Alice In Wonderland - My New Choreography Project Research

Alice in Wonderland

Ballet Choreography for ages 4 to 17

Resources - youtube, iTunes, Google, Film, Album, Story

Ideas and research so far:

Above Image - an old style picture, bright colourful, attracting young audiences. Based on the original Walt Disney animations and characters. It features Alice, Rabbit, a bread butterfly and other strange woodland characters.

Image Below - my favourite image, a stylised busy and beautiful image of a make believe world.

Very detailed design, with depth and colour. Highlighting themes of flowers and wonder.

Below, a remixed track from Alice that's very unique and a bit different. As I am more jazz based dancer in my training, I would like a section of my choreography to have more of a jazz/ballet style in there to a less classical piece of music such as this.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) is a novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym by Lewis Carroll . It is about the story of a girl who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world inhabited by strange and wonderful creatures.

Positive No?

Ok, I'm getting a bit hooked on this tag cloudyness, who started this!? I love it 

Lucy's Tag Cloud On This Blog To Date

Links of Interest My Motivation

Exercise

Whenever I seem to be putting off a job that needs to be done, the best thing I can do before forcing myself to do it; is exercise. I have recently moved and joined a gym not far from me. I procrastinate occasionally, but after a session at the gym, nine times out of ten there's no stopping me, I usually come home and want to sort out everything in my life at once. Exercise motivates, inspires and makes me more determined.

Before my days of the gym I would write out a plan of everything that needed to be completed that day, during the course of the day energy and enthusiasm hits a low and I personally find it hard to pull myself out of it. Reflecting back, I needed something that could give me a change of setting, some fresh air and get me thinking. Exercise was the perfect solution. I planned to join, and have done so now and tried out my new process of "hitting an energy and motivation low = gym/exercise".

On this idea I have included some links of interest, which gave mine and might give your exercise routines a fresh touch.

Here is a link to Bikram Yoga. You may or may not have heard of it, but it's an hour and a half of yoga in sauna conditions. It is a unique series of 26 Hatha Yoga positions. The sequence maximises oxygenation and detoxification of the body. It great for the mind, health, as well increasing strength and flexibility.

Bikram Yoga London - UK's first and original studios - Home

See above images also.

Here is a link to a biology paper discussing the idea of exercising making you happy due to endorphins being released. It has been debated that exercise releases endorphins, boosts self-esteem, confidence and self-image. I believe it does.

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f02/web1/sfrayne.html

Exercise just isn't the same unless you have the right tunes. I always take my iPod with me to the gym, despite the fact they usually have a sound system (blaring trance and other rubbish). I like to listen to my music, as it makes my work out more enjoyable because I like what I'm listening to and it keeps me going when I want to give up. Here's a site to get the latest workout noise from.

http://www.gymfitnesswarehouse.co.uk/cat84/cardio.html

Tied Apart Choreography

This is a rehearsal shot of one of my choreographies Tied Apart. This was the first time I could create a piece of dance about absolutely anything I wanted. You may have seen they have a thick black ribbon entwined into their position. The ribbon symbolised many ideas within the theme of abuse and neglect.

I used the track below by State Radio. I went to a gig of theirs in London a few year ago and got their album. I loved this song and it inspired me to create this choreography.

What Can I Learn From This? Please help if you can!

I've just graduated and without a relevant agent for the jobs I actually want, I am scouring the net searching for audition after audition, applying and waiting to hear. To get an actual response and getting to the audition stage is a small miracle in itself. In normal job terms it's just the interview part. So I got one through Spotlight, which I recently went to. I came fully prepared, did everything that needed to be done, got down to the last round and am now waiting to hear. So that was my experience. However today my success was rained upon when I was out with friends and one mentioned the certain company I had recently auditioned for is blacklisted and that she was told she should stay away. The second part of my "concrete experience".

Reflecting on this situation later today, I was firstly very upset, because just when I think things are starting to look up in the start of my career, everything falls down again and I'm back to square one. On one hand I might find out that I haven't got the job so this isn't even an issue, but what if it turns out I have? What should I do? Has anyone else been in this situation? I'm sure within this industry much of this "blacklisting" goes on, and I am only just beginning to get to grips with it. Since reading Alan's post of quotes from previous students of this course, they've already helped me look at this situation differently; rather than get upset; what can I learn from this?

So the concluding part and learning from my experience i.e abstract conceptualisation, I am not actually very sure. It might be possible some of you have come across this dilemma, and I would be grateful to hear what you did in this situation. Then I can go on to the "active experimentation" part of my cycle and try out what I've learnt! Thanks in advance!

21st October Update

Since I posted the above I checked with Equity to find out if the company was ok and they are. In conclusion, if this problem were to occur again, straight away I would contact equity. I have learnt from this experience to not always take seriously what "friends" say and how to deal with this situation in future. So, that's the abstract conceptualisation done. I shall wait to continue to the next part of the cycle.

My Choreography Radar

This is a video from a show we did last year. I choreographed a street jazz number for ages 9 to 15 to the Britney song Radar. This is two separate classes merged together, so I actually taught the dance to them separately as their two classes until the week before when we actually pieced the dance together. They have one 45 minute class a week, including a warm up, technique and then dance rehearsal, so I think they did pretty well considering.

My challenges with the choreography included the wide age range of dancers and not having them rehearsing together, but we got there in the end. Unfortunately the lighting ruined the beginning and end of the dance, so you can't actually see what they're doing, but you get the idea. If you scroll across the youtube screen at the bottom, I also choreographed Fame for the whole school, including ballet, street jazz, jazz and singers. That was fun!

Links of Interest My Motivation

I get extremely excited when I have a new choreography task ahead of me and the way I start a piece is to first find a good piece of music. Sometimes they find me (which I love) and I will consequently zone out and choreograph (with the track still playing) in my head. If I can visualise what I want first then it's much easier to create and then teach.

If I need to look for a piece of music I scan my iTunes library and search for new artists on Spotify. http://www.apple.com/itunes/

http://www.spotify.com/en/

Teaching and choreographing go hand in hand and if I don't know what I'm doing or what I want then my dancers or students are definitely not going to know either.

youtube.com 500 days of Summer

The above is a video from 500 Days of Summer the film, and I love the music and dynamics in particular. This song really inspires me, but my choreographic ideas are nothing like this video. Mine are more appropriate to my teaching, using more dancers for our annual shows. Also, what would be the point if we all used the same ideas for every piece of music. I have my own mind and imagination and sometimes I find very good songs which cause it to run wild. I might just use this track for my school's show next year so I'll keep you posted.

Youtube.com Warrior Dance The Prodigy Music Video

The above video, doesn't really use much choreography and I heard the song long before I saw this video. Again my visions were entirely different, though the director's ideas for this video are very imaginative and clear; it's a very good idea. I would love to direct my own completely different music video to this song.

Youtube.com So You Think You Can Dance

This dancer is absolutely amazing in my opinion and I could watch this video again and again. His technique and choreography are beautiful. Blake is an inspiration to dance and dancers. Blake and other talented dancers inspire and motivate me to get to where I want to be. Every journey starts with a single step, this man must have started at the beginning like the rest of us.

The Kolb Learning Cycle

by Lucy, KT and Sophie

A. Concrete Experience

Yesterday we went to the Cat Hill campus at Middlesex University and looked at the Learning Cycle process by David Kolb (see diagram). We were given extracts from an anonymous peer's blog, which we separated into the relevant stage of Kolb's system.

B. Reflective Observation

At first we were slightly bemused and unsure of the process. By dissecting the text and applying it to the cycle it enabled us to fully understand the diagram.

1. We felt the Concrete Experience was the easiest section to understand. Our understanding of this section is now "a previous personal experience that has happened".

2. The Reflective Observation of the text was another easy part to analyse, understanding it to be reviewing the event or experience.

3. Abstract Conceptualisation. This was a difficult section for us to decipher. We had difficulties differentiating between active and reflective as many tend to cross over. We simplified the term to developing an understanding by seeking information or forming new ideas.

4. Active Experimentation. We made a mistake in our cut and paste exercise with this section. Upon reflection we then realised our sentence should have been placed in the Abstract Conceptualisation. To make this section more understandable we referred to it as "trying out new ideas and learning from experience".

C. Abstract Conceptualisation

After our initial task we then asked to develop our text. We were asked to fill in any gaps of the cycle that were missed by our blogger's text. For example we had nothing in the Active Experimentation section, we would empathise with the blogger and create our own excerpt.

D. Active Experimentation

To put our experience into practice we will write about identifying instances when we have seen ourselves in each of the stages of Kolb's learning cycle. We will also write our learning diaries (and edit our blogs) accordingly to fit with this new learning cycle. My writing is below:

Another instance when I have seen myself in the different points of the Kolb cycle would be during the beginning of this home blog. Firstly, I didn't know where to start in the way of posting. I didn't want to start directly with information about myself. This is what I eventually did, but I didn't post it first. So I started my first blogging experience by posting a picture of Martha Graham. In terms of Kolb's cycle this was my concrete experience; posting a blog.

After experiencing other blogs and becoming a more accomplished blogger myself I reflectively observed that this picture meant nothing, nor told very much useful or interesting information to the reader. So why should anyone read a blog, which is merely a collection of photos that can be found elsewhere on the internet. As they say a picture can say a thousand words, but it doesn't mean it says what I personally feel about the picture.

My abstract conceptualisation of this problem was that if I am going to post an item, picture or link onto my blog, I should post with it an explanation, description or reason for putting it on there. It gives the reader more incite into a idea or topic, which consequently is more interesting than a picture on it's own with no explanation.

My active experimentation was to then add information about Martha Graham and how she had been a part of my training indirectly. I also added a link to a website, where there's is some more information about her. I compared her dance styles to another contemporary dancer. I set out the writing in the form of Kolb's cycle, starting with my studying of Graham's style, then reflecting the style, I went on to conclude the different styles of contemporary dance and finally completed the cycle with a plan to experiment with what I've learnt and try the stylesin my own choreography.

There you have a Kolb cycle within another Kolb cycle.

People I Admire

The Singer

KRISTEN CHENOWETH

An excellent classically trained soprano, well known for her artistic impressions and skilled singing abilities. You may have seen/heard Chenoweth as Glinda in the original Broadway musical and soundtrack of Wicked by Schwartz. Chenoweth also won awards for her Broadway performance in You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown (1999).

Chenoweth also does a lot of cabaret as well. Not only has Kristen Chenoweth conquered the world of theatre but she has also established herself as an accomplished film, television and voiceover actress. Chenoweth has appeared in Will and Grace, Frasier, Sesame Street, Four Christmases, and most recently the comedy series Pushing Daisies starring along side our very own Anna Friel and through this Chenoweth recently won an award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

I admire Chenoweth because I am also a Soprano singer and to watch her perform songs that I may go on to learn is such an inspiration, with her ability to create a character through her voice. Chenoweth uses comedy, depth and pure vocal skill which bring the songs she sings to life. Also Chenoweth is an inspiration because her voice is very different, and she's used that to her advantage and grabbed opportunities of roles suited to her voice that others can't achieve. I think this is great because she has not shied away from being different in a very critical industry. Chenoweth is a wonderful role model and aspiration to performing industry.

http://www.kristin-chenoweth.com/ This is kristen Chenoweth's official site and blog, which holds news, pictures and her CV attributes within theatre, film and television.

People I Admire

The Dancer

SAVION GLOVER

My main dance style is tap dance and what better modern inspiration is there today than Savion Glover. His technique, style and performance quality is out of this world. Glover made his Broadway debut at only 12 years of age. His most recent credit is co-choreographer and main motion dancer for the animated film “Happy Feet”. The detail and musicality used in his work is very effective to watch for dancers and non-dancers a like. Glover has made tap a more impressive and appreciative art form for a whole range of audiences. See the video as proof!

When I was still in training, he had his solo show on at Sadler's Wells “Live for London” and to and from college I would walk past it. It was almost a reminder for me to keeping pushing and practising. Not many make it as tap idols, most dancers can tap but they aren't known for tap dance specifically, which is why Glover has a great achievement and talent for reaching this far in his career.

He has strengthened my love for tap dance and pushed me work, practise and strive for precision. I hope you enjoy his work as much as I do.

The official website for Savion Glover is http://www.saviongloverproductions.com/ He has his own teaching school which runs courses in America called Hooferzclub – School for Tap, which encourages more talent in tap dance.

People I Admire

The Composer

JASON ROBERT BROWN

The Composer

JASON ROBERT BROWN

The next big thing since Stephen Sondheim and listened to all over the world.

He's written famous musicals such as The Last Five Years, Parade, Songs For a New World, and 13. I appreciate him mainly because of his musical work. My favourite songs being “See, I'm Smiling” and pretty much the majority from Parade.

I am inspired my Jason Robert Brown ever since I saw the recent West End Production of Parade and I still state today it's the best musical I've ever seen. Based on real events in history, the detail of the show, the mixture of characters and songs is absolutely brilliant. It helped by being beautifully directed and performed. The song “Come up to My Office” performed by Bertie Carvel was one of my favourites, merely because of the bass line in the musical score. Choreographically I am desperate to create a solo tap piece to it, it's just a shame it's about pedophilia!

Like Sondheim, a lot of what Brown writes is sung as it would be spoken, which is hard to create but amazing to listen to. In many moments in The Last Five Years the performers easily transfer from singing the lines to speaking, whispering or shouting them. Jason Robert Brown has created quite modern music and even a few years down the line if you heard it today it could have easily have been written yesterday. He has created a new era for musical theatre, one that many aspiring musical theatre performers use to audition with and base work around. Recently I watched an independent joint show of The Last Five Years back to back with another and it proves the enthusiasm to keep Brown;s work alive and ongoing. I really would love him to bring out more songs and musicals for myself and others to enjoy. It's a true art form to be able create such great music and with it tell such great stories..

The video below is Colleen Ballinger performing See, I'm Smiling from Brown's The Last Five Years. Ballinger, also known as Miranda, has since become a youtube star performing as a stange alter ego who cannot sing a note, yet is extremely arrogant with her talents. You can see for yourself that she can sing, yet her online joke has increasingly gained popularity. I even went to see "Miranda Sings" at the West End a few months ago, where she teaches a collection of current West End stars how to sing and sang duets with them. It's become a cult classic.

Resources for Teaching

I keep realising and forgetting that I don't just perform but I teach and choreograph too.

So I am just figuring out if my resources differ for these. To be honest, like I've mentioned before I almost stumbled into choreography and teaching and didn't really get much choice (not that I'm complaining), but I absolutely love both and they work nicely together too. So onto resources.....

As a choreographer:

google and youtube - for background research and ideas

iTunes and Spotify - to listen and download music and get ideas

Pineapple - watching and taking class influences my ideas subliminally at the least

As a Teacher

iTunes - again for getting the right music for a class

google - for researching the school I'm to be teaching at

TFL - Transport for London - I get lost very easily

Lyrics Websites - crucial for Musical Theatre Classes

Word Programmes - for creating invoices to send off for payment

In conclusion they don't really differ too much, and I am scraping the barrel by the time I get to "Word programmes"!!!

My Top Five Resources, Number One

In FIRST Place

Hotmail/Spotlight

www.hotmail.com

So I've joint these together because I don't use one without the other. I get my spotlight auditions sent straight to me, rather than an agent at my hotmail account. I rarely just visit the Spotlight website. In conjunction, my hotmail account would be useless to me without the spotlight emails so I wouldn't bother checking it as much without the need for updates. Therefore they work hand in hand.

Hotmail: This is probably my first choice as a performer because emailing in itself is very important when applying for auditions and jobs, it's good for networking and sending information and attachments.

Spotlight: Spotlight is a well known casting directory which every performer needs to be on. or so I've been told. The top casting directors search here and it's great for getting you're name out there. Plus it's quite pricey so it had better be my number one as it's the only one out of top five which I indeed pay for, so I must rate it. When on spotlight you also go into the spotlight book, which is almost like a people catalogue, luckily not seen myself in it and don't dare to. So if you're a performer and you're not in spotlight, I definitely recommend it.

Though of course, not every audition sent through is validated and whilst you won't be receiving junk and untrustworthy auditions, you do get a range of jobs and quality of jobs. Mostly if you don't have a lot on your CV you'll barely ever hear back until you have the experience. Jobs will come through no doubt and you do hear back which is very exciting and the process is completed.

In Reference to My Last Blog

In reference to my last blog; an example of my “It's not what you know, it's who know” is it's worked like that for me in terms of teaching. I was lucky enough to have been told I would be someone's student teacher when I was just 13, a year later I was choreographing for big shows, and not long after I was a student teacher. From my experience gained, I have been lead to teach at other theatre schools, called in regularly at a dance schools and in various classes in London. Yet, I want to do this degree to eventually gain my PGCE so I can do what I'm already doing, and although I have years of teaching experience now and of course a CRB, every one of my teaching jobs came through someone I knew. I am the one who wants to make my qualifications official so I am able to teach at any school, including senior schools. So looking from the other perspective if I had done this in reverse without having any experience, gaining my PGCE but not knowing anyone within the teaching world, would it have been this easy?

My Top Five Resources, Number Two

In 2nd Place

Facebook

www.facebook.com

I know what you might be thinking; it's a massive time waster so how can it possibly be useful? Social networking is a huge part of being a performer, teacher and choreographer. My favourite saying which I will continue to use as both reason and excuse; “IT'S NOT WHAT YOU KNOW, IT'S WHO YOU KNOW” So if you have everyone you could possibly know on you're facebook, you need to be constantly chatting, networking and getting the latest news. Everyone I trained with are on my facebook, some of my teachers, and all of them have contacts and different experiences. I like to keep up to date with everyone incase they want me for something I.e a job and they think of me or vise versa. PLUS I get as many auditions through facebook as a I do through Spotlight. There are many pages sending out auditions and information about the industry and even if it's not all specifically relevant to me, I still like to know and have the opportunities.

The downside of this site is most people will have one account which means you will mix friends with work colleagues, your boss, your mum, teachers and students. Therefore you have to be constantly very careful what you write on your profile of what others write, and especially not to have any compromising pictures. I have limited profiles on the students I teach, most of them are senior school age and very into facebook and I rather keep my personal life from them.

My Top Five Resources, Number Three

In 3rd Place

Youtube

www.youtube.com

A website used for uploading videos for personal and promotional purposes. Very popular and used worldwide. I bet you're all on there somewhere!

I find this site very useful for learning songs for auditions, checking out the competition, learning about different artists, getting choreography ideas and basically seeing what's new out there. It's a brilliant contact and insight with the world. Plus it's ultimately very entertaining. I shall put some links to some of my favourites soon, some relevant others not so much. A great idea and a third place on my resources list.

Here is the most viewed video on youtube to date. Very comical, natural and British!

Obviously a con of this popular website is if you are personally on there with an professional video it could possibly harm your career. Though can also start your career, which happened to a girl year below me in college when a casting director watched a poor quality video of her in a show at Urdang and now she is in We Will Rock You in the West End!

To search the youtube site, there is a search bar which predicts what you are typing, helping you to find the video you are looking for or suggesting others to look at. Once you have searched a video others are suggested at the side as similar choices and/or posted by the same user. Business' can use youtube to promote their company or product, such as trailers for a film, or a dance school.

The reliability of the site of course is supported by the fact that you can see it for yourself. Though if you are trying to find something in particular, all that is found in a search won't necessarily be relevant.

My Top Five Resources, Number Four

In 4th Place

Google

www.google.co.uk

What would I do without Google? All I know is, if I'm not sure about something, or need to research a company/song/show/person, Google is where I turn first. Though I must admit, Wikepedia is usually the first site they churn up for information and after our induction slatings I have been feeling guilty to my ignorance and have been known on several occasions to trust their words.

Google: a gigantic search engine, used for anything and everything.

For example I just now googled myself (note: it's such a successful site it's been awarded it's own verb “to google”) and it's come up with a few sites about me “Lucy Florence Clark”

It came up firstly with my Myspace blog site (which I gave up on many moons ago but did check it recently after about two years of neglect!). Secondly my facebook site, then my Casting Call Page. Then two pages linked with work from college (Urdang) reviews written about our shows. Finally a wesite called 123people.co.uk which scarily has some pictures of me. That's hopefully it, but I'm not willing to check out of the 1380,000 results it found in 1.21 seconds. Not bad considering a year ago there was nothing, (yes, sadly I have tried it before but probably without my middle name which I use now as there are so many Lucy Clarks!!)

Anyway, in conclusion Google

Unfortunately being one of the largest search engines in the world, Google is susceptible to searching through lots of useless, unofficial and dangerous sites, which is a large con to this resource. Sites like wikepedia often come up first when researching a word, which can be informative but not always correct.

To search for sites on Google you would type a word or phrase, name or company into the search bar. It will conveniently predict what you are typing and find thousands of sites for what you've searched as well as sponsoring websites in less than a second. The first page is usually the most relevant to your search. With most sites you can tell by their structure and professionalism how useful and reliable they are. Others can be posts on blogs, which will more than likely be opinions rather than factual information.

Referencing my Previous Blog

In reference to my last blog:

By the way, when I was seventeen I went to the first ever Wicked open audition before my professional training so I am one the ones I'm referring to in my last comment!! Plus since I have been trained I have seen others like my seventeen-year-old-self giving it a shot. To be fair, if you look right for the part it doesn't matter where you've come from or what training you've had. It's all about the luck of the draw.

My Top Five Resourses In Descending Order, Number Five

In 5th Place

The Stage

www.thestage.co.uk

I pretty much doubt this will be a shock to anyone, but i will inform and persuade any of you in the entertainment industry who don't use The Stage to give it a second thought.

A weekly newspaper and useful website for keeping up-to-date with entertainment industry. It has recent news concerning arts funding, new shows, television, actors, deals and appeals. It includes news, reviews and information for shows in and around the UK. It holds blogs filled with gossip and tips from the industry. The site and paper offer advice and chats dealing with aspects of making a career or evolving careers within the arts. The website also contains an archive of all past articles to refer back to. Not only all this, but the main reason I personally subscribe to this paper is because of the jobs and auditions section. It often includes open auditions of interest. Amongst quiet periods in the industry this jobs and auditions section usually includes something to keep you going. Prestigious companies regularly use The Stage to advertise their auditions because of it's popularity within the industry. Most performers do subscribe to The Stage and consequently auditions are packed full because of the great publicity it allows companies. Also, you do not have to be a trained professional to read and attend auditions advertised in The Stage and this somewhat becomes apparent at open musical audition.

The downside to The Stage would be that not all published auditions are validated and therefore not always trustworthy. The Stage advertises this idea of reliability amongst the auditions warning readers about the dangers of companies requesting fees up front etc. Sometimes jobs can sound and be too good to be true, but you quickly realise the companies that are safe to apply to. Most companies become quite well known and with that comes the trust, the smaller lesser known companies offering less information and details about an audition and job can be ambiguous. Yet, sometimes they will be fine and can land you a decent job; it's all about the luck of the draw.

On the website you can search in the relevant sections i.e "jobs and auditions" and they are then filtered again into different types of jobs.