Chair dance

Here is a detailed breakdown of the chair dance for scene 2: 

Scene chart

22nd April rehearsal

All day rehearsal 9th April

To day set three clear objectives at the beginning of the day and these were:

1) to workshop the bedroom scene with the bed.

2) to explore the route and space for the piece.

3) to continue to workshop the bingo scene, adding in harmonies to song and rehearse in the space.

We then went on to look at the bedroom dance. Although we have lots of ideas for this dance we hit a

dead end today while trying to choreograph it. I think we found this challenging because we all of us had slightly different views on how and what we wanted to do in the scene. 

We also assigned everyone a scene to take ownership of for divising purposes in order to allow everyone to have a scene to lead in creating it; although this does not mean they create the whole scene, everyone has their impute just that persons word is final. Here is a list of who is leading which scene:

Scene 1: train- Jessie 

Scene 2: chair dance - all

Scene 3: blue coat - Becca

Scene 4: canteen - Amy 

Scene 5: bedroom - George

Scene 6: bingo - Megan

Scene 7: packing - Beth

Scene 8: sucicide - Jessie

Transitions: Nicole 

After deciding this we realised that the order of the scenes did not work as introducing the multipersonalites of Hero in the first bedroom scene was too early in the piece. We moved the dance to the packing scene after bingo because, in the bingo scene Hero is first brought back to Claudio, so she only appears to Claudio in his room after this.

We also looked at the bingo scene, adding the dance and harmonies. Megan had already worked them out, so it was only learning them. Although I am not in the scene as I am Hero, I leant the harmonies so I can help in rehearsals and support the less confident members of the group. Also I filled in for Becca, singing her part as she was not there. As well as working on the harmonies, I had an opportunity to explore the grid and the logistics of become hero without the audience knowing. 

Rehearsal 3rd April

Dictionary definitions for 5 states of grief

Songs, paintings, poems about 5 states

Where characters appear in play

When are the spoken about

Education packs

Act 1: Amy Beth

Act 2: Becca

Act 3: Jess and Meg

Act 4: Nicole

Act 5: George

Denial: Jessie

Anger: George

Bargaining: Beth

Depression: Becca

Acceptance: Megan

General 5 states: Amy and Nicole

Friend's on the Other Side

Here are the links to YouTube for the cut versions of Friend's on the Other Side. I have also linked the whole playlist of all the videos from all lessons so far I have.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acIcEnOPM1Y&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCIZKvpNM_o&list=PLBXuN4O61x-3NEufeLPuuxDDzxnu5z7v4&index=6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF5KyEOxBps&list=PLBXuN4O61x-3NEufeLPuuxDDzxnu5z7v4
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBXuN4O61x-3NEufeLPuuxDDzxnu5z7v4


Here are the Lyrics split up between all singers:

Megan, Becca, Both, Amy, Beth, Girls, All, Jess, George

Don't you disrespect me little man!
Don't you derogate or deride!
You're in our world now
Not your world
And we’ve got friends on the other side!
They’ve got friends on the other side...
That's an echo, sir. Just a little something we have here in the bingo hall, a little parlour trick.
Don't worry...
Sit down at my table
Put your minds at ease
If you relax it will enable me to do anything I please
I can read your future
I can change it 'round some, too
I'll look deep into your heart and soul
(you do have a soul, don't you, Claudio?)
Make your wildest dreams come true!
I got voodoo
I got hoodoo
I got things I ain't even tried!
And we’ve got friends on the other side.
They’ve  got friends on the other side!
The cards, the cards, the cards will tell
your past, your present, and your future as well!
The cards, the cards, just dot these
and we can take you to Hero just see!

Do you wanna see hero Claudio?

Yes...
Are you ready?
Are you ready?
Are you ready?
Resurrection central!
Resurrection central!
Reformation central!
Reformation central!
Transmogrification central!
Can you feel it?
She’s here,
She’s here
She’s here, all right!
I hope you're satisfied
But if you ain't
Don't blame us!!
You can blame my friends on the other side!
You got what you wanted!
But you lost what you had!


I suggest you copy this into a word document so it is easier to read. Also I will print out copies for all for next rehearsal.

4th April Rehearsal

Today we thought about music options for the various dance scenes in the piece. Here are our ideas so far:

1. Bingo
   1. Very Superstitious -  Stevie Wonder
   2. Friend’s on the Other Side – Disney’s Princess and the Frog
2. Bedroom
   1. I like the Way You Move – Body Rockers
   2. 
      
      Try – Pink
3. Train
   1. That’s Life – Frank Sinatra

After discussing this we moved on to start choreographing the bingo dance. We set up the stage space to look like a bingo hall with people on ‘different tables’. Although we are not going to have actual tables we will suggest this by having everyone facing the same way but Claudio. We chose to do this because it means that as an audience we will not see Claudio’s facial reactions to the madness that is happening around him. This will mean that George will have to physically show his responses, letting the audience see the action from Claudio’s viewpoint. Here is a diagram of how the stage will be set up.

In this scene Megan and Becca will play Ursula and Maggie, they are the comedy characters in the scene. However, as the dance goes on, their characters turn darker and darker until they promise Claudio they can bring Hero back. Amy and Beth will be two hotel guests attending the bingo taking it very seriously (getting annoyed at Maggie and Ursula for messing around). Jessie will be the Bingo Caller, and George will obviously be Claudio. I will be Hero for this scene and appear on the grid to haunt Claudio.  

As we are performing this scene in the Hub, we have the ability to explore slightly more complex lighting. For this scene we are going to use a disco ball and a spotlight; as well the normal fluorescent working lights and house lights to change the mood as the scene becomes darker.

Here is the dance break down so far:

Very Superstitious -

1. 8 counts introductions
2. 8 counts to lower cards spelling out Hero.
3. Amy starts bingo motif (using the sequence 25713, dot the numbers. Megan, Becca and Beth nod along to beat.
4. After 8 counts Megan and Becca start the bingo motif, Beth continues to nod.
5. After another 8 counts Beth starts bingo motif, leading to all four girls performing the same motif in cannon.
6. When the singing comes in all girls lean back on chairs with legs in air. Amy and Megan facing each other, and Becca and Beth facing each other. Megan and Becca lean back to back, fall over.
7. On the words ‘writing on the wall’ all girls lower leg. Stand up on next ‘Very superstitious’ and stand behind chairs.
8. In cannon, left arm goes up and flicks to next person. Megan hits Becca in face.
9. All girls run hands through hair on next sung line in unison.
10. Run round George, messing up hair, changing seats. Once they get there, a free 8 counts to improvise/ hold a position.
11. Beth and Amy go over to George, stand him up and pull his chair towards front of stage.
12. Megan and Becca talk to George, and then pull him to sit on the chair in new position.
13.  Lines are spoken about Hero and Ursula and Maggie’s Voodoo.

Goes into friends on the Other Side (see next post for this)