Evaluation
This FMP unit has been a fun filling experience which has allowed me to use my imagination and develop my dance and acting skills to grow as a performer.
At the start of my FMP, we were given a stimulus to base our performance on. The stimulus was the Zoonations Mad Hatters Tea Party from Alice in Wonderland. As I had never seen the film or had any knowledge of what happens in the film, I had took it upon myself to watch the film and do my research. We also had to consider ways of conveying the topic of mental health within our performances. Instantly, I had so many ideas coming to my head and it took me a few days to make a decision as of what my performance was going to be about. 
Dance was my strongest aspect of my performing arts, I knew I wanted to use it in my FMP as it would give me a chance to get a higher grade. However, I felt that I needed to challenge my abilities as I always focus on dance and I wanted to try something new. My acting skills were not very strong at the start of this unit, therefore I used this to challenge myself. At this point I still wasn't sure how I was going to incorporate acting into my performance, so I focused on dance by watching YouTube clips to help me with movement ideas. Once I started to piece movement together and showed my peers and my teacher, I was given good feedback to help me progress with my acting skills. Katy recommended that I could try doing a voiceover to develop my acting skills over the dancing. I was very nervous at first but decided to challenge myself and go for it. I also feel that my skills as a performer have improved. It was so interesting to see my characterisation skills continuously develop throughout each run through and rehearsal. I also feel proud to say that my confidence has improved throughout each rehearsal as during the run throughs I felt very shaky on stage and this affected my movement, as I stumbled and lost balance a lot of the time. But on the day before the real performance, I was able to become my character and focus on my characterisation instead of the audience.
Throughout the planning, I knew that I wanted my performance to be very inspirational and based on a character which suited my dance style.  My performance was based on the Queen of Hearts who is an aggressive, quick tempered character in Alice in Wonderland. I wanted to use this character as I found her very interesting in the film and knew there was so much I could do with her character. As I wanted my performance to be inspirational, I tried thinking of some morals which I could incorporate into my performance. As my character is a villain in the story this was a difficult process, but as I started to research more into her background, there were so many morals I could tie into my performance. I also used the movie Alice through the looking glass as support to show the Queens past and how it affected her. My initial idea shows the Queens past at her coronation where the crown could not fit on her head and the crowd was mocking her. As a result of this she reacted in a aggressive manner which led to her father believing that she wasn't capable of being Queen and therefore handed the throne to her younger sister. The Queen flew into rage as she was older. Therefore she wanted revenge on everyone.
My first dance was based on her sadness and insecurities. Society had trapped her in sadness and fear of never being respected or loved. Parts of the dance show happiness and excitement through getting revenge and becoming more powerful. This dance also shows the Queens anxiety. My second dance is about the Queens evilness. At this point of my performance I am showing how dark minded she has become and how deeply her past has affected her. Her psychotic traits are presented strongly in this dance showing how the only way to get respect from others is for them to fear her.
Throughout this process I have had to do some research about her background, the story, the author and practitioners to help support my performance. I eventually chose to use Bertolt Brecht and Meyerhold as my two practitioners as their techniques worked well with my intentions. For example, I researched Brechtian techniques and applied his use of technology, songs and music, placards and freeze frames. In regards to Meyerhold, I focused on his idea of using the whole body, using gestures and puppetry. Throughout my coursework I also thought about practical skills, context and reflections. In the contextual parts of my coursework I was able to build on my ideas and secure all of it on Wakelet. Throughout this journey I was also able to develop my practical skills as a dancer and I filmed some videos of some of my dance motifs and placed them in a collection on Wakelet for evidential purposes. I also understood the importance of reflecting as a performer and logged all my rehearsals, reflections and schedules in a collections on Wakelet. I also created a weekly timetable to help me stay organised through this journey. My reflections have helped me develop as a performer and highlight some positivity during my rehearsals.
I also took some time to plan my costume, props and staging. This part was my faviroute part as I really enjoyed becoming creative with my artistic skills. I purchased a Queen of Hearts costume online to really enhance my character and to support the audience so they could tell who I was right as I entered the stage. I also purchased some card and coloured pens to create some placards s that the audience could understand what my performance was about. I also thought about my staging and decided that I would have only one chair on stage for my performance to use as a throne for my character. However, one day before the performance a large platform was covering the stage which really affected the amount of space I had to dance. This required me to use my initiative to use the space that I had to adapt and perform.
During rehearsals I worked super hard and used them to focus on my movement and characterisation. I also used rehearsals to get feedback from my peers and teachers. I feel that I did not follow my timetable on my project proposal properly as there were times where I was off schedule and it took me longer to get the dances finished. Therefore I understand that this is something I must work on for the future. However I am really proud that I was able to stick to my first initial idea in the project proposal and that I didn't need to change anything. I felt that the project proposal and the timetable was very effective as it allowed me to stay organised and I was always able to refer back to it to remember my story and my goals. 
During this journey, I was also able to work with production arts to plan my tech for my performance. Bob was in charge of my tech, so i fed back all my ideas to him. I chose to use red lighting at the start into the middle of the first song to highlight the Red Queen and show the audience who she is. At the end of the first dance I changed the lighting the colourful flashy lighting as this supported the idea of change and excitement. In my second dance I chose red lighting throughout the whole dance to show the rage and evilness within the dance. I also asked Bob about any effects I could possibly use for my performance. I was informed about AV projectors which was amusing as it was something new to me. Therefore I chose two images online to match my performance and sent them to Bob. I also did my voiceover with the tech team which was a new and fun experience. There were lots of strengths to working with the tech team, although I still feel things could have been better with remembering specific details as during the run through there were issues with my lighting.
The performance day was a very nerve wrecking and stressful day. However I am really happy that I was very organised the night before and in the morning. I ensured that I got a good nights sleep and work up early so I had time to do my make up and get to college and warm up. Getting to college on time also helped me stay calm and warm up effectively. I felt that the performance went well and I was able to use my facial expressions and sharp dynamics to link to my characterisation and I did not feel shaky on stage because my confidence on stage.
I really enjoyed doing my FMP and I feel that I have enjoyed this unit compared to all the other units we have done throughout the year.

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