jazz evalutation

I have really enjoyed the Jazz section of BTEC performing arts, I think its been great fun and all of us overall have learnt so much from it! It is a style that I have experience in, but besides this I still managed to learn so much more. The reason of this is because I think Jazz has so much to it, and everyone interprets it differently, so learning it from two different teachers has had a positive outcome. I didn't really know much about the musical Chicago, but looking further into it during the course I now love it!!


At the beginning of this section, we started to explore the different types of 'jazz' that you can do. These are all similar, but so different, as they are all individual styles, with an element of jazz in them. We did this by splitting into different groups, and each choreographed a dance to the style we we're given. My group did lyrical jazz, another group did jazz r'n'b and the last group did rock 'n' roll jazz.  We used lots of lyrical movements, but remembered to include all the vital jazz movements. This meant we had to be slick, using a lot of sharp movements, even still movements with sharp head or hands to compliment this.


Our final outcome turned out really well (video on performing arts blog) . It showed the clear difference between lyrical jazz, just jazz and just lyrical. The movements we used where elegant and flowing, and we started with this as our base but to jazz it up we used technical jazz movements and sharp heads as well as isolation's although these where mainly used in the jazz r'n'b.


Each group then taught their piece of choreography. By doing this it gave us a clearer idea, and better understanding of how jazz can be interpreted in many different ways. It showed a clear difference in the styles, but also how they where so similar. It gave us a better chance to explore the styles, and experience styles we haven't done before. My favorite one other than the style (lyrical jazz) what I am most used to was probably jazz r'n'b as It is a style that's completely out of my comfort zone, however I really enjoyed looking into it and trying to grasp the style and flavor.


My favorite part of the assignment has to be our Chicago dance. This piece was created to be performed in our school's annual Cabaret show. This dance was pure jazz and inspired by Fosse. The choreography we made up was sharp, slick and precise movements. And when performed looked extremely effective. We didn't notice how effective the performance was in rehearsals until we watched back the video (on performing arts blog) This showed us that every movement had to be in time and perfect otherwise the whole concept would have been lost. If something was out of place the eye would have been drawn straight to it. 


In our final performance we made sure everything was in time, and we went through it to make sure it was all spot on. We recorded ourselves in rehearsals then went over each part to make sure it was perfect, and to improve the parts that needed improving. To make sure we all agreed we had a group discussion and went through all the things we liked and didn't like for the performance in the evening.


Overall the performance was amazing, and we were given so much positive feedback. Mr Lewis our head teacher said the style of Fosse was obvious,and he loved how well we grasped it. The performance started with a few technical faults, for example the music got a bit mixed up and we were left on stage in our opening positions, however we stayed in character whilst waiting for the right music. I also almost fell of my chair towards the end of the performance, but I managed to stay on and made sure I stayed in character throughout. Apart from this mistake I felt I gave a good performance and everyone should be so proud of what we achieved. I think it was a clear and positive performance to show off everything we have learnt about jazz. 


I think our simple movements where the best and most effective. And I am really looking forward to performing this again at our end of year show.