Day 1:14th April, 2016

On this day, our choreographers introduced our final major project to us and we were given a basic idea of what our performance would consist of. We also discussed the amount of commitment this piece requires and whether we are ready for this or not. Two choreographers are collaborating with each other and creating a piece with us and therefore, both will be choreographing different sections of the piece. Towards the end of the company meeting, we heard the music that will be used for our piece. 

Strengths: I understood the concept and also I had completed the research work given to us by our choreographers prior to this meeting. 

Challenges: The commitment of a few dancers in the company was questionable and that was our concern. 

 

Day 2:15th April, 2016 

We started with a group workout and stretches in order to prevent injuries while dancing. After warming up, we began choreography on our final major project, with Lucy, we are working on the 3rd section of the entire piece. The piece has been divided into 5 different sections which will be approximately 20 minutes long. 

We began by choreographing the section where we all are soldiers of the second world war and we are understanding the idea of killing our enemies. Although, they are our enemies, we are civilians who have decided to defend and protect our country and are not trained assassins. 

This section includes a lot of robotic movements of the arms. Also the initial part of this section is in unison as an army of soldiers always looks like one and are well coordinated when they move. 

With Jasmine we are working on the 1st section of the piece. This section is the one when the soldiers are leaving for the camp to join the British army and defend their country, they are leaving their friends and family behind. 

For this particular section, we have old suitcases as our props and we will be using them throughout the 1st section. As soldiers we are contemplating about going to war leaving our loved ones behind, and we have to be able to portray their fears, anxiety through our dance. 

While choreographing and dancing with the suitcases, the suitcase that I had could not stand on its own and was quite bulky and therefore, I was given basic characteristics to my character and decided to use those characteristics and create a little solo for it.

Strengths: I was able to think about what traits my character would consist of with the help of my choreographer as she gave me a basic idea of what kind of a person I could portray. 

Challenges: Initially, I found it difficult to act as I am not a trained actor and therefore, I could not showcase the character the way I wanted to.

Weekly targets: I would like to build a character prrofile for my character and I would like to be able to relate to my character in order to act it out. 

 

Day 3:18th April, 2016

On this day we have Lucy for two hours. We spent most of the time in choreographing ahead in the 3rd section.The section that we created along with Lucy was fluid and yet it represented strength because most of it was floor work. 

Before that rehearsal, the dancers did not warm up correctly because of which, many dancers hurt themselves and also as we just came back from holidays most of the dancers lost their stamina in the first hour. Therefore, in order to help us, Lucy decided that it was better to split the two hours of dancing across the day.

Strengths: I was able to grasp choreography quite fast and so we kept choreographing fiurther in that section and have completed almost 50% of that section.

Challenges: I found it difficult to keep up with the choreography in terms of my stamina as we did not warm correctly and also because my body was quite tired.

 

Day 4:21st April, 2016

Today we worked on cleaning up the floor work section that had been choreographed on Monday. We spent most of our time cleaning up the routine and drilling it into the dancers' bodies as the routine looked quite messy. 

We also choreographed a few counts of 8 to add in the choreography. 

In order to work on my target of creating a character profile, I researched the second world war and most importantly the British Home Front during the war.

Strengths: I was able to sustain my energy through the floor work.

Challenges: Some dancers did not attend the reharsal on this day and so we would have to go through this section again and clean it again.

 

Day 5:22nd April, 2016

In this rehearsal with Lucy, we worked on extending the choreography. We added more material that presented us as soldiers and the movement motive included quite a bit of army training exercises. 

We then rehearsed the piece repeatedly in order to drill the piece and to make it look clean. 

With Jasmine, we started by going over the routine that we learnt the previous week and we also spent time cleaning up that section of choreography. 

After drilling that section, we started working on a new phrase that would be used in the 1st part of the piece. The phrase started off by being quite fluid in terms of movement and then it became more robotic and energectic. On the same day, we worked on another phrase, which would be the beginning of section 2 in the piece. It was an arm sequence that was repeated three times in unison and the fourth was in cannon. The formation for this phrase was a line at first and then a 'V' behind the vertical line.

Strengths: We were able to progress further in the choreography.

Challenges: I had to leave early on this day as I could not change my shift at work and so I missed the last hour of the session.

Weekly Targets: My target is to focus on making sure my work and movements are clean and also to build up my stamina as I need to be able to sustain through the entire 20 minutes of the act.

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Day 6:25th April, 2016

For the first hour of rehearsals, we focused on creating our characters and also created a solo/movement motive based on our characters' personalities and their emotions. The same solos were developed into a small contact improvisation section. These characters were created using our research of the British Home Front during the Second World War.

In the second hour with Lucy, we focused on extending the choreography further. A phrase was choreographed which included a lot of turning clockwise/anti-clockwise. We added that phrase to our third section of the piece and polished it. 

Strengths: I was successful in building a character profile for myself through the research I had conducted earlier.

Challenges: We were not able to do much in these two hours as some dancers were not able to attend this rehearsal and so we decided to clean up the third section further.

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Day 7:28th April, 2016 

In the first hour with Lucy, we aimed to finish the training section (third section) of the whole piece. We added a transition phrase that would get us to standing after perfroming the intense floorwork. The transition phrase included a lot of rolling on the floor. With this, we completed the thrid section of choreography and now we all needed to clean it and also know our positions. 

During the second hour of choreography, we created solos, duets, triplets and quartets in the group which would be added into the piece. I was added into the quartet along with Rhian, Cheyna and Isabel. The idea that we were given to produce a phrase for our quartet was over-crowding and we had to produce a phrase around that and how people would make space for each other and what were the complications, if there were any that people had to face.

Strengths: We were able to complete the choreography for the entire third section of the piece.

Challenges: We were not positioned yet and therefore, some counts and movements would probably change for a few people and then we would have to clean up this section again.  

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Day 8:29th April, 2016

We conducted a production meeting for almost 30 mins, where we discussed what roles/jobs would each dancer have as a part of the backstage and production in order to prepare for the show. I am a part of the costume design team along with Cheyna and also a part of the stage management team along with Anjelina and Isabel. 

For another 30 minutes, we spent time measuring dancers for their costume sizes and also tried a few sample costumes to see if we could dance in them and mainly if they fitted. However, most of the costumes were very uncomfortable to dance as they were too tight for some people and for people they were too loose. Thus, we decided that it was better if we got something in stretchy material for the dancers so it would be easy for them to dance it. 

For this session with Jasmine, we began by working on Lucy's choreographed section and cleaning it up. There were parts in the choreography which were very messy and unclear and we all needed to be clear on the timing of that section too as Lucy choreographed it without the music and then tried to structure it according to the music. Thus, we broke the chreography down into sections and went through each and every movement thoroughly. We spent almost two hours on cleaning up and drilling Lucy's choreography. 

After which for the last hour, we focused on Jasmine's choreography and cleaning the sections that she choreographed. Although, most of her sections were quite clean, there was a phrase that had to be positioned and structured.

On this day, while cleaning sections, we kept repeating them and through this way I was able to work on sustaining my stamina. Also my dance classes outside college have also started from this week, which helps me to build my stamina. 

Strengths: We successfully completed cleaning the sections of choreography we had already learnt. We also worked on costumes for the piece by taking measurements of the people who were present in rehearsal on that day.

Challenges: We were not able to dance or move in the costumes we had recieved from the college. A few dancers were missing and therefore, their measurements could not be taken. 

Weekly targets: I would like all dancers to be here so we do not have to keep repeating these clean up processes.  

 

Day 9: 5th May, 2016

We had a two hour session with Emmeline, where we spent the first hour doing contemporary technique, and the second hour we sppent rehearsing the material we completed with Lucy and Jasmine. I spent some time with Emmeline discussing my character and creating a solo based on my character's personality. 

In the afternoon, with Lucy, all the students spent time on completing the fourth section of the piece. The fourth section included the students' creative character solos which were put together. The choreography for this section had been developed by a member of the dance company (Tilly Geddes), in a trio with two others from the company. This has now developed into a section of the piece where the students creative work is showcased. 

This week most of the dancers were present in order to continue creating this section of the piece and also to work on the choreography learnt from previous weeks.

Strengths: We all created a character solo while working with Emmeline.

Challenges: I reached late that morning to rehearsals due to train lines not functioning correctly.

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Day 10: 6th May, 2016

During this four hour session with Lucy and Jasmine, we mainly worked on creating our solos and completing the fourth section of the piece. I was asked to create a letter solo, where I was reflecting on a letter that I had received from my family who was away from me and how I would react to that letter was the stimulus for my choreography. I spent most of the time focusing on my character's behaviour and movement. 

The choreographer wanted to work on my duet with another dancer from the company (Sam Parry), however, she could not as he was not present for rehearsals for that day and therefore, I could not do much that session either. 

Once we completed the choreography sections, towards the end of the session we had a small team meeting, where all the sections of the piece were discussed in terms of songs, costumes and props along with the choreography material we have.

Strengths: I completed creating my letter solo which would be added into the fourth section the piece.

Challenges: I had to sit out in most of the rehearsal as my duet partner was not present in rehearsals during the time. 

Weekly targets: I would want to be more active in the rehearsals and therefore, I should take the opportunity and work with other dancers and help them in choreographing their work. 

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Day 11: 9th May, 2016

On this day we only have two hours with Lucy. During these two hour we focused on completing Lucy's section and cleaning it. 

Strengths: We had completed the first four sections of the choreography

Challenges: We were cleaning up sections again, whereas, that time could have been used to work on the next section.

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Day 12: 12th May, 2016 

On this day, we had a three hour rehearsal with Lucy and we focused on filling gaps that we had in the choreography. Between sections 1 and 2 there were a lot of transition gaps that Lucy filled in and we also worked separately on choreographing my duet along with Sam in the first and second section. 

At the end of this session, we had successfully completed on filling in most of the gaps that we had in the choreography and we could move on to the fight secction of the piece. During this session I worked with Sam and we managed to worked on all our duets in the first 4 sections of the piece. 

Strengths: I was able to work with Sam and complete choreographing the duets in the first two sections of the piece.

Challenges: We did not have enough time to work on the next section as most of our time was used up in filling up the gaps in the choreography.

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Day 13: 13th May, 2016

For the four hour rehearsal, the company focused on completing and cleaning up the first four sections of the entire piece. We filled in rest of the gaps by using the solos and duets we had choreographed for our charcter and the letter solos produced by us. 

For the second half of the rehearsal, we began choreographing the fight section and to do so we were paired up and although we were part of the same army we were fighting against eachother in order to train.

Strengths: We had filled up all the gaps in the first four sections of the piece.

Challenges: Some of us were uncomfortable to lift other dancers and therefore, the choreography had to be teased a little so everyone could adapt to it. 

Weekly Targets: We needed to move on in this piece as we had two more sections to choreograph by the end of next week as we wanted to focus more on cleaning and drilling the piece after that.

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Day 14: 16th May, 2016

For this three hour session, Lucy began to choreograph the final section of the piece which will be performed as a rememberance to their friend who died while fighting and defending their country and thus, one of us from the dance company will be dying in the final piece. The others will be celebrating his death as he will die a warrior, however, they will also be grieving the death of their friend. 

This section was more contemporary based and more fluid in terms of mevement and therefore, Lucy was a better choreographer for this section as her choreography is usually quite fluid. 

For the final hour we focused on going over all the sections from the piece and that helped us as we now know how many gaps remain and also about how much cleaning the piece requires. 

The fact that we had moved on from the first 4 sections and were working on our final section completes my previous week's target. 

Strengths: We began choreographing the final section of the piece.

Challenges: There were still quite a few gaps in the piece which needed to be filled in. Also I still need to build up my energy as we had a short run through the act and I was unable to sustain throughout the act. 

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Day 15: 19th May, 2016

On this day we worked on the last section of the piece for the first hour as most people were present and we worked on expanding the choreography. Our choreographer wanted a few students to go and support the performing arts students for their show as they always come to support us during our show times. For the rest of the rehearsal time the rest of the students worked on solos and duets, while me and two others went to show our support to the performing arts students for their show. 

Strengths: We had decided that I was going to die in the fight section the piece and so it was important for me to adapt the choreography and we had also extended our choreography on the final section.

Challenges: I was not present for most of the rehearsal as I had gone to support the Performing Arts students in our college for their graduation show.

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Day 16: 20th May, 2016

On this day, we started our rehearsals with Lucy and Jasmine, with the very first section of the piece as Jasmine wanted to add some more choreography to that section and she also wanted to go over the section in terms of positions and clarity of movement and also for transitions. After working on that section, she continued working with four students on their quartet and making their transition smoother from one section of the piece to the other. 

For the last hour, Jasmine worked on 'Lovestoned' a piece that she had choreographed for the second years for the previous term. Jasmine was keen to perform this again was their final major project. I was not a part of that act as I had injured my ligament. 

Strengths: We filled in any gaps that were present in the piece from section one to four and kept rehearsing it too in order to build on our stamina.

Challenges: We were unable to complete the entire piece by the end of this week.

Weekly Targets: We must complete choreography for the entire 20 minute piece by next week as one of our main dancer is on holiday the week after. 

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Day 17: 23rd May, 2016

This morning, we began working on the final section of the piece. We went through the choreography from last week once and then we moved on and started choreographing further.

As it was decided that I will be dying in the fight section of the piece, I realistically could not be a part of this section, however, my choreographer decided to bring me back as a ghost. Due to this development in my character, we choreographed an entry for myself and also a section of dance which would similar to what the group has performed. 

We only have a two and half hour rehearsal today and two of our colleagues walked in one and half hour later apologising for being late, however, we as a dance company went through the choreography agian for them to learn which took up our second hour. 

Strengths: We had completed choreographing more than 50% of this section by the end of this session.

Challenges: Due to dancers' lack of commitment we have to keep repeating choreography which is quite annoying for others who have been there on time.

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Day 18: 26th May, 2016

On this day, we came in with intention of completing the entire piece as we wanted to use our final week for cleaning and drilling the piece. In this four hour rehearsal we decided to complete the final section and the fight section. 

For the first half of the rehearsal time, we spent time on completing the final section of the piece, which we successfully did.

During the second half, while working on the fight section, quite a few of the dancers were quite tired and were not able to concentrate on the task because of which our co-ordination as a troupe did not work very well and other students got upset about it. 

We sat down as a group and dicussed the problems the group is facing and how can we help each other and what are the solutions to those problems, as we needed to work as a team along with our choreographers in order to make our piece look good and effective with the concept we were using. We decided that for the rehearsal we are going to put anything that does not relate this piece out of this dance studio and come in with a fresh mind and a new approach. 

Strengths: We were able to complete all of the final section. 

Challenges: The dancers' in the group seemed to have lost their concentration which made it difficult for the group to function positively. 

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Day 19: 27th May, 2016

This morning, like discussed previously, everyone came in with a new approach and a fresh mind to work on this piece. We started by working with Jasmine on fourth section the piece which consisted a lot of solos, duets and trios. We had previously completed this section but Jasmine wanted to change a few things in this section which is why wwe went over it again and structured that section again. 

After completing work on that section we began working on the fight section of the piece and began to construct work further. After choreographing our group part, we were paired up and asked to continue the duets we had creates earlier and we were asked to keep the idea of attack and defend in mind while choreographing further. My partner, Rhian Omnisore and I decided to keep that theme as the main stimuli of our movement motif. 

While showcasing our work to Lucy and Jasmine, they seemed quite happy with our duet and decided that we would continue our duet till the end and repeat it. Also we had to find a way for me to die in the piece and so it was decided that Rhian who was my partner, would be the one killing me and then walking away from my body. 

Finally, we had completed our entire piece, it took longer than expected but hopefully the outcome of this during the show will be equally fruitful. We were satisfied as a dance company that we managed to complete the piece in time and we still had a week before the show to clean and drill the piece.

Strengths: We successfully completed choreographing the entire piece and we were quite pleased with this development as we still had one week to clean and drill this piece. 

Challenges: The process took longer than expected and if we had not had those clean up sesions then we would have been able to complete the piece on time. 

Weekly targets: Just focus on cleaning the piece and working on making it look sharp.

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Day 20: 2nd June, 2016

We had a longer break than usual due to bank holiday Monday. We were suppose to be in college at 10 AM as we were going to rehearse this piece in the theatre and therefore, we were going to have combined rehearsals with the first years of the course, but most of our colleagues were late or they were not coming into college today due to personal reasons. So the people who were present from 10 am, spent some time with costume trials as the costumes had just arrived and then for the rest of the time we just kept rehearsing our piece in the dance studio. 

At 1 pm, when two more students joined us, we went to the theatre to place the piece in the theatre and our first run-through was not that great as there were quite a few people missing and this entire piece depended on everybody being present in space as we cued each other a lot throughout the piece. 

It was a challenge initially for us to manage, as the people who were not here cued other dancers at a lot of points and therefore, the choreographers also found it quite challenging to work with those people not being here. 

Then, it was decided as a dance company that we would go through the entire piece section by section and as we went through it, we kept cleaning the piece as well. This way, we completed cleaning the first half of the piece and then went through again for our stamina.

Strengths: We cleaned the first half of the piece and also rehearsed it repeatedly in order to work on our stamina.

Challenges: Quite a few people were missing for this rehearsal and so we worried if they would be able to pick up the changes as we did not have enough time to go over the choreography again.

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Day 21: 3rd June, 2016

We got to work in the theatre this morning again, which we thought was quite beneficial to us as we got the chance to work in that space again. In this rehearsal, we instantly started working on the secod half of the piece and we went through it section by section, cleaning the choreography.

After completely cleaning all the sections, we performed the piece again and again in order to improve our stamina. 

Strengths:  We have completed cleaning, drilling and choreographing the whole piece.

Challenges: One of our our main dancer was on holiday and therefore, the cues that she delivers to others in the piece not everyone knew. 

Weekly Targets: The main aim for next week is for everyone to be in rehearsals and on time. 

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Day 22: 6th June, 2016

This morning we had a two hour rehearsal just to drill the piece and to practice it before the technical rehearsals. We conducted these rehearsals in the theatre, so that everyone had the opportunity to work in the big space. 

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Day 23: 7th June, 2016

On this day, we had our technical rehearsals, where the lighting cues were given to our lighting and music technician. We only got to have one run through in the technical rehearsal after which, we were given notes based on that performance.  

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Day 24: 8th June, 2016

On this day, we had our dress rehearsal and our first show as well. During the dress rehearsal, everyone was very nervous and so there were a few mistakes in the piece however, during the actual show there were no mistakes and the show ran through quite smoothly as I was also a part of the backstage team. 

Everyone was present and on time for all the rehearsals that took place this week. 

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Day 25: 9th June, 2016

We have our final show today and therefore, we all felt that we needed a final goodbye piece at the end of the show in order to complete our graduation show along with the HND students who were also graduating. Thus, at the end of the show we insisted on adding a song that we could all freestyle upon.