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.