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The past week we have been doing show runs fully dressed in the studio I didn't find any problem with these rehearsals in fact I found they went really well. I didn't find any problem with getting on and off stage in time because of all the practise we had in the studio of quick changes. I found that the only troubles I had were again hairspray into can you dance. Especially on the 18th this was because most of the first years were in the wings watching. However I gave them some feedback saying that it's really hard for me to get out to the changing area when they are all in the wings. And they took this on board. I hope that for the next dress rehearsal next Monday this same problem doesn't occur. Also on the 18th we had a cleaning session with Danielle in the afternoon. The whole day I had felt really ill but I really wanted to push myself the whole day and make sure that I pushed through my illness for better stamina etc. We worked on into you, livin la Vida loca, hairspray and can't be tamed. There wasn't many problems with these except from into you. The section with izzy and matt just needed some cleaning as it didn't always look clean. And some issues with timing etc were obvious when she watched it. Something I wanted to show in this was that I could perform. Whilst in the studio we worked a lot on performance but now that we are in the theatre we have to make sure that this plan of performance goes into action. Something I feel I have improved so much since the first year at college is my performance. During first year I never really performed because I feel I was confident enough in my dancing or myself. However now I am a completely different person when it comes to performing etc. I feel so confident that I am able to just completely throw myself into any style and show a great performance through out the piece. I am really proud of how far I feel I have come within these two years at college and I hope that my constant hard work ethic and constantly pushing myself in classes to be better will be seen on stage.

I feel as though all my costumes reflect well on the style of dance and theme of the dances I made sure that no two costumes are the same even if there was a minimal difference. For example a dance like livin la Vida loca and hairspray are pretty similar in style. Therefore for livin la Vida loca I wore a red too because the girls have red dresses I feel this better suits the style and others around me. All my costumes have also got little extras for example hairspray I wear a bow tie. I wanted to really become a character when I danced and finding the perfect outfit with the perfect accessories just make the dance and my performance even stronger.

Another thing I noticed during these rehearsals was how hard I worked to make sure I got onto stage sometimes the music would be starting and I would be helping my friends get changed because I feel as though team work is so important for shows. It's something that we should all really try and do because with eachother we can make situations that may be difficult for a single person to achieve that much easier. I am happy with my progress from the 15th to Today and I feel that my the show and my performance personally has got so much stronger. I am really excited to push myself even more the week of the show and make sure I can dance and perform my absolutes best for my last show.

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Today we had another dress run. I felt as though this went really well again there was barley anything that went wrong and most of my quick changes went smoothly. One of the only things that went wrong was I tried putting my can you dance outfit underneath my hairspray. Unfortunately I put it back to front but this was obviously just a silly mistake which can be solved simply by just making sure I make sure it's the right way round before I put it underneath me hairspray costume. I also found that after trying to dance in my black ripped jeans it was impossible so I bought in another pair which I find much easier to dance in. This was from my can't be tamed outfit especially as the dance involves a lot of bending etc wearing a different pair of jeans that had more stretch was the logical thing to do.

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10/5/17 Sinaeds notes of the first Dress rehearsal.

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10/5/17 Sinaeds notes of the first Dress rehearsal.

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On Showbie

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Today we had our first dress run. As the actors have there show in the theatre we have been doing runs in the large dance studio as the actors have priority of the theatre. Our costumes weren't due until that Friday however Sinaed wanted us to practise with what we had. I agree because the sooner we start practising quick changes etc and being able to see when we can have a quick water break is much better to start sooner rather than later. I found that the dress run went really well actually! I didn't have any struggles and I managed to get on stage on time every time whether that will be any different when we are doing the dress and tech in the theatre we will have to see. The only challenge I seemed to have was making sure that I got changed from hairspray to can you dance in time. This was one of the hardest quick changes because I am so sweaty and the Can you dance costume is so tight and clingy material. I still managed to get on in time but it was a rush. This is definitely something I am going to be practising and focusing on when it comes to do doing dress runs and I am considering putting it on underneath my other outfits when I have a bit of a longer break. I found that my into you outfit wasn't very denim based and looked strange to everyone else's. Therefore some of us decided to change and incorporate more colours into our costumes so that everyone wasn't in denim jackets etc. Having been to town that lunch to try and find a turtle neck from mels I couldn't find one anywhere. Therefore I am going to try and have a look online somewhere for any thing cheap.

Overall I feel the dress run went really well, again there are a few thing we need to go over for example into you may still need a bit lore cleaning as some parts when looking in the mirror didn't look as clean as they could be. However sinaed said that Danielle is coming in one day next week to clean her dances. Into you is definitely one that could use some cleaning. I just think because there aren't many of us on stage and at times the timing might be challenging that we sometimes out of time with eachother and don't really dance as a group but I know with a bit of cleaning and clearing up any concerns with dan the dance will be fine. This goes for hairspray aswell I just have some questions and a few clear ups! There is also one problem I need to solve with sinaed with can you dance. Matt and other 2nd years who don't start can you dance come on later for the number therefore I don't have anyone to stand on for a certain part. I just need to talk to sinaed about who can replace matt for that part.

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Sinaed wanted to clean "Peter Gun" during the morning session so I went to the Library and caught up with some course work. In the afternoon we had a show run with Sinaed which went well. I feel so confident with every danc ein the show now that I am starting to make some silly mistakes. I think from where we are drilling dances over and over again that I am getting a little confused. In particular Voodoo people I messed up on the timing again at the end section starting with walks backwords. Timing has never really been something that I struggle with however I think just because we have run it so much I am just not thinking and getting it wrong. Sinaed gave some feedback for this which was really useful and I took on board. I think its really important to listen to the niotes that teachers give at the end of show runs etc because you never know the corrections might help you or apply to you and you just didnt know. A correction I got was to make sure that in Voodoo to just go over the timing with someone and get it back in my head. In general she said that could use a small clean jsut for timing and spacing on some parts. Another dance I feel like I need go over would be hairspray again jsut from where I'm not thinking I'm mkaing stupid mistakes like going the rong directions and doing the wrong moves on the wrong sides. I just think we need a good cleaning session for mainly second year dancs which havent been cleaned since before half term. This is essential as I dont want to be doing the wrong moves on stage. I might have to ask someone that does the same as me to just take 5 minutes in warm up to go over this with me.

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Today was mainly for finale and cleaning tap etc. It was really important that we teach and clean finale during this session as its not finished yet and needed to be finsihed by the 8th. Hollie, Mel and I stayed behind one day last week to go over and create the second years part of the finale. We decided on a new song and that we wnated to make this a fun exciting dance for us all. Whilst teaching the choreo we had some new ideas for the beginning section with the first years. We managed to finish teaching the finale in the afternoon and clean it also. Some people were missing so we justhad to slot them into the spacing and make sure they knew what they was doing before we presented it to Sinaed and Lorraine of Monday. Something I learnt I wasnt so good at today was making sure that when I was teaching I didnt rush to far ahead and confuse people. I think this is something that I will be  better at with experience and time as I have never really taught anything before. Choreography and teaching is soemthing totally new to me therefore I need to time improve these skills further. I am excited to keep pushing myself in this area of Dance also because when we was choreographing I actually really enjoyed it.

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Having gone to Aladdin on Wednesday and not coming in for most of Thursday, we come back on Friday to a tap audition with Lorraine. Tap has never been one of my strong points not coming a froma technical background I struggle sometimes to keep up with people who have been doing tap, ballet etc since a young age. However I feel I held my own during the process and it taught me a lot. For myself I know that I need to work on my tap however it's not just something that you can teach yourself. Therefore it will be tricky to learn anything without a teacher. In the afternoon we done a show run and went over dances we didn't feel confident with. I am starting to feel extremely confident with all dances I am in now and I know that if I keep pushing myself to my limits everytime we run the show that my stamina and performance will improve each time. I can really start to see a change. Before when we used to run the show I would be lagging when it came to into you. However recently I can say that during into you I feel so much stronger and I don't let myself flag. I know that if I keep pushing it by the time the show comes I will be fine.

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Today we mainly done show runs and cleaning of dances. I learnt a lot during this rehearsal because I found my character in within most of the dances. I feel as though I'm at that stage of rehearsing were it feels natural to perform with the dances. Especially ones like Voodoo and Into you as we have been doing these for a while now. I feel as though I have found my character and its someone angry and aggressive but at the same time straight faced and evil.We also worked hard cleaning dances like voodoo as that in particular a lot of people had missed previously and therefore didn't know the ending. I made sure to catch up prior to this session so that if there was anything I wasn't to sure on I could flag this up in the cleaning session with Sinaed. Which I did there was one part in particular which I was confused about one of the newer sections near the end starting with walks to the back. I was just a bit confused with the timing and what happens at what time. Also if there was an arm on the swing round or not. I feel like I learn a lot today. Not being able to dance for a while definitely set me back but I can feel my performance both facially and technically is getting so much stronger and will hopefully get back to were it was. I'm now trying to use what I learnt sitting out about characters within the dance etc and apply it to my dancing in rehearsals.

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I made sure that during this rehearsal I was just taking it easy. My knee was still hurting form doing the box jumps the day before and therefore I didn't want to push it and make it even worse. Lorraine was fine with this and insisted that I just marked the dance for now. That afternoon we went over Can you Dance again just making sure that everything was perfect and ready for the performance Sunday. We also went over some show dances and made sure that they were as clean as when they were before half term.

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Today we had another full day of Can you dance rehearsals my knee felt fine again which was great as we have Can you Dance on the Sunday. I made sure that before rehearsals I was always warm and had done most of my exercises just so it felt strong. We spent most of the day practising make up and doing a few dress runs etc ready for the weekend. Again I really wanted to work on my performance anbd this was my main priority when we was rehearsing full out. Sinaed gave me some feedback and told me to make sure to not rush the section where I do a box jump just because otherwsie there is a huge gap between Grace running towards me and me catchingher. After the rehearsal I attempted to do a Box jump for the first time in months, it felt fine for a while however I could really feel it on the bus and when I got home it felt bad again. I made sure to just ret and put heat on it because I didnt want it to get any worse for Sunday.

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As we have Can you Dance thsi weekend the main focus all week was this. Therefore we did not recap any dances other than this one. After resting my knee completley for 2 weeks and doing my physio everyday twice a day I have come back feeling so much stronger. The pain when I dance is basically non existant. I am still marking jumps only because I dont want to push myself to hard to quickly and risk making it worse. Now being able to go full out means that I can actually dance and perfrom to my usual standard. After not being able to dance for so long I can see that my stamina has weakened and is not as good as it used to be. However this will improve again over time. Later during the rehearsal I managed to do some leaps like the turning forward split leap which felt fine. However I do not think that I am ready for the impact of a box jump as of yet. Something I really wanted to improve and strived to improve during the rehearsal today was my performance. I wanted this to get back to the standard it was before I had to stopped dancing. Therefore during the rehearsal I really tried to make sure my face was always doing something even when I wasnt dancing. It an emotional piece especially for mine and Grace's characters. I find performing emotional pieces much easier than a commercial dance for example becasue I just connect with the story better.

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After resting my knee for close to a month. I decided to try and start dancing again. It was still painful to dance on however I pusghed through and tried to learn as much as I could before half term because I didnt want to get left behind. This also meant catching up on things like Can you Dance and rehearsing all of Danielle's Dances. We also started to think a lot about what we wanted the finale to be like as we would not have long to do this after half term. During the show run I saw that one of my weakeness' was remembering choreo especially Hollie's, Izzy's and Mel's as we had not rehearsed these since our last show. Theredfore I made this a priority over half term to come back knowing the choreo. I could do this by staying behind with the choreogrpahers after college and just going over it with them. Or watch old videos and re cap in my own time.

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As I was still not able to dance I was sitting out for most rehearsals due to injury until the week before half term. Therefore I am unable to comment on my performance for the following dates. However during this time I did learn a lot about performance and really thought a lot about the story of the dance and what it meant to me. By doing this I feel I can better relate to the audience and have a more authentic performance. I managed to learn a lot these past weeks just sitting out and I have worked a lot to strengthen my core etc as that was a correction I was given in Jazz and from prior runs of dances.

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As Danielle was not in Monday she rehearsed both can't be tamed and livin la Vida loca in this rehearsal. Having not been able to dance still I was sitting out for this rehearsal which made me think a lot about how I would perform this differently and how I would have such a higher confidence level if I was performing this for the singer etc. This gave me something to think about whilst I watched. I also done some of the injury abs etc to strengthen more core.

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During this rehearsal Sinaed was able to finish her dance. Unfortunately I am still unable to dance therefore I was watching and taking in as much as I could. They done so much and I have a lot to catch up on when I come back dancing. The rest of the dance requires you to really be in sync with the music and the dancers around you. You have to move with the music and work with it. It made me think that half way through I loose my intention behind the dance. What I mean by this is that I don't always keep my performance throughout however this might be because this style of dance is very new to me therefore I just need to practise more. This will come with time and I have till may to perfect the choreo and performance.

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Our first rehearsal of living la Vida loca took place in the smaller studio which caused some problems for dancers because we are used to a bigger performance space. Dan taught the majority of the dance to people during this time as she split it up into sections. I have been put in the first and second section of the routine which isn't much to learn as I have been really focused and made sure that as I'm watching I am trying to pick it up in my head as best I can. I find watching really helpful and listening to corrections etc. Something else to work on would be my stamina coming back not that it was weak in the first place however this show is going  to be full out therefor I need the best stamina possible to be able to perform to my best.

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In the morning session we rehearsed all dances that we had learnt so far so our commercial dance, musical theatre and contemporary. We had to make sure that these were up to scratch as we had just had half term. Unfortunately for me my knee still wasn't any better and I had been told by the doctor to rest it for another 2 weeks. So I was basically helping anyone who didn't remember choreo and helping Izzy who was the dance captain for today clean the dances. At 11 Sinaed come in to watch all the dances we had been rehearsing and gave us some feed back. One key not was to just dance as more of a group than as individuals for example in her contemporary dance the breath section were we roll through our backs and then jump onto the floor we aren't all doing the same thing and it can look messy. In the afternoon we had Dan who was starting her new dance Can't be tamed. For me not being able to dance and do what I love is extremely love I really wanted to just join in but I don't want to make my injury worse. Therefore I just carried on watching. I think it's important to watch because you can actually learn so much from watching other people and listening to corrections that Sinaed or Danielle give other people. Being able to watch and learn from others is a good skill to have because it enables you to become a better dance without even dancing.

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Prior and during to the show I had really hurt my knee and it was causing me a great deal of pain therefore the rest of the week I was just resting. On the Wednesday Dan started a whole new dance called Living la Vida loca she taught the first section of the dance in an audition style class where everyone would then dance it in groups at the end. It was good to watch because I actually learnt a lot for example just by watching I could see how important hitting the beats and timing is. You don't want to be early or late when you dance therefore being able to really listen to the music and hear the timing and feel it in your body is really important. From watching I also saw the type of dance this is and thought of ways I would portray this when I eventually start dancing and then perform  it on stage. It's a happy upbeat dance that also has elements of jazz and Latin/ Salsa type moves. Hopefully for the next session I am able to dance.

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This being our last session with Dan before half term it was important for us to understand the choreography and make sure that we were fit enough to perform it to a high standard. Therefore during this session we worked a lot on running the dances over and over again including into you. We also finished the musical theatre number which needs a high level of stamina so running it over and over was good practise. During the session we really wanted to connect with our characters because this dance needs you to be able to perform to a high standard and have a good performance so that you sell the story. It's also a dance, song and musical that people in the audience dance enthusiasts and non dance enthusiasts would most likely be familiar with which means it's even more important for us to have a good connection with our characters. After watching the video back from the last session I saw how much I should work on with my performance and making my moves sharper this was something that I really wanted to focus on during this session.

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Today during the rehearsal for into you we was able to completely finish the dance. Something that we worked on during this session was a lot of timing and making sure that the timing was spot on throughout. This is important because when dancing on the stage you want everyone to look the same. This isn't the same as an audition style class where people should try and stand out and do things differently. During this session we really wanted to have a good understanding of the character and that we are trying to portray. Something I struggled with was that we learnt so much choreography and even by the end of the session it was so hard to remember everything because we learnt so much. After the session Dan appointed me as dance captain for the dance because she said I had a good understanding and remembered it well. Even though I thought it was something that I didn't particularly do very well. Something to work on for the next session and open evening which is approaching soon is to make sure that I know the dance well, so doing things like going over the dance in my head in my own time and getting to grips with the timing etc will really help.

31/1/17

This was open evening and going over into you really helped me. Being able to perform the dance in the theatre for the first time infront of a crowd of people without a mirror was a real challenge for me. Especially considering we had never danced it without a mirror. I was also able to help some people go over particular moves and sections within the dance that they weren't to clear with. This was important for me because as dance captain for the dance I had to make sure everyone was clear on the choreography and timing which can be particularly difficult.

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During this session with Danielle we went over what we had done the previous week this sesssion was a lot about performance and how we connected with the dance on a performance level. Having researched a lot about the muscial hairspray itself researching more into the back story and what it's all about it made sense how I should connect with the dance and what kind of character I should try to be throughout. Also having seen the film and seeing the way they perform this song in the show really made me think about what it would be like for someone to be living in these times. Something that is really important for me personally is seeing an improvement in my performance, having struggled with this in the past it's really important for me that I am able to find a character and find a connection with the song or dance style so that I can base my performance off of this. Being able to connect with dances and songs etc also help me in the future with auditions etc because this is something that they really look for. We finished the dance quite early on in the session because we didn't have much left and only had to fill in some gaps. We worked a lot on some different lifts that dan wanted to try and put into the dance my partner was Hollie. Something that I realised was that maybe my upper body strength wasn't the best considering that when I go into the industry I will be expected to lift partners etc from this session I really wanted to improve my upper body therefore I decided that every night I would have a little work out to gradually help this progress. Another thing I saw in the mirror just by watching was that I think we should interact more as a group there are some points in the dance where the characters can really connect with eachother and interact I think little things like this would make the characterisation etc more believable. I feel that my dancing was really strong in this session I know all the moves and really worked hard trying to make them as clean as possible. A general point for next time would be to up the performance and really try and find more characterisation also to watch my spacing in the last section of the dance as at times it does look a bit strange.

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During this rehearsal we made sure that before hand as a group we went over the whole routine a few times to make sure it was still in our heads. Therefore we was able to pick straight back up from where we left off and start learning some new bits. There was just a few things Sinaed wanted to go over for example the section where my group starts with the swing turn over our heads we wanted to clean it so that we danced as a group and it wasn't messy. Sinaed said this was important because as the dance is so fast it was important for us to dance together rather than some of us be out of time of one part and someone's legs be together rather than apart at one part. So we worked a lot on this through out the session. Another thing Sinaed said to work on was the breathe section and really work on releasing your neck. However Sinaed said that I done this really well. Another note is to make it's still as creepy as I can this was a general note for everyone. However considering I missed the first week I feel really confident and it has become a dance that I really now enjoy and also a style that I really enjoy.

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During this session we went over what we had learnt the previous week making sure that it was clean and taking on board corrections we got from the week before. This is important for me because I always want to improve myself. If I see something from the video that I didn't like or think I could have done better I will make sure I make a note of it on here and a mental note so that when I next dance it it's better than before. For example from the first video we done I saw that my arms and movements could have been stronger especially in the first section I do. Therefore I really thought about this before we started dancing it off. Some notes from Dan this week was still to make the moves as powerful as possible because especially as boys it's really important your movements are powerful and full on energy. Another thing that's really important for me is making sure that the details in the routine are always spot on, as a dancer it's important for you to be able to pick up details. The song especially requires you to hit the accents and beats throughout which makes picking up the details even more important. Watching back on the video I can see that I need to improve my again accents and hitting the songs beats and also making sure that I really hit them with power to make my performance even better.

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Our magic people voodoo people dance with sinaed is something totally new to me. The style itself is something completely different and alternate to things we have done at college before. However I really enjoyed learning this dance I found it challenging yet exciting. Something to work on is just making sure I hit the moves having again learnt it but never dancing it to the music and as a group I had to be aware of spacing and getting in people's way etc. So for next time I am going to make sure even the small things like having the right arm is all correct I can do this by going over it with someone at college. Other than that I really enjoyed learning this dance and becoming a character that I never usually get to play. I feel my character is evil me and the others who start standing have the people in the centre held captive. So I need to show how cruel my character is through facial expressions and connecting with the other characters around me. For explain making eye contact with someone who is scared so it's clear what's going on.

I comment I got in the class was that my characterisation was really good when we had to get up from the floor as weird as possible I really tried to make it different and as scary and eery as I could.

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This was our musical theatre dance with Danielle because i missed the first session due to an open day I had to catch up and learn the routine outside of timetable time. We also learnt so new bits and practised some new lifts in the style of the dance. We are doing Coolest kids in town from the musical hairspray. It's a really fun and  energetic song which means that we have to have a lot of energy for this dance. The character is meant to be smiley and you have to look like there having an amazing time even if your not; it's really cheesy. After watching the video back there are a few things that I think I could do better. One is to just get more comfortable with the choreography having learnt it but not danced it to the music or as a group I got a bit confused on some parts so to just go over this with someone in my spare time would really help to sort this out. I also saw that at some points the spacing is off and I don't have much room I just need to go over this with the group and make sure we are all in the right positions and can dance. I also think I need to make sure my round off back trick is as clean as possible and maybe a little faster so that I don't look lopsided coming down the middle.

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This was our first session with Danielle for into you. During this session we started learning the dance learning what character we are trying to portray through out. For me my character would be a boy who is interested in the girls in front of home and around him and trying to impress them. This was the type of character I was trying to portray. After watching the video there was a few things that I think I can do better for next time for example when we come into a V and start dancing my arms were bent next time I should think about fully extending my arms so that they aren't bent. I also saw that the dynamics at the beginning could have been stronger as a boy in commercial it's important to make your moves sharp and as powerful because it looks really effective. These are some things I am going to work on next session.