The document discusses a rehearsal with a choreographer for the musical Matilda. The scene being rehearsed is "Revolting Children" where the children revolt against the headmistress, Miss Trunchbull. The rehearsal focuses on learning and memorizing new choreography, with an emphasis on facial expressions, stamina, timing, and character development. Some challenges include keeping up with the fast-paced timing of the dance routines and determining the timing of new sections. Images show examples of partner work demonstrating teamwork, and traveling between sections in a childlike manner to enhance character.

1. Rehearsal with Choreographer
Matilda is based around the Roald Dahl book and then was brought to
the stage by Matthew Warchus. The musical is about a 5 year old called
Matilda who has the gift of telekinesis. She overcomes problems
surrounding her family and school life and then helps her teacher get her
life back. Matilda is set in 1998 and is a book musical with the theme of
bullying. The scene we are doing is Revolting Children and this is about
the children revolting against Miss Trunchbull as she is horrible to the
children. I am playing one of the revolting school kids. To Play this
character I have to have angry facial expressions and violent gestures to
fully embody the resentment I am supposed to portray towards Miss
Trunchbull. Prior to this piece, Matilda’s best friend gets put in a ‘chokey’
by Miss Trunchbull because she spelt a word wrong. This is what causes
the children to revolt and they all start spelling words wrong as there
aren't enough chokeys for them all. This then leads to revolting children.
My SMART Targets for this rehearsal are to execute and memorise the
new choreography quickly and smoothly. This ensures that we can move
on swiftly after so the director doesn’t have to be stuck going over the
routine. Also, by remembering the movements it will improve my timing
as I can then focus on the timing and the movements at the same time.
Additionally, executing the new moves well will make the routine look
more clean and professional.
Musical theatre skills used in revolting children include dancing and
acting as there is no singing. The routine is mainly dance but we use
acting for our characterisation through things like facial expressions. The
dance moves can also contribute to our characterisation because we
emphasise them aggressively to show the anger we have to portray. The
main evident skills that I use in this piece are: Facial expressions,
stamina and relationships with the other characters. I use angry facial
expressions throughout along with threatening gestures to make it clear
to the audience that I am revolting against something. Also, I have good
stamina throughout the routine as it is very fast paced. I ensure to
control my breathing and pull through each time so that my energy is
consistent the whole time even though the dance is quite physically

2. demanding. However, to improve this further I need to make sure to
warm up beforehand to get my cardio up and running and ready to
perform. Lastly, I have strong and evident relationships with the other
characters like Alfie and Phoebe as we do partner work together. In the
clapping section Alfie and I clap aggressively in each other's faces to
show us fighting childishly as our characters are young children. Phoebe
and I do a whole lift section together and we do this well by showing our
chemistry through facial responses to each other. This shows that it’s not
just another dance move; it adds to the story, as it presents us working
as a team to revolt against Miss Trunchbull.
In rehearsals I am mainly working on my timing and characterisation.
Timing is very important in this routine as it is very fast paced and you
always have a new position to be in after every section. Especially, when
we moved the chairs away from the table I ended up being late to the
dance break at the front so I adapted it by acting it up and making it look
like I am meant to be late, then just carry on with whatever part I get
there for. This creates a cannon effect which will make the audience
think it was supposed to happen. Also, characterisation is just as
important as the dance so I am always working on ways to add it into the
routine. Recently, I have characterised my running to other positions as it
looks quite boring. Therefore, running like children will make it look more
frantic and make our characters stand out. For example, running like an
aeroplane.
The thing I found the most challenging was the timing due to how fast
paced the dance is. I found it hard to always get into the next position in
time and then keep up with the other dancers if I got there late. Also, we
haven’t really determined the timing of the new section so we all rushed
to do the lifts and then get back to the final position, totally neglecting the
beats and timing of the song. This is definitely something to work on in
the next rehearsal as well as just polishing the now finished routine.
I think I hit my SMART Target this lesson as I remembered all the moves
and was able to execute them with energy and good stamina despite
how fast paced the routine is.

3. This image shows Phoebe and I’s partner work during the lift section.
This proves our use of teamwork as I trusted her enough to catch me
when I fell backwards.
This Image shows me doing an aeroplane motion over the chairs to
travel to the next section. I did this to show my characterisation as it is a
very childish move to do. It also makes my travelling less boring.

4. This image shows that I need to improve my timing because the dance
break had already started by the time I got there. But, worst case
scenario I will just style it out and use my characterisation to make it
seem like I was supposed to be late.