Arts Inspiration

Daniel Radcliffe presentation

Kapa Haka Tale

On the 20th October 2015 I went to see a dance production called Kapa Haka Tale at The Lowry theatre in Salford with the Truth Dance Company.

It is a maori love story telling the tale of a young woman who had a marriage arranged for her with someone she does not love. She loves somebody else and the production is about her struggles to eventually be with the person she loves.

The story is told through dance and all the dialogue was in the Maori language. I interpreted the story from the dance movements and the actions of the characters.

A part I liked about the performance was the pre-show audience interaction. The cast came amongst the audience and did some Maori actions and interacted with some members of the audience.

It was an enjoyable and interesting experience. I have never been to a dance performance like this before. I think it is something I would like to go to again

Arts Award 15/9/15: Student Planned Lesson 1.

This week at Truth Dance Company I attended the first in a series of student planned and led lessons. This first session was led by Emily. While this ran like any other lesson, I know this is important in the process to gain the arts award. In the lesson we did the usual warmup and monologue practice.

The reasons I am practicing the monologue are these:

• Jackie wants us to get back into the habit of learning them.
• I will use it in an upcoming drama competition.

Also I returned to the Burnley Youth Theatre classes on Thursday after the summer break.

3/9/15 Truth Dance

Since I last made a post there have been two Truth Dance meetings. In the first I practiced such things as:

• Improvisation.
• Memory.
• Breathing exercises.

In the interlude between the first and second meetings I have made a potential plan of having group poetry as the subject of my lesson.

In the second meeting we practiced the following subjects:

• Stage direction.
• Monologue. (I know it almost completely off by heart now.)

Next week I hope to get Jackie's opinion on my lesson idea.

18/8/15 - Truth Dance Company Monologue Practice.

This week at the Truth Dance company I have begun practice on monologues. These are to be used in a series of competitions starting in November. The monologue I am performing is Orphans, by Lyle Kessler.  
We were also told that in a week or two we will be planning and performing our own lessons to each other in class.

4/8/15 - Truth Dance Stage Makeup

Today I attended a Truth Dance lesson about stage makeup. Half of the group did normal makeup (mascara, eyeliner, etc) whilst the half I was in made bruises out of the makeup. After that both groups did a small piece based on the makeup. The group I was in improvised some stories about how we got the bruises, while the other group did a piece that took place in a makeup parlour.


Other things accomplished:

• The Cake sale poster I created was put up in the lobby. For those people who are looking at my blog who live in Preston, it is on the 11th of August, at the City of Preston Dance Academy.

Over the past few weeks I feel I have improved in the following areas: emotionally, spontaneity, vocality and spacial awareness.

Week 2: 14/7/15

On Thursday 9th of July I performed in a sharing event at the Burnley Youth Theatre.
In that sharing event I acted as the Mad Hatter in a comedy skit named Big Brother, Fairytale Edition. The audience seemed to find the writing of the performance very funny.


At Truth Dance our group talked about our favourite art forms. As of the typing of this post I have still not yet found my inspiration for why I like drama so much.

The things we planned this week at Truth Dance:

• to make logs
• to record what the group watches
• to find my inspiration
• to choose warmup activity 

At home this week I made a comedy club in the game engine Unreal Engine 4 and re- read Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban.

This week I feel I improved in the following areas:

• concentration
• making eye contact
• strategy
• memory

Week 1: 7/7/15

I attended 2 hour drama lesson at Truth Dance Company.

Plans for my Arts Award

These are my plans for my Arts Award:

1. Study drama technique
2. Attend drama session led by professional from COPD, and freelance artists.
3. Look at various drama disciplines: musical + physical theatre, improvisation, frantic assembly.
4. Look at what makes a good drama lesson - from the POV of the student and teacher.

I intend to do the work for my Arts Award at my drama sessions at Truth Dance Company, Burnley Youth Theatre and work done independantly.