1. Showcase Evaluation
As a class, we have been working towards developing our skills to perform a
showcase to an audience on the 23rd June 2022. In this showcase, we did singing,
dancing and acting across a range of scenes from different musicals. I participated in
the routines, Seasons of Love, Cell Block Tango, Hamilton and Matilda. After much
practice and many rehearsals I think I was successful in showcasing my
development of skills throughout all three disciplines. I am now much more confident
with singing and acting, however dance will always be my strongest suit.
At the start, my class and I would have company meetings to discuss our plans for
the showcase. We got to pick the musicals we wanted to perform and bring lots of
ideas to the table. This helped us all feel involved in the process as we all
contributed at least one time. I suggested the dancers do Cell Block Tango as we’ve
wanted to do it for a while now because we all love jazz and Bob Fosse. However,
the discussion was quite challenging as the other dancers were unsure at first due to
the fact we only had 5 girls for the 6 girl routine, but this was quickly resolved when
we decided on doing the sixth girls parts together. Also, we edited out that solo from
the music to fit the five of us. Matilda was chosen as a group after we watched our
other options because it most fits our personalities, hyper, upbeat and silly. It also
just looked more fun than the others. Although, this was a dance routine so it did
challenge the non dancers and the dancers because the routine is fast-paced and
will require a lot of energy and hard work to live up to. Hamilton was presented to us
and chosen by the group because it includes all of our specialties in one, singing,
dancing and acting, this way everyone gets a chance to shine. However, I found it
challenging that the dancers would have to sing at the same time as well to be a part
of the ensemble. This is because I was not very confident with singing and thought
it’d be hard to do it all at once. Finally, Seasons of Love was given to us as a group
because it was a challenge as none of us had ever really sung before. Apart from the
few singers who had solos in the song. We were definitely least excited for this one
but it pushed ujs beyond our limits and we are all now significantly more confident
with using our voices. After we chose the musicals and which one’s i’d be in, I
carried out research into the context behind each one so that I could understand the
story line on a deeper level. Also, I researched the character’s I was portraying so
that I could get their actions and personalities down in order to embody them fully on
stage. For example, Velma Kelly from cell block tango is very intimidating and tough
so I had to practise serious facial expressions and eye contact with an audience to
effectively portray that. However, some things I discovered In my research were
deemed challenging to portray in real life, like in Hamilton where we had to sing the
‘Non-Stop’ song in an American accent because that’s where the musical was set. I
had never even spoken in an American accent let alone sing in one.
2. To get a hang of the different disciplines and learn more about musicals, multiple
workshops were run by directors for us. These workshops included singing, dancing
and acting exercises so we could develop our skills in all three. In the singing
workshops we would learn to warm up our vocals properly and sing different musical
songs. Here is where we learned to do three way harmonies by getting into different
groups of higher to lower registers. In the acting workshops we would get a script
with a partner or a group, learn it and then interpret it in our own way ready to
perform to the class. After this we would get feedback so we knew what we had to
improve on. Finally, in the dance workshops we would do warm ups led by different
people and practice dancing with props to prepare us for Hamilton. Also, we would
learn small dances from different musicals so that we could easily choose which one
we wanted to do for the showcase. This is what helped us choose the Matilda routine
over other musicals like Wicked and Annie. The workshop that benefitted me the
most was the singing workshop where we sung our different parts while walking
around a circle in different directions. This is because you would only really hear
yourself singing and you would only hear other people for a split second as they
walked passed. This helped me realise that other people couldn’t really hear me
either so I didn’t have to be shy. This workshop boosted my confidence so that I
could project my voice more during the showcase singing numbers so the audience
can actually hear the song we’re singing. Skills I gained from these workshops were
confidence building, teamwork, singing and acting skills. Before this unit I was only
confident with dancing as that’s all I did but within these workshops I pushed myself
and found a voice and an acting flare. I was shy at first but then confidence was built
in these exercises making it easier for me to project my voice and act eagerly in front
of others. Also, I realised that leadership isn’t everything as to work on a musical
project requires everyone to work together in order for it to run smoothly. For
example, in Hamilton the singers’ lines often cue us dancers to come on, so without
them we would be confused and the routine would fall apart. Finally, I learnt how to
open up my voice and use it properly so that it doesn’t sound as bad as I thought
along with learning how to do harmonies which I had never done before. Also,
without the acting workshops I would’ve never known that I’m actually quite good at it
and enjoy it a lot. I found the singing workshops the most challenging because it took
me a long time to come out of my shell and hitting particular notes took a lot of
practice. However, I enjoyed the dance workshops the most because that’ll always
be my specialty as I am in my element, plus I enjoyed helping the non-dancers
dance as well.
In rehearsals, some things were changed along the way. Positions and formations
were rearranged and changed around in Hamilton so that it was more centred,
everyone could be seen or so the focus was on the right person at that specific time.
For example, the circle section needed to be more centred and moved around so it
looked more like a circle. The final position needed some work because everyone
was all over the place and the lines needed to be neater. Furthermore, in dance
routines like Matilda some choreography had to be changed to fit the music and
3. timing better. For example, our fight scene had too much choreography in it so it
threw off the rest of the timing. Therefore we had to take some bits out to better set
us up for the final bits of the dance. Outside of rehearsals I mainly worked on Cell
Block Tango with the dancers as it wasn’t a whole class routine. This allowed us to
make choreography, help each other and finish this piece in time for the showcase.
Also, for Hamilton I added the ‘Non-Stop’ song to my playlist so I could learn the
ensemble lyrics in my own time. A couple weeks before the final performances we
had a company meeting to discuss costumes and we all came to mutual agreements
about them as they best fit the vibes of the routines, there weren't really any changes
to them. The Hamilton ensemble wore white waist coats, my character in seasons of
love wore casual everyday attire, in Matilda we wore school clothes and in Cell Block
Tango we wore black clothes with heels. Once the audience chairs were set up and
we saw the space we were working with we encountered some spacing issues. We
realised we couldn’t go as far forward as we had been and we now had to base most
of the routines more to the back of the space. It took a couple quick rehearsals to be
spatially aware in the new space so that there were no collisions. In Hamilton I found
it challenging to dance and sing at the same time because there was a lot to think
about. This often led me to forget one or the other. In seasons of love I found it
challenging to do the harmonies because it’s hard to stick to your harmony when you
can hear everyone else's. This sometimes made me blend with the other singer’s,
throwing the harmony off. In Matilda I found the characterisation challenging
because in musical theatre even moving or walking to a new position has to be
characterised. So, sometimes I would forget that even my transitions need to be
emphasised. Finally, in Cell Block Tango I found it challenging to keep up with some
of the timing because of the off beats and the fact the music would go from slow to
fast in a second. However, after practice the timing became muscle memory.
As aforementioned, the 4 skills I have developed are confidence, teamwork, singing
and acting skills. At the start I lacked these, was shy and didn’t really come out of my
dancing comfort zone. But now I’ve learnt to be more confident on stage, project my
singing voice, act well and work in a team with the other performers because when
everyone’s ideas are involved you can make a routine very visually pleasing.
However, my weakness remains my stamina because I didn’t have much energy
during this course because of the fast pace of these routines. This is something I will
work on for the future.
Overall, these processes were very helpful in contributing to the success of the final
showcase and I am very proud of myself and everyone else involved. Moving
forward, I will take these newly developed skills into future projects and continue to
improve my weaknesses. I hope to work with musical theatre again.
