future development plan

honey Wilson  

                                         

        performing arts unit 14- future development plan 

task one: progression

The first skill that I feel I have improved on is my balance,  I realised these when at the beginning of the performance arts course during our first dance unit, unit 13 I personally struggled with a lot  of the more technical movements and turns as I was a-bit wobbly to begin with. For a while I was really struggling to believe in myself as I felt that everyone was so much better than me and I was always the one struggling , I was worried that I would not be able to succeed in doing simple and get the grades that I wanted.  Over my year and a half at Suffolk One, I have been determined to work in my balance by doing exercises within college and my own time that specifically help with balance, in lesson I worked on my core strength (the Martha Graham technique help me with this a lot) and focus to really help myself improve on my balance. By doing theses exercises both inside and outside of College, I have now improved my balance. they have helped me gain strength within my core and engaged my whole body to develop my balance and improved my dance technique. 

Another  skill that I have feel I have definitely made progress in is the use of my co-ordination, at the beginning of the course it was very clear that I had very little experience in dance. The only dance I ever really done was dance within my theatre training course and ballet lessons, I was always behind and it was very hard for me to quickly pick up movement and I found it really embarrassing when everyone found it so easy ,so I wanted to improve my co ordination and practise more to keep up to standard, Therefore, when I first found out our first assessed piece would be in a jazz style, I was quite understandably anxious. Jazz involves very intricate and detailed movement, and it requires you to have good co-ordination. I done some research on non fosse as he participated and put in a lot to jazz dance techniques. As our rehearsals began and we started learning the piece, I realised that it was definitely going to be a challenge for me, as there were a lot of points in the sequence where co-ordination was vital which is what gave me more of a boost to improve for lessons. I then started to research ways in which I could develop co-ordination. I found exercises focusing on arm and leg co-ordination, which I practiced daily at home in my own time. Over time I started to make these exercises more challenging by increasing the speed of which I was doing it. This helped me so much, and when in my lessons I noticed a huge difference as I was starting to pick up movement quicker and wasn’t struggling as much.

Another skill that I have definitely made progress in my flexibility. At the beginning of college I really struggles with my flexibility, when you get I was really flexible and used to do gymnastics a lot but Because of dancing outside of college and school I struggles to balance everything so slowly lost my flexibility, I had a good amount of flexibility however this course has defiantly pushed me to further develop this physical skill within an array of dances. Participating in the course and being able to learn a variety of different dance style encouraged me to improve my flexibility. I’m order to do this I watched YouTube videos on the correct way to stretch and every day I done exercises to help me get my splits back overtime. These really helped and made me so much more confident on the course and I’m dance outside of colleege.

Musicality is also another skills that I feel I have really developed and improved on i especially saw this when watching back videos of our performance of the musical six, when starting on  the course I knew how to dance but I never really connected with the music and got into character as such, I feel as a dancer it’s really important to remember that Musicality in dance is how a dancer hears the music they are dancing to, and how they interpret it into the moves they make and that Musicality in dance can be interpreted in different ways that are specific to the dancer. When  I started contemporary and lyrical classes that’s when I really found my voice in dance and was able to get fully into the character and show the story behind the dance to my full potential. Taking these lessons really improves the way I presented  myself on the course and I’m dance lessons as I understood more therefore I was so much more engaged.

Another skill I have made progress is definitely my performance skills and facial expressions. When I first started the performing arts course, my performance skills were very weak which made my performance less effective and I noticed this weakness in early videos of performances we had done such as our performance of “spotlight” and Seize the Day’ from Newsies, it was then I knew this was a skill I needed to develop to make me a more well-rounded performer. During our process of SIX the musical I can say that these skills definitely grew. I made sure to focus more on my expressions and show the character I was playing more. After doing so my performance  skills really improved . within the show we all needed a lot of over the top and fun expressive qualities in order to fully communicate the nature of the musical as a whole. I can say with confidence that my expressive skills have grown a lot when dancing as this had aided me in becoming a stronger performer, I know this skill has improved as I have gotten positive feedback from peers and teachers surrounding this skill and my overall performance quality when dancing.

task two: areas for development 

My first area for development that I would like to improve on for the future is my Stamina as it is definitely something that I will need for future performances in my career, specifically during the dance elements. I feel that I often find it difficult to dance and complete the choreography with the same high level of stamina consistently throughout as I tend to get very out of breathe. This then puts me if and then courses me to give a more sloppy performance which is the opposite of what I want. I noticed this weakness in stamina when performing SIX the musical, I was finding each show difficult as I began with a high level of energy but by the end number of the show, I felt worn out which made my movements look unfinished and lazy.  I realise this is going to affect my dancing and keep me from reaching to my full potential in lessons , so I have decided I need to work on this skill. This is something I am going to improve for the future and I plan on becoming more active and healthy whilst doing this it will enable me  to improve this skill asset . I will do this by continuing to go to the gym at least 4 days a week, I will improve my diet and make sure I am walking and keeping active every day. I also plan on dancing more often outside of college so that I can get my stamina up to a healthy and consistent point where I can perform for a while and not feel as exhausted. I feel this will help benefit me both physically and mentally. I aim to have improved this skill before my next show so I am ready to perform to my best potential.

Another one of my areas of development is my use of posture. I naturally do have fairly poor posture and feel these feeds into my dance. During SIX the musical I noticed that during ‘Don’t lose your head’ I would begin the dance with a strong posture but then my posture would gradually decrease and make my movements look sloppy and unfinished. I know I need to improve this skill to develop my overall dance skills. I feel that poor posture contributes to weak stability and balance, so I need to improve this physical skill. I firstly need to start with the basics, visualising proper posture to myself. I need to begin by inspecting myself in a full-length mirror. From the ground up, my feet should be shoulder width apart, my knees slightly bent, and my pelvis should be over my legs. The torso, which includes the shoulders, should be higher than the pelvis. With maintaining eyes front, keeping my head level and above my torso. I can then consider a string tied to the top of my head and being pulled up to the ceiling. Feeling my spine lengthening and standing tall and confident. With good posture, I can achieve peak performance, lower my risk of injury, and enhance my overall function. I must remember that practice makes perfect. A solid posture takes time to establish however, I know the advantages of good posture will last a lifetime

Another area for development I noticed very recently when doing one of our unit 33 workshops, improvisation has always been something I have wanted to improve, I am such a creative person but when given a hard object I find it really hard to create a whole story based of it without knowing anything about the object. I feel that improving this could really help with my team work as I will be able to participate and give more creative ideas to my group. When participating in my theatre group outside of college we done loads of improvisation workshops, for example one being we created a circle and one by one we would go in the middle to come up with a small scene and then the next person would walk in to tap them out and continue with a new scene. Although this was very intimidating and made me feel uncomfortable at I feel I am slowly becoming more confident with this and if I continue I will improve.

Another skill that I would like to improve and will improve is my timing, whilst doing Bollywood recently I realised that as it’s a very fast dance i can’t keep up with the timings at some points. I will improve this by trying to connect my body more with the movements and keeping in time with the beats throughout Yh the music. I will improve this by continuously going over a piece that I am learning so that whilst learning and making my timing precise I can also build up my stamina. I feel that building up my stamina which  is another skill that I want to improve it I’ll help me develop my skill in my timing as if I’m getting out of breathe it will make my movements slow and sloppy, improving this will allow me to dance more effectively and give a better performance.

A dance style and skill I want to improve for the future is my technique in the style of jazz dance. When doing a dance workshop with ctc I realised that I could have been a lot more outgoing and sassy throughout after watching back the videos. I was sassy and had the movements corrects but I still feel it was slightly floppy and would like to improve my skills in the dance style so be able to be more effective. I feel facial expressions and body language is a great way to start improving on jazz and  these are skills I am strong in so I just need to build of that . In order to improve this skill I will watch YouTube videos of jazz dance routines that will help me improve. I feel this will help as I’ll be able to watch there facial expression and see how they add in little things to make it more creative throughout.

task three: future development plan 

My future development plan begins with completing my current course Level 3 Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma in Performing Arts with a grade DDM. I will continue to attend weekly ballet, lyrical and modern dance classes at dance east I’m Ipswich in order to improve my skills and to enhance my technique and overall performance skills. I will also continue to attend my local theatre company ‘Theatre train’ so that I am able to perform in musicals/pantomimes to develop my skills across all three disciplines. To further my performance skills, I will continue to attend my weekly private singing lessons at planet music academy, so that I can extend the range of my skills and improve my vocals overtime. I am currently helping out at my cousins dance studio teaching younger student ballet which I will also continue to help me improve my social skills.

After my performing arts course I am then planning on attending Urdang Academy London for a 3-year BA Honours in professional dance and musical theatre. After doing loads of research on this course I can see that this  course appeals to me as they have strong links with practicing professionals, choreographers, and directors, stating that this degree prepares you for a range of performance-related careers. This course will give me the opportunity to explore my strengths and passions in greater detail to become an accomplished triple threat performer. An Alumni, Mukeni Nel said “I chose Urdang because of phenomenal faculty, and the amazing connections they had to the industry”. This shows that Urdang will have the facilities to push my career further because of the connections they have within the industry. I am inspired to attend this course because of the destinations of past students, many going into West End shows such as SIX and Mamma Mia. ‘University graduates in England Jo had an average annual salary of 36,000 British pounds a year in 2021, 10,000 pounds higher than the average salary for non-graduates. People with postgraduate degrees earned an even higher average salary at 42,000 pounds, a difference of six thousand when compared with those with only undergraduate degrees. This piece of statistical evidence suggests that graduates with a degree have a greater chance of earning a higher average salary in comparison to non-graduates.