Skip to main content

Skills Audit-Movement In Performance



Prior to this unit, I had only ever covered movement in class however this was in combination with other forms of performing arts such as scripted pieces, physical theatre etc, so I would say that I do have basic understanding of elements that make up movement/dance. I’ve also taken part in a school show which had a large amount of dance in it, so this was really useful as I hope to bring some of the skills I have learnt from it to this unit. Also just creating movement in class before this unit has allowed me to further develop my skills. In contrast, this unit will solely focus on movement in performance so I will need to make sure I am constantly deepening my knowledge of these familiar skills.

One major skill that I wish to enhance is my musicality; I would say I’m more comfortable performing on my own when it comes to movement as the being one beat behind is less noticeable compared to when you are in a group, you are easily distinguishable. I do find that there are many causes as to why I can become out of time, these are: forgetting what movement comes next, being distracted by other performers, worrying that it looks wrong, not focusing on the beats in the music. I think understanding the music that I will be working with will help me with this as I will come to know the timing in the music, also practicing the movement is an obvious aid in further improving my musicality.

Another thing I would like to work on is working with different types of music, in the school musical I took part in- the numbers were very fast paced and energetic, so perhaps working with different tempo of music will help portray different tones of atmospheres. Something I have come to understand since studying drama is that the same skill can be used in many ways. For example Projection is usually associated with projecting your voice loud enough so the audience can hear you, however the skill can be used in dance but instead Projection means to engage the audience and transmit a meaning to them through the movements. I wish to also focus on this as well I think it is important to convey a story/message through your dance, hopefully I will be able to apply this skill to my masterpiece.

Something I do find deplete when it comes to movement is confidence, I do not see myself as a confident dancer and this is one thing I wish to change. Many people in my class have had previous experience. I believe that if you are not confident on stage when dancing there is no way that you are fully participating your body into the movements-for me anyway. They are more half hearted movements and can look tired. I think if I was to make sure that I was putting 110% effort into my dance that I may feel more confident but at the same time confidence is something you build up over time so making sure I am pushing myself to myself every in and out of lesson is something I plan on doing.

My development/progression targets are:

1. Work on my musicality

2. Explore Projection within movement

3. Amplify my full body participation
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Exploring Slapstick Comedy

After exploring R.A.D.S, we then moved onto exploring slapstick comedy in movement. Slapstick is a stylistic type of movement that focuses on the exaggeration of actions, they become more lively and are also used to create humour. This lesson we focused on taking inspiration from the 1952 film 'Singin' in the Rain', targeting the number "Make em laugh" performed by Cosmo aka Donald O'Connor. After watching the video it was clear that most of his movements were very clumsy and silly however that was the sole purpose of them-to make the audience laugh, Though whilst he's movement was humorous Donald's expressions, posture and the way he carried his body had 100% dedication, his number was also full of  energy which kept the humour in place. After the video we was assigned into trios and 4's to come up with a short and set he task of creating our own version of a slapstick comedy, we thought it would be comical if we went with a love triangle...
Post a Comment
Read more

Using Torches (Torch-ography)

This lesson we wanted to try and develop another idea from our list, this way we would have more than one piece of movement that we would be able place our attention on our idea of using torches, so this lesson we solely focused on this. Alice came up with the idea was inspired by the musical 'In the heights', specifically the number 'Blackout'. Although the video below is an amateur dramatic production (Spirit Young Performers Company) of the number, you can still see how they use the torches/lighters of the cast to create this really nice chaotic effect and how the idea that the characters are searching for each other . We thought we could implement this idea into our masterpiece, however in a much softer way (not chaotic) where our characters do not want to be in the light as they are insecure about themselves so it's a much more emotive interpretation of the use of torches. . Here is our piece that we developed this lesson: We used the instru...
Post a Comment
Read more

Creating a mirror

This lesson we decided to focus on my part of our piece. As a group we had decided that we wanted to each represent a some sort of character that as a type of body dysmorphia, I wanted to focus on the issues that surround transgender people, focusing on the the way they feel- they're born in the wrong body. Alice was going to take part in my piece so we was given ownership over this part of our masterpiece. Alice suggested that we use a number from the hit musical 'Kinky Boots', called 'I'm Not My Father's Son'. Although this song is about being a drag queen, we believed that the lyrics still transmit the same notion as it would to a transgender person in some way. We did try and devise some movement to the original soundtrack however we soon discovered that it was too fast for us so we considered looking for another version, luckily we came across an acoustic version which we decided to go with- the acoustic version also gave us the right tempo for our move...
Post a Comment
Read more