Dance Development

As I dance outside of school, I felt pretty confident going into the dance routines but still felt as if I could improve more and change my style to suit our audience. At our first meeting for Ashcroft, Corin gave us a small routine to learn which she explained could possibly be part of the stomp number in the Peter Pan scene. I picked this up fairly quickly and helped others who were struggling slightly. I enjoyed learning the moves and it gave me confidence and reassurance for when rehearsals would start after the holidays. 

Corin generally choreographed the dances after Rob had gone through the song a few times and I think this helped me learn the moves better as I could relate the lyrics to each action. At first, we didn't have a routine for Harvey's song in Pooh Sticks, but a few weeks before the show Corin and Tim agreed that a small backing dance would look good. We devised the routine together and I went over a few of the steps with some people who didn't pick it up as quickly as the others. Corin then added in a sassy dance for the stream which contrasted our playful jazz style moves well. Developing this dance was fun and linked in well with our characters and the scene. Dance is very important to the Ashcroft project because it is a good visual tool for the children and also helps break up the scene and songs. I think the small dance adds something innocent but exciting to the Pooh Sticks story and will be fun for our audience. 

The court room scene was a heightened routine. The moves were more positions rather than a flowing dance because that suited the style and atmosphere of the script. I think out of all the dance routines and song, we struggled with this one the most. Personally I think this was because the stage was so cramped and there was a lot going on and a lot of different characters existing. Having said this after putting this scene on stage and adding costume, the energy lifted so the piece came to life meaning the routine and song looked a thousand times better. The movements were very clipped and precise and at first I struggled connecting the two (lyrics and routine) but after practicing at home and with my fellow cast members I found myself doing the dance automatically. Jess (who was one of the dance captains) was very kind and went over the movements slowly with all of us after rehearsals. Because of this when it came to the tech and dress run we were all working together and the routine looked crisp and energetic. 

The pirate number was undoubtedly my favorite number and I have a feeling will also be the kids favorite one too. The reason for this is because it is so energetic and continuous. It flows into a scene into a song into a dance into the song back into a dance then again into a song then into a scene, and this looks incredible professional and impressive. I picked up the movements for this routine fairly quickly and was then able to help others which I enjoyed doing. As there are a lot of props in this scene we all needed to on the ball and careful. Often during rehearsals there wasn't always an opportunity to have swords or our props for the stomp number, so when it came to doing the dance with all our props it took a while to re-block bits to prevent accidents. I loved India and Nathaniel's duet in this piece because it adds something special to the choreography and having Dylan's tricks will excite the children, making it even more enjoyable and realistic. This dance routine flows very well and the energy never drops, the song linking in with the script and movements too.