Caitlin's Evaluation

Our choreography assessment was on the 16th decemeber 2015 . Our choreography was based on a girl of a ballon , This is because we chose our stimulus to be based on the picture with the girl with the balloon by banksy. I feel like our assessment went well because, me, Abigail and Emily are all very similar dancers and well trained in ballet  so the choreography that we did played to all of our individual strengths. 

I think during our assessment we did a variety of things really well. For example I feel like the choreography in retrograde at the end of the dance went really well as we were able to perform the choreography well together as we were watching eachother when we danced , we also repeated this section from the start of the dance but changed it round a little so it worked well . 

A good thing about our group is that We all have very good flexibility in our legs meaning all of the sections were we did a developè, arabesque or a kick we were able to do it in sync and all to the same height so it looked unique . 

Some of the things that could've been better include the fact that we didn't rehearse with the balloon until last minute so the choreography didn't fit in with the balloon and some movements had to be changed . During the rehearsal process for our choreography we worked well as a group . The reason for this is because we are all extremely strong  at lyrical therefore we chose to do a lyrical dance . I feel that if we was to complete this assessment again we should work on a number of things , such as the timing of our choreography as sometimes we did sections and movements of the dance and we was out of time with eachother . 

I hope for a distinction in my assessment as o tried my best 

Trio Choreography Evaluation (Abigail)

Our trio choreography assessment was on Wednesday 16th December. We had half an hour before the assessment to run our choreography over and over again, full out, before it was time to be assessed. This allowed everyone in our group to make sure they knew all of the choreography but also gave us time to go over any sections that we were unsure of. We were first to perform our choreography during the assessment overall, I feel our performance went well and was a very strong piece of choreography.

At the beginning of our choreography process, we decided on our costumes. As a group, we decided that we would all wear tan tights, black shorts and a simple black dress. We chose this costume as it is very simple but also helped towards our stimuli. In our choreography we were all little girls, therefore wearing a dress helped us demonstrate our characters. We also decided that we would wear our hair in different braids with a red ribbon in,however we decided to change our hairstyle. We decided to wear our hair half up,half down and curly with no red ribbon as we were unable to get hold of ribbon but also because we found that this specific hairstyle was more childlike and would portray our characters better. We danced with a red balloon therefore we needed to include some red within our costume. We decided to wear red lipstick to match the balloon. The balloon represented our childhood innocence therefore we wanted to dance with a red heart shaped balloon. However, we could only find a red star shaped balloon, so we used this balloon instead.

After reviewing our choreography performance during our assessment, I feel that our choreography was very strong and demonstrated our stimulus clearly. I also feel that my performance during the choreography was good however, if I were to perform the choreography again, I would change my performance slightly to enhance it. Our choreography had its weak points however it has several strong points.

One of our weaker points was making sure that everyone was in time with each other. Most of the time all of us were in time however,in sections such as our circle choreography in retrograde, could have been better when it came to timing. Another weak point for our choreography was our facial expressions. During the assessment I used my face to help tell the story however, I could have used my face a lot more and changed the expression I used as the story unfolded. The balloon also became a weak point during our choreography. Despite the balloon making our choreography standing out from everyone else, it was difficult to work with as we had to change movements that worked well together as the balloon would get tangled around us during certain movements, e.g. an illusion. Our final weak point was our lack of different arm movements due to the balloon. We had to use the same movements as the balloon needed to be kept up high to allow it to look effective. This added a lack of variation to the choreography.

Despite the weak points, there was several good points that allowed our choreography to be really successful. Me,Caitlin and Emily are all similar dancers which worked in our favour as we were able to create a choreography that suited all of us and played to everyone's strengths. Each of us are similar however we all have separate qualities,e.g. I have a flexible back so I can use backbends effectively, therefore all of our solos were different to show each of us off however the unison was simple choreography that showed how well we dance together. Another strong point was the use of different formations. We tried to use different formations to ensure that everyone could be seen doing the choreography however the use of different formations allowed us to use duets and solos effectively. Another strong point was our stimulus and the use of a prop. As our stimulus was a picture of a young girl letting go of a balloon, we found it easy to choreograph movements to show this story with a prop. Overall, the mixture of complex and simple movements, the use of levels, the use of duets and solos, the use of unison, the stimulus and the use of the prop allowed us to create an effective choreography which played to the strengths of each dancer as well as telling a clear story.

If I were to complete this assessment again I would use my face much more to help portray the stimulus but also the help show the changes in the story. I would also practice with the balloon more before the exam to ensure that the balloon would work as well as it possibly could during the exam. I would also use a balloon that was more inflated so it would stay up in the air as much as possible,however we would use a balloon with a shorter string next time to make choreographing with the balloon easier. If i were to complete this assessment again, I would personally dance more with the balloon to help with the stimuli. I would also have created more of a complex duet with Emily once we stop dancing with the balloon to help show that we have both moved on. Overall, the assessment went well and the choreography was performed the best it has ever been performed before.

Last Trio Choreography Lesson (Emily)

Because today was our last day of rehearsal but our first day with the balloon we entered the studio quite nervous as we thought we wouldn't be able to do the choreography. We addressed our first problem in Caitlin's solo. The choreography was to difficult to do with the balloon and therefore had to be changed. We changed the choreography to something more simple and also suggested that Caitlin holds the balloon as high as she can at all times. Me and Abigail had not problem with the balloon as we didn't move with it much. All our movements where on the spot. We didn't need to change anything else up until Caitlin next danced with the balloon. But we did clean the choreography we did around the balloon. We also changed all the arms we did to fifth position whenever Caitlin had hold of the balloon in order for it to be easier for her to move around. We are confident that we will do well in our assessment as nobody else in the class has done lyrical, and all of our choreography plays to our strengths. 

Last Trio Choreography Lesson (Abigail)

This lesson was the last lesson we had rehearsing our piece. Since this was the first time rehearsing with the balloon and the last lesson we will have before the assessment. We came into the studio quite nervous and worried incase the balloon didn't work atall in the piece. When it came to Caitlin's solo she was having difficulty doing her choreography with the balloon so we helped her make small changes to make it easier but still show her off. For example, we changed an illusion to a turn to show the balloon off without the choreography looking messy. The rest of the choreography was fine. We cleaned it and made sure we were all  doing the exact same thing,e.g. all of our legs were at the same height. When we got to the next solo that Caitlin had we faced more problems as the balloon was deflating as we were dancing with it  so it wouldn't stay in the places that we needed it to. We also realised the balloon string was too long and kept getting caught in Caitlin's hair and tangled around her as she danced with it. We changed all the unison armwork to fifth to make it easier for Caitlin to dance. Even though the balloon showed issues at the beginning of the lesson, we slowly became more comfortable with it and believe that choosing to dance with it was a good decision as it made our piece more unique and innovative.

Last Trio Choreography Lesson (Caitlin)

This was our last lesson working on our trio before the final assessment. This was also the first time we rehearsed the piece with the balloon. As soon as I started dancing my solo with the balloon we knew it could be a problem, since it didn't stay in the same place all the time so the choreography was difficult with the balloon. We changed the choreography to more simple moves for my solo. For example we changed the illusion to a turn and chose not to put the balloon down inbetween moves. This made it a lot easier. We then cleaned the next bits of choreography without the balloon ensuring our legs where at the same height and we were all in sync. No more problems occurred until I started dancing with the balloon again closer to the end of the dance. We had to change the majority of our arms to fifth position so the balloon could be as high up as possible, this means it wouldn't be in the way when I was dancing. Even though the balloon caused some problems, they were fixed easily and we believe it made the piece more unique and innovative. It helped us link our piece to our stimulus as there is a balloon in the picture. At the end of the lesson we felt confident in our peice. It was unique to what everybody else in the class done and it played to each of our strengths. We are excited and nervous for the assessment. 

Trio Choreography Lesson 7 (Abigail)

Today was our seventh choreography lesson and our plan for this lesson was to completely clean our choreography so that the whole routine looks the best it possibly can. When the lesson had started, we marked the final section of our choreography as we only finished our choreography the lesson before. We then did the choreography, full out, several times to music to make sure that all of the choreography fitted to the music and to make sure the movements were known by everyone. We then cleaned all of the movements from the middle section of the choreography onwards as this was the messiest part of our choreography. We changed a few movements to make sure all transitions followed from one to another. We then ran our choreography alone, in the space we will be using on the assessment day. Our next lesson is out final lesson and on this lesson we plan to run our choreography as much as possible, dance with the balloon and ensure all movements look good when dancing with the balloon.

Trio Choreography Lesson 7 (Emily)

Today was our 7th choreography lesson. We had finished our choreography last lesson so our focus for today's lesson was to clean the choreography. We ran our choreography a few times,full out, with music to make sure everyone knew the whole dance. We then cleaned sections which we decided needed work. We didn't clean the beginning section as it was already very clean but the ending of our choreography needed cleaning as it was our most recent section of choreography. We have one more lesson before our assessment and in that lesson we plan to dance with the balloon and make sure all of the movements work with the balloon.