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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

"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)

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.

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

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.

NEW HAND IN DATE 16th April 2024 23:59

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.