Evaluation of Down and Out

Evaluation of Down and Out 

We did 4 performances of our dance down and out for the year 12's show. Each performance of our dance proved to be different each time due to people doing different things because of timing issues and some people forgetting the routine. From the feedback we were given it apparently didn't look too bad because myself, Saxona and Cherkanah were on the stage blocks and the three of us stuck to the same choreography to each other and the people who were performing on the floor then were doing something slightly different. In a way it was frustrating as I knew what I was doing as I'm sure others did too but for most nights it kept going wrong in places even though we had rehearsed it a lot. The dance was very much reliant on counts and phrases as ques when to move so this could have been a factor where people may have lost themselves and lost count.  I think also it could have been the case that we had rehearsed in a space so much larger than the actual set it was difficult for some people to adjust and remember last minute changed to the choreography. The routine was based and inspired the video clip of 'Down and Out' from the film version of Bugsy Malone. There was a lot of marching and travelling of the dancers so we decided this should be our opening sequence as it creates an atmosphere straight away and the beats from the music go well with the marching steps we do. Most of the dance is performed in unison with elements of unison, rhythms made by myself, Saxona and Cherkanah where did body percussion creating beats and rhythms and by the end of the routine we used canon as a whole group which I think changed the dynamics of the piece and made it more interesting for the audience to watch.  During the rehearsal process, we tried to do an improvisation sequence where we gathered in a circle and every dancer would enter the middle and have a solo opportunity. At first we thought that this would be a good idea to give people a solo opportunity and the chance to do something on their own and however not everyone liked the idea in rehearsals due to it not giving the right atmosphere and look to the piece, also taking into consideration it would not work in the limited space we had to perform in. We used a lot of repetition so we had quite a few different motifs which we tried to develop throughout to make them all slightly different to each other for example we had a box step movement that we all did at one point at the start of the routine and then we repeated the motif with the box step involved and the people on the floor continued doing the box step and myself Sax and Cherkanah changed and developed it to instead do a stepping forward and back movement with arms reaching backwards instead. 
If or when it comes to next time where we need to do a group choreography we need to work out our spacing and find out any staging or props or set that could be in our performing area. We could then in rehearsals mark out in the studio with tape or chairs or tables to mark out our performance space so we can get used to the amount or how little of space we have instead of leaving it until show week to sort it out which was stressful and time consuming for everyone. I think overall the dance went well as it looked effective the use of levels and dynamics and repetitive movements and the use of canon and unison. to conclude as a first choreographed group dance it eventually worked out okay and even if people did forget what they were doing they carried on to get back on track and were professional in carrying on and not making it obvious that a mistake had been made. 

Our performance