Unit 37 - Dance performance

Thursday 17^th May

Today was the day of our tech/dress rehearsal. Starting at 1pm, we were working through to 5pm. During this time, different people were going to be arriving at different times to practice their parts for the show tomorrow. This is because there has not been a time where everyone has been free and able to attend the same rehearsal. This has made it difficult to rehearse routines such as duets because the children attend different schools, have exams and have other commitments. We are working around the times that everyone else is available to make sure that we can practice the routines when we can. 

At the beginning of this rehearsal, we helped Paul and Graham set the lights for the performance. We needed many different lights for several focus points throughout the show. We also needed the projector so we had to make sure that there weren’t any lights in front of that. We had 2 LED lights at the side of the seating – one was green and the other was green but with a slight red tint. When both of these lights were on and I was stood in front of them, they produced some really good shadows which is exactly what we wanted. 

Once the lights had been set up, we did a full run of the show. During this rehearsal, I got to practice my costume changes for the first time and we were also able to practice with the narration. This was our first full run-through of the show so I was still getting to grips with the order of the show. During this run-through, we also sorted out the cues for the music and narration. As we worked through some of the cues, we realised that some of the timings will not work because they do not leave enough time for me to get changed or for the blocks to be moved which meant that Paul had to cut some of the sound up. 

There was a lot of stopping and starting during this run through because we needed to adjust quite a few lights because they didn’t match up correctly with how the blocks were positioned. We also had to get a light for the spinning wheel which was stage right and up on the platform. We needed a light on this because it is a significant part of the story. We also had to test out the special effects as the timing had to be right. There are 2 special effects – falling through the trees and breaking glass. We spent a little while making sure these were in the right place and were timed right because they are both played when there is movement and music going on. 

Once we had completed this full run-through, the children started to arrive to practice their parts. Some of the children could only stay for a short amount of time so we had to prioritise what needed to be done first. To start with we practiced through Sienna’s solo. Molly and Sienna were also able to practice their part together at the very start of this dance. They practiced this and then it led into Sienna’s solo. This part is something that we need to look at tomorrow because the timing isn’t right at the moment and so we need to work on that tomorrow during the rehearsals. Sienna performed the solo really well. She was slightly ahead of the timing but it didn’t really matter too much as the track fades into narration. This then led into the pricking of the finger. For this part, Aurora walks over towards the spinning wheel and Maleficent is walking behind her trying to stop her. However, the curse is too much and when Aurora pricks her finger, she falls back into Maleficent’s arms into a death-like sleep. We practiced with Sienna falling back into my arms and this was perfect. We have worked out a signal that when I tap Sienna on the shoulder, she knows it’s ok for her to fall backwards. Before the show, this is something that I haven’t done before but with a few practises, it is starting to look much more natural. 

Once we had practiced Sienna’s solo and she was happy with it, we moved onto ‘A thousand years’. This song involves all the different ages of Maleficents and Steffans. Today we were able to practice with most of the children in this dance. The only person that wasn’t able to make this rehearsal was Luke. This didn’t affect anyone in the routine apart from myself so we will have to work before the show tomorrow on our duet piece. For now, we were focusing on the parts that we could do which involved Anna and Aidan’s duet and Eve and Toby’s duet. We walked through the dance without the music to begin with so that the children could get used to the space and their cues. We also went over the choreography for Anna’s part because she only learnt this last week and she couldn’t remember it very well. Once we had run through it, we ran the dance a few times with the music to check that everyone was happy with their parts and that the routine flowed well. The more we practiced this, the better it became and hopefully the children have now had enough practice before the rehearsal tomorrow where they will get a chance to rehearse it a few more times. 

I am very happy with how this routine is looking. The only bit that I do have a little concern about is the very start where Anna is on by herself. She is still struggling to remember the choreography. After a discussion with my dance teacher after the rehearsal, we have decided that Aidan will also join Anna on stage from the very start to help her with the choreography. Aidan knows the choreography and will give Anna a helping hand if she forgets a move. Making this change also fits the story better because the narration mentions Steffan before the routine starts. We will go over the choreography with Aidan tomorrow but he will be fine with it and will be able to perform it.

The rehearsal today went really quickly. We haven’t been able to do a full run-through without any stops. Hopefully we will be able to do as many run-throughs as possible tomorrow so that I can get used to the order and help all of the other performers so they know what they are doing. Before the show tomorrow, we will have all of the performers so that we can have a full dress/tech rehearsal. We will also have the chance to go over any other bits and pieces which we need to teach the other performers. So, to ensure that we get everything done in time, we will start rehearsal tomorrow at 10am and will work throughout the day up until the time of the show with breaks throughout the day. The children should start to arrive at 5:45pm to start a full rehearsal at 6/6:15pm.