This week in Musical Theatre we concentrated on perfecting ur dance moves and the acting parts of "Wilkommen"which was very useful because it allowed us to develop our movements. We also finished off the end of the song which is very fun because we are able to do movements in the way we think our characters are presented. through practising all the movements and relighting the words, I realised that I needed to practise the words near the end to make sure that everything intertwines and does not have any breaks to mess up or change the character I portraying.

Music-
This week in music, we learnt the words in Wilkommen and we were put into groups to sing different parts of the song. My group worked on the beginning of the song and arranged that I was to do the solo speaking part which was very hard because of the different languages but I was able to get through it with only a few problems with the speaking. the group worked really well but it would have improved if we had some more time and everyone knew the words perfectly.

Dance-
This week in dance we learnt the routine for the dancing in Wilkommen, which was very fun and easy to pick up. We were either using a cane or not use one, in my opinion I thought it was easier without the cane and I liked how it looked without. The dance is open for interpretation because there are very different ways the Emcee can be played. The way I am playing the character is as a homosexual and in a very open way.

Drama-
In drama this week we went over everything that we did during the week, making sure that the parts to the dance we know and the words we said were clear and had actions to do with how the character is played. This was very helpful because it allowed me to go over and make sure everything was improving with the way I said it and the accent I had.

Music:
This week in our music lesson we made sure that the choreography and music was perfect and that all of the song was at the best of its ability. In my opinion the choreography needed a little more work on it because everyone was bumping into each other. The singing parts were getting better the more we sang it although the end verse needed work because everyone was really quiet and not everyone knew the lyrics towards the end. I really struggled near the end because the singing was really low so to improve I will make sure that I warm up my voice properly and practise low songs.

Dance:
In dance this week, we practised turns to maintain and rehearse keeping balence. The hardest part for me was when we had to make sure our body was low because I am quite tall so it is hard to lower my body like everyone else. After loads of practice, I managed to be able to get my body low whilst turning.

Drama:
This week in the drama lesson we filmed our last performance of “nothing like a dame”. The performance was very good because I managed to project my voice the way I wanted and was able to speak with a New York accent which came out perfectly. The only part that I feel I could improve on is my spacal awareness because I kept falling in the way of people. I will improve this by practicing.

Dance: This week we concentrated on the choreography and putting both the music and the dancing together, we learnt specific dance moves to make the character more like sailers. I found the choreography quite simple but when we switch positions with the people behind us then infant of us, it can create a collision because some people do not have spacial awareness.

Music: This week we concentrated on vocal range and how we should sing the song either 5 notes higher or an octave higher. The hardest part of this was being able to sing this with the other people in the group because I have the temptation of going to the same pitch as everyone else but after a while of practice.

Dance: In dance this week we worked of tour co-ordination because this is an important part of dance skills in musical theatre. I really struggled with this but am improving the more times i do the moves.

Music: In music we started looking at the song "there is nothing like a dame" which is from the play South Pacific. This was quite a hard song to sing because most of the song is sang in the lower part of the voice, but i found this alright because my voice has a very wide vocal range allowing me to sing really low.

Dance:

The dance we did in Musical Theatre was the dance battle between the Jets and the Sharks in West Side Story, therefore I was an American guy in the 1950s. The hardest part of this was being a male character, although it was hard i was able to do the sharp and strong movements which were needed when being a male Shark. My favourite part and the thing I did best in the performance was my expression throughout. My facial expressions went perfectly with the movements and everything I did in the performance. In the future I would like to work on my balance to ensure i can have stable movements when I dance, I will do this by stretching and balancing every day.

Drama:

During Drama this term we have concentrated on projection and how to portray a character or scene through facial expressions and body language. We used these skills by playing different characters from the musical "Chicago". The character I played was June, who is a lady who was put in prison because she murdered her husband. The character was tricky to portray because there was not much back story to the character other than the fact she killed her husband because he thought she was sleeping with the milkman. My strongest part in the monologue was the way I used my body language and the eye contact to make the character seem strong and psychotic. My weakest part was how I projected the monologue because I was very loud but said the words really quickly, therefore making it harder to understand what I was saying. In the future I would like to work on my speech and the tempo in which I portray characters, I will do this by practising looking at myself in the mirror whilst reciting a monologue.

Jerome Robbins:

Jerome Robbins choreographed many plays, from West Side Story to Peter Pan The Musical. Jerome was born in 1918 and died at the age of 80, 2 months after the premier of his re-staging of the production Les Noces. He was born in New York which is know as the "Big Apple" as it is an amazing place with extraordinary opportunities for performers. Jerome began dancing at his high school, they incouraged the dancers to improvise steps to music, Jerome believed this start to dancing gave him the freedom to make up his own dances. After high school Jerome went on to college to study Chemistry but dropped out because he wanted to pursue his dream of dancing. Jerome spent 60 years in the business and influenced many of the musicals we know today, winning five tony awards and two academy awards.