Blog 6

Monday- Last week they finished the ballet piece so while we began to clean the piece it gave me a chance to catch up with the choreography and luckily there was not much at all.  I feel like I am not performing this piece very well I think next lesson I should ask Kelly want kind of motivation the piece has and what kind of facial expression she wants. This drama lesson I thought was very successful because all of the cast were here and it was the first time we did it without the words. Apart from a few little trip ups it flowed a lot better and its finally becoming funnier and easier to understand. Amber and I also sorted out the song during the drama piece. Because we did not know the muller advert in the script very well we decided to upgrade it to a recent advert (muller rice), this was probably the messy part of the run through but I think if Amber and I practice it can be a highlight of the piece. Also today we completed the musical theatre piece I struggled with the drop into the plie because I could not get my weight in the correct place but with some practice I’ll get the hang of it. I am still however struggling with the performance side to this piece but hopefully I can build on that now that the dance is completed. I also started my solo to the new piece of music I found it easier to come up with ideas. I know I am still holding back on the performance but I think it is one of the dances that will happen on stage in the moment. In the last lesson of the day We finished our tap piece, I love it however I am very nervous about it because tap is not my strongest style also Kelly has added in a move I still can not do. It is a double pirouette into a knee drop, I am finding it difficult because I do my knee drop on the other leg so I need to teach myself to do it onto my left knee. This move absolutely needs practice.

Tuesday- Today we had studio time so Millie and Maddie caught me up with a small change to our jazz trio and some new choreography I love what they have added on and I can not wait until this piece is completed. We did not have time to add anymore on because today we presented all our mini groups and what we have done so far. We got feedback for each piece, to start with our rock and roll piece they said they liked what we had done so far but we lacked energy, this means all of us need to work better as a team and work on our performance. We did not show our singing trio but Mary was working on it with us so we needed more time. The jazz trio the said they loved the choreography and we all have a similar flexibility which is a bonus however the criticism the gave us that the way this dance is going to work is if its perfectly slick. So we need to clarify a few arm lines etc to ensure the dance is tight. Finally they watched my solo they said they loved the song choice and it was a good idea to change it but they said it was very trick based and back and forth spacing wise. Kelly said use more stillness as it will add to the effect she said I was holding back and I think that I am to but I’m struggling to find the perfect choreography. In commercial today they went through the end of the dance that I missed it was quite basic so it was easy to pick up but there are still a few moves I need to work on during the rap sections so I can make sure I am tight with the other girls. At the end of the lesson we danced through the musical theatre group afew time just so we could make sure we remember the choreography. In studio time today we finished our rock and roll piece and I am very pleased with the result. At the end we decided to add in a double cartwheel which TJ and Shannon had never done before so we have to teach them amazingly it dod not take them long at all the execute this movement perfectly. it obviously needs cleaning but I think we all work together well putting input and ideas in so we finished the piece quite quickly considering how little time we have had. Now we just need to work on our performance and getting it slick. In the last 45 minutes TJ left to work on another trio so we cleaned some parts we were unsure on, before Maddie and I added a little more onto the Bad trio. But we both wanted to work on our solos since our feedback and we both recently changed our songs.

Wednesday- We didn’t have ballet so we decided to run through all the group pieces starting with musical theatre, then commercial so TJ and I could rehearse the parts we missed last week and clarify the moves. This was very helpful because afterwards everyone felt a lot more comfortable performing the group pieces. Also during studio time Maddie and I taught Millie the section of the jazz trio this did not take long and we did not have long before our singing lesson. We started to learn the song ‘All I Care About is Love’ from the musical Chicago. This will be used for the finale of our showcase. We only had 20 minutes with Claire because she needed to spend more time Zak because he has a lot more verses to learn. The last lesson of the day was street we didn’t add anymore choreography wise because Emilie says that it finished apart from the beginning and transitions. So we cleaned the pieces we had already learnt as well as blocking spaces which is helpful because not all of us knew all of the songs so we can now all practice out of the lesson during studio time. 

Thursday- In the morning we started working on the choreography for the group song. This piece involved fans and heel work. This made it quite a difficult piece, to perform even though the choreography was quite simple. I have never used fans first and I never knew there were ‘rules’ for example the spine of the fan must be laying upwards while on the floor and the have to be a certain way to create a different effect. Also using heels requires a lot more balance but luckily this dance involves mainly walking. In contemporary we went over the choreography we did before half term. Plus we also added in a small lift with Millie it was particularly difficult but we tailed some other idea such as us being Millie cape it looked ver effective and Emilie said will be added on near the end of the piece. We finished this lesson a little early because Emilie wanted to trail some lifts with Millie and Zak.