5th Week - Organized Chaos

So, so, so.

This was a week of sharing and it was chaotic, but I have solid ideas of how the next few classes will go. Some awesome material is coming out of the classes!

For Sona's class we did a quick warm up where I seperated them into three groups and then they had to order themselves by birth date and then by height. This went very well and it indicated to me that the groups are working together and cooperating very well. I also taught them an Ethiopian song.

Then Adam presented the melodies he had created for the songs and we rehearsed them and learned them as much as possible. Great melodies! We then moved on and they showed us their drumming rhythms and dances which were all fantastic. This group has been working so hard and incorporating their West African drumming and dance from their lessons with a visiting artist earlier on in the year. Very exciting!

I wish I had received the script in advance, but something got lost in translation in the many emails going back and forth. I did find it now which is great. Thankfully, Sona had copies! We worked a little bit on the middle section, creating some rhythms for the songs and also coming up with some movement for this section. I noticed that it was difficult to keep the students focused with the drumming the background and with everything, so I had to seperate them into movement groups in order to get some focus happening.

For the next time I see Sona's class, the following things need to happen:
-casting of all the roles (which I will send a breakdown for)
-rehearsing/memorization of the new script and songs which I will send soon

Next class, we will rehearse the piece and tweak the movement and music so that we are ready for the final workshop performance.

In terms of design, I am thinking that we should create a backdrop with a large tree and maybe some huts. Also there are some costumes like the lion and Anansi that we should create, but I will send my suggestions to Sona for the class to have the last word.

For Amanda & Mubeen's class, we started off by doing some singing and reintrepreting Somewhere Over The Rainbow in rock and hip hop styles, which went alright. Adam then presented his melodies that he created for the lyrics. Again, great work. We established the Hades song would be hip hop and all the other songs had a rock feel as they requested. Having some issues with this class as some of the students don't want to sing at all or don't want to participate which is disheartening at times, but I think I managed to motivate them. I think that when we have the final show, everyone will participate, but if the foundations are not in place, it can be difficult to rally. This class has some good ideas and I am looking forward to seeing them get the show on it's feet. This class, they also presented a possible melody for a song they have written as well as a some fab dance and movement pieces which I will incorporate into the final piece.

Design wise, my vision for this piece is a modern rock concert. Could be fun to work on some props like the apple and maybe some fan signs...I will send my ideas to Mubeen and Amanda for them to decide with their classes what they want to do.


For Amanda and Mubeen, the homework will be same as Sona's class:
-cast the script based on the breakdown I will send
-rehearse the new script and songs for the next time I see them

We are at the point in the collective creation process when we must put everything together, so it can seem like things won't ever come together, but I have faith in the process and after today's class I have some concrete ideas of how to put it all together. Looking forward to the next class.