Individual Showcase

Song title:             "Maybe I like it this way" 

Musical:                Wild Party

Composer:           Andrew Lippa

Song title:           "Dance with somebody"
Musical:               The Bodyguard
Composer:           George Merrill and Shannon Rubican

Song title:             "I don't know how to love him"
Musical:                 Jesus Christ Superstar
Composer:            Andrew Lloyd Webber

I have chosen this song "Maybe I like it this way” from the musical  'Wild Party’, as my ultimate first song instantly as I am a fan of this song as I see myself as having a similar singing voice to the main lead female character Queenie. Queenie attacks the song with a jazzy, soulful feel to it that is the reason why I’ve always been drawn to this song. I have always been afraid of singing this song as I tent to a thought that it would be too difficult to sing.

 However as time went on, I can honestly say that I’ve improved a lot as a singer and I have learnt to work of the vocal qualities that I am fantastic at, such as being able to use different timbre while singing. This is one of the qualities that would enable be to shine in my performance while singing this song. At the very start of the song it begins with…”I know it’s wrong, I know he’s rough” I could really show off the raspiness, soft side of my voice. This would enable the audience to be drawn to the rest of the lyrics.

The reason I love this song is because it allows us as a singer and an audience to go through the exact emotional journey the character goes through. At Bar:19  till Bar:26 the song gradually uplifts a little bit more as the character reminisces about what she adores about the guy she is in love with after all the feeling sorry for herself at the start of the song. I believe from this point of time I am able to bring the audience to another place helping them to imagine or even think about all the amazing things they like about someone or the partner they are with.

From Bar:45 and onwards I am able to demonstrate more the acting through song side, the feel of the song and tone is quite much so angry, dark and low as the character thinks about all the things she could do next, this can be shown by the way each sentence starts with “Maybe”. As a singer from this point on I will be able to show my wide vocal range, as my voice type is an ‘mezzo-soprano’. My I will be able to hit the high extended note which is “But look who is sitting here today”.

This song fits just right for me as I enjoy singing ballads and I also tend to choose songs that lets me use my powerful vocals to interpret the emotion, the feel to in the lyrics and mainly the climax. I could definitely act through song with the piece, I could also show the way I can comfortably use timbre within’ my voice. As a mezzo-soprano it is known that we have a wider vocal capacity this is why I’ve chosen this song as I strongly believe I could demonstrate this in my performance as I do want to stand out most importantly.

My second choice is “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” from the musical ‘The Bodyguard’ . The reason I have chosen this song is because I’ve always looked up to Whitney Houston and I would class her as my idol. This particular song allowed me to be a more confident girl on the dance floor as it gives you a feeling to just wanting to move your.

This song is a contrast to my first choice song as I would describe this so as more of a pop, upbeat musical theatre song. As an individual I am known to be a party girl and wanting to have a good time always while being out, so therefore this song wouldn’t be as hard to adapt to as the character Rachel is very similar to me in the day to day life. Rachel being a diva and having a male character looking after her at all the time is something I have.

The song starts off with “The clock strikes” this allows the audience to pay attention to what more I got to say as I will be using hand gestures the emphasise the feeling more. Bar:3 will enable me to show the warm, soulful side of my vocals. I will also be using a lot of riffs in this song as this is the other techniques I could use within’ my vocals, I would mainly be using this at most of the last words in the sentences, giving examples of “fade___” and “a-way__”.

As I will be performing in a quite enclosed pacing, this song choice will be perfect as It would enable me to more intimate with audience and being able to engage with the audience to a larger extent. Many of the audiences watching will be able to massively relate to the lyrics and be familiar to the song as it was the first single from Whitney Houston's second studio album ‘Whitney’.

 The song received mixed reviews from critics, who compared the musical arrangement to her own "How Will I Know" and Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." The song won the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 30th Grammy Awards. The single was a commercial success, topping the charts in 13 countries including Australia, Italy, Germany and the UK. In the US, it became her fourth consecutive number one single and sold over one million copies, making it her biggest hit in that country at the time. It was eventually surpassed by her version of "I Will Always Love You. Therefore I could say this is a very well-known song.

From Bar:12 I would be able to experiment with my voice and being able to play with my vocal techniques such as using ‘Vocal Decorations’, using ‘Twang Quality’. LINK

My third choice is "I don't know how to love him" from the musical Jesus Christ Superstar the reason I've chosen this song because I could see this song being a R'n'B song, I am so in love with that type of genre of music. I could say this song has been my first Musical song that I got given by my musical theatre teacher in first year, and I've now grown to emotionally connect with the character inside out.

This song lets me be vulnerable with my emotion, I find this extremely exciting to experience each time I sing the song and I could tell I would be feeling the same way while I sing it at the Individual showcase performance. I can be very intact with the song, I will be using a larger vocal range to hit each note especially on the main chorus "Let my feelings out___". I am extremely comfortable with being able to switch back to a more softer tone as the song follows back to "What's it all about"

 I can massively relate to the song as I've found it hard to tell a guy that I loved him and this is the exact dilemma Mary Magdalene is in, she is so unsure about the way she feels towards him as she hasn't experienced this before. This lets me be able to act through song to a large extent as the song enables the audience to be drawn the lyrics as it uses emotive language.

I would describe this song as a classical, modern ballad. You wouldn't be able to tell that this particular song is sang about the son of the Lord. The chorus allows me to point the strong sides of my vocals, being able to use a very dominant, powerful voice as it says "Should I bring him down..."

'MAYBE I LIKE IT THIS WAY'

Unit 42: WHAT DO YOU EAT? ASSIGNMENT 3

WHAT DO YOU EAT?

How to keep a balanced diet...

These food groups make up a balanced diet because we as humans we all need a healthy diet as this would provide us with the right amount of energy as the calories or kilojoules, from foods and drinks help to maintain energy balance. 

An energy balance is made in which where the calories taken in from the diet are equal to the calories used by the body. We definitely need energy to carry out everyday, daily tasks such as walking and moving about but also for all the functions of the body we may not even think about. Processes like breathing, pumping blood around the body and thinking also require energy.

As a dancer having a balanced diet is very essential as 'carbohydrates' gives out 60% of energy which also helps provide quick energy and as a performer to gain this we would require to eat pasta, cereals and potatoes.

As an injured performer that I was before I had to focus my diet mainly upon 'proteins' such as eating fish, legumes
, eggs and drinking milk. As this was the only way for me to gain a rather rapid recovery. I got told by my physiotherapy that eating proteins helps a speedy recovery after doing exercises;

CARBOHYDRATES

•This food type helps provide quick energy, 60% of our diet should comprise of ‘carbs’

•To get Carbohydrates it comes from Pasta, cereals and potatoes.

PROTEIN

•Protein comes from a variety of sources, including meat, milk, fish, soy, and eggs, as well beans, legumes, and nut butters.

•Protein helps to a speeding recovery after exercise.

•It also reduces muscle loss

FIBRE

•Fibre keeps you awake and it also keeps you regular.

•Fibre allows you to have an healthy digestion, no constipation.

•It also helps with weight control.

•You can collect fibre from wholegrain cereals.

VITAMINS

•Vitamins helps the body work and it also helps concentration.

•As a performer, vitamins helps keep you calm and as well as helps you make decisions quickly.

•You can get vitamins from fruits and vegetables.

FATS 

•NB Unsaturated fats are healthy, however too much of the saturated fat from animal products can lead to heart disease.

•This provides slow energy, with 25% of hour diet should be fat.

•You’d get fats from oils, dairy products, nuts and fish.

WATER

•Water maintains fluid levels.

•Whenever you sweat. It prevents dehydration.

'I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY'

The Last Five Years: Audition

I have chosen the song 'I don't know how to love him' from the Musical 'Jesus Christ Superstar' as I will be auditioning for the role Catherine in the Musical 'The Last Five Years'

I've picked this song as I believe I am able to connect to the lyrics emotionally, which does show the sense of me being able to act through song.

This song also enables me to go through the emotional journey of the character Mary Magdalene, which creates a more intimacy feeling that the audience could read from.

Catherine is a struggling actress who fell in love with Jamie and got married this why I think the character of Cathy and Mary can relate to eachother as they both fell in love with a men who they just instantly met.

I do believe my strongest feature of me is being able to use different types of dynamics within my voice, which separates me from being a boring singer, allowing me to out shine other ladies auditioning for the same role.

I am very good at singing with a timbre in my voice, gradually starting off with a raspy voice at the first sentence of the song allows the audience to be draw in into the lyrical side of the song.

UNIT: 42 Two Weeks Fitness Training Programme ASSIGNMENT 2

UNIT:42

TWO WEEKS

Fitness Training Programme:

Week 1:

Monday – SING LEG STANCE   “Stand on one leg. Try to aim 30 seconds.

Then repeat with the other leg. Repeat 2 times each leg”

                                                     

Tuesday – KNEE FLEXION “Lie on your back/sat up with your legs out straight. Bend on knee as comfortable as you can then straighten it out slowly. Repeat 10 times on each leg. 3 x daily.”

Wednesday – STRAIGHT LEG RAISE “Lie on your back. Lift your leg off the bed a few inches and point your toes up towards the ceiling. Hold for 3 seconds, then slowly lower it back down.”

Thursday – LEG LIFTS “Keep your top leg straight and bottom leg bent. Keep your hips pointing at the ceiling. And your foot parallel to the floor. Lift your top leg up, hold for 5 seconds then slowly lower down. Repeat 3 sets to 10 repetitions.”

Friday – LAY ON BACK LEG PEDAL

Week 2:

Monday - GLUTE BRIDGE AND KNEE EXT “With your knees bent, lift, your hips up. Hold for 3 seconds and slowly lower. Repeat 6 times, then... With both hips in the air, straighten one leg out lifting the heel off the floor. Hold for 3 seconds, lower, and then repeat with the opposite leg 5 times on each leg.”

Tuesday - SIT TO STAND “Sit down slowly pushing your bottom out as far as possible. When going from sit to stand, stand up pushing through your legs. Do 10 repetitions as it gets easier.”

Wednesday – WALL SLIDES “Stand with your back against the wall, feet shoulder width apart. Ensure your weight is equal left and right. Flatten your back gently against the wall. Slowly slide down the wall a short distance, hold 3 seconds and come back up. Repeat 5 times.”

Thursday – GLUTE BRIDGE (PROGRESSION FROM 2 LEG BRIDGE) “Lie on your back with knees bent. Extend one leg, push through your heels to lift your hips off the floor. Try to keep your hips level. Remember to keep movements controlled and slow.”

Friday - WEIGHTED HIM ABDUCTION “Lay on your left side with your knees and hips straight, place a pillow between the knees. Slowly lift the right leg up a short distance hold a few seconds and return to the start position. Do it 10 times.”

In October 2015 I got injured while dancing in my Musical Theatre class, I landed awkwardly and felt immediate pain and swelling. I go seen by a Fractured Clinic and I got placed in a hinged brace which later on got requested with a MRI Scan.

On the examination it shows that I have a lower limb alignment adding on with a very mild effusion. I had some medial tenderness which was mainly over the medial femoral condoyle.

The MRI reports no definite tear within the meniscus however there was altered signal, which was the ACL was intact. This then commenced the referral on physiotherapy.

After starting physiotherapy it has helped with being able to move the knee as before it was a huge struggle to, although my knee has a full range of motion and the joint is stable however there is a patellofemoral pain and the McMurray is not substantial for the medial meniscus, the apley is still negative.

The MRI reports a small loose body in the anterior aspect of the trochlear notch. As discussed with my Orthopaedics there is an option of arthroscopic removal of this loose body. As a dancer I do refuse to have a surgery, as I tend to think it will disturb my future in dance but on the other hand I do often suffer from the pain within my knee especially while walking for a long distance or at a shift at work.

My strengths are the easy movements of my walking; I am now able to join in the physical warm ups that take place during my dance lessons at the very start. I’ve overcome from my injury is that my joints are stable and I am able to walk a lot better compared to before when I use to limp while attempting to walk. I no longer need to use my brace and crotch as my knees swelling has reduced and no more slanting to the left.

My weakness is the amount of pain I still feel from day to day. I find is extremely hard to do ballet as my quads are not as strong as it uses to be. My muscles are very weak as I can clearly see that the skin around it seems to soft and stretchy in a way, doing stances on the injured leg is always a huge challenge for me as I always eventually feel pains, a burning sensation and instability.

So therefore a way of improving is by doing those fitness’s which Is stated above is to help with my injury and to get healthy naturally and fast. These exercises that I am doing is to help with my muscle growth which is something that takes long to gain after an injury as your knee has been at rest for a long period of time.

The two fitness training I picked was Rehab (In the gym) and swimming twice a week.

I can now truly say that the fitness plan has been massively effective as from now on I witness less pain in my knee, the soft tissue and tenderness of the skin has been replaced by strong muscles which is due to the ‘wall slides’ and the ‘leg stances’ demonstrated in my fitness plan.

I am now able to join some dance lessons including urban dance unit and only the ballet warm up exercises, as before I never was allowed to participate as I had a weak knee which could become worse and I continuously was experiencing pain even while sitting down.

The practice was very safe indeed as I use to see my physiotherapist once every two weeks who would demonstrate to me how each exercise were done. I was also always told I shouldn’t push to hard if I start feeling immediate pain while doing the exercises although if the exercises become easier I should double the amount of reps or repeats being done.

'ONE NIGHT ONLY'