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Whilst going through the process of this play we realised that there was always going to be lines missed out and parts of the script where we get stuck, so if nobody is saying anything we agreed to just say the line to make it easier to move on and minimise the length of time left of freezing waiting for somebody to say the line.

I think for the actual performance this allowed us to move on quickly. Before this performance our last rehearsal was the inhouse performance at college and then we broke up for easter so have been unable to get another rehearsal in before the actual performance so unfortunately we were unable to add any of the feedback in as we didn't have any time to.

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For me, this entire process has felt so different to what we normally do for a show which is good experience for when we do this in the industry as you will be learning different repertoire, at different paces, in completely different ways. So the best thing to prepare for that to learn different repertoire at a different pace, in a completely different way, which is what we have done with Orchestra. From the beginning when we were first handed our scripts, we all knew it was going to be a lot of work. There are so many things that are new to us and that we have not done before, such as doing a purely acting play, lifts, one worded lines that create a sentence. The list goes on. However, realising how tough this could be I was still eager to try and put in the effort for it to look good, and eventually it started to pay off as we were able to get through the entire play without pauses and less mistakes were made than the time before.

I think the hardest part of the whole process was working with everyone and trying to make everyone happy and include every idea we could to try and avoid fights. It also was not easy because we have a lot of natural leaders to tend to take the lead (including myself) and sometimes it can come across as taking over but I find it quite hard to not take the lead when I can't see any progress being made. I believe people struggled with others taking a lead, however were not willing to put in more effort when given the opportunity to.

Another part I found challenging was have to do a lot of the rehearsal and development led by ourselves, especially for something that is going to be seen in public let alone a competition. I think people were expecting to have these modules assessed on Student Platform as that is what happened last year so to do something drastically different threw us a little bit but in the industry you are going to have things thrown at you and you have to be prepared to take on the challenge and do what you have to do the succeed.

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Initial Development

We performed it in front of the derngate people, and they gave us some feedback.

Changes Made

Will start to apply the feedback after Easter

General Development

More confident with the play

Critical Analysis

Positives- Getting through the entire play

Negatives- people leaving big pauses between their lines

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Initial Development

We did our first dress run with an audience, which was quite daunting but it helped us to just get on with it and have some pressure added, there were a few mistakes here and there but nothing we couldn't fix

Changes Made

NO CHANGES MADE

General Development

We are now becoming more comfortable running the play.

Critical Analysis

Positives- Getting through the entire play

Negatives- Still skipping lines

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Although it may seem it is not important but have a uniform, however strict it may be, is there for a reason, yes the main reason is that you look smart and professional but another reason is for movement reasons you wouldn't do ballet in skinny jeans and trainers, as it require a lot of technique and the teacher needs to see your lines and how you're holding your body. It is the same with any other activity. With this I made sure everybody was wearing bottoms that they could move in and a black top as makes everything look cleaner and more professional. With me asking for people to wear correct uniform it also lowers the risk of people injuring themselves due to restricted movement or tripping or super baggy clothing.

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Your warm-ups were quick and precise, they were a pleasure to do and I felt physically warm afterwards and ready to start the day, Good Job!

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I enjoy your warm-ups, they are very good, I like how you make it so there is an equal ratio of cardio and stretching, you are great at leading.

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Medical files and information is vital to have when you are taking care of your cast members. It is important to know of injuries, medication, disabilities, as well as any doctors information they can acquire incase of emergency.

For example, Tia has epilepsy which can cause her to have seizures as any given moment, however it is unlikely to happen as she is on her medication to prevent it from happening. On the other hand if it were to happen she has a purple card with information on what to do if anything was to happen to her, which is extremely helpful if you do not have instant access to medical professionals.

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Because it was not just me as Dance Captain, it was important for both parties to communicate on what was happening, who's week it was, and any information a teacher has given that could change what we had planned. I found that conversations weren't always happening which caught confusion and frustration for both Captains.

Communication is important is any scenario, as it is the reason why thing flow smoothly, so when conversations are not being had, it can be hard to get the best out of the opportunities given, because of that lack of communication.

We did have some disagreements due to lack of understanding and communication, which if we were to do this module again it is something we have learnt and can improve on for next time.

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When we found out first about this module, before it was launched, I came up with a plan for how I was going to run it, based on the Showcase. However, since we're using this module for our Connections piece (Orchestra), it was not going to be like it would if it was centred our Showcase, so some ideas that I pre-thought up when thinking about what I wanted to do, before I knew it centred around connections, I had to adapt and come up with some new ideas that would fit and compliment the way we were going to move in this play, as there would be a lot less dancing and cardiovascular movement as there is much less dancing than in our Showcase.

I made a playlist of upbeat and energy rising songs that would get people motivated for the day so that more progress could be done, than if we didn't do one at all.

I also needed to research what different exercises do as I had limited knowledge and wanted to know the benefits and risks with certain exercises.

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Our first meeting was about what roles we would like to take on and which each other would be suited to, I decided (along with my peers), to take on the role of Dance/Movement Captain as I love getting hands on with a movement piece and any choreography. I believe I am quite a natural leader which can be a useful skill when people are struggling to come up with ideas and make them work, I quite enjoy being able to make people's visions come to life whilst trying to incorporate something of everybody's ideas as it is a group collaborative projects so require everyone to work together.

We decided to have two Dance Captain, as it would be a lot of work for just one person and since there were quite a few of us more than one person ended up with the same role.

I knew then, I needed to come a strategy of what specifically I wanted to achieve with having this job role.

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Our expectations of H20, is to become successful in undertaking administrative or creative roles in the industry, to demonstrate our skills within these administrative and creative roles, and to contribute to a project within a creative or administrative role.

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This Week i decided to do something a little bit different, as I could feel tensions in the air and people were stressing about our Connections play "Orchestra". So, I decided to do some meditation and stretching to try and reduce stress as 1 person is stressed in the team it makes more people stressed and causes mistake and frustration, so by doing this successfully I managed to give people time to cool down and think about solutions to their stress.

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- Dynamic Stretching

Dynamic stretching is a movement-based type of stretching. It uses the muscles themselves to bring about a stretch. It's different from traditional "static" stretching because the stretch position is not held.

-Static Stretching

Static stretches are those in which you stand, sit or lie still and hold a single position for period of time, up to about 45 seconds.

-Cardiovascular Endurance (Cardio)

Cardiovascular endurance, or aerobic fitness, is how well your heart and lungs can supply the oxygen you need while you exercise at medium to high intensity.

-Strength training

Strength training, also known as weight training or resistance training, involves the performance of physical exercises that are designed to improve strength and endurance. It is often associated with the lifting of weights.

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some of the information was left blank for people's personal reasons

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Health and Safety is important in any job role, in any industry

As part of my job role it is important to be prepared for anything that may go wrong. Which is why it is so important to have the information you need in case of emergencies. That's why i have created a Table of everyone's; Name, Job Role, injuries Disabilities, Next of Kins' numbers and Doctors surgeries. All this information can be really vital when thing go wrong.

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Because we all wanted to share our ideas it was really hard to hear everyone when people were talking over each other, so we came up with the talking rubber. Who ever has the rubber can share their idea. As some lessons we were left to choreograph and make progress by ourselves I ended up taking the lead ad everybody was just talking and not a lot was getting done when I put myself forward I was able to use my leaderships skills to try and make everyon efeel heard by listening to ideas and try to incorporate them all somehow which, in a few pieces worked but for others some had to make a few sacrifices as it wouldn't have worked for the piece

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Initial Development

WE DID A FULL RUN WITHOUT SCRIPTS!! Yes, we skipped a few lines here and there but we did it.

Changes Made

I had to change persons for the lift with Jess as I have broken my wrist and cannot lift her.

General Development

We are now doing full runs of the play and are seeing it come together.

Critical Analysis

Positives- Getting through the entire play

Negatives- Skipping quite large amounts of lines

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Initial Development

People are continuing to grow in confidence with lines and cues

Changes Made

We have moved to a new space to spacing has had to changed as we have moved into the theatre so there is a bit more space to fill.

General Development

We have been teching the show with lighting so it is coming together and it starting to look like and actual show

Critical Analysis

Positives- The piece is running a bit more smoothly than last time

Negatives- People STILL don't know their lines

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Initial Development

People are getting more confident with lines which is making it easier to go through the script. We are also doing an evening rehearsal just to make us more comfortable which what we are doing.

Changes Made

We have had to make some line change by giving someone, someone else's line as it contradicts with what their character was saying. We have also changed and rechoreographed some of our movement pieces to make more sense for when we actually do it, because separately it looks good but together it didn't quite fit.

General Development

We've done three full run throughs now and it is starting to take shape

Critical Analysis

Positives- People are starting to understand the order of the play

Negatives- people still do not know there lines and not everyone is off script

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I have decided to just Update When I can

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I have decided to just Update When I can

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I have decided to change when I update you as it is getting repetitive and I am forgetting the weeks.

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With the time we have spent on Orchestra I have had a lot of time to reflect on my character actions and work on different ways of saying thing to make it make the most sense for my character to say.

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Although I have learnt my lines it is harder to know them when people keep saying the wrong thing which then makes me doubt my next line which can then result in skipping of sections and large amounts of silence.

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For Connections we have been given a script to learn all with assigned characters and lines. This piece in particular is quite challenging as we as a team all have to know our lines exactly as it dictates whether we can say our line or not, as we have cue lines which allow the next person to say their line.

A lot of muy lines can be used as an example as although there are not ensemble parts my character is one where sentences are shared out by words for example "one by one" would be split between me (2nd Alto Sax), Louisa (1st Alto Sax) and Joe (3rd Alto Sax). Which makes it quite difficult when somebody doesn't say the trigger word to say that.

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To prepare for becoming Dance Captain I had to do some research on, What a Dance Captain is? and, What they do? This was really important as if I was going to be successful at my job I need to know exactly what I am doing otherwise there is not point in doing it, or I could end up causing people injury if I do not perform correctly.

In order to be prepared I made a playlist of music with a mixture of Upbeat (for high energy workout and cardio) and lower vibed music (for stretching and slower movement exercises). It is important that I give people rest time as not everyone is at the same fitness level so by allowing breathing time it allow people to relax and catch their breath before continuing with more higher energy exercises.

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29th January 2023 at 20:32

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29th March 2024 at 23:59

NEW HAND IN DATE 16th April 2024 23:59

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My Character Profile

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Charlie Josephine (The Writer of Orchestra)

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Charlie Josephine (The Writer of Orchestra)

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Charlie Josephine is an actor and a writer, passionate about making work that centres working class women and queer people. Some of their more recent theatre work includes ‘FLIES’ for Boundless Theatre and ‘Birds And Bees’ for Theatre Centre. Their previous award-winning plays include ‘Bitch Boxer’ and ‘BLUSH’ . Charlie has recently co-directed a new play called Cowbois’ which opened at the Royal Shakespeare Company in autumn of 2023. They are also currently developing a new feature biopic with Salon Pictures. Charlie is an associate artist at the NSDF, and board trustee at Cardboard Citizens.

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What is it?

Orchestra is a play written by Charlie Josephine for the National Youth Theatre competition. It is about this group of young people mixed ages from 14-18 years, who come together every Half-Term and learn pieces of music to perform at the end of the week. There are a few characters in the play who talk about how they are struggling, some find the help and some do not. Throughout the play we are shown different emotions whilst performing movement pieces to represent the emotions we are feeling at that point. The play is set in the modern day as we reference to modern day pop culture such as sexualtity and pronouns and the way we speak in the play and to each other really shows the way we communicate in the modern day. The character I am playing in the play is a character called 2nd Alto Sax also referred to as Nathan.

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Who is taking on what Job Role?

Dance Captain: Max & Tia

Vocal Captain: Curt & Ruby

Backstage Manager/Props: Joe

Costume/Hair: Louisa

Photography: Teejay

Social Media/Marketing: Freya/Melissa

Stage Manager: Jess

Lighting/Sound: Cian

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This week we had a look at some more movement pieces and I have been able to have a say and help choreograph some pieces which helps with my job role for H20. This included the Japanese walking formation and how we should do it. We ended up doing two steps forward then rocking back and then repeat that until we have to stop.

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Throughout the time we have spent on our Connections piece many movement pieces have been choreographed, and for a lot of these pieces have have been able to have a say because of my role.

I came up with the idea to have Cian pretend to use Cupid's Bow to shoot Tia in the awkward flirtation scene in Orchestra.

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In week three people are starting to get the flow of the script and it is sound less robotic and more like a piece that we could perform. This week we had an independant session, where we came up with a plan and a few objectives so that we could get stuff done without getting distracted. In this session I felt as if I took the lead and made sure people were staying on track whilst also trying to give everyone a say in what we were planning. We were running through some ideas of movement that we could fit in as that was one of our objectives. We did end up coming up with an initial plan for when Erienne comes back and can help us to make sure it fits and look good. We have also done a complete run of the script now so everybody has an idea of what to expect and what is coming next.

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Hannah Lowther is a great performer and has been named dance captain for multiple productions she has been in such as; Heathers and SpongeBob. As a Dance Captain you have to know what everyone is doing for their movement/choreography making sure everyone knows what they are doing and where they are supposed to be.

"Because as the dance captain, I basically know what everyone's doing. I knew where she was, you know, we're on stage all the time, and it was just a bit of a no-brainer." -Hannah Lowther (For Heathers)

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This week was my turn to lead the warm ups. Unfortunately I broken my wrist this week so I couldn't do what I normally would've done so I was forced to adapt to what I could do without causing pain or further injury. I focused mainly on cardio, and making sure everyone was breathing well, to stop people from feeling faint or nauseous. I also worked on some stretches just to help try and re-loosen some muscles that wouldn't have been stretched over Half-Term. This week was quite low intensity for what I normally do however saying that I had people say that they "still felt warm", "feel ready for the day", "It was a good first day back warm-up".

However Although that is good feedback I will be returning to a more high intensity warmup as we get prepped for our show to make sure everyone is on top of their game.

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In this video Freya was sat out due to recent injury.

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The Mohn Westlake Foundation supports nationwide Learning programmes for young people.

Connections is supported by The Mohn Westlake Foundation, Buffini Chao Foundation, Bank of America, The EBM Charitable Trust, Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, Katie Bradford Arts Trust, Susan Miller and Byron Grote, Henry Oldfield Trust The Broughton Family Charitable Trust, Mulberry Trust, The Peter Cundill Foundation, The D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust and The John Thaw Foundation.

Nationwide learning is supported by Buffini Chao Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, Clore Duffield Foundation, Tim and Sarah Bunting, Behrens Foundation, Cleopatra Trust and Milton Grundy Foundation.
Find out more about supporting our work

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The Mohn Westlake Foundation supports nationwide Learning programmes for young people. Connections is supported by The Mohn Westlake Foundation, Buffini Chao Foundation, Bank of America, The EBM Charitable Trust, Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, Katie Bradford Arts Trust, Susan Miller and Byron Grote, Henry Oldfield Trust The Broughton Family Charitable Trust, Mulberry Trust, The Peter Cundill Foundation, The D'Oyly Carte Charitable Trust and The John Thaw Foundation.

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Weekly Expectations allow us to have goals to reach for each session and keep us on track for the finish line. Without expectations and goals we would struggle to keep track of where we are and what we need to focus on for that session and would probably end up repeating the same things and wasting time on stuff we have already done.

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In week two we continued with our read through and created more ideas with the new information we collected from reading on through with more of the script, as well as starting to block some of our movement pieces one of those pieces being coming on stage for our places in a smart line to show that it is a professional Orchestra.

Whilst reading through the script we realised some of the lines made for one character didn't make sense for them to say so a few of us volunteered to take them on as it fit our characters better.

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In week one we did a part read-through, to get an understanding of what our characters are like and how they would interact and communicate with one another. We were allowed to stop the script read through to share any ideas we had for that part in the script and then noted down that potential interaction or movement/piece.

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If companies didn't have a DC then a lot of their choreography would suffer and numbers would not be as clean as they should be and the entire company would suffer. The DC is an important part of the company as it keeps choreography in line.

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Dance Captain in the industry is cast member who takes on the job of keeping the high standards of numbers and making sure everybody knows their choreography and is also in charge of making sure everybody is warm and stretched ready to start practice and running the shows.

Some necessities a Dance Captain must do is; setting extra rehearsals to help make sure all choreography is clean and there are no issues with moving around (NO TRAFFIC ALLOWED), The DC needs to make sure everyone is doing the same angles to make the choreo, that the choreographer has set, is as clean and sleek as possible, they also need to be aware of not only there own choreography but other members as well so that they are able to help where help is needed.

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For me to excel at my job role, I need to make sure that everything I do everyone understands and feels comfortable with what I am asking of them, as well as knowing and taking down any restrictions people have whether that be injuries or just inability to understand or do what I am asking. For example flexibility is completely different for everyone, everyone is at a different level so I cannot expect nor be frustrated of not everyone can do the splits. So I have adaptations for people who are really struggling and are finding it painful rather than helpful but I also adapt for people who want to increase the stretch.

For people to feel the change and correctly do what I am asking of them, I expect people to be wearing the correct uniform (clothing that you can freely move in (BLACK so that the entire ensemble looks professional). Being professional in this industry is one of the most important expectation, your professionalism and work ethic affect whether you get jobs it isn't all about whether your skilled or not its whether you are nice to working with or easy to work with, and it won't just affect that job it will affect your entire career, as word gets around and people asked about how well you work and how hard you work.

As Dance Captain you are not expected to just do a few stretches and expect everyone to be warm you have to make sure you are working the correct parts or your body for what you will be working on that day, for example; if you are doing a kick combination you will need to focus more on flexibility and stretching rather than cardio, as cardio might not be as helpful when learning combinations like that. However if you are whipping out a full-blown musical theatre number with jumps movement as well as singing cario will be very helpful as it with reduce the risk of injury and pulling muscles but also will make you sound less tired as your body would have prepared to do a routine like that. Whilst Dance Captains are put in charge of making sure everybody is ready and warm for rehearsals, they are sometimes asked to help with choreography as they are able to sometimes see issues when the choreographer can not.

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The role of a movement/dance captain is to make sure everybody is warm and ready for the choreographer to teach the choreography as well as to avoid any injury.

I have already taken a few warm ups in lessons so I have an idea of what needs to be done during the warm up to be ready for the specific activity we are doing, for example if we are doing a high energy piece with dancing and singing, then cardio and strength is the way to go which will have the best effect on the performance, where as if we are just walking around and doing abstract movement, then stretching will be the main part alongside some cardio to help get warm and get your heart rate up so that you are ready to perform at your best level.

I love taking warm up, I feel like I am quite good at motivating people with not giving up and pushing them to improve rather than just letting them do how much they want to do, however saying this I am also aware of people different abilities, levels of fitness and flexibility, and will be taking that into consideration when taking a warm up.

As i have undertaken this role I will be asking people before any stretching or warm ups if they have any injuries, if they do then I will ask them to substitute the stretch I am showing the rest of the class to one that suits them better without causing more damage. I will be asking that everyone has the correct clothing on for warmups, so not jeans or shirts, you will need to be wearing looser clothing that you can move in such as joggers and other rehearsal gear. I will be making notes of people who keep wearing incorrect gear and reporting back to the teacher as it is disrespectful and it will not be allowed in the industry.

In Connections I have been allowed to help with movement "routines", as well as take on more lines and although this may not have anything to do with my job role its shows that I am dedicated and willing to work hard for a better outcome.

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During the week of student platform, I have been able to lead a few warm ups to get people ready to perform. I mainly focus on cardio, ab strength and stretching. I chose Cardio because we are moving a lot whilst singing and it requires us to have high stamina so by doing cardio we are improving our stamina, I chose ab strength as the stronger they are the more supported you can have when singing and dancing, and finally stretching (probably the most important) as it is important to reduce the chance of injury and it allows up to perform at a better standard.