Dance

Dance unit

Stimulus

What is a stimulus? A stimulus is something that inspires you to create something, or base an idea around that. The stimulus can be anything for example it can be:

·         Visual: this would be creating a piece that reflects something that you have seen for example a sculpture or maybe a piece of art.

·         Auditory: hearing something like the sound of waves or creating a dance to music or based around a song.

·         Ideational: this is when it is based around a theme for example love, hate, anger and all other kinds of emotions that may be in a piece.

·         Text: using text as a stimulus is trying to interoperate a poem or something along those lines for example a story.

Gym dance: Me and Olivia choreographed the dance for the slow bit of the gym scene, we based it on the dance in the movie so our stimulus was visual. 

The Marvelous misadventures of Grayhem and Ratch

Unit 50 movement in performance:
What is a stimulus- a stimulus is something that you get inspiration from to create a piece, there are a lot of different stimuli that can be used some of which being visual, auditory, concept or theme and text based.
My stimulus was comedy so it was very important to use my movement in a very specific way that contrasted my partner who was not very excitable. We started by creating our characters, we decided that they should be contrasting from each other. After this we then decided to work on our movement and our body language making sure that they contrasted each other.
My character Ratch in the “Marvellous misadventures of Grayhem and Ratch” was very excitable, I showed this by doing very large and fast movements that were often erratic, this meant that the audience was always surprised by each time I moved and it often was funny to watch. In my performance there was a part where I slowed down and became serious, this also became comical because it was unexpected and out of character. A specific example of this was when we did the toy box sketch, my level was low and my movement was very slow, to show that I was coming out of character and to be completely different from who I was being before.
The part of the play that was worked on the most was the dance at the end of the show, this was because it was the one part of the show that was not improvised and the only part where we had to be in unison. It was very important to make sure that we did moves that were suitable to the theme of the whole play (to amuse people), and we also had to make sure that we fit to the music.

My movement during West side story:
Guernica: Guernica is a painting by Picasso showing the bombing in a Spanish town during the civil war. Picasso used a very dull palette in my opinion so that it did not detract from the chaos which was going on in the actual picture, it may also show how people visualise war and see it in a very black and white manor.
My first feeling I get when I look are Guernica are:
• Fear
• Panic
• Pain
• Anger
• Confusion
• Chaos
The reason all these emotions come to mind are because of the way Picasso used his painting techniques, for example by using jagged and sharp angles it creates the effect of anger and pain whereas when he over laps layers it shows confusion and panic. Picasso is an abstract painter this means that there is no realism behind his paintings and this allows him to create a lot more emotion with his paintings and pictures.

The stimulus for our final piece was again comedy, this time the whole sketch was pretty much about the dance, this meant that we had to think of how we would characterise our characters while we were doing the same movements, this is important to do because it will engage the audience more than if it was silent. Being confident in the dance allows us to add characterisation to the piece instead of making sure that we are in time or doing the same movement.

Finale created piece evaluation:
I feel that the piece over all went very well, this is because we were able to bring a lot of energy to the stage, and this is a very important thing to do in our performance because there are only two of us on stage at the beginning so to fill the whole stage with energy is very important.
Personally I feel that my movement was very affectively in this piece because I was able to bring a lot of dynamics and energy to the stage, because my character Ratch does not speak a great deal I have to rely on my facial expressions and my body language, a really good example of this is at the very beginning of the show when I walk on at the back, you see me relaxed until I realise the audience are watching then I immediately turn my back to them and start moving quite vigorously, this immediately has a comedic effect on the audience and grabs their attention because I’m hiding something from them.
I feel that a really useful piece of physical theatre that was used was when Max dropped me after I jumped into his arms, this is very affective because it allows there to be a sudden movement that has an comedic affect, it also shows that me and Grayhem although we have conflict love each other.
At the beginning of the sketch me and my partner feed off each other’s energy very well, the example of this is when I have my back to the audience and I’m trying to get the bottle off my finger but there are moments when I stop and me a Grayhem (Max) look at each other for a few seconds before continuing with the skit, the reason that this is so affective is because it starts the whole play with a lot of energy without having to use much dialogue.  
When mister Dance comes on it allows there to be another change in dynamics, this is very useful because it gives the stage a lot more energy which then in turn engages the audience.
   

Acting CV

Alexander Warne

Contact details:

Mobile: 07869449601

Email: alexander.james.patrick.warne@gmail.com

Personal details:

Location: Worthing west Sussex

Playing age: 16-24

Appearance: Caucasian

Build: athletic

Hair colour: brown

Eye colour: blue/green

Height: “5:11”

Personal skills:

Sport: Boxing/rugby/swimming/ kickboxing/muay Tai/shooting/archery/horse riding (three years riding)/kung foo/ karate/MMA/ basketball/

Music: drums/guitar (electric and acoustic)/piano/mandolin/singing

Other special skills and training: card tricks/ boxing teacher/

Previous experience:

·        Lead in Bugsy Malone

·        Harry Brewer in our countries good

·        Tony in west side story

Lesson work

In class work:

Physical theatre:

In first few lessons we went through physical theatre on how a gang would move and interact without saying anything and also moving in sync, the reason this was good practise was because it got our characters a certain perspective and made them different from other people, this was affective because it meant that people watching on would think that it was choreographed. Another reason why this warm up was so use full was because it allowed us to get into the style of the 1950’s which of course is when west side story was set.

Read through:
At the beginning we went through the whole play just reading, this was a good way to see how the play was laid out and also gave people who may not have read/seen the play a good understanding on what it is about. Doing this is good because we can get a slight idea of how the scenes would be laid out and also how each character reacted with one another, this is use full because it allows people to understand how to portray there character.

Devising the opening:
In the opening the idea is to build suspense and that fact that something is about to happen, the beginning is very minimalistic and only has the odd person moving about on stage until Riff (the leader of the jets) jumps on the stage, after this it builds to more people coming on stage quite quickly and I feel that this
The gym scene:
In the gym scene I was not really in the beginning but I do appear towards the end of the scene when the dance slows, this is when I first see Maria and I fall in love with her straight away,
After hours rehearsing: I stayed behind most Thursdays so that I could go through blocking scenes one to one that were not able to be done during lesson. I feel that during these afterhours lesson I was able to discover what type of character Tony was and how I should play him. I found that the character of Tony is a very sensitive, spontaneous and energetic I have to show this through my body language with large and fast movements.

8th of October: I was able to go through the blocking of both somethings coming and also Maria.
With somethings coming it is quite an up tempo song and this is difficult to do because I also have to move around a lot and this means that it is harder to hit the notes if I am out of breath. For the future I will have to make sure that I am able to get sufficient breath when I am not singing so that the song doesn’t sound like I am struggling. Because this is early on in the devising process it means that I am still getting to grips with how I would like to convey the character of Tony and also how I will approach each song. With this song, because it is so near the beginning it needs to contain a lot of energy. Before the song I interact with the character of Riff, I feel that this interaction is quite friendly, this means that the body language needs to be quite relaxed and playful, by doing this it means that the atmosphere is also relaxed.

9th oct: a lot of this blocking is to do with the gym mumbo dance therefor I was not required to do it, however in this lesson we blocked all other dialogue moments within this scene which included me. I was able to contribute the blocking between each gang as they were interacting, this is important because although the main focus of the scene is on the people speaking there is still a need to make sure other members of the cast are in character and not blocking audience members from the main focus. It also helps convey the underlying rivalry between each gang. I feel that in this lesson I was able to contribute greatly to the blocking of the interaction between each of the rival gangs after the fight.

15th oct: I was not in scene five, but I was able to go through tonight. This scene is blocked with Tony and Maria, it is meant to convey the emotion of love and the feeling of just meeting someone you like, so this means that the conversation must flow smoothly and the body language between each character must be very flirty, in this scene I helped with how it would be easy to move up and down the staging without making it awkward and without obstructing the audiences view on our expressions. The reason why it is important to make moving up and down staging fluid is because it means that the scene can carry on and not drop in energy. If the scene is allowed to drop in energy then that means that the audience may lose focus and not remain in the atmosphere of the play.

16th oct: I do not do a lot during this scene until it comes to the end where I communicate with Doc. At the end of the scene I have to convey the fact that I am overly happy by only using my body language, I do this by over exaggerating my movements, this is important because it allows the audience to see how I am feeling without me having to say it.

I feel that because Doc is the owner of the store and also he is Tony’s boss Tony should show him a lot of respect, this means that the body language will have to differentiate from how it is with Maria and Riff, the way in which I show him more respect is by changing the tone of my voice to clearer and not as loud like it would be when I was with riff.

22nd oct: we were working on the quintet in this rehearsal and how we were going to block the scene to fit everyone in, I suggested that during the song both jets and sharks would be on the stage but not interacting with each other this can show the audience that they are preparing at the same time for the same event but separately. I feel that this is a good way to show the audience what is happening and it also gives the people on stage a chance to show there aggression to the opposing gang.

23rd oct: although I do not have a lot of dialogue in the rumble scene, I do however have to convey a lot of emotion and movement blocking during the fight, as this scene is a large scene for Tony emotionally and creates the conflict that will be carried through act two. Because I have experience with stage combat I was able to block the fight between Bernardo and Riff so that it looked more realistic and lasted longer, the reason that this is important is because it means that it does not look clumsy on stage when going through it and that it also means that it can be a lot more dramatic which in turn will draw audience members attention in.

5th nov: because during this lesson I was not needed in the actual class I was able to go through character development. I started doing this by thinking about all the different emotions that Tony experiences during the play. These are happiness, anger, sadness, determination and love. Amongst other more complicated emotions. I then decided to choose which sections of the play were stronger with these emotions that others so I knew how to act them out.

6th nov: today we did a full run of act 1 , this meant that I was involved quite a lot, this gave me a very good chance to see how I fitted into other scenes also It gave me a good understanding of the whole atmosphere of the play so I could adapt my character and develop him further. After going through act one I changed the way I interacted with Bernardo during the beginning of the fight scene, when I first went through this scene I treated Bernardo very hostile

12th nov on this day I worked after college with my teacher on the balcony scene. The balcony scene is the first real scene when Tony and Maria interact with each other without anyone else around. My character had to change in in this scene, the reason being is that I had to make sure that I was a lot more romantic and gentle with Maria, because in previous scenes I had only been with Riff and large majorities of people which meant that I spoke a lot louder and my body language was quite over the top. However when I am alone with Maria I speak softly and I am a lot more happier/nervous this is because I am falling in love with Maria.

13th nov we were able to work on somewhere in this lesson and how it should be blocked.  My character developed in this scene because he was able to explore a new dynamic in his emotions, the new dynamic that I approached was misery and being upset. The way my character interacted with Maria was a lot different to how it had been n previous scenes.  This was because it had followed a devastating scene affecting both of us.  The strengths in this rehearsal was I able to contribute how the scene would be laid out.  I also was able to focus my emotions to Maria which had made the scene feel more personal.

My weakness during this rehearsal was the fact that I was unable to get the pitching in the song because I had a sore throat.  For next time I would be more supportive and comforting towards Maria by holding her closer and changing the tone of my voice to speak softly and calmly.
3rd 4th 10th:   on these days we worked on ensemble pieces, the main focus was on the technically challenging quintet. The reason why the main focus was on the quintet was because that it involved the whole of the class.

11th dec we were able to go through the whole show slowly so we knew how it would all fit together and also what scenes needed the most amount of attention. This was effective because we were able to see what scenes needed a lot more work and how smoothly they fitted together.  For example, during “One Hand One Heart” it was obvious that the set for the scene needed a lot more time than previously thought.  This meant that people in the scene previously had to move the dummies so it was a smoother transition.  By doing this I was also able to understand how I should approach each scene because the atmosphere became a lot clearer.

8th 9th jan on these two dates we were able to go through scenes that included other members of the class, these scene included the prologue, gym dance and finale. This was useful because it highlighted how many extra people we needed.

18th jan During this rehearsal me and Olivia were able to complete the blocking for “One Hand One Heart” knowing what the scaffolding would be like.  This changed how the scene was laid out quite a lot because it gave us a lot less space than originally thought.  Also during the scene we were able to work on the harmony for the end of the song.  Originally in the scene it lacked in energy because the dialogue was quite slow and not upbeat.  Tis meant that we had to put a lot of energy when projecting each line. We also made sure that there was a lot of movement between us showing our excitement for each other.

24th jan This was a whole day rehearsal which gave us the opportunity to look at which scenes needed improvement.  Because a lot of the scenes involved characters I interact with in my scenes I was unable to go through them by myself. This led to me working on my singing and how I would perform each song focusing on the emotion of each.

26th jan full dress run: This gave us the opportunity to see the how the whole play would look as a final piece, on this day I also helped with how the lighting would be set out as I got to college early, I was able to input what would look good and what wouldn’t look good, I said that when Bernardo gets killed by me the lighting should go trait to red, this would have a huge impact of the scene because it is such a strong colour. There is also a lot of connections to do with the colour red such as hate, anger and death.