Jazz Workshop 1 (Lyrical)

The following video evidence documents Alice Norris, Kelly Rolfe and Myriam Maley teaching their audition dance for lyrical Jazz to the BTEC Performing Arts Group (C14, Assignment 4, Task 1). 

The following is also evidence for bullet point 1 below for the rest of the group.

Task:

You are auditioning with your jazz dance company for a spot in the variety show; you must learn, rehearse and perform three audition pieces in contrasting styles.  You can choose from rock, lyrical, funk or street. You will:

• Take place in jazz dance workshops where you will experiment with contrasting styles and track your progress and development in a dancer’s log.
• Working in groups of two’s/three’s each group will choreograph and teach an audition piece in a style of your choice to the rest of your class.  The piece should last one minute each and be tracked in your dancers log.
• You should perform 2 of the audition dances to a panel of variety show judges and record for evidence.

This evidence proves how the students have identified, described and explained key features of a lyrical jazz piece by their practical exploration of the style and then breaking it down and teaching it to their peers.

This evidence is also reinforced by the evidence in their 'dancer's log'.

Auditioning for Musical Theatre Assignment 1 of 7 - Singing Auditions.

The following video's evidence for task 3 of Auditioning for Musical Theatre Assignment 1 of 7 (auditioning for singing).

Task 3:  You will take part in a series of workshops with a focus on singing skills from a variety of musical theatre productions.  You must:

• Record your progress in each of the singing workshops using the template provided by the workshop leader.
• Choose your strongest singing piece and rehearse, making use of video recordings and peer assessment to track your improvements.
• Rehearse your song and add your own performance skill/interpretation.
• Perform your chosen audition piece to the group.

The bullet points in bold are particularly evident in the videos below.

** THIS BLOG IS WORK IN PROGRESS - NOT ALL EVIDENCE IS HERE YET - 06/11/2011 **

Auditioning for Musical Theatre Assignment 1 of 7 - Dance audition pieces

The following videos are Evidence for task 2 (auditioning for dance).  This task forms part of the unit 'Auditioning for Musical Theatre Assignment 1 of 7'. 

Task 2:  You will take part in a series of workshops with a focus on dance skills from a variety of musical theatre productions.  You must:

• Record your progress in each of the dance workshops using the template provided by the workshop leader.
• Choose your strongest dance piece and rehearse, making use of video recordings and peer assessment to track your improvements.
• Rehearse your dance and add your own performance skill/interpretation.
• Perform your chosen audition piece to the group.

(The bullet points in bold above are particulary evident in the videos below).

Auditioning for Musical Theatre Assignment 1 of 7 - Drama Audition pieces

Welcome to the video evidence of the BTEC Performing Arts Extended Certificate (Level 2) - Auditioning for Musical Theatre Assignment 1 of 7

DRAMA AUDITIONS.

Task 1: You will take part in a series of workshops with a focus on acting skills from a variety of musical theatre productions.  You must:

• Record your progress in each of the drama workshops using the template provided by the workshop leader.
• Choose your strongest piece and annotate the script for movement, voice and interaction with others
• Learn your lines off by heart
• Perform your chosen audition piece to the group.

(the bullet points in bold are demonstrated in the video evidence on this blog)

Myriam Maley

Chloe Green

Chloe Stockman

Alice Norris

Louise Baker

Laura Anne Connor

Kelly Rolfe

Eleanor Goodchild

Katie Burrows

Shannon Phillips

Shauna MacMillan

 

'All That Jazz'

One of the masters of Jazz dance and a pioneer in the art of the variety show was Bob Fosse.   Fosse was a man, who fully embraced life, and his death at the relatively young age of sixty came as a shock to almost no one, in fact many were amazed at how long he lived for! 

As a practitioner of dance and theatre, Fosse was known for his modern style, a style that everyone knew was his as soon as it was seen on a stage.  Today his style is celebrated through the unmistakable trademark snapping fingers, tilted bowler hats, hip and shoulder rolls and backward exits. Not to forget swivelling hips and strutting, white-gloves and single-handed gestures. Fosse’s moves are fluid and languid and he himself was a walking oxymoron of what a dancer is meant to embody.

As a dance practitioner and teacher, one of the most memorable pieces of choreography for me that Fosse created was Sing, sing sing from Dancin’.   Dancin' is a musical revue first produced in 1978, directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, who won a Tony Award for the choreography. The show is a tribute to the art of dance and Sing, sing, sing is a big band number that comes in two parts.

Enjoy part one below and see why Fosse is a true genius of the jazz genre.

New Year and time to up the work ethic!

Welcome back Year 11 BTEC students!  Time to work hard to get those grades up!

Next week we will be working on finishing assignment 1, Musical Theatre (B8) and this means you will need to do the following:

1. Perform the final audition piece for singing in either solo/duet/trio
2. Perform the final dramatic monologue audition piece
3. ** Perform a 30-60 second audition dance in a style of your choice ** (let's see how many of you read this blog!)
4. Perform in the group audition piece of 'All That Jazz'
5. Ensure you have all the evidence required on the assignment sheet to submit!

So, you have a week to get it all together and ready for performance.

Break a Leg!

Summer Work for BTEC Performing Arts

"The sun is out, the sky is blue ...

here is some BTEC work for you to do!"

As we approach the end of year 10, you need to be pulling together all your work done this year and in order to be ready and raring to go in September, you need to focus on the following work:

1. Make sure your blogging is up to date!
2. Learn your drama monologue off by heart and be ready to perform it first week back in September (Assignment 1, Task 1 'Musical Theatre).
3. If you see any performing arts over the summer ... BLOG IT!
4. Those of you that did work experience at Watford Palace Theatre, you need to have collected the yellow assignment sheet from me and make sure you have everything to hand in to me 2nd week back in September.
5. Extended projects 2nd draft - DUE w/c 12th September.

Remember you can email anything you want me to look at over the holidays!

Have a great summer break!

DOL