Thai Dance

Blue house performing their Thai dance

What was the activity?

Loy Kratong is a Thai festival celebrated every year. At our school we celebrated it on the 30th of October and it was a day filled with many Thai cultural shows, one of which I was a part of. I signed up for the inter house Thai dance competition which involved daily practices for a week leading up to our final performance.

What were my aims?

My aims were to develop my Thai dancing skills, step outside my comfort zone, to memorize all the dance moves, contribute my own ideas and help put on a good show.

There were eight people involved in this performance and we met every lunch time to practice our dance. After about two weeks of practicing we performed our dance on the 30th of October. On the day we had to first of all get ready which involved getting our hair and makeup done and getting dressed up in our traditional Thai outfits. We ended up coming 3rd place out of the four positions and even though we didn’t win we were all really happy because we knew we’d done our best. Overall I feel the activity was a success, everyone involved had to push themselves and learnt something new.

What did I do?

I took me a few rehearsals but eventually I learnt the whole dance off by heart. On the day of the performance I didn’t have to rely too much on looking at the other dancers in order to remember all the moves. I definitely feel that I stepped outside my comfort zone as I haven’t put on many dance performances in my life and definitely not Thai ones. I have only Thai danced a few times before so this was a big challenge for me. Since our final performance was quite a success I feel that I reached most of my goals successfully. One of my aims was to contribute my own ideas however this was something I struggled with as I have a very limited Thai dancing background. Next time I will try to have a little more input.

Were there any difficulties along the way?

During the first few rehearsals we had to design the actual dance which we struggled with a little bit but we managed to get a hold of a Thai dance DVD which helped us immensely. Another major problem we came across was that two of our dancers decided to drop out on the day of the performance. We had to solve this by finding two new dancers and teaching them all the moves in just a few hours. Fortunately they learnt the dance very fast so our performance was a success.

What did I achieve?

This dance allowed me to develop my creativity skills as I haven’t done much Thai dancing before. I also became more of a risk taker seeing as this was a new experience for me. Next time I come across a new and unfamiliar situation I will know that if I try my best I will be able to overcome the challenge.

Costume Design (Blood Brothers Senior Production)

The whole cast in their costumes

What was the activity?

This activity involved designing and organising costumes for the entire cast of the senior production Blood Brothers. It was an ongoing activity which I have been working on since last half term. All this work led up to two final performances at the beginning of December which were a huge success.

What were my main aims?

My goals and objectives were to design costumes for every single member of the cast, to develop my creativity skills and to neatly organize all the costumes the drama department already owns. The two performances of the play were very successful and everyone was wearing appropriate costumes. No one was missing any of their clothes and they were all neatly hung on a rack with labels, therefore I feel that I managed to meet my objectives successfully.

What did I do?

During this project I was working with Eline and Ms. Redler who were also part of the costume design team. The first thing we did was collect design ideas from all cast members depicting what they wanted their costumes to look like. We did this by sitting down with them, posing questions and asking them to draw a design idea on a piece of paper we handed out to them. As a member of the costume design team I have been attending all the rehearsals, researched into attire appropriate for this play and I have watched a version of the play done in England. On the nights of the performances Eline and I made sure no one’s costumes were missing and that everything was in place. We were also asked to help out with microphones. This was a new experience as I had never been involved in the technical aspects of plays before.

Were there any problems along the way?

There were admittedly quite a few difficulties which we encountered during this project. Firstly not all the costumes we needed were available in the drama department. This was quite an easy fix though as we hired a tailor to come into school and sew us some costumes. Also when we were checking all the costumes the weekend before the play we realized that some of the clothes which the actors had picked out for themselves weren’t in period or appropriate for the play. We solved this problem by searching through pre-existing costumes in the drama department. On the night of the play Eline and I found out that we would also be helping out with microphones as well as costumes. During the second performance of the play one of the lead actresses was having a problem with her microphone as it simply wasn’t working. We quickly swapped her batteries between scenes but unfortunately it still didn’t work. We finally managed to solve the problem though by using a microphone from one of the minor characters who didn’t really need it. As we were solving these problems I learnt that in stressful situations such as these one just needs to remain calm and communicate with the people around you. It is much easier to fix situations when you work as a team.

What have I learnt?

I have learnt that preparing for a play requires a lot of time and effort, even if you are just helping out backstage. I now have a new found respect for people involved in plays as I’ve realized they aren’t very easy to organize. I have also been able to work on my communicative skills while discussing costume designs etc. with the cast. If I ever get involved in working backstage in a play again, I will know that before you get started you need to do some research to get background information on the play. I also now know how to arrange and design costumes.