Week 6:
Next week is performance week therefore the whole class has to work on the main performance we are working on which is Matilda and the other songs and performances we have been working on since the beginning of term.

At the beginning of the week we worked on the singing mainly in our other performances that we have not looked at since we started Matilda and some since September, this meant we had to takes a lot of time to get as good at the pieces as we were before. First we warmed up by first stretching to make sure our bodies were in the right position and state to singing and dance. We then warmed up our voice through singing notes in the C Major scale which helped us to hit the notes we need to in all our songs. First we sang and performed "Nothin like a dame" which is in "South Pacific" and our first attempted was not very good and we needed to work on our moves in the dance bit when everyone is in lines, the acting we are doing throughout the performance and project our voices more through singing diafram. Our second attempted was a lot better than our first attempt because we made sure we used the parts we needed to work on and made it so they were now positives, although we still need to work on our accents because everyone sounded too British and we needed to work on our facial expressions. Our teacher then told us to work on or accents while we were at home. We then started to work on "Seasons Of Love" which was a really easy song to pick up as we used to sing it a lot and it is mainly singing therefore it does not have any dancing in it. I feel we could have shown more emotion in the song though because everyone was very still faced. Lastly we worked on our Matilda performance because this was the main performance that everyone was getting marked on. The first performance was the other group which was helpful because it helped everyone in my group remember the dance move and song after such a long half term break in between. The first performance we did was quite messy because people forgot what blocks they were picking up and how the dance went but the second performance was much better as we had time to think and remember the moves. Today was useful because we concentrated on other things that we needed to practice and not just "School Song"

Later on in the week we continued to work on the same things we worked on at the beginning of the week. First we warmed up by stretching and doing a pulse racer this helps because it prevents anyone from having an injury. We then started by figuring out all of the different parts that everyone was doing in the show case. After deciding we needed to practise the Matilda song "School Song" so that we have enough practice before the performance and to make sure everything it perfect. After a few practices we realised that everything was to the best of our abilities and started to break off into groups to practice our performances for the showcase. I went into the group that practiced "West Side Story", at the beginning no one remembered how the moves went' therefore we had to go back and learn the dance moves again. When we started learning the moved everything came back to me and the dance was easier to pick up again. In "West Side Story" there is a fight scene which is very intermit with a partner and means that everyone needs to aware of the things going on around them, therefore we had to be put into areas where everyone can have spacial awareness. Everyone picked this up quite quick therefore me and the two other girls who were performing "Wilkommen" from Cabaret decided to start learning the dance we were going to be performing on the night. As we only had a little time it was hard to pick up so we had a brief discussion and figured out the things we would do in our next lesson when we were going to actually go through the whole dance. I feel that today was very useful and it helped everyone performing understand exactly what we were going to do and how we were going to do it.

At the end of the week everyone had their costumes for "School Song" and were ready to practice the dance. First we warmed up with a number warm up which went up and down the C major scale. This was useful but i decided to sing some "la's" because i didn't feel my voice was fully warmed up through doing this. I then did some stretches to make sure i did not pull a muscle while I was performing. My group decided to perform the song first and considering we had not performed in a couple of days, it went really well and everyone was in character. Although there was one big problem that was going to effect our performance on the day, that was that one of the dancers in the little kids had done something to her foot which meant she had to be sitting down for most of the performance. We decided to change the "block scene" and have someone else pick up the block she was carrying and we moved everything to the left so that meant everyone had to remember this transition when doing the dance. Although there was a few mess ups with the blocks and various dance moves which was because of the transition, everything went to plan and everyone seemed to get through it. We then practiced "Seasons Of Love" which was really good because everyone sounded good together but everyone was standing still and motionless so we decided to add some clicking into the dance moves and make sure everyone was smiling. Overall I feel like today went very well and we got a lot done as a group.

Overall I feel this week was very productive and that it really helped in order to prepare for next week's performance.