'Aspirations and Dreams' final performance

 

As part of our btec course we had to produce a final end of year performance which would be infront of an audience. This was different to all the other assignments, we had to put the whole show together including the theme, title, venue, programmes, tickets, colour scheme, guest acts and costumes. We had to do everything by ourselves and make sure it was all ready for our end of year performance on the 27th of April.

- Everyone ready to go on stage to perform Annie

It was very hard at first to find a theme, and we wanted to focus on theme from a musical, so we decided Annie. So we started learning and choreographing 'It's a hard knock life' and 'Maybe' from Annie, the choreography we did was very simple and suited for young girls in an orphanage. For maybe, we just simply sat on the front of the stage and sang whilst acting, and at the very end of the song we got up to go into our opening positions for 'Its a hard knock life' where we all sat scattered around the stage sitting on the floor acting as if we were cleaning. We went straight into this number, as we thought this would be quite effective. We had more choreography for this that went along with the words to make it look effective, and cheeky. The choreography we did was sort of army like in the sense of how we all did it together, this made it look more like an orphanage I think.
                                                       Alice getting her hair done -


However we started to go off the idea of focusing on one specific story line, and we thought it would be better to use a bit of everything, and past choreography we had done. We ended up with the idea of 'Aspirations and Dreams' because most of us dream to become something involved in the performing arts industry so we based our choreography on things that we aspire to. Thinking back over the years we remembered things that we had performed before that we could include in our final performance. We decided we would definitely use 'All that Jazz' which we performed in cabaret, we all really enjoyed this dance, and it looked really effective to. We also wanted to include singing, acting and dancing, and in order for the show to flow, and include a variety of different talents we also wanted guest performers.

Most of the other btec girls decided to sing a solo each, and I chose to do a solo contemporary dance. We also made costumes for We Will Rock You, and we had to include these in our performance, so we took two of our favourite songs from that musical which where 'Somebody to love' Chloe had already sung this song before so we decided to all be her backing dancers and singers to the song. We based our choreography based around the singing which looked really professional and effective. We also performed 'Don't Stop me Now' we danced as well as sung to this, the choreography included a lot of high energy moves and it was really hard to sing whilst dancing it but we all managed, no matter how tired we where at the end.

So we had a variety of different talents, we asked a few people to come in from year 10 GCSE drama to perform duologues, and Isabelle came in to perform her monologue for her A-level drama piece. These were amazing!! and it was great that they agreed to participate in our show. Louise also agreed to perform a monlogue from Charlie and The chocolate Factory. We also asked music students, A-level dance students, and other dance acts to perform.

Once we had chosen all of the acts we wanted to perform in our show, all we had to do was make our pieces top standard, and create a running order. In our practical lessons rehearsed out group pieces, and complete any choreography they needed to be completed as well as cleaning it all. Then once this was done, and in our own time we had to practice our individual or duo acts. We had a few meetings to discuss rehearsals, and agree on the final running order, so it would all flow nicely. Once we had a final running order, we had to work out what mikes (if needed) people would be using, when the curtains needed to be open or closed and if they where going to perform in front or behind the curtains.

We then had to think of how we wanted the front blocks set up, and how we wanted the hall. We decided to follow a purple and silver color theme, as we thought this was quite dream like. We made the programs and tickets follow this theme too. The tables where decorated with purple table cloths, purple and white flowers, purple and silver balloons, tea lights and silver confetti. This made it have a more professional look. We wanted to be different and not have rows of seating, so we made tables spread round the hall with 8 chairs around each table, we also provided the audience with food and wine/drinks.

A week before the performance came, and we decided we needed to have a group rehearsal with all of the acts. This took place Tuesday after school, On Tuesday lunch we had a rehearsal with Jack (who plays the guitar) and the btec girls, to rehears our end song which we sang 'Use Somebody'.

The rehearsal after school was completely student lead, this was very stressful as I don't think we realized how much hard work and concentration this requires to get a positive outcome. However once we got into it everything ran smoothly, and each of us btec girls where assigned different jobs. Each act got to practice their performance on stage to check for spacing, this really helped us as well as we could tell jack, and chris what microphones where needed and when etc.

For the rest of our btec lessons we focused on the final preparations for the show, making sure it was ready for Friday, and that everyone knew what time to be there etc. We also made sure costumes where sorted, and Alice went into hemel to get any final bits that we needed so we would all be matching.

I had a last minuet stress as my job was to make the programs, but it was so hard finding a nice picture all of us btec girls where in, but I got there eventually.

It came to the 27th and we where all SO nervous. We brought bags, even suitcases to school filled with costumes, hair and make up bits etc! We all stayed behind after school to set up the hall, and make sure everything was ready for the evening, this didn't take long at all. We set out 12 tables and decorated them how planned. This looked very professional! Once this was finished we went upstairs to lay out all of our costumes and hair bits, in the right order or each performance. We set up the front blocks and got the microphones, and head mikes all ready for the evening. And to make sure everything was perfect we ran through the sound track to make sure it was in the right order, and that every song was working correctly.

The other acts started to arrive at 6 o'clock, and we sent them to there changing rooms so they could get ready. Once everyone was settled we started to get ourselves ready for our first act which was Annie, and made sure we had normal stage makeup on, and hair that would make us look like little children. Once we where all ready we had a vocal warm up at 6.45 with our music teacher.

The show then began..

Us on stage performing 'It's a hard Knock life' -
And the picture below is us performing 'maybe'. Overall both of these went very well! We were all pleased with how we sounded, and acted very well in these performances, regardless of how nervous we were the nerves soon went once we were on stage.

We also had 'Katies street crew' perform as a guest act. This was very funky, and fun to watch. I'd love to be able to do some of the moves that they do!




Gabriel and George performed a scene from 'Blood brothers' this was amazing too! After this there were various performances from individuals from the btec group. And other guest acts for example drama, music and singing solo pieces. Alfie Whitbread preformed a music piece on his saxophone, this gave the show great variety of acts.




This act closed with our 'We Will Rock You' performances. Above you see the costumes we wore, we made these in our costume construction lessons.



To open the second half we performed our 'All that Jazz' dance which we also performed in cabaret. This was great! However the music skipped, this didn't stop us, we carried on going to keep the professional feel and made sure that we stayed in character.

I performed my dance solo, I feel this went very well. I put it so much effort and made sure I used my facial expressions as well as dancing it with passion. The show continued with further solo performances from the performing arts group as well as guest acts. I performed a tap duet with Kelly Rolfe  to 'Aint no other man'. We both attend the same tap class, and have just taken out intermediate tap exam therefore we are at the same level.

The show continued with other guests. And to end the show we all got dressed up for out final song 'Use somebody' which was accompanied by Jack Dent who played the guitar.


We where presented with some beautiful flowers at the end of the show! Everyone said that they really enjoyed it.

Overall I really enjoyed the performance, and the whole experience of the evening and putting a show together. And looking back to our first ever performance we have all improved so much! The feedback from the audience was all mainly positive! Even though it was very stressful and hard work I have really enjoyed my last two years of btec performing arts. I feel we have all become a massive family now, and I would like to say well done to everyone that was involved and thank you to them all as well as Miss Hearne and Miss Dolan for all their hard work! We would have definitely not have been able to get this far without them!