Practise. Practise! PRACTISE!

It's that time of year again. Everyone's rushing around figuring out this and that. The presentation is this Thursday. To be honest, telling you what we've been doing is a lot harder than just showing you. Thanks to Miss Richardson and Mrs Clark for taking photos of our rehearsals!

Thursday last week was mufti day. This made it a lot easier to move around and add costume pieces to something that isn't the boring school uniform. Unless you're Nathan and wear suits to school on mufti day. This is your cue to facepalm and/or laugh.

Circle of Life practice complete with three buzzards and a brilliant shadow of Miss Richardson creeping onto the stage. I don't even know...

Daniel as Mufasa and Meagan as Simba: Speaking from experience, it's very empowering standing on those blocks, acting as king.

Nadia, or should I say, Scar and her pack of hyena's, planning to kill off Daniel, a.k.a Mufasa. Something Mrs Clark mentions in this scene, a lot, is projection. Also known as voice projection, projection in Drama is, in the words of Wikipedia, the strength of speaking or singing whereby the voice is used loudly and clearly. It is a technique employed to command respect and attention, as when a teacher talks to a class, or simply to be heard clearly, as used by an actor in a theatre. On another note...

Speaking of Nadia, as Mufasa's understudy I've been practising my scenes during Monday and Thursday with her and the other actors in the play. Can I just say how hard it is to keep a straight face when she gets close to you? Maybe it's just me but it's very intimidating, which I guess is a good thing, considering her role as Scar

In a similar style to the Circle of Life choreography, is the Finale, also known as Circle of Life Reprise, also also known as King Of Priderock. This scene, if you don't know, Simba has just defeated Scar and is now being presented as the king. This scene is a lot less formal compared to the first one!

Why.. Why is Zach just sitting in front.

As I've mentioned in the title, we've got to practise, a lot. Really, this is all we'll be doing this week.
I've tried a different layout for this blog post, so that's a thing.

I'm Goin' Down, I'm Yelling Simba

Get it... because I'm the Mufasa understudy... and he calls for Simba in the gorge... then falls into the gorge... and dies... I'm sorry.

The last few days have been hectic. We've really been getting to work! So let's go back and see what we've been up to!

Wednesday

Today was the day that truly sent us into mania. In the morning; after doing our normal warmups (seen in the last two posts) we headed outside to start the "blocking*" stage of rehearsal. We spent half of the period working on this. I don't want to spoil too much but the basics are simple. There are 3 semi-circles around the main cast. One row is my row, at the back, we're the "chorus." The next two rows in front of me are the Ensemble. Then, like I said, it's the main cast. That main cast is people like Zazu, Mufasa, Rafiki etc. The only "main" cast that isn't there is Simba and Nala.

In the left and bottom right images, I look so confused.
Also, I know I was behind Chloe, Chimera and Alesha in
the top right photo, so where'd I go?

*Blocking: In contemporary theatre, the director usually determines "blocking" during rehearsal, telling actors where they should move for the proper dramatic effect, ensure sight lines for the audience and work with the lighting design of the scene

After working on that for a while, we moved on to bits and pieces towards the end result. Miss Richardson took me, Faith, Jaime, Jade, Jess, I just realised how many j's that is, Ella and Keisha into a practise room to learn the Zulu part of Circle of Life. I would just like to say for the record, it's harder than you think. And no, it's not "pink pyjama's, penguins on the bottom." The rest of the lesson was spent learning that and trying to sing it.

Today we also had Drama period 5, meaning, we could spend the period practising our lines. That meant, me, Jakita, Daniel, Kerri, Jess and for help, Ella and Molly, all went into a practice room and spent the entirety of that period just going over the script. Meanwhile, people from GB were messing with, *cough* I mean, testing out, the costumes.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

At Home

Talking about costumes... Wednesday night, I was feeling artsy, so I tried out a makeup look for my character!

As a cheetah, I needed the spots and the nose. Which, both were done using eyeliner. Also, for the hair, I did two space buns. If you want a detailed description of how I did the makeup, I will update my slide (seen here) with a slide on how to do it.

Thursday

Today, was also hectic. For the first half of the period, we did some more blocking, this time for the finale and what to do at the end. Just saying, the finale is very similar to Circle of Life, but better. We then moved onto, once again, bits and pieces the needed to be done. We split into 4 groups, Actors/Understudies, Singers, Dancers and Ensemble. I, however, was split between singers and understudies. I first went with Miss Richardson and the Chorus. Today, Miss taught us that we were doing some harmonies with Jakita and Meagan in Just Can't Wait To Be King. We went over that a few times before moving onto Circle Of Life Zulu. Miss Richardson let us go and do whatever we needed to do if we didn't want to sit around with them while Jaime and Faith did their solo bits. I went out to Mrs Clark and worked with the actors in the first scene for the rest of the period. We went over some lines and I learnt that Nadia is a really good actor!  Here's a photo of us practising the Finale.

Things are getting serious and I love it. I'm really excited to see the final product!

I hope to do some more acting in the future!

Let's Get Down To Business To Defeat The-, Oop, Wrong Movie...

Monday 20 November: We're getting closer and closer!

Today we went over the script! But before we get to that, we did our warm-up's as usual. This time we started with a new warm-up, though it was similar to the other warmups we've done before. This time it was a different tune and an "ooo" sound. This kind of stuff helped us later on when we were actually singing... Anyway, now I know about 3 or 4 new warmups to use in the future.

Before we knew it, we were up and dancing/warming up to "Can't Stop The Feeling." Listen to it here! After doing normal warm-ups to that, during the chorus, we do a grapevine-like-step, clap, then do a little jump step thing. After doing that through the entire song, we go back to doing Hakuna Matata (as seen in my last post that can be seen here)

Starting something new, we move onto reading through our scripts. Having no role of my own, I listening silently, throwing in a few jokes here in there, considering most of the main characters are my closest friends.

Next, we moved to starting our blog posts (haha, I'm actually just writing this at home.) While I sat staring at the blogger "New Post" screen, Mrs Clark was playing around with the costume items right in front of me, distracting me even more than writer's block.

Anyway, I've been thinking about what animal I'd would like to be as apart of the ensemble. I would like to try and portray a... *drumroll* CHEETAH. I'm not completely sure as to why but I feel like it might have to do with the fact I love cats... 

*What is your animal?* The Cheetah!

*What does your animal look like?* cheetahs are known for their iconic black spots and tawny brown coat. One of the most differentiating features of the cheetah is its two black stripes which look like tear-lines, which stretch from the corners of the eyes to the corners of the mouth. 

*How does your animal move?* Obviously, cheetahs move quite fast but when they're moving as slow as a walk, they move quite elegantly, a strut almost.

*What are the personality traits of your character?* Considering Cheetah's are quite solitary, sneaky and protective creatures, I think I would like to portray an awkward-ish character.

I would love to challenge myself with the makeup portion of my costume, as a makeup lover myself.

I would love to try something like this ^

I look forward to maybe doing a bit more singing and making this whole show come to life!

P.S sorry for the shorter post today, like I said earlier, writer's block has been haunting me for a few days

Hamlet The Musical, But It's 6 Times Shorter, With Lions & Less Death

BREAKING NEWS Progress has been made in the realm of Lion King; The Musical!

Today, Thursday the 16th of November, in preparation for our lesson, we had to get changed into our P.E gear as today, we would be doing a lot of moving around.
First things first we started off with a simple 8 count warmup with Miss Richardson and our other warm-up that is "Mini mini ma, Mini mini ma, mini mini, ma ma ma ma ma" repeated over and over. This both really help with singing higher parts and overall warming up my voice. I find the mini ma one is an easy way of warming up.

Here comes the difficult part of our warmups. Yesterday Miss Richardson taught us a new warmup. Everybody can recognise Rossini: William Tell Overture: Final even if they don't know the name. Just to prove that, click here to hear it. It's the iconic race tune! Anyway, at first this may simple, but try it yourself. How we do it is, first we try the song with the words, which goes: "Papa's gotta ping pong, gotta ping pong ball" to the tune. Seems easy right?  It's about to get harder. Then we add in some arms, starting with your right arm, start with it up then pull it down to the beat, a simple 1, 2, 1, 2. Again, still seems easy. Then with your left arm, start with it up, then pull it so you're pointing to the side, then down. Now put it all together. It's super hard to sing and control your arms at the same time, but when you are doing musical theatre, it's crucial to be able to do multiple things at once.

After we were all warmed up, we played Space Jump, an improve game where the main aspect is to have one person start out doing something like, let's say, bouncing a ball. After a random amount of time a judge or teacher says "Freeze" or "Space Jump." That person then freezes for the next person to come up and create a new scene based on the pose the last person was in. (Because I'm so bad at descriptions, here's a video with an example, and probably a better explanation.)

Meagan trying to deal with Nathan being so melodramatic during Space Jump. 

Finally, we moved onto some more choreography. This time to Hakuna Matata. Today it was super simple! Starting out with a box step while clicking, playing hand games in time to the music and ending with a Super Mario Jump!










See below a video of the choreography

Here's an image of me derping out and looking at the camera while trying to focus on the choreography all at the same time.

Summer and I working hard at the Choreography

I found being able to do the hand clapping in time a bit difficult at first, as Chloe (my partner for practice) didn't really know what she was doing at first, but then I taught her and she was fine!

Ooh, I forgot to mention, the cast list went up today! (the names in brackets are the understudies)

Unfortunately, I did not get my own proper role. But, I am Daniels understudy as Mufasa! So I've got to be ready to step in at any time, just in case something bad happens to him, that I totally had no part in... Anyway! I'm proud of those who did get a role. Of course, I was upset that I didn't get a role that I wanted, but quickly after I had gotten over it, I realised I'm not always going to get the role I want. 

Something cool regarding the roles though, I'm going to be apart of the Chorus, which is a separate group from the ensemble that I guess will be doing harmonies?

As I don't really have my own role, I was hoping, on the night, that I could be like apart of the whole makeup and costume scene. I feel that because I have such an interest in making my own costumes and have experience doing makeup that it would something I was quite good at as well as being really committed to it! Jaime, Jakita and I have already been so intrigued by the scene that we've created a slideshow full of idea's and inspirations. It's still a work in progress but here it is!

I can't wait to see the final product!

Arts & Culture

How do you think a culture's ideas and values are shown in their art?

https://www.firstlighttravel.com/nz-self-drive-itineraries/south-island/south-island-culture-and-heritage-tour/itinerary

Maori Art
Charcoal drawings can be found in limestone shelters in the centre of the South Island. Most portray animals, people and fantastic creatures, possibly reptiles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_art

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_art

Māori visual art consists primarily of four forms: carving, tattooing, weaving and painting.

Lion King: The Musical. Let's Go!

Session Two of prep towards performing The Lion King Musical.
Today I have learnt how to do a couple new vocal warmups.
I am wondering whether or not I'll be able to get a role that I want or will enjoy.
I think I'll be happy as any role I'm given. I would just really like to have a speaking role with a song as well. Nala would be fun to play.

Musical Theatre - Arts Festival 2017

This year for Arts Festival, I signed up for Musical Theatre with, Mrs Clark, Mrs Beer and Miss Richardson. This year, we are doing The Lion King.
Today in Musical Theatre we kicked off the next four weeks with three sections of different activities. When signing up for Musical Theatre, you aren't just signing up for acting, otherwise, it would have been called Theatre NOT Musical theatre.
First, we started with Drama activities, 16/16, Tequila, 123 and Copy Clap. These things each, in a way, helped us figure out how to work as a team or "ensemble."
Then we moved on to some vocals practises. We started with a vocal warmup, which was kinda silly, but practical. Next, we got into two groups to sing The Lion Sleeps Tonight. One group (group one a.k.a my group) was the group that actually sung lyrics and could sing a bit higher. While the other group sings the "Wim ba way" bit.
Last but not least we learnt a few parts of the choreography (dance moves) to Thriller and Can't stop the feeling.
I found picking up the choreography quite easy but keeping it in time with others was challenging.

Superheroes in Art 2017

This is Shay

1) Why did you choose your character?
I didn't really choose them, I was given my thumbnail paper, just made her up on the spot and rolled with it.
2) What is he/she doing?
Posing.
3) Why did you choose the colours?
I felt like the pastel colours contrasted against the regular/darker colours in "Shay."

100 Word Challenge 2017

I watch as the sky gets lighter and lighter as our shuttle plummets towards Earth. A word from the captain says to be careful leaving the station. Following the other passengers off the craft, I change into suitable clothing."Oh, my Jegus" I hear Jakita from the carpark. Running out. I see what she and Molly were looking at. What 65 years have done. Nothing but a swamp and a few trees. Inches of water has swamped what was grass. I remember learning about this “climate change will make the worlds sea level rise”. Well done New Zealand, well done.

Quail Island/ōtamahua

Quail Island is a small nature reserve South East of Christchurch in Lyttelton Harbour.

Otamahua, in English, means ‘the place where the tamariki (children) collect seabirds because, in the early 19th century, it was used as a food collecting place. Later in the 19th century, it became a quarantine station. People who came in from Europe would go to the island for about 2 weeks before
coming over to Lyttleton. The island later became a place for people diagnosed with leprosy.

The idea of our trip was to show us how humans and our activities have an impact on our world and how we, as the “future” of our country, could make a change now, so that the next generation can have what we have now. It's all about conservation.

The D.O.C is currently, along with volunteers, trying to restore the island to its natural state. They are currently working to get these native birds; South Island tomtit/miromiro, brown creeper/pïpipi, rifleman/tïtitipounamu, Tui, Fernbird/mätä, South Island robin/kakariki Yellowhead/mohua, South Island saddleback/tïeke and possibly the Parakeet/käkäriki back onto the island. At the moment, the island is predator-free but there is a problem. Animals like mice and rats can run across the mud flats during low tide.

I love the idea of being able to recreate how it was centuries ago. I tried to learn as much as possible during the trip, though I was distracted. This kind of stuff is interesting to me.

Here are a few pictures I took. (Mainly of my friends)

The Culture of Theatre

Mime - Creating illusion through use of body

Basic Skills of effective mime
1. Isolation of body parts
2. Pulling faces
3. Eye-Hand co-ordination
4. Showing weight and quality
5. Showing length
6. Maintaining the illusion

Pink Chameleon

Rorie and Elsie's parents have disappeared. Just like that. And with only their cruel uncle to look after them the girls are swept off to his miserable boarding school. But the sisters are determined to escape their uncle's grip - and discover the truth behind their parents' disappearance.
Pink Chameleon, the first book in the series, was written by Fiona Dunbar.
The storyline of Pink Chameleon is pretty interesting, but the plot is all over the place. First, they're at home, fine, then they're parents are randomly gone, no trace of them found, then their uncle and auntie show up at their house to take them away from home for a while, next they're at school. All of this happens really quickly and that's not even the end of the story.
Overall I would give this story a 3 out of 5.

Amongst The Hidden

Amongst The Hidden is the first book in the dystopian book series "The Shadow Children" written by Margaret Haddix. The book follows the main character, Luke, who lives in a county where third children are illegal. The problem is he is a third child himself.
I quite like this book, but it seems to drag on a bit, not much seemed to happen, too many "filler" parts.
I would give it a 3/5

Kete Breakfast

What did I learn from this experience?
I learnt how the people in our class will act when setting out and initiating a plan.

How did I contribute to the success?
I helped plan most of it, I also delivered hot chocolates

What else could I have done?
Take more photo's

What else could I have done to improve the breakfast?
Plan out how we were serving everyone in a better way

Did my personality suit the role?
Yeah, as the planner, first aid and a storyteller, I think they did

Where were the weaknesses?
Holes in the plan, people not taking part etc.

A Mad Zombie Party

A Mad Zombie Party is the fourth book in the White Rabbit Chronicles series. The book is in the changing perspective of Aston "Frosty" Martin and Camilla "Milla" Mark, who start out as enemy's but during the story, after Milla has been assigned as Frosty's "bodyguard", slowly get closer as friends.

Some things I liked and disliked about the story;
I liked how it was different yet the same to the rest of the series, that being said when I first started to read the book I personally didn't like the fact it wasn't in Ali's point of view, but after reading into it more, I grew to like it. It wouldn't come across as well if it was in her point of view.

There isn't really anything I would change.

Out of 5, I would rate it 4/5. There are a couple things that don't make sense, but that might just be me.

Overall I really like this book and would read it again, again.

Maori Superheroes in Art

1) Why do you Maori people might need superheroes?
Because of representation in the media. When younger kids see people in art or on TV they can relate to, they believe what they are or are like is normal.
2) How do superheroes "give power" to Maori people and their culture?
Like I said before, representation, growing up knowing that their normal and not outcasts mean they'll be a lot more confident in older years.
3) What does Mana mean?
Pride, power, strength etc.
4) Why do you think Mana is important in terms of Maori superheroes?
Most superheroes come off as strong and proud.
5) List four characteristics your superhero will have

• Cautious
• Pride
• Integrity
• Intelligence

Art 2017 Colour Wheel

This lesson we made colour wheels! We mixed together the primary colours to make the secondary colours. This is mine ^.

Art 2017 Lesson 4

 Side One!

Side two

This period and last period I was working on side one, which is an original character of mine, and the landscape behind her. Last lesson, after I had finished my original character, I did a fun little drawing of a female in a dress on side two

Art 2017

In art, we are focusing on the superhero world. This is my work so far. I've been drawing Supergirl from the DC comics. In the picture, I have my notes in the corner, my style of her on the far left, a more detailed version in the middle and the start of a chibi style on the far right. I'm really proud of my chibi version and my own version, but not so much the one in middle.

Community Projects/Services

Five public services in Hornby.

1. RainbowYOUTH - An LGBTQA+ support centre/helpline, with a peer support group, a safe space etc.

1. 

   https://www.ry.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Round-Logo-Colour-copy.png

2. Te Whare Awhero (Hope House) - Professional Supervision, Social Work, Counselling etc.

3. Anxiety New Zealand Trust - An Anxiety support trust for any age

4. Health Care NZ - health, disability and rehabilitation support in homes and the community.

5. Youthline - Youthline works with young people, their families and those supporting young people.

Inquiry - 

Rainbow Youth

How does this service serve my community?

Rainbow Youth is a charitable organisation dedicated to helping any young queer and/or trans youth up to the age of 28. They have a range of groups for different ages including GQ or Generation Queer (for ages under 18), ID (for 18 to 27), Queer4Shore (under 27), Star*, Rainbow Northland (13 to 24 in the area), Outside The Box, Dungeon Queering (It's D&D basically), QWest (13 to 17), TaurangaPryde, and ArtistRY. Their website is full of a bunch of resources to help both the queer youth of NZ and their families. They have a page dedicated to the useful words and link for the families of queer children to learn and use.

Business And Enterprise 2017

This year for business and enterprise I am working with Molly, Natasha and Meagan. Our business is SnAZZY GOODS, we are selling Bunny Garlands (bunting) and watercolour paintings. The paintings are two dollars each and the garlands are one dollar each. Originally we were going to make terrariums and paint rocks but that plan didn't work out.

Our Poster/Advertisement

This year, our company didn't have to spend any of Mrs Elley's money, as for what we planned to do, we already had everything we needed to make our products. This means whatever we sell is straight profit.

So far I've learned you won't always stick with your original plan, as we did not.

On the first day of the first week, we sorted out what products we wanted to make, the name of our business and who was going to be what for our company. On Wednesday, we made our logo and filled out our business plan. It took us a while to figure out what our logo was going to be because we all had different ideas. Then on the next day, the Thursday we did a bit more, we made new logo, we made a poster for our company, we made a rough copy of what we wanted our stall to look like, finished the main points of our business plan and came up with our "mascot", Larry (the guy in our poster). Friday was our most productive day. We decided what our packing was going to be, we looked up what paintings we could make and we made another logo (which is our current logo). As a group, we also sorted what we needed to bring and made a slide for Miss Richardson.

During the weekend, as a joke, I made a commercial for our company. Even though I didn't expect us to use it, we will be having it rolling on our stall on the day.

The second week of B&E was when we started creating our products. Molly and I had already made the bunnies for our garlands so we just need to put them on the string so they could be hung up. On that Monday we started and finished making and packaging the garlands. The Wednesday was the day we started painting! Molly and Natasha had brought in their watercolour paints and paintbrushes and Molly also brought watercolour paper. I had my sketchbook in my bag so when we ran out of watercolour paper we could use that paper instead. The next few days were spent making our paintings.

Graduate Profile Goals 2017

From the Year 8 Graduate Profile, the two goals I think I have personally achieved are "I can use digital tools creativity" and  "I can work with people successfully".

Some evidence to back up "I can use digital tools creativity" is, in the past, I have used/found different tools online to create assessments, like when I created an animation with Jakita instead of a poster or a presentation. Another example is when a poster is needed, while other people use Google drawings or Google Docs I would use something easier like Canva.

To back up "I can work with people successfully" I have continuously been paired with people I don't necessarily like or wouldn't be friends with but I figure a way around it, like getting on with the work and trying to get them interested in the work

From the Year 8 Graduate Profile, the two goals I think I personally need to work towards are "I can give useful feedback to others" and "I manage my emotions when I'm challenged or frustrated"

I believe I need to work towards "I can give useful feedback to others" because I put other feelings in front of what is needed. The steps I need to take to get there is stop over complicating everything and worrying that I'll hurt someone with my opinion.

I believe I need to work towards "I manage my emotions when I'm challenged or frustrated" because I'm very sensitive and get overwhelmed easily. Steps I can take to get there is, again, to stop over complicating everything and calm down.

Sherbet!

1/4 c Icing Sugar
1tsp of powdered drink crystals (eg Raro)
1/4 tsp citric acid
1/4 tsp tartaric acid
1/4 baking soda.

Put all ingredients into a zip lock bag, stir with a wooden stick and enjoy

Evaluate: It fizzes like supposed too, has very little sourness, and a faint taste of pineapple. It's a very

Describe effect in mouth/tongue: Fizzes on tongue and leaves after taste, after taste is very

Taste: slightly Mouth-watering

Acidity/sweetness: not very sour, not too sweet.

Explaining an Explantion

This week in writing we've been learning how to write explanations. So far we have been writing a short explanation on the Sun. We started writing out an introduction to... well introduce the subject.This is done by using short not completely detailed sentences. We then moved on to choosing 3 things about the sun to write a paragraph on.
Each paragraph should have...

• A heading
• A topic sentence
• 6 to 8 lines about the subject

This is a section of my explanation

Golf Course... For Science!?

Yes... You heard me right.
In kete, we are learning about forces, and for our assessment, we have been instructed to create a mini golf course. Why? Because to play mini golf, you need to push the ball by hitting it with a putt/club, 'push' is a force. See the connection?

Molly and I are working together to create our golf course. We have created a google drawing showing how we want our course to layout with minor details.

(The purple lines are the main paths to take and the blue lines are slopes ((Because we are mean)). The bright yellow lines are police tape... Don't ask)

The hardest part so far about making this is not letting our imaginations go wild. Because Molly and I can be so creative we had to realise that we actually have to make the course and make sure it's something we can make in 5 hours (The time limit we have). For example, our first plan was to make a house in the middle of the course. We then realised we can't make this in the time we have. Our next steps are to figure out how to make and then make the course.

Trial and Error

Learning Outcome:
We are learning to solve a problem by trial and error

Success Criteria

• I will have tried different ways of solving the problem
• I will check to see if there is more than one way
• I will have a correct answer

The Problem

We were given 7 cards each labelled - 3,=,5,x,7,8. We needed to make an equation with these that is true and use ALL the cards

Reflection - We were completely wrong with how we tried to sort out the equation. Rather than a _+_x_= equation it was a _+_=_x_ equation. So really from the beginning, we had no idea what we were doing! 

Music Performance 2017

Ahh, the first performance of 2017 music, nerve-racking but fun. This time I performed with Jakita, Ella and Molly.
We performed Melanie Martinez's Carousel one of my favourite songs from the Crybaby album. I really enjoyed that we got Jakita out of her comfort zone and got her to sing with me, also the fact that we seemed sort of like a band, with Molly on Uke and Ella on Xylophone. Our performance wasn't perfect, that would be impossible, but if I could go back and change anything, I would make sure Jakita and I's videos were in time and see if there was any way to calm Jakita down a bit.
Either way, we had heaps of fun and that's all that matters, I would definitely do it again!