I have been thinking about my award title for a while now and I think I have been around the block a few times and come back to what was my initial, simple thought.
I think there are three reasons for my proposed award title; my initial training and DipHE, my career since then, and my work on BAPP.
I Trained at London Studio Centre on the BA(hons) Theatre dance course. I left after my second year as I was lucky enough to get a job and as such was given my DipHE theatre dance. Since then I have been working in the musical theatre industry using the skills and knowledge gained in my training yet I don’t feel that the title “theatre dance” encompasses my skills as a musical theatre performer, it totally excludes my skills in singing and acting, both of which I now feel have overtaken my skills as a dancer. My work on BAPP and in particular my final inquiry will be looking at the development of musical theatre in today’s economic environment, specifically looking at celebrity casting in musical theatre and asking if the industry needs to go in this direction in order to keep audience figures and profits in the black.
I have decided that the award I will seek as a result of this programme will be:
BA(hons) Professional Practice (Musical Theatre)
As I said at the start of my blog, I have gone through many incarnations of this title in my head but feel that the term "musical theatre" is the most honest and relevant, when I look at my previous training and experience.
I have just been looking through different people's rationales and it so interesting to see the different types of award titles amongst the group.
ReplyDeleteIn performing arts I think its so interesting how skills and interest across the disciplines change over time, like how you started very dance based but now feel that your singing and acting have overtaken your skills as a dancer,
for me i am more interested in how performance and theatre can be used within educational settings in order to boost learning through creativity and play, however through my time at The Chickenshed Theatre both as a member of the children's and youth theatre and since my time on their education course (BTEC) and foundation DEGREE, my skills personally were weakest within the dance discipline and always have been, even though i have always appreciated the beauty and skill of dance i have always lacked confidence within this area,
however the way Chickenshed casts a production is different to some theatre companies as they do not hold auditions for parts in shows, instead they have an extremely intense casting process in which every member of the company, student, staff and member are spoken about personally until the director decides which part she feel will best suit and best challenge each individual in order to develop their own skills, anyway because of this i have been given many dance opportunities, from dancing at the Albert hall which was so nerve racking but brilliant at the same time to being part of the "dance cast" in our latest production of "The Kings Web", having these experiences "thrown at me" in a way has meant that i have had to learn to cope with my insecurities about this specific discipline and in turn has helped me develop my skills and gain confidence. Funnily enough in terms of interest and enjoyment dance would now probably be my number one out of all three disciplines and i just find it so interesting how experience within the arts can totally change personal preference and interest within the arts.