Rent

Rent is a rock musical created by Jonathan Larson. The first readings and workshops took place in 1993 & 1994 before the musical opened off Broadway in 1996. It had a great success and therefore opened in the same year at Broadway & on a US Tour. Rent is about a group of friends struggling to survive as artists (song writer, movie maker, singer, etc); the show is also about HIV/AIDS, some of the characters have it, and one of them, Angel, dies of it during the show.
After Rent's the success, a movie was made in 2005 & the stage show was filmed in 2008. The musical recieved four Tony Awards in 1996, including best musical.

Jonathan Larson is an american composer, born in a jewish family in February 1960. He was introduced to the art, music and theatre world at a very young age. His most famous work is Rent, which was first performed off broadway in 1996. He based the story on real events that happened at this time and based the character "Mark" on his personal life experience.
Larson unexpectedly died on the 25th of January 1996, on the morning of Rent's first preview performance off Broadway.



17/09/14

Today we continued the Rent rehearsals. We had learnt "Rent" and "Seasons of Love" last week and today we kept on learning a few songs and started staging the show. We also heard what some leads had rehearsed which was really nice.

18/09/14

Today we started creating a little "dance" number for Maureen's song "Jump Over the Moon" and performed it in front of the leads.

24/09/14

Today we kept on learning the ensembles parts from Rent and spent quite a lot of time on "Christmas Bells" which is really hard, especially when half of the cast isn't paying attention...

01/10/14

Today we started staging "Rent" (the song) in the theatre & therefore making it look like something, it was really cool. We're devided in 3 groups: 1 at the right, 2 at the centre and 3 at the left of the stage. And each group has people from Mark's and Roger's singing part. I'm in Mark's singing part in group 1. Some people from each group will be on a plateform and the others will stand on the stage, I'll be standing on the stage, and I'll have the great honor to belt the end of the song at some of the audience's face! How exciting!

09/10/14

Today we learnt the final bit of "Christmas Bells" which is atrociously hard but to be honest, it's my favourite part of the show! It sounds brilliant. I feel like we're finally starting to get there, I feel as excited as I was for the first rehearsal, and I hope we can keep working like that!

15/10/14



Today we went through the staged version of "Christmas Bells" which was alright-ish. And we learnt a new song "La Vie Bohème" & also started to stage it.
We also went through all the song we had learnt so far, most of them sounded really nice!





22/10/14

Today we changed Rent's staging with Tyler. We also saw the new version of La Vie Boheme and practiced Christmas Bells.
We also had Consuela, a former student, watching the rehearsals. She gave us some tips about characterisation which was really interesting and useful.

24/11/14

We have just finished our production of Rent. The two last nights were absolutely mind blowing. I had so much fun on stage, everyone was focused and happy to be there, it was simply perfect. I really enjoyed every moment I had on stage and hope I can be part of another project soon.
It feels weird now it's over, I wish we had had more shows, I'm gonna miss the cast and Rent terribly...

Contemporary

19/09/14

Today we started the lesson with our warm up routine. I finally remember the moves & can start concentrating on making it better.Thé name  rehearsed again the dance we've been practicing for a few lessons and then worked on our solo bit before performing it in front of everyone.

Dominique's comment: "good travelling and sharp angles but need to work on body's strength"

Personal thoughts: I'm happy with the general result, I have to work on my balance and be more confident an "linked" to what I'm doing. But for that I would need to have more time to remember the moves perfectly as it's taking me more time because of my hyperactivity. I find it really difficult to keep everything in my mind, and everytime I try to improve my move I forget the one after it.
I tried not to stop while I was performing it, because whatever happens if you're on stage you just can't stop, even if you don't remember what you're supposed to do, so I didn't actually do exactly what I had prepared but that's better than nothing.
I hope that getting more experience in contemporary will allow me to overcome my hyperactivity issues.


23/09/14



Today we did our quick routine warm up and then started to learn a new sequence from the choreography we've been doing for a few weeks. I felt ok at the beginning but again, started to forget the moves and got lost quite quickly. Then Ruth taught to Sonia and me her solo bit.





29/09/14

Today we started to learn someone else's solo and teach them our own. I learnt Isabel's solo and taught her mine. Once we knew well enough the other person's solo we put them together and performed it as one. After that we started to combine the two solos with another group to work on crossings. Isabel and I worked with Deneille and Nancy.

30/09/14

Today we presented our couple of duets to the rest of the group, Isabel wasn't here so I had to do twice my own solo and it didn't work as well as it did before.
Group's feedback: I need to have more confidence to improve most of what I'm doing
Dominique's feedback: bigger steps.
Personal thoughts: know what I'm doing more than I currently am, be sure of the steps to have more confidence and therefore improve everything that needs to be better.



02/10/14

Today the group kept on practicing their couple of duets in order to perform them for the class. Isabel wasn't here again so Nancy, Deneille & I have done something different. I didn't perform as I was ill, Nancy and Deneille worked on the 2nd section of the choreography, our purpose was to create eye contact between them, and have moments when they were close and moments when they were far from each other.
Review from Nancy's & Deneille's performance:

Action	Dynamics	Space	Relationship
The precision of the moves in themselves was really good, but the performance in general lacked of precision as they forgot a few times what they had to do. The extentions were really good for both of them, as were the angles & shapes	The dynamics were good when they knew what they were doing, but it could be really improved if they remembered the whole thing.	The use of the space was perfect, they travelled a lot, used every direction, took big steps! Perfect	They managed to have quite a lot of eye contact which was really good. The looks they had were at perfect moments, they all worked really well,

I think their whole performance would have been perfect if they had remembered their moves/have had more time to rehearse it; cause everything was really good, it just lacked of focus/time to rehearse.

What makes a good performance:

• synchronisation
• posture
• energy
• never look at the floor, always look up

07/10/14

Today we kept on staging/practicing the choreography that we will perform in the dance show. We start the choreography with the first sequence, then Deneille have a solo bit, then everyone perform their couple of duets, then we do the second sequence and finish with the first.

12/10/14

Overdrive:

There are sixteen sections in the dance, and various number of dancers in each (two in the first & second, one in the third, three in the fourth etc).
I thought the three red dancers had a nice relation together. It's hard to notice the looks in the video as it's going really fast but one I noticed and really liked was the one before two of the girls left the stage, they have a brief look at the one who stays.
The dancers are always dynamic, at the start and at the end, the dance is always full of sharps angles and moves.
The colour of the costume are red, silver and read&silver.
The material isn't too tight so it really embraces the moves of the dancers when they are doing a slow move, but when they are doing quick moves we can still see them precisely.
The music suits the slow and sharp moves. It's also quite simple and always the same so we really concentrate on the dancing. It's also very easy to count the beats with it.

I think since I started I generally improved everything, which wasn't so hard as I was starting from nothing. But what need to improve above all is my confidence, because a lot of my problems would be solved if I had more confidence. I guess that will come with experience and time. I also wish I could remember the moves more quickly, because it would give me more time to concentrate on the sharpness, dynamics etc. and I would be able to be perfectly on time with the music beats.

21/10/14

Today we assessed a person in the group and got assessed by them. I assessed Nancy and she assessed me. I thought I've done a better job than during most of the rehearsals, and I feel like I can start concentrating more on details.
Targets:

• concentrate on posture
• more confidence when doing moves
• watch out arms and legs extension

11/11/14

Vogue dance

Vogue dance is a modern house dance, it appeared in the 1960s in the United States and became very popular after Madona's "Vogue" in 1990.

The name and dance is inspired by the magazine "Vogue" : it is based on posing with angular, linear, rigid leg and arm movements.

There are three styles of Vogue: old way (1960-1990), new way (1990-1995) and vogue fem (1995 - present)

The old way is based on straight lines, symetry and precision of moves. It is a contest between two dancers, one of them must "pin" the other to win.
The new way is based on rigid movements with clicks and arms control. It requires a lot of flexibility.
The Vogue Fem is based on exaggerated feminine movements, influenced by Jazz and Ballet, the moves are done with a lot of fluidity.

The Waltz

The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance, first seen in the XVIIIth century. It is inspired by German's dance "Lander"and was brought to Paris by Napoleon's soldiers. It is danced in pair, on a triple time. There are a lot of different Waltz, some of the most famous are the Viennese Waltz, The American Style Waltz, the hesitation Waltz and the Country Western Waltz. The waltz can be dance straight or turning.

11/12/14

Overdrive self-evaluation 

I think I have always done my best to arrive on time, attend & remain focused in every lesson and to pay attention to what was said, however, I think I need to be more confident to do the moves more accurately and improve more quickly. I still think I made a big step during this first term because I would never have been able to dance in front of other people before. What really annoys me is that my memory of the moves is really bad and I don't want it to look like I'm not doing my best because of that, even when I watch the videos I take several times it just doesn't stay in my mind. I think it's due to the footwork, as explained under. 

I think I applied every advice I have been given, either by the teacher or the students. The only one I haven't properly applied is to be more confident because I do not really control it, unfortunately. I gave myself targets after the lessons but I was never pleased because I am perfectionist and compare myself to others too much. It's good in a way because I can see what needs to be improved, but it's also bad because I see what I cannot do and makes me lose confidence. 

I think the phrases I demonstrated the most accurately was the beginning bit and the last bit of the last section which was probably my favourite bit. I think I was more confident doing the first bit because it was easy & we got to rehearse it hundred of times and the last bit because I was told it was good, so I had more confidence and made it better in every rehearsal.  

The phrases I demonstrated the least accurately was the arabesque in the second section, I wasn’t confident doing it and couldn’t manage to do it right. I wouldn’t say I gave up because I did try to improve it every time but couldn’t see how. I think asking for help is something I need to work on, because if I don’t I will hardly improve, or not a lot. And I really want to be a good dancer by the end of my BTEC, because I know it’s going to be helpful when I audition for drama school. 

I felt confident about other’s spacing and mine. I know this is something I am always aware of, I don’t know why. This is just something that I’m automatically doing. I always try to fit the others and the dance at the same time. I also felt confident doing the kicks, even though I know I can improve them by pointing my toes all the time. But it’s not difficult to point them, it’s just remembering. But the fact that I have been watching and notcied some people not pointing their toes will, I think, help me remembering it. 

I felt least confident with the footsteps in general, I never know which leg to use first, when they’re together, etc. It’s taking me ages to figure it out, and when I do, others have already worked on another bit and I start being late, which is really frustrating. I think another thing I would add in another performance would be a facial expression, or try to feel more connected with the dance, even though I thought it was quite hard in that dance. 

I don’t think I have danced it enough to be aware about my interpretative skills. When I stopped dancing, I had just managed remembering the whole dance. I think I almost got there but stopped to early. Seeing the others perform, I thought it was a really dynamic moves, it was all about that constant variation between “quick and slow” , ”sharp and smooth”, etc. I thought the angles really added a lot to the variations of those moves too. 

I think I’ve improved in everything which wasn’t hard as I was starting from absolutely nothing. But I really noticed a big change in my technique, even though there is still a lot of work to do. I also think my confidence improved, but as I was starting from -100 it’s still quite weak.  

My biggest target is to my confidence, in dance and more generally in everything, because it’s what’s stopping me from improving more at the moment and I am aware of it. But unfortunately, it is something I can’t really control, or at least don't know how to. I also want to stretch more every night to be more flexible. Finally, I would like to find some time after college to rehearse the choreography with someone who is more confident than me, because my bedroom is far too small to rehearse (and yet it's the biggest room of my flat); and watching videos can help but it's still better to actually go over the choreography. Also if the person is more advanced than me, they could help me improving my technical skills.

12/01/15

I have started dancing again. At last, I started working on masquerade with the rest of the group. I really like that choreography and hope we can make it really good.