Unit 25 - Dance improvisation

Thursday 8^th June

The performance

Today we were performing our dance showcase. The dance show was called ‘Trouble in Tennessee’ and had a western theme. The performance was set in Madame Brewster’s bar one night where she was joined by her 3 daughters. During the night, a stranger walks in and grabs the attention of one of daughters. However, he is then seen dancing with one of the other daughters which causes the girl to leave the town in jealousy. He runs after her with the aim to catch up to her and when he does, she forgives him.

The running order of the show was:

Boot Scootin’ Boogie (group)

Footloose (group)

America (group)

Tennessee Waltz (duet – Callum and Danielle)

Shape of you (duet – Charlotte and Angel)

The Sound of Swing (duet – Callum and Emily)

Another suitcase in another hall (solo – Charlotte)

Turn around (duet – Charlotte and Callum)

House on fire (duet – Charlotte and Callum)

I really enjoyed performing the show to a live audience. Because I have done dance before moving to college, I have performed in many shows before and I haven’t taken part in a show for a long time. The show gave me a chance to show an audience something that I am passionate about.
Here is a link to a full video of the dance performance:

Here is another video of the show from a different angle. it is split into two parts:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Evaluation

At the start of the performance, we used improvised movement. When the audience were coming in to the performance studio, the whole cast were on stage improvising like we were in a bar. Angel and I were sat stage right at a table, however we did move about the stage as well. Emily was at the bar, Danielle welcoming the audience and Callum was sat quietly in the corner so that nobody noticed him. We used improvised movement to set the scene and make it seem as realistic as possible. We did this by making sure that we stayed in character and had music running in the background which sounded like we were in a bar. We purposely didn't choreograph any movement because we knew that this wouldn't give a naturalistic feel. I carried out improvised movement individually and also interacted with other members of the cast including Angel and Emily. I think this was a successful part of the show because when I spoke to one of the audience members after the show, she said that she felt like she was walking into a bar because there was a realistic scene set. Also, we all managed to stay in character. I was quite worried about starting on stage as I did not know if I was going to be able to stay in character but I think I did this successfully. In one specific dance lecture earlier on in the year, we focused a lot on using the environment as a stimulus. We looked at what is involved within each environment. We were therefore able to apply this knowledge to the dance show as we had already looked at environments as a stimulus which enables us to make the environment as natural as possible for the audience. 
During the first dance, 'Boot scootin' boogie', there was timing issue within the first part of the dance. This meant that all of the cast who were on stage weren't dancing in time with each other. This meant that I had to improvise and think what would be best to do in this situation. I decided that i needed to carry on with the correct timing and not join in with the timing of everyone else. This meant that when we got to the chorus, everyone became in time again. 

Another strength of the performance was that the group dance ‘Footloose’ was performed very well. We all stayed in time with each other and I feel like I put a lot of effort into this routine. Callum had a small tap solo during this routine which he performed excellently as he hit all of the beats.

I managed to show lots of emotions during the performance. For example, during my duet with Angel ‘Shape of you’, I showed a lot of anger during this dance. There was a lot of anger and tension in the air because I had seen Angel with Callum and I was jealous. Therefore, the purpose of the dance was to fight and at the end of the dance, I win. I know that I portrayed this emotion well because after the performance, I spoke to my lecturer and a few of the audience members and they said that there was a lot of tension in the room during this dance. Also, in my solo I managed to look really sad due to the fact that I had left the town because I had seen Callum dancing with one of my sisters. Another dance where I showed a lot of emotion was the duet with Callum ‘House on fire’. Throughout the dance I had to show different emotions because at the start of the dance I was frightened of Callum but then as the routine went on, I became happier. I was really happy with all of the comments that I received in regards to emotion because this was my main target for the academic year – showing emotion during performance. This is because I have had lots of experience with dance but not much experience in showing emotion during these dances. I felt very overwhelmed with all of the comments. The last dance which I was focusing on showing emotion was my solo ‘Another suitcase in another hall’. For this routine I had to show sadness as I was leaving the town. I know that I did this successfully as when I spoke to one of my performing arts lecturers after the show and she said that I looked really sad during the routine. This was really good to hear because my aim was to look sad and she said that I defiantly did. I drew on this emotion and managed to develop this throughout my dance lectures. There was one lesson in particular where we talked about what makes us happy and angry. I was able to think about these during the performance which enabled me to convey my emotion to my best ability. 

Another strength is that I remembered all of the choreography to all of the dances. I was worried in the lead up to the show that I was going to forget the choreography especially in my solo and the duets as there weren’t many people on stage at these times. This meant that everyone in the audience would be watching me which is a lot of pressure.

My solo ‘Another suitcase in another hall’ went very well. I was very nervous for the routine because in the final dress rehearsal, this routine didn’t go very well. This made me think that it was going to go bad in the final performance. However, I managed to stay up on pointe at all times which were choreographed. I also think that I used the suitcase well as a prop. I didn’t drop it at any time and danced well whilst holding it. It did not disrupt any of my movements. 
I was able to use improvisation when there was a slight problem during the show. When I came off stage from performing my solo, I had a quick change out of my pointe shoes and into ballet shoes. In rehearsals, I realised that i wouldn't have enough time to do the change and therefore Danielle offered to come onto stage and do some improvisation which would then give me a little more time to change. However, during the show i could not get my pointe show off in time so I missed my cue to enter stage for 'Turn around'. I didn't know what to do at this stage so I thought of a way around the situation. All of a sudden I heard the track start from the beginning and at this point I had my shoe off. This meant that I was able to go onto stage and perform the routine as normal. 

The duet performed by Callum and I was the last dance of the show. I think this routine went the best out of all the routines. The routine included lifts which we executed all perfectly and carried out the rest of the routine really well. Feedback from the audience after show was that this was their favourite routine because you could tell that there was story to the dance. The audience also said that they could feel the connection between the 2 characters which fitted in with the story really well.

Weaknesses and improvements

Although I think that the performance went really well overall, I believe there were some things that I or other people could have done better.

Although I thought it was very good, during Callum’s tap solo he was looking down throughout most of it. This meant that he couldn’t really connect with the audience whilst he was performing. An improvement that he could make if he was to do the show again is to keep his head up when he is performing to connect with the audience.

Another weakness is that during ‘Shape of you’, there were parts in the dance where we were a bit early and we were waiting for the music. In rehearsals, we have performed this where we have been right on the timing. To improve this routine, we could have listened to the music a bit more carefully and performed the moves a bit slower. Also, I noticed that in some parts of the routine we weren’t in time with each other. This may have been because Angel wasn’t as secure with the choreography. An improvement that could be made here is for me to run through the choreography with Angel more so that we could be in time as this is really important in a duet.

At points during my solo, my arms were not controlled. Because my solo was a ballet solo, it is really important that every part of the body is controlled. If I was to do the show again, I would concentrate on focusing on the control of my arms throughout the whole routine. I would also try and do some more foot strengthening exercises on the lead up to the show just to make sure that my feet where really strong for the routine. Another improvement that I would make is to practice with the suitcase quite early on in the rehearsal process. This couldn’t be helped in this circumstance because we were waiting for the suitcase to have been made by the art department but I did start practicing with it as soon as possible.

After my solo, I had a very quick change out of one outfit and into another. I also had to change from my pointe shoes to soft ballet shoes in just under a minute. When I came off from my solo, I could not get my pointe shoe off in time ready to go on for the next routine. The music had to be started again and I was ready for the cue the second time round. It is quite difficult to improve this as this doesn’t happen very often and you can’t really help it because it was a piece of clothing. To improve I could possibly not panic as much when I couldn’t get my shoe off because I don’t think this helped the situation.

Something else that I could have improved on was my timing in ‘Turn around’. I did do the sequence slightly too fast the first time but when it came to the second time through, I realised that I was going too fast for the music and slowed down when I did the sequence again with Callum.

Here are some more photos of me and Callum in our duet:

Overall, I think the performance went very well. I put a lot of effort into every dance lecture rehearsal leading up to the show and also during the final performance.

After the performance I spoke to many of the audience members about what they thought of the show. Everyone that I spoke to thoroughly enjoyed the show and was giving the whole cast amazing feedback. I found the feedback from the audience very overwhelming as dance is something that I am very passionate about and I want to carry on doing. Many of my friends and family came to watch the show and they all really enjoyed it. Some of the comments were “The show had been very well thought out and the amount of effort that the whole cast has put in is amazing” and “We saw that the whole cast had different challenges throughout the show but everyone performed amazingly”. Speaking to the audience after the show informed me that during my solo, I made a few people cry in the audience. This shows that I managed to show emotion and connect with the audience within my dancing. This made me feel proud and overwhelmed by all of the amazing comments that I received. 
My target for the future would be to become more confidence with improvisation. I have worked throughout the year in several different dance lectures towards improving my dance improvisation techniques. At the start of the year I didn't feel confident with dance improvisation as I have been used to set/taught choreography. Therefore, I found it quite difficult to improvise small sequences. Now I am more confident with improvising sequences and phrases but I need to maintain this confidence with dance improvisation.