Monday 23rd
Today Jazz and Tap was cancelled because Sarah was off sick, however we were given the opportunity to work in the computer room and either do our essays or T.I.E projects. This was great because I had to finish the final details of the script and this gave me a great opportunity to do it!
Commission
In our commission lesson we decided to go over the blocking we had done with Erica, Tom wasn’t here but we did manage to carry on. However he gives me a lot of my queues so sometimes I wouldn’t realise I had to say something because I was expecting more dialogue before I spoke. Then we looked at the Egyptian dance routine to work on. I am not in this song so I did not need to learn it, however I did add in a couple of Egypt looking styles of movement which have been included into the dance.
Tuesday 24th
Choir
This has been my first lesson of choir this term as I was at an audition the first week and then we had an open day so it wasn’t on. We’re currently singing “Rainbow Connection” from the Muppets Movie and we have just started “Joyful, Joyful! which is from Sister Act 2. I absolutely love the Sister Act films and so when Paul gave us the sheet music I was so excited! However many people were unfamiliar with it and so we only managed to do 8 bars by the end of the lesson. I was a little impatient, but I do need to respect that I was a minority in the room when it came to the song. Hopefully we can move further with it next week.
Singing/Commission
We had everyone in the lesson today which was great and so we showed Paul the first bit that we have blocked. Scott, Jess and Sian also created a dance for the Egypt song and so they showed that to Paul. We were told that day that some Chinese students ranging from 9-12 years old were being toured around some of the college, they happened to stop by during the Egypt song and after they said that they loved it! This was very helpful, because even though they are slightly older than the age we are performing to, they’re still children and its nice to know that it was entertaining for them. After this Paul sat us down and went over a few notes with us about the performance, he picked in great detail at a lot of things that needed more clarifying and adjusting. He also wants me to change the rhymes so that they have the same amount of syllables in each line. After mentioning this to Erica and showing her the notes, she disagreed mostly and reassured us that the script didn’t need anymore edits or changes. There are still a couple of tweaks we need to fix, but other than that I definitely agree with Erica.
Ballet
In ballet we did Barre work and some centre work. On the barre we did
- Demi Plié and rise, grande plié, ports de bras and demi plié (in 4 positions)
- battement tendu with transfer of weight forward, backward and 2 sets to the side.
- battement frappe en croix
- battement developpé and envelope
- battement cloche in attitude and extended
- rond de jambe en dehors and en dedans à terre, en l’airs and with a fondu support.
Faye and Tom were watching us and giving us tips and advice as they were both injured. Tom told me that I had too much tension in my hands instead of my shoulders and so they went a bit funny and stiff. Faye mentioned to watch out for the supporting leg and to make sure I don’t bend forward, so I need to imagine I’m sliding down a wall to keep my back straight. I paid attenti0n to these pieces of advice and improved on them.
In centre work we looked at pirouettes. We first looked at preparation which I found more difficult as I seemed to over spin too much. Then we did pirouettes en dedans, it was okay but I just had a bad balance day and just couldn’t seem to stand still or stay up. However maybe I need to work on my pirouettes because my Jazz ones are definitely better than my ballet, but that’s also probably because you are more supported before you take off, where as Ballet uses much more core and balance.
We finished with pos turns which at first I found very complicated, however when I was shown very slowly how to do it, I managed to do it easily. To practise Helena made us do 3 turns to the corners of the room in a continuing pattern ending with a little leap each time. I was fine on my right leg, however when I came to do my left it didn’t go as smoothly as I had hoped. I need to work on my left leg definitely, but it may be something as simple as working out the pattern again.
Wednesday 25th
We had directed study lessons and commission today, not many of our cast were here so we looked at our essays, research and weekly blogs to do for the day. This helped us out a lot to catch up with anything we needed to do. We also went over some of Paul’s notes and even though we didn’t agree with some of them, I am going to change my opening speech so that it fits well and has the same amount of syllables in each line. Also Scott, Jess and Sian thought they should create a dance for the Egypt song so they looked at the sand dance for inspiration and have created a simple routine that works well. I did give some ideas however I am not in the dance and they decided not to use my suggestions, but it does look great.
Thursday 26th
Acting
We did more blocking with Erica all the way up to the part where the children travel to Egypt and because they now have a dance they decided to teach it to Tom as he was not here on Wednesday. Erica loved it and videoed it again for us to upload and here it is.
Friday 26th
Audition prep:
Today we had a little meeting with Birgitta. She handed out papers for us to read which had many points on it. These included things that she expects for her singing lessons and things shes tired of repeating. I agreed with this completely, even though I have been more prepared than some people I was still guilty of a few things. These were not researching the musical enough and so I didn’t completely understand the song I was singing, I also need to make sure I at least sing my songs for half an hour each day to make sure that when I have my lessons I know the lyrics. I shall carry on with this and be more prepared for our sessions from now on.
Sophia Lerigo - Year 2 Musical Theatre 