Chasing Charming Reflection By:Ardis Throughout the past few months of rehearsing Chasing Charming , the class and I overcame infinite challenges. Firstly, we recognized that everyone’s roles are equally important- including cast and stage crew. As a team, everyone began quite rough in terms of focus, discipline, and integrity; although, we eventually realized the definition of “You’re only as strong as your weakest link”, which motivated us to a great extent, and encouraged us to use our integrity and self-discipline under all circumstances. Another challenge we faced was coordinating the set changes such as moving the castle pieces on/off stage. The level of frustration reached its peak-considering that the set pieces exceeded
With a great cast of people and wonderful, creative directors, the shows at this high school gain a lot of praise from others; students, teachers, friends, and family. No one really sees what goes on backstage, or what happens to prepare for the show, other than those involved in the production. As the choreographer for the school musical this year, there were many aspects of Lucky Stiff that I had to oversee. This included teaching students choreography, making sure they knew their places, and keeping everyone in line while pleasing the director, assistant director, and stage manager. The first month of preparations for the show was when all of this occurred. With the help of my co-choreographer, we taught various dances to the entire cast - thirty people total. Sometimes confusions and hindrances popped up, in that we had to come up with and teach choreography on the spot. At various points my co-choreographer and I were not always prepared, but being able to work as a team to teach everyone what they needed to learn was what mattered to the both of us. In fact, the two of us worked very well together, and we both received great acclaim for our work from those who had seen the musical. I truly enjoyed working with my co-choreographer; in preparation for the musical and what we had to teach we would bounce concepts off of each other, come up with many ideas
On November 25, 2017 I attended The Nutcracker ballet performance at the Eisemann Center. The dance was adapted from a story by E.T.A Hoffman with the music by Tchaikovsky. The show was a faithful adaptation of The Nutcracker with the dancers, costumes, sets, and Tchaikovsky’s music all playing an integral part in depicting the story in an entertaining way. Overall, the presentation was successful in portraying the holiday classic that is The Nutcracker, and the majestic sets and costumes along with the music allowed for sustained attention and spectacle that was still true to the narrative of The Nutcracker. The production did this by having grand, bright costumes and sets that resembled the time period of The Nutcracker and depicted the setting of the dances, the original music by Tchaikovsky which was able to produce the emotions that come with the story, and lighting techniques that showed the weather and time of day which helped show what scenes were being told throughout the performance.
The heat of the light was burning down on me, and I felt much too warm in my costume. I remember thinking that I would pass out any minute, though whether that be from the blinding heat or my body-wracking nerves, I did not know. I performed my heart out that day. We all did. We acted as one, every scream, every laugh, and every action was done in the most seamless way possible. In those 30 minutes, we were all parts of the machine that was our play. As the play went on, my fear disappeared. I do not recall feeling anything other than joy on that stage. The knots in my stomach slowly unraveled, and in their place came an unbreakable confidence. I walked across that stage as if there was nothing in the world that could possibly tear me down, and my cast mates held a demeanor in themselves similar to my own. There was a magic on our stage that day. I felt a warmth spreading through me, an elation like nothing I had ever felt. As the lights dimmed out and we waltzed off of the stage, the sounds of applause had erupted throughout the hall. Our last show of the season had been our best, and I could not have been more satisfied. Ms. Carraher, our director, and Mama Jack, our assistant director, had always told us that when our show had reached it’s peak, there was a sparkle on the stage. I knew there was a sparkle on our stage that day. And the only thing that could diminish that sparkle, would be not
In addition, I have received a certificate for completing a customer service and leadership training where we explored how factors like words and physical gestures can contribute to becoming an effective leader and service provider. Likewise, other circumstances that helped me pursue leadership opportunities lies within my association with the dramatic arts council where we promoted dramatic art related activities. Specific occasions that enabled me to present my leadership skills include events where we invited students from different elementary schools to show them the high school and dramatic arts environment. My leadership potential is evident through my interactions with the students because I have to organize activities and think of solutions for possible issues that may arise. In doing so, we also wanted students to understand that dramatic arts includes writing creative pieces and technological effects like sound and lighting, not just
“Let’s go back to this scene and work through our dancing. It looked pretty sloppy this time,” the director shouted while all of the cast members rehearsed late on a school night. Even though they all groaned in agony since they’ve worked through this number countless times, all of their hard work will be worth it when the drama department presents this year’s musical, “Footloose.”
Walking into the auditorium for my first audition in high school, my mind raced with fears and anxieties. I auditioned with a group of friends for the production of In the Heights. Immediately, I realized the high school’s drama program differed greatly from the middle school’s. The directors expected the students to prepare their song ahead of the time. My group had little to no preparation; It was the definition of “winging it.” When returning home, I began brainstorming other after school activities I could join because of the poor performance my group and I put on. Shockingly, I made the show and every show since. That moment changed my life for the better. Freshman year I was a shy, insecure student afraid of socializing with the others. Today, in my senior year, I am no longer that person. I am a confident young
It all began on a weekday afternoon. Ms. JB was out running errands, and had left me with the keys to the theatre, an adult with no knowledge of theatre for supervision, and a dozen hyper kids aged 7-14. She also left me with vague instructions regarding what we were supposed to rehearse. Thus equipped, I faced the
On the third of January, I showed up at the theatre along with everyone else, meaning every person who would be involved in Having Our Say. In attendance was the cast (totaling to only two actresses), the stage manager, the assistant stage manager, and every single relevant designer on the team, including those for the set, costumes, lighting, sound, and video. It was startling precisely how many people were were a part of this procedure, and considering that I had meekly introduced myself as “the intern,” I was a little overwhelmed. Following introductions, the designers then presented the work that they had done before the show even started. Their work was, to say the least, breathtaking; the scenic director had created a miniature of the scene plan and the costume designer presented forth sketches for what the dresses would look like. I admit I was overcome by how big an undertaking Having Our Say already was and how many hands it would need; I must’ve looked out of place surrounded by such professional figures around me. The first moment was the most surreal, realizing how much goes on and how much will go on as this process
One of the significant challenges I faced is participating the school production. This was the first production I worked with and entirely introduced to performing arts. Participating at the school production requires full commitment and great responsibility. At first, this was a nerve-racking and frightening experience as I have no confidence performing in public. Eventually, the production has helped me conquer my fears, be more confident and learnt numerous of skills.
The beginning of August I was down at my neighbor’s house babysitting when I heard my phone ring. I received a text from my friend Marissa who sent: “PARTS FOR NUTCRACKER, GO!!!” in the dance group message between my friends and I. With excitement, I went to check my email and see what new parts I had been given. My friends were responding with lists of parts such as the Spanish princess, Arabian princess, ballet doll, harlequin doll and even the puppet doll; the main doll of the show. Nevertheless, these parts are expected for the girls my age. Being seniors, we are expecting the best parts of the show since it’s our last chance to be in it.
In November 2014, our grade 9 class went to go see the grade 11’s perform their dances they created with each other. After the show, on the bus, I remember talking with Isobel about what our grade 11 Arts Court project would be like, thinking grade 11 was so far away. This year, in rehearsals for round 2, all the grade 12’s were talking about how their Dances For Youth By Youth project was probably one of their favorites group compositions they’ve done at Canterbury. Honestly, I was pretty excited to do this group composition. During the creative process and rehearsals leading up to the performances, there were a few rough patches our group (and me individually) went through. For the final performances at the theater, I thought our group came
First off, the most memorable dance concert experience I had was having a little solo in the piece For Those Who Have Made Me Stronger. It was cool enough that my group’s choreography picked to be in this piece, but being picked to have a solo part was surprising. I thought that we would all do the same choreography,so I had nothing to worry about. All of a sudden, the choreography was changed to me having a small solo part. This made me worry a bit because I wasn’t used to being in the front and having people’s attention on me, but it made me work hard to not freeze up on stage. After performing both days, I actually did a good job. I wasn’t nervous or I didn’t have a brain fart like I used to before. I was very proud of myself.
Reflecting upon this passing semester of Acting One and even further back to last fall's semester of Body Movements, I have been through a yearlong journey of theater electives and more interestingly Keith Grant. Looking back on this semester, by taking Acting One, I was given an additional but individually unique experience which has afforded me the opportunity to realize and learn more about the theatre, others, and myself. Although it was an awkward beginning, I believe that the journey has transformed me into a better student, artist, and person. This semester-long journey was in large part facilitated by the numerous lessons given to me through the process of observing my fellow classmates and participating in the same trial and error process.
The group I was in we had took the idea from the acting lessons and we worked around that idea. We done a scene on bullying, when we were devising the storyline, this took up most of rehearsals due to we had took this idea and we were going to have a go at taking domestic violence within a family and in the end it would turn into a death of someone. Within rehearsals up to this point we had got a lot done. I enjoyed working with Whitney, Tia and Abbie because we all have different skills to bring into the group and I didn’t think I would be singing or dancing, but I got a chance to take this on.
Oh my . . . please forgive me for what I am about to say . . . but as I look out on your faces I can 't help but remember myself and my friends when I was in high school (100 years ago) . . . getting ready to take our one-acts to the Thespian Conference . . . auditioning . . . rehearsing . . . making the costumes . . . building and striking the sets.