This week in Theater and Dance!

Theater One

This week in Theater One we continued to work with Objectives (learned last week) and added obstacles. Objectives clarify what a character wants and obstacles are what or who stands in their way of achieving them. In class we teamed up as objective/obstacle pairs. One student created an objective while their partner created obtacles to prevent them, or at least slow them down, in achieving their objective. As the week progressed we increased the size of our groups.

Here are some scenes from this week's lesson.





Advanced Theater

In Advanced Theater we continued to work on our Brittish dialects for A Christmas Carol. The students are rehearsing and self directing the production for the Christmas Concert to be held December the 19th.

Vocal recordings to come soon!

Advanced Dance

In Advanced Dance we continued to work on our choreography for the Christmas Concert. This week focused on pathways, non - locomotor movement and contact balances (using counter balance and weight share to maintain balance).

Dance videos (works in progress)!

Ballet - The Nutcracker



Lyrical - It's Christmas



Varsity Jazz - Winter Wonderland



~ Mrs. Amy Jones

NCTC Play Festival 2011!

Congrats to my BRATS for an outstanding job at the annual 2011 NCTC Play Festival at Paramount Theater in Goldsboro, NC on January 5, 2011!

Company members gave a phenominal performance of This is a Test earning two awards in Sound Design and Innovative Storytelling! You guys rock! I love all of you!!! :)

Here are a few picks of students on breaks between performances! We had a great time and learned a lot!!!


The Macarena!


Freestylin'!

This week in Advanced Theater!
As you may have guessed this week Advanced Theater students prepared for Play Festival. Unfortunately, we were not permitted to film or photograph the actual performance at the festival due to copyright infringements but I will provide a class rehearsal recording so that you may see them in action! Again, they did a great job on Saturday and I am very proud of them.



This week in Theater One!
In Theater One we have been studying substitution. In Theater the term substitution refers to an actor using his/her own personal experiences and feelings to portray a character's feelings/situation. Often, as actors, we find that we have not shared the same experiences that our characters share but we have shared the same emotions. In this exercise the actor must substitute his/her own personal feelings for the character's in the scene. This sounds simple but it is very complicated. I am very proud of the work Theater One has achieved in this lesson!



This week in Advanced Dance!
In Advanced Dance we have been studying choreographic elements (Time, space and Design). The students were taught movement phrases demonstrating these elements and were later asked to create their own movement or manipulate previously learned movement using the elements (Time - 1/2, 1/4, full, double; Space - levels, facings, areas; Design - manipulation of movement phrases using various guideline/choreographic manipulation). Advanced Dance has been very successful with their choreographic projects and you can look forward to seeing their completed work at the Christmas Concert in December!

Check out Carmike Cinemas promotional video for Footloose! The video features Southstage dancers!



~Mrs. Amy Jones

The Showstoppers are on double duty this week!

Congratulations to the Showstoppers Dance Team for their excellent performances this weekend!

First, they dazzled and amazed the fans at the Varsity football game Friday night. Both squads performed hip - hop choreography that they choreographed and arranged themselves. They were entirely responsible for all decision making including selecting music, movement, formations and costuming!

On Saturday afternoon they took the stage at the Columubus County Fair Grounds and, together (both squads), performed the crowd pleaser, Thriller by the late Prince of Pop, Michael Jackson.

Both performances were well received and appreciated by the crowd.

The Showstoppers at the fairgrounds Saturday shrouded in ghoulish attire!


Congratulations to SCHS's Main Attraction as well for an outstanding vocal performance! I enjoyed watching all of the choral performances from the participating schools in the county. Great work everybody!

Theater One!

This week in Theater One my students continued to develop characterization through the exploration of confrontation. The students were given confrontional scenarios to improvise (act out spontaneously). By the week's end we witnessed a teenage spat instigated by a trouble maker, someone being thrust in front of a vehicle during an argument, and a two - timing boyfriend getting caught by his sweethearts... not really, we were acting!

I had fun with this group this week!

Advanced Theater!

This week in Theater we began to prepare for play festival with formal run throughs that included load in and load out and lighting cues. We also discussed sound effects and incorporated propterties!

Great job Advanced Theater!

Advanced Dance!

This week in Advanced Dance we prepared for the performances we participated in this weekend. We also began to experiment with some computer software called Lifeforms. This software is very tricky to work with so this week we just got a feel for the basic functioning of the program. Later on down the road (when we are able to access the portable laptop lab again) we will commit to creating choreography using the software and with any luck I will post the end result of that project here on the blog. Here is a link to a more detailed description of the software.

Once again, congrats to the Showstoppers for a fantastic performing weekend!

~Mrs. Amy Jones

What happened and what is yet to come!!!

Footloose the Movie!

Footloose the Movie Launches next weekend in most local movie theaters. This is an especially exciting event for us considering the fact that we performed this wonderful show only two years ago. Several of our cast members still walk the halls of SCHS. Apparently we are not the ones who remember our presentation fondly because I recently received a phone call from Carmike Cinemas in Myrtle Beach requesting our participation in the promotion of the new movie. This past Friday myself and several students assisted the staff at Cinemark at The Colonial Mall in promoting the movie next weekend. The movie theater gave free movie passes to any audience member who was willing to learn the choreography to Footloose and perform it. It was a fun time and we thank Cinemark for inviting us to join in their fun!



FYI - Cinemark filmed the event and entered the footage in a company contest which will be showcased on Youtube next Thursday! Be on the look out for familiar faces (who knows, the company may choose our promo video).

The Columbus County Fair!!!

Don't forget the Columbus County Fair kicks off at the Fair grounds this Tuesday, October 11th. The Arts departments county wide are participating in the fair juat as they do every year.

Band - The Band exibition kicks off Tuesday night at 6:00.

Chorus and Dance - Several choral groups (SCHS, WCHS, Williams Township Middle, Nakina Middle, Chadbourn Middle, Tabor Middle) and the SCHS Showstoppers Dance Team will hit the stage on Saturday, October 15th from 5 PM to 6:30 PM.

Art Exibition - K12 Art work will be on display every day at the fair grounds Tuesday through Sunday.

Stallion Football!

Come out and support the Stallions Friday night for another exciting round of Varsity football. At half time kick back and relax the entertainment provided by the SCHS Showstoppers Dance Teams and the Stallion Marching Band.

Theater One!

This week in Theater One we examined how different art forms can inspire characterization. We listened to several selections of music, observed a number of paintings and learned several different styles of dance choreography. Each piece of music, painting and dance combination inspired a different character. The students were instructed to select one of the characters they created to perform in an improvisational scene.

Great work Theater One! I was very impressed with the variety and original characterization happening in class!

Advanced Theater!

Tick tock, tick tock! Time is ticking away, closer and closer to play festival. My Advanced students are going to rock-n-roll at play festival with their production of This is a Test. I really had fun directing this week in class. My students are mostly off book, props are being coordinated, some hilareous physicality is in the works AND we are making excellent progress with our production responsibilities (Load in, perform, load out).

Excellent work Advanced Theater! Look out play fest... here we come!!!

Advanced Dance!

This week in Advanced Dance we examined how different art forms can inspire choreography. We listened to a selection of music, observed a painting and read/interpreted a poem. The music, painting and poem inspired ideas for dance movement which we incorporated together into dance phrasing.

Excellent work Advanced Dance! Make sure you watch for us at the Varsity Football game Friday night (hip hop choreography by both squads) and again at the fair on Saturday where we will be performing our rendition of Thriller! by Michael Jackson.

~Mrs. Amy Jones

The Stallion Marching Band triumphs at Clinton Band Day!

The Stallions of South Columbus High School are proud, intelligent and talented. The Stallion Marching Band proved this well known fact on Saturday, October 1, 2011 when participating in a competition at Clinton Band Day!

Here are their honors:
1st Place Color Guard
1st Place Music
2nd Place Marching
2nd Place General Effect
2nd Place Overall Class 3A

Congratulations Stallions on a job well done!!!

The Latest in Theater and Dance!

Happy Homecoming Stallions!

This week was spirit week in Stallion territory. Last night the Stallions defeated the Cougars from South Brunswick! It was an excellent homecoming despite the weather as our Varsity football team brought their own kind of thunder and lightning to the field after the down-pour! Congrats to Crystal, Dawaitus and Taylor, our 2011 - 2012 reigning beauties of the Homecoming Court! Here are a few picks of some of my BRATS are gussied up for spirit day!





Theater One!

Our lovely masks!





As promised, this week in Theater One we played with our masks. The purpose of the mask was to give my students an opportunity to explore characterization. I asked them to describe their mask with three adjectives that most accurately personified their mask and then I gave them a few moments to look at themselves in the mirror while wearing their mask. This allowed them to become comfortable (because they thought is was a little strange) and to begin to consider the character they had created.

Later, I asked them how their character would walk and instructed them to explore the character further by walking like that person. We also discussed the idea of a grand gesture (a characters's dominant gesture). My students used the three adjectives they chose to decide upon a grand gesture for their character.

Through out the week the class created/performed improvisational scenes for their characters. Here are some pictures and a brief description of the final scenes on Friday.


Monkey alert!


More monkeying around!


Lousy blind date!


Class room chaos!


Snobby Girls!


Tattoo parlor!

Excellent work Theater One!

Advanced Theater!

This week in Advanced Theater we analayzed our characters (a 58 question survey about each charcter being studied/performed) and created masks for them. We continued to work on characterization while working out scenes in our plays. On Monday we will have lines testing to determine which play/s will be taken to Play Festival in November.

As Alan (This is a Test) would say, study, study, study!!!

Advanced Dance!

In Advanced Dance we discussed the similarities and differences between classical composition, Danse Macabre (french for dance of death or dance of the spirits) by Camille Saint Saens and the ever popular Thriller by the late and respected Prince of Pop, Michael Jackson.

What we discovered was that even though these songs differ greatly in style or genre the meaning behind each selection is nearly identical. Even the qualities of the music coincided. For example, in the beginning of Danse Macabre the orchestra chimes the clock ticking to midnight. Similarly, in Thriller, Michael's fancy footsteps set the scene to wake the dead.

...but don't take my word for it, see for yourself. Watch the videos and see what you think.

Midnight Dance - Animation to Danse Macabre


Thriller by Michael Jackson


~ Mrs. Amy Jones.

Class Progress and Interim Reports!

Attention Parents!

Interim reports were sent home last Friday. Most of my students have returned their signed interim reports but a few are still MIA. If you have not seen/signed your child's interim report please do so and have them return it to me as soon as possible. I treat the signed interim report as a graded assignment(homework). This means it will lower your child's grade if it is not signed and returned.

OK, now lets get down to business! What's new in Theater One?

In Theater One we have continued to develop our sense of ensemble (team work) through Theater Games as well as expand upon our improvisational skills. This week my students learned to externalize (demonstrate on the outside (gestures/facial expressions) what their character was feeling/thinking on the inside. We did some wacky things to accomodate this.

First, we externalized using only our feet. Yes, you read correctly, we performed scenes where only our feet could be seen. We achieved this by raising the grand drape (curtain to the stage) a few feet leaving our feet visible while obscuring the rest of our body. It was loads of fun. Our feet stomped to show anger, jumped up and down to demonstrate happiness, twirled on our toes to show delicateness and kicked to accuse! We learned a lot and had a good time doing so.

Next we externalized using only our hands. To achieve this we draped a sheet over one of the Ballet Barres in the Theater/Dance class room. The students hid behind the sheet and raised thier hands above the sheet/barre to express their character's feelings. Once again we were creative with our physicality. Our hands and fingers performed break dancing and the moon walk, pointed a birds, took pictures, and flicked at one another in angry outburts. It was amazing!!!

On Friday we started a new project which will incorporate the concept of externaling in the upcoming week's lesson plan. Each student was given a paper plate and length of elastic to create a mask. I instructed them to decorate the mask any way they like. Make sure you check in next week to find out what we did with the masks.

Theater One is the Bomb.com!

What happened in Advanced Theater?

In Advanced Theater we experimented with the New School Method. With this methods the students tape recorded portions of the script/s using as much flexibilty in pitch (emotional expression) as possible. After we accomplished this the students performed their scenes using the recording. In doing this their hands were free'd from holding their scripts allowing a larger range of motion to express their characterization. This was a challenge to my students but they met the challenge and we achieved some very realistic and admirable moments of work.

Advanced Theater rocks!

What happened in Dance?

This week in dance we focused on brushing up on technique and learning, memorizing and making extended movement phrases performance ready. We accomplished this and were prepared to perform at the varsity football game against WCHS on Friday evening. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans and the field was too wet/dangerous for my students to perform on. Even though we were disappointed we realized that we have other performance opportunities to look forward to (football games, the fair, basketball games). It simply was not worth the risk of an injury.
I was very proud of my student's reaction to this disappointment. While I could tell they were let down they behaved professionally.

Advanced Dance is awesome!

~ Mrs. Amy Jones

What has been happening in my classroom?

Well, for starters, lots of fun and hard work!

Theater One

We've been having a blast as we continue to bond and function as an ensemble. We still love Theater games but because we are focusing on improvisation (to create/make up a scene off of the top of your head, unscripted) right now it is only appropriate that those Theater games have an improvisational basis. The current favorite is called Party Quirks. If you are a fan of the tv show, Whose Line is it Anyway you may already be familiar with this game. In this game one party host and five party guests are selected to play/perform. The party guests work together to select 'identities' which the party host must guess once they arrive at the party. The selected identities at this time evolve around emotions (sad, happy, excited, depressed, etc...) and the host must guess correctly which emotion each guest demonstrates to win/complete the game.

In addition to emotions the students created improvisational scenes in which the players were influenced by environmental factors (temperature - hot and cold; status - rich or poor). The students selected various scenarios to improvise using temperature and status as a motivator. We had some really terrific scenes but the students who demonstrated the most growth with this exercise are Jonathan, Victoria, Taylor D and Stefany! Congrats you guys on a job well done!

Advanced Theater

This has to be one of the most creative, silly, motivated, crazy, enthusiastic and positive groups of kids I've ever had the pleasure to work with. They work hard, create cool material, cooperate and stay motivated even after I nit pick and disect every nook and cranny of their scenes. (Yeah, they don't call me Jonezilla for nothing...)

Unfortuneately, we've been so busy with character development we've had little time to play theater games but we have been very productive working as a unit in spite of this. Last week each student brainstormed physicality ideas for their character/s including a grand gesture/gestures and facial expressions. Before we worked these physical elements into our scenes we played around with them in improvisational scenes. This week we scanned our scripts for subtext (things a character implies rather than says) and performed exploratory scenes for this as well.

Finally, by week's end, we incorporated this work into our plays, The Frog Prince and This is a Test. The end result on Friday was rather successful. We made note of what worked well and what didn't, what needs further research/exploration and development and we spent a considerable amount of time polishing our rudimentary acting skills (voice, body and ensemble).

Everyone did a great job this week. I feel like the kids are really getting the hang of This is a Test quickly. My super stars for the week are Aleccia and Isaiah because they are already well on their way to having their lines memorized (which makes it so much easier for them to focus on their characterization and ensemble needs). You guys are awesome!

Advanced Dance

Advanced Dance has been busy brushing up on technique, studying choreographic manipulations (a way to create new movement by manipulating existing movement with a specific process) and learning and creating choreography.

Last week we focused on retrograde (to reverse the concepts of a dance phrase. fall, spin, hop = hop, spin, fall) and canon (to perform the same movement at different times... like Row, Row, Row Your Boat, except with movement). The students were introduced to these ideas with a modern/lyrical dance phrase I taught/demonstrated. After being guided through the process the students were split into groups to create their own phrases/manipulations using retrograde and canon.

This week we focused on chance method (to create a movement phrase by random chance using a number system), ABA and Sequential Phrasing (ABCD => DCBA). Again, the students were introduced to these ideas with a modern/lyrical dance phrase I taught/demonstrated. After being guided through the process the students were split into groups to create the own phrases/manipulations using chance method, ABA and Sequential Phrasing.

The students have been very successful. We have three solid choreographic works in progress. If you would like to see some of the projects the dance class has been working on please come out and see them perform at the Football game next Friday night at SCHS (September 23, 2011). Go Stallions!

Thank you to my team captains, Lauren, Rachel N, Katie and Chrisshonna for keeping your squads together and productive!

- Mrs. Amy Jones

This week in Dance and Theater Arts!

My class room was a very busy and engaging place to be this week (as usual). Here's the scoop!

Theater One

I first would just like to say that my Theater One class this semester at South Columbus is awesome. You guys and gals totally rock! This week in class we continued to develop our sense of unity as a class, establish trust with one another and delve into the art of improvisation.

Class unity, team work, or ensemble, as we Thespians (Thespians are people who participate in or possess an appreciation for the art of Theater Arts) like to call it, is a number one priority in the TA class room. We develop this skill by playing Theater games. Theater games are designed to encourage cooperation, concentration and focus. Some of our favorite games right now are:
Kitty in the Corner
Juggle
What? You haven't heard of these games? Just ask a Theater One student. They can tell you all about it.

Trust - At the beginning of the week we performed trust exercises (catching each other, guiding one another blind folded) to increase our sense of trust in one another. Some students felt more at ease with this than others and this is typical. All of my students did a great job. I was very proud!

Improvisation - When you improvise you make something up off of the top of your head with out any prior preparation. We used improvistation starters as a structure for this activity. I gave my students three categories to choose from:
1 - Teen/Parent Conflict
2 - Teacher?Teen Conflict
3 - Peer Relationship Conflict
By weeks end each student in the class improvised a scene with a partner and was evaluated by myself and their peers. Great job everyone. I saw some really great scenes this week. I especially enjoyed Mariah and DaShaun's scene.

Advanced Theater Arts

My veterans are back and ready to blow your mind, dazzle your soul and tickle your heart with their mad skills on stage. This week we've been developing ensemble with Theater games (Ultimate Ninja is a favorite) and collaborative activities. We finished reading and discussing our scripts for Play Festival (The Frog Prince and This is a Test). We discussed the social, emotional and physical aspects of each play and character and selected roles for auditioning/casting. Each student was permitted to audition for 3 roles from each play (cast lists will be posted soon). By week's end we cast both plays and began brainstorming about physicality (gestures, movement, body language).

Congrats to this class for a successful week! I especially enjoyed Lantz's performance of the voice and Maxine's performance of Solitaire.

Don't forget to turn in your resumes and head shots!

Advanced Dance

This dynamic group of dancers really impressed me this week. We focused on jazz technique and interpretive movement this week. In the beginning of the week I taught them a technical jazz dance combination. The last phrase in the combination would vary depending on skill level. The first combination was the most difficult and worth 3 points. The second was somewhere in the middle in terms of difficulty and was worth 2 points. The third combination was the least difficult and was worth only one point. I allowed the students to select the last phrase for performance. I was pleasantly surprised when none of them chose the 'easy' combination. Already they are challenging themselves and I was tickled pink.

We also focused on interpretive movement. The students were assigned a group project. This was there assignment:
A
1 - describe yourself with 3 adjectives
2 - create 3 movements to represent your 3 adjectives
3 - piece the 3 movements together into a short dance phrase
B
Incorporate your phrase with another student's work
C
Incorporate your new phrase (created with your partner) with another partnership

By week's end my students had choreographed and polished their work for presentation/assessment. Everyone did a fine job! I especially enjoyed the work created/performed by:
Rachel, Desiree, Kaitlynn, Jordan, Sarah, Shonna and Destiny.

~ Mrs. Amy Jones

Welcome Back!

Welcome back BRATS (brilliant, remarkable, talented students),
I hope you enjoyed your summer vacation and you are now refreshed and ready for another exciting and challenging school year full of creativity and performance.

This year we will continue with our past traditions and begin a few new ones. What is new, you wonder?

The South Stage Touring Company!

The South Stage Touring Company is comprised of members from my fall Advanced Theater and Advanced Dance classes. These talented students will be presenting their work at local elementary schools later this semester.

Stay tuned for more information regarding The South Stage Company!

You can look forward to a complete Performance Calendar for the 2011 - 2012 school year which will include events/performances by Art, Band, Chorus, Dance and Theater Arts.

~ Mrs. Amy Jones

West Side Story is a Success!

Congratulations to the cast and crew of West Side Story. We wound down the semester with two wonderful performances. Thank you to all for their hard work and dedication.

Here are the cast pictures from the show!

Tech Days: Day Three, the grand finale!

Today was the third and final day of Tech Days and despite the fact that Mother Nature challenged us with a few thunder showers and tornados, we managed to have another successful day. Mr. Jones and I rounded up the troups and instructed them to go home around noon. The weather looked questionable and we thought it would be best not to chance it. Some students left, others remained... It was still a fun day.

Here is who attended (or attempted to do so):
Isaiah, Carolyn, Ralph, Cheyenne, Courtney W, Summer, Dericka, Aleccia, Tiffany, Cynthia, Crystal L, Caylin, Scott, Anthony, Brisson, Crystal B (Chorus), Brandon, Demetrius, Tyler, Megan W, Steven S, Luke, Lauren, Kramer, Tyshea, Tyesha, Donterius, Zach, Kyle, and Alex.

Thanks for all your hard work. Taking into consideration the weather hazards and inconvenience that followed I've decided to drop the 5 hour requirement, but I will reward those of you participated with extra credit (and I will make it very worth while). Thanks again for working so hard and for being wonderful and talented people.

Hugs,
Mrs. Jones


We're almost done!


Happy 17th Birthday Isaiah!




Luke being Luke...

Tech Days: Day Two

We had a very successful tech day today. I must give a great big thank you to the hard working students who participated:
Isaiah, Josh, Amber M, Austin, Samantha, Stephanie, Taylor H, Ralph, Kimberly, Brandi W, Bianca, Cheyenne, Courtney W, Tradeesha, Dae and Lashyra.

Earned their 5 hours - great work!

We look forward to seeing the rest of you tomorrow. Tomorrow is the last day to earn your 5 hours. Please remind your friends. We are making good progress but we need all the help we can get tomorrow!

- Mrs. Jones

Tech Days: Day One

I would like to express much thanks and appreciation to the students who made it out today to work on the set: Amber G, Taylor, Katie S, Isaiah, Megan B, Audrey, Philip, Jonathan, Carolyn, Josh, Dericka, LaShonda, Hannah, Crystal (theater), Kaitlyn G, Maggie, Mia, and Amber M

We made a lot of progress today but we still have a lot of work ahead of us. We look forward to more help tomorrow. Please remind your friends if you do not see their name listed here.

Completed their five hours - great work!

- Mrs. Jones

It's Musical Time!

Happy Spring Break! Don't forget April 26, 27 and 28 are tech days (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday). Each student involved in the musical is required to put in 5 hours of time to work on the set.

Musical Rehearsal Schedule:
May 2, 3, and 5 - 3 PM to 5PM
May 7 (Saturday Lock In) - 9 - 3 PM
May 9, 10, 11 - 3 PM - 6 PM

This years musical is West Side Story and will be performed at SCHS on May 12 and 14, 2011.

I hope you are having a safe and restful break. If you have any questions please contact me.

Mrs. Jones