Rachel- 20th November 2012

 Today's lesson was a typical rehearsal lesson! We ran the piece and then worked on individual scenes. After we wrote notes on how we need to improve the piece, we focused on making/improving our set!

 Here is what we need to do to improve our performance:

 - Gerda and Kai's close relationship needs to be emphasised and made clearer in the opening scene. We should put a sequence at the start of Kai and Gerda playing tag- it needs to show how much they love each other because at the moment their relationship isn't shown to be very strong, even though it is.

 - Grandma also needs to bring in a back story about how she wants Kai to live with them but it hasn't been possible yet. Last lesson, we decided to bring in a back story about Kai being an orphan and to heighten the audience's views on Kai's relationship with Gerda (and Grandma) this would be good idea.

 - We also need to ensure we don't use the words 'stab' or 'death' as this performance is going to be shown to a VERY young audience and we don't want them getting upset!

 - We also need to incorporate the 6 senses into each scene as we are not only being assessed on our acting but also in our storytelling. We need to use the 6 senses- touch, smell, hearing, taste, sight, emotion into our piece to help the audience imagine the different scenes.

 - In the flower garden scene, the witch needs to make her plans clearer. She should say what her plans are at the beginning of the scene as it isn't clear what she intends to do with Gerda.

 - We are also going to add in a part where Kai is reminded of Gerda and the Snow Queen flips! She then goes to flower garden as she hears that Gerda is there- when she's not there she goes crazy again! This will show just how much Snow Queen wants Kai for herself and will do anything to get rid of Gerda.

 - In the Palace scene, I think they could incorporate some physical theatre as not much is happening. They could come up with a movement sequence for when Gerda rips the Princess's dress and also when Gerda stitches it back up. This will add different dynamics to the scene and make it more interesting.

 - I also think that Gerda should give each person she visits a piece of advice. For example, she should tell the Flower Children to never forget about their families and the Princess that she shouldn't be forced into marrying someone she doesn't want to marry. This will be effective as it makes Gerda seem even more 'nice' and 'friendly'. This will also teach the children that they should never be made to do something they don't want to do.

 - The Snow Queen and Kai also need an acitivty to be getting on with when they're at the palace. For example, Kai could be cleaning up the palace for the Snow Queen and comes across the broken mirror. The Snow Queen sees him trying to fix the broken mirror and instantly tells him not to and offers him some 'Iced' Buns/ another treat. This will be good as it makes their relationship clearer- Kai is completely and utterly devoted to the Snow Queen.

 - We also need to think of a valid reason for the Reindeer running away from the Snow Queens Palace  because at the moment, it just seems a bit ridiculous with him going all the way to the castle just to run away because of fear. Maybe he needed to charge his antlers? Or the Snow Queen had turned him into a reindeer- he was once a man?

 - We also need to bring in  a back story for the Queen and King. At the moment, the audience wouldn't be able to tell that they are married. They should talk about how they want the best for their daughter so marrying this rich prince is the best thing for her because they love her so much! The conversation will show the audience what sort of people they are and this will be good as it will allow them to understand the characters and their motives.

 - The Finn Mann also needs a purpose. The scene works well with the gossipers but the Finn Mann doesn't give any advice to Gerda at all which makes the scene rather pointless. As a class, we need to come up with a piece of advice he gives Gerda that will help her when it comes to saving Kai.

FINAL SCENE DEVELOPMENT SUGGESTIONS:
- We need to build up the tension by prolonging the scene. Gerda needs to take longer to get to the Snow Queen's chamber. She should talk to the frozen people and feel sorry for them- this also, once again, emphasises her caring nature.
- The statues need to be more spaced out as the scene itself looks very cramped in the corner and the audience might not be able to see Kai/Snow Queen.
- We also need to use specific references to Gerda getting in the castle as this will help the audience imagine what the castle looks like and at the moment it's not specific at all.

We spent the rest of our lesson making props/set for the Snow Queen:

I was working in a group with Emily and Lizzie making the Snow Queen's sleigh. Here we are sticking cardboard together with duck tape to make the 'shell' of the sleigh:

Lindzie and polly were painting leaves they had collected with silver and glitter. This made them look shiny and icy- as if they'd come from the Snow Queen's land. Here they are painting them:

Max and Jess were making leaves and crowns for the Flower Garden/Flower Witch. They used shiny green/silver material to make the leaves and were also using this material to make a crown for the Flower Witch. Here they are:

I also helped spray paint the trees silver and white. We had to do this outside as the spray is dangerous if used inside! This was quite hard to do as it was windy but in the end we got the tree done and it looked brilliant!

Kim- Production 21st November

In today's lesson with Kim we made mood boards! These boards are going to be used in our 'exhibition' for the Snow Queen. We had different types of material which all had variable colours and textures. My job is set so I created a mood board which shows the set through colours and textures with remind me of the 'Snow Queen.

 Here we are working:

This is my mood board. As you can see, my board is covered in white dots to show that it is snowing and all the writing is white, the colour of snow too. I focused on 3 scenes- flower garden, the woods and the castle. I cut out flowers from tissue paper. I used colours blue and purple as they are cold colours. I used tinsil to create the trees and also used a snow flake. To create the castle i used shiny silver paper for the building and blue tissue paper for the door. I also put in a 'path' of tinsel pieces to show how Gerda travels around the land of the 'Snow Queen'. I wrote down the words which first came to me when I thought of the Snow Queen and icy, winter, cold, freezing, cold as ice, frozen, castle and snowy all came to my head.

Development Suggestions for the Snow Queen

 In Today's lesson (13th November), we evaluated our 1st proper run through and discussed points for development of our piece. We spent the remainder of the lesson rehearsing and putting the development suggestions into practice.

The Snow Queen (Worthing 2012 Version)
Scene	Title	Development Suggestions
1	Grandma’s Introduction	We need to build the 'six senses' in this scene as it introduces the audience to both the play and life for the characters Gerda and Kai before the Snow Queen. **The audience have to care about them getting this life and their friendship back or there is little point to the story** Better description of the environment. An activity for Kai and Gerda before the story that can show how close they are. Introductory music
2	Snow Queen Kidnaps Kai	We need to establish a distinct change in atmosphere via lighting and sound for the Snow Queens entrance. The dialogue needs additional detail particularly the benefits of living in the snow palace. **There has to be a plausible benefit for Kai to go with the SQ as he is fascinated by her before she puts ice in his heart** Snow Queen Music or snow sound effects Additional tempting description of Snow Queen Lifestyle in dialogue Design/Make sleigh  (Jackie in Art is willing to help)
3	Magic Flower Garden	A playful introduction would improve this scene. Perhaps Gerda could wonder at least for a little while if she should just make new friends whilst being enchanted by the flowers. **The scene will work best if we feel a bit sorry for the flower witch and the flower girls and if it contrasts more with the other scenes** Demonstrate the girls having fun together before we see the witch Gerda to use '6 senses' to ensure we understand more about the magical garden Find way of making flowers stand!
4	Snow Queen collects Flower Children	We need this scene to have more clarity. The best way to do this would be to strongly establish an ongoing relationship between the SQ and the Flower Witch. **This scene is the second time we see the SQ and once again she is abducting children. We have to make her heartless but not too scary!** Reveal Snow Queens bigger plans and the control she has over her magical kingdom Make some reference to life before the Snow Queen's reign Ensure the sleigh can work with two passengers
5	Palace and the Princess’s Party	Use the 6 senses to show the change in environment. Characters speak well spoken.
6	Snow Queen Plots & Plans	Blue lighting to show the evil of the snow queen.  She should have a 'crystal ball' to look in.
7	Robbers in the Woods	Use the 6 senses to describe the woods. Acting is good, characterisation is brilliant and there is a clear beginning, middle and end.
8	Journey to Lapland	Use the 6 senses to show what Gerda can see and also how she feels. Gerda and the crow should talk about something important- perhaps they find an item that helps Gerda when she gets to the palace? Add music.
9	Minion Reports	Conversation needs to be longer. Snow Queen needs to get really angry. Minion needs to be extremely scared- trembling/shaking.
10	Finn Man’s Wisdom & the Gossips	Needs to be made longer by more conversation- gossiper's dance could be made longer and the Finn Mann's was very short. The Finn Man's advice also needs to be presented clearer.
11	Ice Palace Rescue & Release	Kai's 'awakening' should be made more important and the focus should be put on him remembering Gerda.  The 'fight' sequence in which the Snow Queen turns the crow to ice should be longer to build up tension.
12	Back to Grandma	Happy music to emphasise the good atmosphere. Gerda and Kai should have a conversation to highlight their relief and happiness. Lighting should be really bright here to  show that something good has happened and to symbolise the 'light at the end of the tunnel'.

  
We then put these development ideas into our piece.

WHAT WORKED:
- We decided that Kai and Gerda's relationship could be showed by them 'chasing' each other at the beginning of the play at Grandma's house.

Lena- Singing 8th November 2012

 Todays lesson was focused on practice routines and choosing songs to perform at our Milestone (10th December). We began by 'warming up' using our preferred techniques for posture and breathing. I chose to use head rotations as I find this the easiest. We practiced our musical memory by humming back a note that Lena played to us. We practiced our intonation and breath control (diaphragmatic breathing) and then went off in pairs to teach each other our practice routine.

Rachel- 6th November 2012

 In todays lesson, we started by going through our blogs and making sure that we had not only stated what we had done in past lessons, but also WHY we did it, HOW we did it and HOW it has helped us.

 The rest of the lesson was focused on sorting out The Snow Queen performance. First of all, we did a speed run of the whole performance. Obviously, we hadn't properly rehearsed any scenes so this the reason we were doing this was to make sure that we knew the order of the scenes and that we knew what happened in each of the scenes.

 We then began work on scenes individually to add more depth to our performance and to make sure it flowed better. First of all, me, lizzy, polly and beth worked on the first scene- Grandma's house. We decided to start the scene with Gerda and Kai running on stage with a book that they want Grandma to read to them (the snow queen!). We decided to add this to the scene because it makes Gerda and kai's young ages clear. We made sure that our body language and facial expressions were similar to those of a child- crossed legs, looking up at grandma and leaning forward. We also decided to make Gerda and Kai excitable to add to their young character. We also decided that in the last scene, the snow queen's palace is filled with frozen people who she has killed. She freezes the crow who is trying to save Gerda but Gerda's tears eventually save Kai and the reindeer comes back to save the frozen people and slay the Snow Queen!

 In the Snow Palace scene, we decided that Kai should be the COMPLETE opposite to in the first scene as he is now under the power of the evil Snow Queen. We decided that Kai should be emotionless and look as if he's in a trance. He now speaks without emotion in a monotone. He sits still instead of fidgeting and only talks when the Snow queen talks to him. We decided this would be best as it emphasises the Snow Queen's power and Kai's vulnerability. We also decided that in the last scene, the snow queen's palace is filled with frozen people who she has killed. She freezes the crow who is trying to save Gerda but Gerda's tears eventually save Kai and the reindeer comes back to save the frozen people and slay the Snow Queen! It's important that the story ends with the bad guy (or girl in this case) being killed!

 At the end of the lesson we looked at costume. In tech lessons, the Snow Queen had already been made a staff and a crown so we decided that all she needed now was a nice dress/skirt and a white cape! The cape will make her look elegant and glamorous. It is important as the Snow Queen looks respected and classy as this will add to her smart demeanour. We decided that Kai should wear shorts and a checkered shirt to emphasise his age and make him look younger and cute! The Flower Witch and her children each wear flowery dresses for obvious reasons.

 On Wednesday, we showed the year 13s and Rachel's family our performance of the snow queen. We were missing Polly and Jess which meant we had to improvise in certain parts and Rachel had to sit in as the Grandmother. Running the piece through to an audience was important and effective as it made us realise that if people are missing on the day of the performance, we're going to have to change things round- and we proved to ourselves that we can do this! It also gave us an idea of how much we need to tighten up certain scenes. For example, some scenes, like the final scene, could be made longer as it ends pretty quickly! We could do this by increasing the length of the initial conversation between the snow queen and kai at the beginning of the last scene.

Sam- Dance Class 7th November 2012

Today we started learning the 'All that Jazz' dance from Chicago. 'All that jazz' is a typical fosse dance. We looked at the Chicago Cast's performance on Strictly Come Dancing and used this to learn the dance. So far, we have learnt the first half of the dance and in our next lesson we will learn the rest. We will be performing the dance in the Dance Show on the 27th November so we're still in the rehearsal process!

Sam- Dance Class 17th October 2012

This was me, Emily and Polly in the rehearsal process of choreographing our dance! We used flip kicks, and rotations.

Sam- Dance 24th October 2012

This was our final piece of our choreographed dance. I feel like it could've gone better as I hesitate on several occasions.