahrazad

Cat - Dinerzad

Charlie - Shahryar

Joe - Visier

ACT ONE

The Story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

-In this story, the thieves are played as a chorus, becoming the horses, the cave, and the treasure inside.

The scene is set out with all the cast divided into two groups at upstage left and upstage right, all at different levels appart from Daniella (Shahrazad). Shahrazad walks from upstage to centre while saying her lines to the audience. When she starts talking about Kasim and Ali Baba they both walk towards Shahrazad from the groups they were in whilst in character, both their wives do the same. When Shahrazad say's "Kasim married a rich widow ect..." as im playing the role of Kasims wife I walk towards dowstage right with a powerful stance, i then hold Kasim by the waist and Kasim puts his arm around my shoulder's whilst in character, this then shows Kasim and his wife are in power as they are very rich and wealthy. When Ali Baba's wife comes forward she glances at the audience, turns to Ali Baba and hugs him for support as they both are very poor, this then shows that they love eachother even though they have poor living conditions and no money.