Working Freelance - Week 9

Mind - 

This week was our last week at MIND, so we adopted the end of term fun day feel, which meant that we played games, did a quiz and just had fun. The general feeling was that we hadn’t had time to plan a session properly so it was all happening on the spot, it did feel unprofessional, but saying this, we always delivered a workshop to the client and it was always run without a problem, so the more we did it, the easier and more comfortable it became.

My strengths from this session would be that in the quiz I helped keeping everybody involved and I was constantly aware of which clients needed to have that extra support. My greatest weakness today was that felt a little emotional knowing that this might be the last time I work with them.

Panto –

So this week was the shows. I was worrying about these shows for the whole week and finally we had opening night. I am happy to say that the 11 children I had were brilliant, they did so well, they remembered their lines, they all worked together as a team, well behaved and very well coordinated in movements. I am so proud of them!

The first two shows went really well, I chosen not to have the children do the last scene in the show as there were only 3 or 2 of them and I didn’t want them to be worrying about it all, the children only did the walk down on the Saturday for the matinee and the evening shows as most of them stayed. During the final shows, they became more comfortable and confident with the audience being there and the whole backstage support and feel.

My weakness from the shows was that I need a better understanding of the walk down, as I didn’t know when the children needed to come off, so the first time I got them off too early and the other director of the adult cast thought she told me when the children need to come off, so there was a slight miss communication on both sides.

My strengths were the control I had over the children, as when I needed them to listen they listened, when I needed them to be quiet they did. I feel like this was a well-rounded job in a sense of the performance side and the behaviour side. 

Working Freelance - Week 8

Mind –

This week in MIND we had a brilliant idea of doing a quiz, which meant that we worked in a group; we needed a group name and we chose “Simple Vision”. Ellie went through the alphabet in her head and someone told her to stop, then she called out the letter that she landed on and we had to find a boy’s name, girl’s name, food, animal or film; we did this for 4 rounds and everyone was really engaged and contributing to the game,

I felt I got a little over excited and I was not too good at letting people speak, but after the second round I moved to the other end of the table, so the clients felt more part of the group. This was a strength and a weakness at the same time because I created, but then identified the problem (which was myself) and fixed it in order to be more inclusive.

So I feel that next week we should come up with some more questions, so we can play it again but have different rounds. For example, we could have one round which requires the players to name 5 fruits that are green, orange, yellow, red and pink. This may seem easy, but this level of difficulty is the right level for our client group. The game should have some elements of challenge, but not too many, so the individuals can get some sense of achievement and enjoy the activity.

Panto –

This week was our final rehearsal before our dress rehearsal on Sunday, so I felt that there was pressure on the children to do well and for me to show them that I have brought something new to the table, as well as being proud of the skills I have learnt at the BRIT School. The final rehearsal went really well and they did me proud, so it will be good to see them doing the dress rehearsal on Sunday.

The dress rehearsal on Sunday was very long as the children had to wait for an hour and a half before the Panto even started, so having worked with them for the last 10 weeks I know that they don’t cope very well with waiting around, so I started going over lines and songs with them to keep them in the zone, but there is only a number of times you can go over things with children before it starts to become boring for them and you.

When we finally began, the children were ready to go and their costumes were looking great (I’ve put a picture of the rattling and child costumes on here.)

They did their scenes and I had to make a note for them to be louder when they sing because the music was a little too loud and they couldn’t hear themselves over the music, so I feel that this was one of the reasons the performance wasn’t perfect, but their dance was really good, they remembered every sequence and performed the movement elements so well and I was really proud of them. 

Working Freelance - Week 7

Mind - 

We didn't have a mind session this week.

Panto - 

Next week is the show, so this week the session was another full on session. This weeks session we worked on everything and focused more on their facial expressions on stage and listening to the other actors talking. A couple of them found it easy but some found it difficult, I think this could be because there were stuff happening in the other room which they could hear and they could see them on stage which distracted them. I found myself  constantly telling them to concentrate as I found it very difficult to concentrate as well as them.

Tech Run –

This week, we had a tech run. The children didn’t come because it was on a Tuesday night so I went to see what was happening in their sections. I found it easier to understand the scene before and after so I know what I’m listening out for, I feel I have a better understanding of the panto and what I need the kids to work on. For example, they need to work on being cool on stage so I am planning on getting them to bop up and down when someone else is talking so it makes them look more like a group but I will need to try it this weekend to see if it works but I’m aware that I don't want to add much more as the show is next week.

This week my weakness would have to be that I through lots of negative feedback and not enough positive feedback so the following week I will plan to be more positive towards the children to give them more confidence in what their performing.

My strengths was staying on track as there were so many other things going on that it became distracting for me and the children. But this week only a couple who were more interested in what other people were doing rather than themselves .

Resources - Mind & Panto

How did the company/group market themselves?

Mind

They work with support from fundraising; for example, they had a cake sale last week in TBS, they also do sponsored walks, which took place in Lloyd’s Park; they also have work in Matthew's Yard. For the future, they are hoping to run a “Fairfield’s Got Talent” which involves the BRIT School.

Panto

The company or group market themselves by letting the community know when they have auditions and they contact the local school for the children’s roles. They also hold a stall at the village flower fete; they also hold their own events, like afternoon tea, where they serve cakes and tea on the cricket pitch, which is a beautiful green area with a view for miles.

How did they network and gain contracts?

Mind

We found that they have clients who have been referred to them from a GP or other health specialists or hospital, and therefore it is more of a request to attend the workshops.

Panto

Well, this group hasn’t got lots of contracts as they just use people around the village, we have people who make the scenery in their spare time, we were lucky enough this year to have two people who have background in theatre production. They also have groups of people making the different costumes and props, we have people also who put up the stage and operate the lighting and sound, they take time out their own time to create and make everything, so the lighting and sound are just right.

Analysis of  Mind website

The panto doesn't have a website to analysis.

Working Freelance – Week 6

Mind –

This week in Mind we had a learning curve as we had to adapt our games and activities, as we had someone in a wheel chair. At one point in the session one individual asked the group to work around the room and we had to take this into consideration; so one of the team said if anyone feel s more comfortable just standing still, then do as they feel more comfortable. I feel like this was a good decision as that was the point in the session where we all took note to adapt our activities. 

When we played “spot the move” which is a game like “link murder”, but with moves, we needed to give lots of encouragement throughout this game, as they had little confidence to take a turn being the leader.  The man in the wheel chair was scared about joining in as everyone was doing movements with their feet; he started to feel self-conscious about being a leader, so we had to make sure he didn’t feel like he couldn’t join in because he wasn’t standing up. So I felt like we achieved something in this session because I felt I had made him feel confident in the activities.

My strengths from this session would be that I did my job of being a community practitioner and I thought on my feet and found the best solutions for the situations which can arise. My weakness was not being as observing to do more research on the group of clients we were going to have.

Panto –

2^nd November - The session was full on as we had the stage up and the actors who are playing the section with the children came in to work with the children.  This was a good opportunity for the children to get a feel for the stage and scene with the characters. I felt I should have had thought through the scene before the session, but I got there and found that I had a good idea of what I wanted to happen. The children responded well to the scene, although they needed a bit on encouraging to get them to use their faces and stay in character.

8^th November – The session was the same as last week and we worked hard to get the scene mark through. The control of the children is getting better as I started to not keep telling them to be quiet all the time, this approach worked better.  The music that I had edited wasn’t right for the scene, so we had to ask the tech guy to change it, I felt that it was my fault that I needed to be changed again, as I should have thought the music through more. I’ve chosen to add extra rehearsal for the children before the dress rehearsal, because some of the children can’t make. 

My strengths from the session were the control and delivering of the sessions. The weakness was the plan of the session as it felt a little all over the place.

Working Freelance - Week 5

Mind - 

This week we had a good session, as we had a strong lesson plan that involved development elements, which included a tongue twister which meant we learnt some basic and we then followed and developed on with writing our own tongue twister which we did with the clients. I felt that this activity worked well as we had a workshop that developed and didn’t feel like we just did different activity all the time.

I think that this is what needs to happen each week, for example, we focus on a skill or an activity like voice or body or something along the acting road, like improvement or development of expression or miming.

We haven’t done well if with everyone being there each week, as one member of the group has never turned up so we have not relied on her for the last few weeks. Apart from that not all the members of the group have been there, only three members were there this week, so it is disappointing as we know most of the clients of this group, with this type of group it becomes difficult to play games which involved names that they really like, they used the names they remembered from last week which helps when people are there from last week.

The strengthens from this session would be that I was more professional towards the client, I also feel that I need to work on my delivery as I feel that I am not delivering as strongly as I could. I need to find the simple way of explain the activity we are doing or need time before hand to get my thoughts in line before I deliver it.

Panto - 

This week I felt I didn’t have any control over what I was delivering which I felt is disappointing for me as I had a great start on this project. I need to get back on track before it was too late, so I sat down and wrote what I needed to look over which was the song “pop goes the weasel” as I need to do a dance and the children need to learn the song, I was feeling overwhelmed by the whole project at this point of it, so I came up with a plan of action, what I did was I went to see the director as I needed to get the right music and see if there was anything that was needed in this scene or if it was something that I could just come up with my own ideas. So we talked though song and made it easy for the children to learn and for it also to work in the scene. Completing these things I felt better about the project.

The other thing I feel overwhelmed about was that I couldn’t control the group as well as I could at the beginning, I also didn’t want to ask someone as I was worried about a couple of thing like if they would take over, they would judge what I was doing, and that I didn’t know what I was doing if I ask someone, after talking it thorough with my Mum I find that no one would think any of those things because I was trying to keep control of the children, run the session, make sure everyone was coping with the movements and songs, so it was becoming that I could keep all the balls in the air. So I have now got some help which will make the session less stressful. I also find that because they picked up the other song and dance really easily that they would be able to pick the routine I planned for “pop goes the weasel”, but it didn’t happen. I find that they weren’t picking it up and they were all going different ways when they need to go one way. I have fixed the problem by changing the dance routine which will work better with their abilities.

I feel that my strengths are that I can see where I’m going wrong and can accept when I am told that I need to work on a section, I also feel a strength is that I can pick up the piece then analysis then make a new plan for it to work.

My weakness would be that I am not planning as well as I should, for example that I plan for how much I need at that movement in time but not for the long run.

Working Freelance - Week 4

Mind - 

This week did a dance section, as well as dance based games; we try to bring some different games and I feel that because we have been there for 4 weeks so we should have a good idea of what we can do that they will respond to.

I feel this week went well and they really responded to the theatre games that we played. I feel we didn't get time to plan a again this week, so I think I may try to get everyone together for a brief session plan beforehand, so that we can feel more organized for the next session. The best thing about spending time with the people at MIND is that everybody is becoming more comfortable and confident with us, so we are having more clients joining in the pair tasks. They started to relax more, which makes the interaction easier and more successful.

My thoughts from this week was that I think that our group has become too comfortable with the clients so that we have become too comfortable that has made us somewhat unprofessional with the clients as we are getting over excited and I feel that because we haven't got a teacher that supervises us, we have become too relaxed with the group. 

Panto - 

The panto rehearsal wasn't on this week so it was a good time for me to plan and choreograph the second song that we will be doing.  

Working Freelance - Week 3

Mind -

This week in the “Mind” workshop we had 4 BRIT students, so we didn't have the whole group, and we also didn't get time in the week for the session, so three of us (me included) planned for the workshop on the train to the session; next week we are going to need to find time and come up with some ideas for the session in the week, in order to develop ideas before the workshop plan meeting.

This week we did a mix of games and activities: we had dance based games and they liked that; they also did groups activities which helped improve skills. I feel that we have a range of different characters in this group, which offers variety to the possible outcomes of a successful workshop. For example, there are some who are shy, but are happy to participate; there are some who are really into it and some who want to watch. I like working with this group because they all make you feel part of the group and you feel welcome as soon as you walk into the building. 

my feeling from this session would be that I felt like because we didn't have all the group I didn't feel like we outnumber the clients. I have become comfortable in the group so it has become easier to run the workshop.

Panto-

This week we gave them their lines and worked on their acting scenes. I found this session worked me harder than it has before because I found that most of the kids lose their concentration quite quickly and because it is difficult to keep them focused, we had to work really hard on planning., I also find that I get caught up in the rehearsals and then suddenly find they have a break, so I feel that the main reason they are having trouble focusing it that I’m not making the session as interesting as I can; instead, I am just telling them what to do and where to go, without really engaging them. I need to keep up to date with emails and keep in contact with the group who are running the costume for the children.

The company or group market themselves they make the community know when they have auditions and they contact the local school for the children’s roles. They also hold a stall at the village flower fete; they also hold their own events like afternoon tea that they serve cakes and tea on the cricket pitch which is a beautiful green area with a view for miles.

Well, this group hasn’t got lots of contracts as they just use people around the village, we have people who make the scenery in their spare time, we were lucky enough this year to have two people who have background in theatre production. They also have groups of people making the different costumes and props, we have people also who put up the stage and operate the lighting and sound, they take time out their own time to create and make everything, so the lighting and sound are just right.

Working Freelance - Week 2 - Mind and Local Children Panto rehearsal

Mind - 

This week was the first week going to “Mind” and I really enjoyed it as they were really friendly and they participated in all the activities that we run. There were only three of us who attended, which included me, Chris and Nicole. This didn't help because we wanted to make a good impression on our first week.

This week we only had about 5 clients which attended the session. We needed to think on our feet, as we didn't have the other three BRIT students who were doing the project; we found that we didn't do the games which we thought were really good because we didn't have enough people to run them. I think those games will have to be brought out when we have more clients there.

Going through the session, we found that they respond better to the drama based games than something like splat. So we need to come up with more improvisation games for the next session.

My thoughts from this first session were that I found it easy to talk to them and explain games, I also was pleased with myself because I needed to think on my feet, which I.felt I did with confidence and purpose.

My weakness was that I should have had more games for me to use, in order to feel better prepared and ready to adjust to various numbers and abilities of participants.

We asked some question for our unit.

The first question we asked was how did the company/group market themselves?

They work from fundraising; for example, they did a cake sale last week in TBS, they also do sponsored walks, which took place in Lloyd’s Park; they have also have work in Matthew's yard. For the future, they are hoping to run a Fairfield’s Got Talent which involves the BRIT School.

The second question we asked them was how did they network and gain contracts?

We found that they have clients who have been referred to them from a GP or other health specialists or hospital, and therefore it is more of a request to attend the workshops.

My strengths and weakness from this week for example my strengths was that I feel comfortable with the group and understand what I was doing. my weakness would be that I find become too involved in doing the workshop rather thn running the workshop. 

Panto - 

In my free time I am also working with the village theatre company, I am running the children scenes for their show “Dick Whittington” this year. The children’s ages range between 7 and 11; I am looking forward to working on this project because one of my career paths is to work with children, and therefore I feel that is good for me to experience different aspects of this type of involvement, as I do not know exactly which area to focus on when working with children.

I am finding that you need to be really organized each week because there are so many elements to each session like music, coming up with movements, session plan etc. You also need to come up with different movements, which bring in choreographic skills. I find I also need to be a couple steps in front of everybody, for all of them to be able to see me clearly and follow. I also need to be confident in the delivery of exercises because otherwise I lose control of the group.

This week was the start of the rehearsal for the next ten weeks, this week we worked on a song which related to one of their scenes, in which they are rats; I have found that what I'm having difficulty with is keeping them in control, because they are quicker than me at times. So I need to keep using my authority to keep them quiet and listening to my instructions; for example, I have taught them that when I put my hand in the air it means for them to be quiet and look at me for their next instructions.

 

My thoughts from this session are based on two facts: I need to find ways to keep them more focused on the task and I need to be more in charge. I need to plan my session better, including a plan B, in case things do not work out as planned, and prepare better for the rehearsal, because we haven't run something towards a performance with a community group in school, so I do feel like I'm learning on the job sometimes. 

Working Freelance - Week 1 Finding out our projects

This blog is for freelance, the first post will be on four questions we were told to answer.

What project are you doing?

I will be attending Mind which is based in Croydon; I will be working on this project for the next 12 weeks, as part of a group including Ellie, chirs, shazzy ,lucy,deedee.

What do you know about the company?

I know that Mind is a charity which helps with mental health, they are based in Croydon. They are supporting the families and friends of people who suffer from mental health issues, but they also encourage mental well-being in order to prevent these. They have strong campaigns to raise awareness and present the facts about the causes, the treatment and the after-care of the ones affected directly and indirectly.

What are you initial thoughts?

My thoughts would be that I am worried about starting there, but I'm excited to try something new as I have worked with “Slide” which are a dance company promoting movement for and with the physically impaired, and “Chicken shed”,  which is mainly theatre based , so I'm looking forward to getting ideas for workshops from different types of performing arts and different topics.

What positive impact do you think this will have on your learning?

I believe that this experience will enhance my creativity in workshops for a range of topics, I feel it will also improve my improvisation skills for the different group sizes, because as a CAP practitioner, you don’t always know how many people will turn up each week.

Research on Mind

Mind is a charity which helps and supports with mental health. Their mission "We provide advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem. We campaign to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding."  They want to help people experiencing a mental health problem get the best support and respect. They also want to help people who are likely to develop mental health, they want to empower people with mental health issues by giving them choices, improving services and support, enabling social participation, removing inequality of opportunity, organisational excellence. Mind's president is Stephen Fry, he is their figurehead and their leading ambassador.  He helps promoting their causes on their behalf.