There were no specific requirements for this project as we were given freedom to develop and choose our own part of the play and style, song and dance.  The play we 4:48 psychosis and scene 10 was what I have done based my project on.  

I undertook a quite a bit of research on Sarah Kane and the sensitive topic of the play, and made sure I had done my research as it was an important subject to portray correctly.  With this research me and my duet partner came up with different ideas and certain movements to show off the idea of a psychiatrist/doctor and a patient like in Sarah Kane's play.  The patients in her play were suffering from their own mental illnesses therefore we made sure for me, who was the one to portray the patient, to show of the idea of being scared and erratic with their movements, while Lucy did the role of the psychiatrist, so her movements were very rigid and almost normal in comparison.  The psychiatrist was trying to control the patient/situation almost like an old fashion mental institution, which only made the patient worse.  

Me and my partner did keep to our rehearsal schedule we had planned, which the first few lessons were doing a trial and error as our dance was a contact piece so it was very difficult to choreograph and think of contact movements.  Because of this we did struggle with choreography and piecing our dance together.  This took us a little longer than everyone else because we had to try out lots of different tricks and lifts so we had to narrow down the ones which worked for us.  

When we got our feedback from the piece we had created we were advised to change certain sections that didn't flow as well.  We took on board this feedback and adapted the dance.  I was also advised to perform a solo at the start for the piece to transition the duet and add more context but also to showcase my ability a bit more as it was harder to show in the duet.  This was very challenging as I had to make this up a few days before the final performance and was out of my comfort zone because I had to show off my acting ability to really set the mood of the character I was trying to create and portray to the audience.

Overall I am happy with the final outcome of this piece even though it was not how I originally pictured it and also wished I had more time to perfect and neaten the final performance.  If the late changes to this piece had been done earlier on, then we would have had the time to finish this as a polished performance and also be more confident with the memory of the dance.

Overall I was happy with the choreography of the piece but on reflection I would have changed a few certain areas.  

In my duet technically I did well considering the amount of time I had on this but in our duet it was very difficult for us to be technically accurate because of the theme of being erratic and portraying the character, and for them not to be stereo-typically normal, therefore having irregular movements and timings.

In my solo at the start I would have included more of my own tricks to show my ability however I gave myself a challenge to try to act more and focus on my expression and character than just the dancing to explain the theme.

In our duet if we had more time I would have made us being in contact more in the dance as I personally feel that as the dance went on we lost connection, and could have thought of different connecting movements.  This would have stuck to my original idea of an intense contact piece.  

I do feel that I have developed and are more aware of my emotion and facial expressions and how important they are to set the scene and create the right atmosphere to the audience.

On reflection I will take forward to future assessments the requirement to make sure I seek peer review earlier on in rehearsals and at more frequent time frames to allow any amends to be made and well rehearsed prior to the final performance.  Also I must not be afraid to challenge myself even if it doesn't work out in my favour because this pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me to succeed and overall gave a better performance to the audience.  In future assessments and performances, I now know that I am confident and capable of portaying a character through facial expression and acting style within the dance pieces.  This is a huge achievement for me as I have always struggled to feel confident doing this in front of an audience and I am truly proud of myself to final feel comfortable to let go.

My choreography skills have improved as I now know how to show of better relationships in a dance and how important and effective that is in the final performance.   Even just the tiny subtle movements of grabbing onto each other or eye contact, and acknowledging and trusting each other during the dance can make a big difference.