"Farewell Speech"

In the Musical Theatre lesson, with Sean, we had to do a short monologue of the person during the funeral. Firstly, Sean had set us up in two's and made us read the monologue one by one. The way I would have to play the character is that we had to watch the video of the man in the funeral, and exhibit on how he is delivering his speech. This had given me an idea on how to create the character in my own way. When Sean was doing his monologue of the man, we had witnessed the tear coming out of his eye; he said you can easily make a tear by breathing through your nose.

I was partners with Ruth, so the both of us had to say the monologue, and also express the emotions that was in the monologue. Furthermore, not only did I have to use what was in the speech to deliver the lines, I had to read the monologue and think to myself, how would I deliver the line and think what to do. This came out as average; this is because I had not only delivered the lines on how I did the speech, I had to hear myself speak to the audience to give them the attention, like a actor would normally do.

"Suddenly Seymour"

Lift up your head, wash off your mascara

Here, take my Kleenex, wipe that lipstick away

Show me your face clean as the mornin'

I know things were bad but now they're okay

Suddenly, Seymour is standing beside you

You don't need no make-up don't have to pretend

Suddenly, Seymour is here to provide you

Sweet understandin', Seymour's your friend

Nobody ever treated me kindly

Daddy left early, Mama was poor

I'd meet a man and I'd follow him blindly

He'd snap his fingers me I'd say, "Sure"

Suddenly, Seymour is standing beside me

He don't give me orders, he don't condescend

Suddenly, Seymour is here to provide me

Sweet understanding, Seymour's my friend

Tell me this feeling last 'til forever

Tell me the bad times are clean washed away

Please understand that it's still strange and frightening

For losers like I've been it's so hard to say

Suddenly, Seymour

(Suddenly, Seymour)

He purified me

(He purified you)

Suddenly, Seymour

(Suddenly, Seymour)

Showed me I can

(Yes, you can)

Learn how to be more

The girl that's inside me

(The girl that's inside you)

With sweet understanding

(With sweet understanding)

With sweet understanding

(With sweet understanding)

With sweet understanding

Seymour's your man

During the lesson of singing with Sean, we had been singing the song "Suddenly Seymour" from the film Little Shop of Horrors. I have had a lot of fun singing this song; this is because, that not only I had to rely on the singing,a s well as holding in the high note, I had to gain an idea of how I would use certain type of emotions to portray the character sing while also exploring the lyrics of the song. We were in two's (one girl as Audrey and one guy as Seymour) and I was with Rashana. This became a success as we were both able to get the notes correctly as well as this increased my confidence in singing.

"Oh Freedom"

Oh, freedom, oh, freedom

Oh, freedom over me

And before I'd be a slave

I'd be buried in my grave

And go home to my Lord and be free

They would be singing they would be singing

They would be singing over me

And before I'd be a slave

I'd be buried in my grave

And go home to my Lord and be free

No more worry, no more worry

No more worry over me

And before I'd be a slave

I'd be buried in my grave

And go home to my Lord and be free

Oh, freedom, oh, freedom

Oh, freedom over me

And before I'd be a slave

I'd be buried in my grave

And go home to my Lord and be free

 I kind of didn't know how to sing the song, but I catched up to it eventually. The song "Oh Freedom", gave me a idea on how to sing the song. The song sounds really passionate, calm, and relaxing; it helps to acknowledge how to sing the piece and know the pitch, and notes.

Mannequin

What is the story about?

The story of Mannequin is a romantic comedy that resolves around a man named Bob, a adult with an imagination of a lost child, who falls in love with an female shop-doll mannequin (Cagla Kuru). When bringing her to his room, however, his former partner, Flo (Nancy Bostock), bursts in the room to find Bob with the mannequin, which later leads to a love triangle. The script itself is adapted to the theatre play called Beer Girl (2009) written by American playwriter Walter Wykes.

My character and Personality

My character, Bob, is depicted to be quiet funny, alongside being an adult with the mind of an 10 year old child, as Flo calls on by saying "If you acted like a adult every once in a while, I wouldn't have to nag", which suggests his childish-like-personality resulted in the end of his relationship with Flo. He is also suggested to be an love interest of Flo and Mannequin. It is also occasionally shown that Bob can be quite hasty when falling in love with another women because, Bob immediately asked if she wanted children together. In order for me to understand my character and his actions in the script, I had to do certain gestures in the script to get an understanding. Furthermore, when we had Dominique as a replacement teacher for one day, people in my class had to get in groups of three's and ask certain questions through Stanslovaski's acting skills; this had gave me an creative idea on how to play the character.

What went well

Originally, our script had been about a train accident in London, and my character was named Pete, an egotistical man who was prepared for his football tryout and during the choas all he cared about was his knee, and not the dying student. The rest of the story focuses on a Estonian biology students, near death. Because we didn't like the script, Sean created a new script, to which we both liked. I believe what went well was that the way we had formed character. This is because, the story is a romantic comedy, it somehow suited me, due to my comedian-like personality. Furthermore, Nancy, another actress, had really gave in character, as her voice was commonly the reason why she gave me an idea to be the character myself; this would have to require me to listen to the words coming out of her mouth, and adapt myself to how I'm going to deliver the lines to my character.

Issues

While preparing for the performance, the group had a couple of issues. Isabel was formerly the mannequin in the play, but she felt a little uncomfortable with the role as Mannequin, and left the group, leaving Louren Anderson as the replacement. However, because of her absence, the role was given to Cagla instead. Also, my absence on Wednesday while preparing for the Thursday performance was an issue because the performance was scheduled for Friday. There was a little worry in my group, as we had realised that, we had to make sure we have to learn our lines properly. The effect of the final performance was that there was a moment where we had listened to each-other in what we are saying to make the acting more realistic. This had required some characterisation. The performance is completed successfully nonetheless. This is because, the views from the people who witnessed the performance from Thursday, I had made it my task what to do in order to form character; this would require me to listen what my partner is saying for me to give me voice of the character. The next time when we are performing a piece, I will have to not be laid-back, because that was one of the issues that I had to overcome.

Lesson with Joanna (Jazz dancing)

During the lesson with Joanna, I have been recently learning how to jazz dance. When I first entered into Musical Theatre, I was really stuck on what to do, and I had no idea about the movements whatsoever. Eventually, I had developed on the dance sequence and I got the hang of the dance, to which I can dance with confidence.

Steps on the dance sequence

1) Step with your right leg to the left side forward and with your left leg step on the right side forward x2.
2) Sweep back with your left legs right backwards, and sweep the right leg, left backwards.
3) Bend your right knee, and move your shoulders backwards while clicking.
4) Behind step together, while moving left.
5) Spin left once, with the left knee tucked in to the right.
6) Move sidewards five times to the right.
7) Spin right once, with the right knee tucked in to the left.
8) Go down on the floor, as if you're nearly tucking, except right knee forward and left knee back.
9) Roll over to the left side with you putting your legs out.
10) Get up and take five steps back.
11) Spin right with you right leg more up.
12) Click twice and get on the ground.
13) Roll over twice.
14) Behind step back.
15) Two steps to the left, and leap.
16) Sweep back with your left legs right backwards, and sweep the right leg, left backwards.
17) Move to left side, by spinning.
18) Move to right side by spinning.
19) Step back 5 times, and perform your own sequence.

This song "Fever" by Michael Buble is the music that was used for the controlled assessment. The music was calm and natural; plus, the music suits the music, as it had a soft effect on our dancing. The overall dance in my opinion is developing greatly. On the other hand, I do believe what I could do with improving is getting the dance sequence in time with the music, so that way I do not rush myself or rush others for them not to be on time.

Lesson with Dominick

Lesson with Dominick 

While in lesson with Dominick, we have been learning dance sequences for the dances. So far, i have done okay on Thursday, although what I needed to work on at that time, is the fact that I need to be on time with which part I switch and turn around, alongside the fact that I need to put my legs straight.

Dance sequence with me and Ada.

1) Reach to right side and lift your left leg on the left side and put your right arm, on the right.
2) Put your right leg forward and left leg back, put your left hand on in front of your head.
3) Kick up; right leg first then left.
4) Turn behind and lift and kick behind with right leg.
5) Salute back and forth.
6) Kick again with same movement.
7) Butterfly.
8) Go behind Ada.
9) Move your right around and back, and do the same with left.
10) I move to the right side, while Ada moves left.
11) Lift right knee, move your head left, then left knee, move your head right.
12) I move my right leg around clockwise.
13) Move three times, then enter into a lunge that will finish the dance sequence.

Action
How precise I was with the moves.

Dynamics - (Sharp and Soft)
The movements that were used in the performance was clean; it was not messy and the movement were clearly seen to be sharp in terms of how we use our arms and legs.

Action 
The action on my performance with Ada was quite excellent in my opinion; we had the timing, and the look rightly perfect. An example is when we kicked in the end it gave a dynamic and sharp movement.

Space - (Controlled-i.e. timing)
The space was not an issue during the performance as the both of us were in the same direction, but only we planned to meet each-other for effect. It was very controlled and we didn't have an issue where we didn't end up accidentally kicking or bumping into each-other, the space was subtle. Furthermore, we visualized how we were going to perform without bumping into each-other because the result of bumping into each-other with mess up our routine.

Relationship - (when it worked - when I felt at each-other)
The relationship during the performance was satisfying. This is because, me and Ada's job was to look at each-other at several occasion. The maximum times we were looking at one another was 2-3 times. To extend my sentence even more, I'm going to talk about how it worked; the both of us maneuvered many sequences, and the elements alongside the teamwork me and Ada put in was what really made our sequence work. In my opinion of this, I actually believe me and Ada had managed to make a success in the lesson, and the sequence that were taught by Dominick.

Wednesday Lesson in Musical Theatre

Musical Theatre Lessons

Warm-ups

During the first lesson with Alex, the Musical Theatre (MT) class and Performing Arts (PA) did a warm up, where we worked on our posture; we had to bounce up and down and swing our arms left and right while keeping our head, back, and shoulder sloppy. Then, we had to slowly get up in ten seconds to stand straight without sorting out our shirts and hair (e.g..) so we wouldn't break our posture. Afterwards, we worked on breath techniques; Alex had told us to find a focus point on the wall, and breath three times without moving our shoulders; after that, we had to make a sound as long as we can. This process had helped me develop my voice for me to project our voices, and gives me a strong idea to get used to the idea how to prepare for an acting career.

Singing - Hosanna

Also, we had did a exercise where we first and second year did a warm-up on our singing vocals. Another song we started on was "Hosanna". The song itself was quite harmonious and felt the same all the way through.

Dance

While singing the song "Christ you know I love you", I had finally learnt to dance while getting into the music. At the same time, while in the lesson with Joanne, I know now what dance comes in during the song.

What I've done on Musical Theatre so far

My beginning 

So far during the course, we did a dance that I was slightly stuck on, and had no clue whatsoever on the timing. However, I managed to get parts of the dance slightly right, despite being a beginner. During another lesson with Dominik, I kind of caught up with the dance and movements. Singing in the lesson occasionally gives me a chance to get my voice and be confident.

Tongue Twisters

Tongue Twisters with Shaun today was quite interesting, because of the fact that it was rhythmic and it rhymed at the same, it was really confusing.

Singing -  Hey You / Jesus Christ Superstar 

While preparing to get our voice up to a confident level, my class normally do a "Hey You" exercise, along with the music for us to keep up the timing and the pitch for us to know when the music is going up high, we sing to that pitch.

Furthermore, while singing Jesus Christ Superstar, I did get to the beat of what I was singing, alongside the fact that the music was harmonious at the same time, I felt like I was inside the song.

During the first week of college, we have recently been working on our breathing to develop the projection of our voices. The process of that exercise has really developed my voice, and somehow I feel that I can actually use my voice out loud. We have been using our diaphragm to connect to my voice. My voice comes from my throat because it allows me to really talk to develop my acting; it gave me a sense of purpose.