Singing

In my singing lessons we have learnt so far three songs and sung them in our harmony groups were i am in sopranos which is a quit high but challenging harmony for my voice but with the help and practice i will gain my strength to sing professionally in soprano. 

1.)  Jesus Christ Superstar - Hosanna 

2.) Jesus Christ Superstar - Simon Zealots

  

3.) Me and My Girl - Lambeth walk

The History of Jazz Dance

1.) What are the roots of Jazz Dance? Where does it come from, how did it starts?

The term "Jazz" was first applied to a style of music and dance during World War I. Jazz in a dance form, however, originates from the original dances of Africans when they were brought to America on slave ships. This dance form developed alongside jazz music in New Orleans in the early 1900s. Beginning in the 1930s and continuing through the 1960s, Jazz dance transformed from this vernacular form into a theatre-based performance form of dance that required a highly trained dancer. Before in the 1950s Jazz dance was referred to dance styles that were originated by the African American vernacular dance. In the 1950s, a new genre of jazz dance which was  modern jazz dance was emerged, with roots in Caribbean traditional dance. Every individual style of jazz dance has roots traceable to one of these two different origins. Jazz was a big hit in the early 50's and it is still a popular style of dance all over the world.

 Before in the 1950s Jazz dance was referred to dance styles that were originated by the African American vernacular dance. In the 1950s, a new genre of jazz dance which was  modern jazz dance was emerged, with roots in Caribbean traditional dance. Every individual style of jazz dance has roots traceable to one of these two different origins. Jazz was a big hit in the early 50's and it is still a popular style of dance all over the world.

2.)What are different types of jazz dance?

• Hip Hop/Street Dance 
• African Dance 
• Disco
• Commercial Jazz 
• Charleston
• Jazz Dance steps 
• Contemporary  
• Cake walk
• Fosse 
• Lyrical dance 
• Jazz Tap 
• Jazz-Funk Dance

3.) Identify a popular Jazz Dance style and explain its background, music, movement, style etc.

Hip-hop dance refers to street dance styles primarily performed to hip-hop music or that have evolved as part of hip-hop culture. It includes a wide range of styles primarily breaking, locking, and popping which were created in the 1970s and made popular by dance crews in the United States. Compared to many other dance forms, hip hop has a relatively short history. The beginnings of this dance form date back to the 1960s and 70s, but of course the movements and the music have roots dating back much further in time. 

Here is an example a video of the style hip hop in jazz:

Acting

The séance by Anthony Neilson

In our drama class we are working on scripted plays. we were split in to two groups one was a scripted play called Stags and Hens and another play which I'm in called The séance by Anthony Neilson.

There are many characters in The séance there is Sophie, Ryan, Natasha who I play, Mark, Andy, Jarjar and Phoebe.

During are lesson when we do our scripted plays we go over are lines and act out as are character getting to know who are character really is and having a feel of what position our characters are really in.

My Contemporary Solo Dance

This is a video of the contemporary dance piece overdrive by Richard Alston. 

In contemporary dance we were working on a piece by overdrive, we then had to use what we learnt in over drive in our own solos by making it more are own for example travelling making it big and powerful and our own but we only used the moves we were more confident about in the overdrive piece.

Here in my contemporary dance solo I have interpreted moves from over drive that I am more confident and capable to do without feeling uncomfortable or struggling.



What I found proud of in my solo dance was my extension in my legs when kicking and my arms and remembering my piece and using the space that is needed as we needed to travel a lot during are piece.







What I need improve on is travelling a bit more into the space and look more to the audience as I do sometimes look down also I need to use my arms more and not keep them hanging.





Dominique's (contemporary dance teacher) feedback for my solo







Positive: Lovely extension







Need to improve on: My little moves (curves) need to be more neater and clearer.

Evaluation worksheet

1. How professionally was the task carried out?
My group and I were quit professionally organised as we knew what style of dance we were doing and when which is Commercial Hip Hop Jazz in the 80's, we were as a group quit committed to get are dance piece with everyone's ideas involved and working as a team done, and are focus was getting are movements more sharper and bigger.

2. Did the movements link well with the music?
Yes are movements did link well with are music because are music was up going and powerful and are movements went well with the song and the timing was good apart from the beginning as it was hard to know when to come in.

3. Did the piece demonstrate an understanding of the style?
Yes the piece did show an understanding of the style as it was hip hop/street jazz dance also many of us had out facial expression showing more of a understanding of the piece and the way are movements are performed.

4. What could you of done to improve?
what i could do is make my movements more sharper for the audience, keep my head up when doing the movements and keep putting the effort in when performing this dance piece.

Contemporary dance piece

Today in Contemporary dance class we had learnt a new routine and then had to be put in to partners were we had to use the moves that we had learnt and put them into our duet pieces that we had to choreograph ourselves. We had to use dynamics and extension to make the movements stand out and look more powerful and by doing that we had to put the effort into our moves.

Here is a small part of our dance piece by Me and my partner Daria

 

Commercial jazz dance research

What is commercial jazz dance and when was it invented?

Commercial jazz dance was invented with the debut of the MTV video television channel in 1981. Commercial jazz is a form of dance that is highly known as a choreographed dance form it features a mixture of sharp and fluid movements popping and locking and animated expressions. Commercial jazz has a stylized combination of street funk, hip hop and pop and produces a sexy energetic style. It is a great fuse and technique and personal style.

Here is a quick video that I chose of Commercial Jazz Dance

  

Singing

What I have learnt in my singing class with Sean was a song called  “Oh Freedom” by Odetta.

Oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom over me

And before I'd be a slave I'll be buried in my grave

And go home to my Lord and be free

No more moaning, no more moaning, no more moaning over me

And before I'd be a slave I'll be buried in my grave

And go home to my Lord and be free

No more weeping, no more weeping, no more weeping over me

And before I'd be a slave I'll be buried in my grave

And go home to my Lord and be free

Oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom over me

And before I'd be a slave I'll be buried in my grave

And go home to my Lord and be free

There'll be singin', there'll be singin', there'll be singin' over me

And before I'd be a slave I'll be buried in my grave

And go home to my Lord and be free

There'll be glory, there'll be glory, there'll glory over me

And before I'd be a slave I'll be buried in my grave

And go home to my Lord and be free

Oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom over me

And before I'd be a slave I'll be buried in my grave

And go home to my Lord and be free

We were split up into groups of  harmonies and I was in the soprano group.

Here is a of the videos of the song "Oh freedom"

 This song is a Civil war African-American freedom song by Odetta.