1. Reflective Log 2
Module: Unit 2 - Developing Skills and techniques for Live Performance
Context: Kate Prince/ZooNation Choreography – Mad Hatters Tea Party
Description of targets for the lesson/rehearsal - what you aim to achieve
and how you plan to achieve them.
This must include at least one target for each of the following:
Development of piece
Development of personal movement skills/technique
Good technique in new dance style – to refine hip-hop technique as Kate
Prince’s choreography demands stylistic clarity and athleticism. I plan to
achieve this by watching online tutorials, working with tutors in workshops,
breaking down complex sections, repetition and drills to improve muscle
memory.
Contribute creatively to choreographic tasks – to generate movement that
suits Prince’s style and the narrative themes of mental health, identity and
belonging. I aim to do this by taking part in improvisational tasks to explore
storytelling through dance.
Develop characterisation further and theatrical expression in the group
numbers – to convincingly embody my character through contact with
others, facial expressions and movement – I aim to research the storyline
and characters to deepen the connection with the character.
Notes on the Exploration and Development of the Performance Material
During this Session
In the early stages of rehearsals, I explored the Cheshire Cat as a mysterious,
playful, and slightly chaotic figure. Inspired by Kate Prince’s use of hip-hop and
theatrical storytelling, I decided my movement vocabulary would include smooth
isolations, sudden directional changes, and moments of stillness to give the illusion
of “appearing and disappearing” like the Cat in the story. To embody this, I worked
with gliding, floor work, and stylised gestures, often experimenting in improvisation
tasks to create quirky and non-linear movements. I also developed a signature facial
expression—a wide grin paired with raised eyebrows—to maintain character
throughout ensemble scenes.
The process of learning the group pieces and cleaning all of the group dances has
had its challenges and has pushed my loads to develop my skill set.
One of my SMART targets was to increase my stamina to make our exam easier for
me and to look more professional. By increasing my stamina, it meant I could focus
more on performing and my characterisation and technique and entertaining the
audience in our group pieces rather than focussing on my cardiovascular endurance
and being tired/out of breath. To improve this, I made sure to run the full dance or
doing my solo when I had the option to in a run or repeatedly going through the
group pieces to keep my stamina up throughout the long pieces of dance without
breaks, so that I got used to dancing for a long amount of time and could practice
doing certain dances when I’m more tired as I can get used to how that would feel,
especially the final group piece of our exam as I would've been dancing for just
under 20 minutes already which can be challenging, especially when trying to dance
with good technique and characterisation. Another way I improved my stamina is
2. outside of school and dance lessons I would condition/train myself so that I am able
to perform tasks which may cause physical exertion with more ease than I would've
been without the conditioning. My stamina definitely did increase over the time from
the start of running our whole exam piece to the day of our actual exam.
One thing I also had to work on within the group pieces was my technique as it was
a completely new style to me that I had never tried before, just like with my solo.
However, improving this in the group dances was a slightly different process to the
creation of my solo. For example, the choreography was already created so that
wasn't a problem for me, although that means that the choreography in which I am
doing can't be tailored more towards my skillset which meant there was a bigger
gap in the improvements I needed to make. This meant that I had to spend more
time working on the difficult skills and moves which were included in the
choreography of the group dances. Such as my timing and rhythm accuracy which
wasn't the most accurate at the start, to help this I listened to professionals during
our workshops talk about how the styles originated and how the grooves/rhythms
are effective in each different style, this helped me understand the history and
background behind each different rhythm which helped me include each into the
group pieces as this was where the majority of the improvement was needed. They
also helped give out tips to help understand the movement better and helped to
describe it which really helped my understanding of how the achieve the correct
rhythm and bounce in each different dance.
I have also studied the original production videos of the group dances looking out
for their rhythm and grooves in the dances to see exactly what it looks like and for
each character, this has helped me see visually what it should look like so that when
I watch any videos back from out rehearsals I understand whether what I am doing
looks somewhat correct or not and I have the chance to evaluate myself and apply
the corrections whether they're needed or not. This has really helped me when
performing the group pieces as it has helped me recognise exactly what it should
look like when I am performing these pieces and as pointed out my weak points or
where it doesn't look similar to the video. Improving my timing and rhythm accuracy
will improve the overall impression of my dancing and ability as a dancer even if the
improvement is slight, as it could improve my confidence in my ability in this style
which shows to the audience when performing and will overall increase impression
when dancing in a better way.
In the group numbers, especially the opening Wonderland sequences, I contributed
ideas about unison and canon formations that represented the chaos and rhythm of
Wonderland. One idea I suggested was using counterpoint to reflect the fragmented
mental states of the characters. This was later used in a section where each dancer
repeated a personal “tick” or gesture in their own time, before snapping back to
unison.
We also experimented with levels and travelling pathways, which helped create a
dynamic visual landscape. To remain in character, I worked on maintaining fluidity
while switching between ensemble and solo moments.
This scene was particularly theatrical, representing a shift into a more intimate and
emotionally charged setting. I helped develop the transition between playful and
tense moods by suggesting that we contrast sharp isolations with moments of
sustained stillness. This gave the impression that the Cheshire Cat was observing
but not emotionally affected—almost like a narrator or outsider. A challenge here
was making sure the tone shift felt believable while staying in character. I overcame
this by refining facial expressions and adjusting movement dynamics depending on
the emotional energy in the scene.
3. This was the most surreal and energetic section. It demanded fast-paced
movement, precision, and commitment to the world we were building. As the
Cheshire Cat, I led a small group section where we explored “breaking the fourth
wall,” interacting briefly with the audience before snapping back into choreography.
One choreographic idea I contributed was using mirrored movement between myself
and another dancer to show the Cat’s dual nature—playful and slightly threatening.
We developed this through improvisation and peer feedback, deciding on a phrase
that had both robotic and animalistic qualities.
During the process I had to overcome many challenges. Staying in Character During
Complex Movement - At first, I lost character focus during physically demanding
choreography. To improve this, I practiced short phrases in front of a mirror, adding
character-driven gestures and refining transitions to keep them expressive. Timing
and Precision in Group Sections - In fast unison phrases, I struggled to match timing
with others. I recorded rehearsals, watched them back, and counted music beats to
improve accuracy. Group rehearsals with clear visual cues also helped strengthen
ensemble unity. Choreographic Confidence - Early in the process, I hesitated to
share ideas. However, after receiving positive feedback on my “mirror movement”
concept, I became more confident contributing. I kept a rehearsal journal to track
ideas and shared them more regularly in group discussions.
Reflection on the strengths and weaknesses of any work that has been
created/rehearsed during this session, and suggestions for how to it:
This could be personal or group. Depending on the stage of rehearsal this could be
to do with content, choreography, ideas, performance skills, technique or any other
element of movement work.
One of my weaknesses during this process was my weight placement and technique
in the group dances. For example, all the group dances were in new and different
styles for me and what I am used to as a dancer, so this was very different and not
at all what I was used to. This means that it gave me a challenge and highlighted
the areas in which I needed to improve the most, such as weight placement in hip-
hop and footwork sections like the ending to the dance “hatters house”. VIDEO 1.
This was a challenging piece of choreography for me to learn and perfect as
someone who isn't trained in dance and has only previously tried things in her
comfort zone and similar to her existing abilities such as acro.
However, a strength for me during this time was my ability to pick up the
choreography quickly. For example, although my technique and execution may not
have been the best at the time I was able pick up the choreography quickly and it
would stay in my head for further lessons. This was helpful for this process as it
made it easier when learning and gave me more time to perfect the moves and my
technique in the group dances.
Overall, working on The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party has pushed me to develop both
technically and creatively. Playing the Cheshire Cat allowed me to explore
characterisation through movement, take part in collaborative choreography, and
deepen my understanding of Kate Prince’s style, which fuses narrative with urban
dance forms. I’ve become more confident in contributing to group work, refining
performance quality, and maintaining character integrity. Moving forward, I aim to
keep developing my musicality and stylistic clarity in hip-hop-based performance,
while continuing to explore character-led storytelling in dance.
