Archive of ‘Academic’ category

Frantic Assembly Theatre Workshop

In Theatre today we explored different physical theatre techniques used by the Frantic Assembly theatre company. We used the two videos linked at the bottom to guide our class and followed the teachings. Some of the techniques we learned were Hymn’s hands (placing our and each other’s hands on each other’s bodies), round-by-through (stepping around a person, standing next to them, or going through a body part e.g. under their arm), and chair duets (sitting next to each other and having three moves each to place our hands somewhere or do an action).

We then played around with pace, ‘weight’, and eye contact. My main takeaways was how using these three elements created a storyline and created meaning that could be interpreted by an audience. This is quite different from our normal devising method of creating movements to express a particular meaning. Instead, this method works to create the movements beforehand and creating a storyline based off those movements. This means that the performers are exploring different interpretations and are not tied to a particular intention. I think that this is a very interesting and useful method that I look forward to exploring more during devising pieces.

Maths and Me

Reflecting on IGCSE Maths and looking ahead to Grade 11 HL Maths.

In IGCSE, I completed the Additional Mathematics course as well as the Extended Maths course. I think that my grades for these exams represented my knowledge and application skills well.

Normally, I associate maths with two main feelings which are satisfaction, when l complete a difficult question or finally understand a topic, and frustration when I have been struggling to understand how a method works or other concepts. However, I feel that when I am frustrated, I am able to pause for a little while and come back with determination to look at the difficulty with a new perspective.

I am currently starting IB HL Maths. Although I am inevitably apprehensive about this course due to opinions that I have heard that it is very difficult, I am also excited to learn new topics and see how I can expand my mathematics knowledge.

Generally, I prefer it when someone explains concepts to me; however, I also need to be able to work out solutions by myself sometimes so that I can fully understand the topic. In the past, I have found that when I am stuck on a question, it is good for me to restart that question using a different method. If I am stuck on a topic, going through the textbook usually helps me.

I think that my biggest strength in maths is my persistence as if I don’t understand something, I will find ways to help myself. In Grade 11, I am working towards developing more self-discipline as I do not always do maths consistently. However, I have set aside time each week to dedicate to doing maths so that I can practice to become better and improve my self-discipline.

Drama Devised Coursework Performance Reflection

Successes:

  • We developed our raw, basic ideas into a stronger performance that was more complex
  • Sophisticated performance style
  • We didn’t settle until we reached a satisfactory outcome
  • We continued refining our performance until we were happy with it
  • There was little conflict between group members when incorporating ideas
  • We were able to base our performance on a stimulus and storyline (Inside Out)
  • We were able to develop our performance based on the feedback we received
  • We collaborated well
  • We gave constructive feedback within the group
  • We encouraged other members in the group
  • Personally, I feel that I contributed greatly to the refining of our ideas as I continued to think about how we could improve our performance and storyline.

Challenges:

  • We weren’t confident enough in our idea, didn’t believe in ourselves and our performance
  • We refined a bit too much sometimes because we kept stopping run-throughs to change parts of the performance
  • It took us quite a long time to come up with a storyline that we were satisfied with
  • We focused too much on the storyline and forget to focus on the important criteria about character development

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