Miley (266)

I just want to take a few moments to talk about a performer that EVERYONE has been talking about; Miley Cyrus. She was once the lovable Miley with long brown hair and a crooked front tooth, but she was also Hannah Montana, pop star.  In her younger years she appealed to a crowd much younger but as she grew up so did her music. People saw her starting to dress more provocatively and she even pole danced at the teen Choice Awards. (if you want to see that; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCpHGPnz1fI) when you compare those rebellious acts to her performances and music videos as of lately ,they look like child play.

                I may be a little late to comment on this, but I was just trying to get over the death of the innocence of my once favorite singer. Now Miley has short blond hair, and barely wears clothes.  In her music video for her single “We Can’t Stop” it shows Miley dancing around inappropriately, doing inappropriate things.  It really turned me off from listening to the rest of her songs because I thought the rest of them would just be party hard songs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrUvu1mlWco

                Then we come to her Video Music Award performance. Now I just hate this “performance”. I put that in air quotes because it was just bad.  Now maybe if her singing was on pitch it would be bearable but that wasn’t even good. Don’t get me wrong. I believe Miley is actually a talented singer, but being off pitch while barely wearing clothes, and gyrating in odd patterns do not a performance make.

                

characteristics (425)

Performers of any kind, dance, color guard, cheer, acting, show choir, and choir, have many different characteristics. Some are bold with their choices, some are on the shy side and tend not to say a lot, some are so outgoing they never stop talking, but all of them have to be dependable, consistent and trustworthy people to be involved in such activities.

Performers need to be dependable because a director can only do so much, unless you want him or her feeding you lines from behind stage or yelling out moves in the middle of a show. The performer is the only one who can make themselves learn what they have to and have it locked in their brain, leaving the director to make the whole ensemble come together. Another reason it is good for a performer to be dependable is because the director will depend on you for a lot of things like, being on time, having everything you need to work and being ready for the day. Some directors depend on their performers so much they will have them run practice for a while, or give them keys to go unlock a door.

Consistency is something very useful in the world of performing arts because Directors expect that if you did it once you will do it again exactly like the way you just did it. In practice if you ran a show three times and the first one was good, everyone hit their marks or hit that back bend at the right place, the second one was awful, no one knew their lines and everyone was off pitch, and the third one was amazing, even after the third one a director wouldn’t be very happy because none of those were the same performance. Consistency also deals with being on time and how often you show up to practice, a director loves people who are early and almost never skip.

Trustworthy kind of goes with dependable. A director has to be able to trust that you won’t take those keys and unlock every door in the building or if you’re running rehearsal, they have to trust that you will actually be going over lines or hit points not just sitting around on break. Directors also have to trust that you will get your work done, if you are supposed to have such and such lines memorized then they trust that you will by the time they tell you to. These three characteristics make a good performer but talent and hard work help too.

Stress(431)

Being a teenager is a hard job in itself, with the growing up, losing friends and loved ones, new emotions, and trying to be decently behaved in public. Not even mentioning school, or jobs, or family life, or extracurricular activities, or even friendships. Adults tend to ask a lot of teenagers now-a-days, but when does it become too much? I believe that it is good to push kids to be the best they can be, but if people push too hard it will cause stress and emotional damage to someone who is still learning to be a functional human being.

            At school I’m busy from 7 am until 3 pm. 8 hours of just absorbing new information, each night I would say I have a few hours of homework, probably about three hours. And after school I have practice for show choir, which isn’t that bad now, because it is preseason practice, but once we hit the competition season it will be chaotic. I feel bad for people in cross country or swimming because a lot of the time two practices will overlap and they would have to go one to the next. And of course jobs. After school jobs are great but they just add another activity that you need to fit into a schedule. With all this time taken up where do you put hanging out with friends or spending time with family?

            I believe that one of the reasons people who work a lot, or people who are super busy get more stressed out, and tent to have anxiety, is because they don’t have time to just talk with their friends or tell their parents or siblings about their day. Because of this lack of communication there can be conflicts in homes, causing more stress then before.

            A good friend of mine told me she had a conversation with her vocal teacher about just this subject. Her vocal teacher, Mrs. Elliot, had told her that in today’s society there is too much pressure put on kids to pick the right college, hang out with the right friends, join all sorts of clubs, and get a job. Mrs. Elliot said that when she was a teenager they let you be kids. I’ve read before that teenage students today have the same stress levels as psych ward patients did in 1950. And I totally believe it. It seems to me that in the 50s kids worried more about what poodle skirt they were going to wear then what college they were going to attend. Read more about stress here: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2011/01/its_not_the_job_market.html

 

directors

                There is a large variety of directors in performing arts, and with that comes a large variety of relationships students and actors have with their directors. Many of these relationships are good but some can be not so good. I think that these relationships depend on two characteristics. How nice or mean the director is to the students and if their group wins or puts of a good performance or if they don’t.

                First there is the student director who is very helpful but sadly gets over looked when it comes to directors. I think that relationships with student directors are tricky because in school and in everyday life they are your equal and you have to treat them as such, but when you’re the actor and he/she is the student director he/she suddenly has more authority then you and that is hard for a teenager to understand and respect.

                Then there are directors that are rude to the kids and don’t put on good shows. By “rude to the kids” I mean during practice. Don’t get me wrong. They could be the nicest person when you talk to them one on one, but during practice all they do is call out mistakes and say that nothing is ever good enough. Students dislike these types of directors because a lot of the time directors that are rude don’t produce good shows because the kids just feel belittled.

                The second kind of rude directors are the ones that are rude in rehearsal, call out people singularly, nothing is ever good enough, but they win and put on good shows. Performers feel like they can put up with this type of director because winning is the payoff.

                Its always nice to get a nice director. It is also nice to win.  There is one kind of director that is so nice, he makes rehearsals fun, he never gets mad at the kids, and he never wins. That is a big letdown for the performers because he never would have told them what they were doing wrong because he is too nice.

                Personally I think a rude director that wins is preferable over a nice director who doesn’t.

                Last but not least is the nice director who puts on a good show. These directors are the most likeable because they make practices a good time  but get down to business when they need to and they create a good show.  So the performers are happy a lot of the time and it would be just a generally good environment to be in. 

dance moms

“Dance Moms” is a reality TV show about seven little girls, around the ages of 6 to 9, who dance at Abby Lee Miller’s dance company.  Abby Lee is the owner and choreographer of this competition dance team. Each week the girls learn a new group dance and some of them are given solos, duets, or trios. While the show fallows the girls learning and practicing their dances it also fallows the mothers of the girls and the drama that happened between them, thus the name “dance moms.”

All of the drama stems from one central area, that area is Abby Lee herself. She is very picky about how the girls dance and she isn’t afraid to express it, she shows favoritism to Maddie, one of the girls, because Abby believes she is a more talented dancer then the other girls.  In one of the episodes she gives Maddie and another one of the girls the same dance solo just to show that Maddie could do it better.

This show is what I like to call, my guilty pleasure. The way Abby treats the young dancers and their mothers is just horrible. She nitpicks at everything the girls do, which makes then better dancers but at the same time makes their childhood horrible. When she treats the girls this way it makes me feel bad that I even support her show and Dance Company, but the show it so addicting! Once you start watching you just can’t stop watching.  It doesn’t help that the dances that they do are so beautiful and well performed.  

Rejection

Rejection is something everyone has to deal with at some point in life, whether it be asking a girl or guy to prom, baseball tryouts, or even in performing arts. When a show only has twenty people in the cast and eighty five people show up to auditions someone is going to get let down.  

            There are many different reactions to not seeing your name on the list you so wish it was on. Some people get awfully angry and spend the rest of their life in a fit of hot rage. “Why not me?! I was so perfect for that roll!” Maybe they just get extremely sad, and go cry in a corner, silently. Another way people coup with rejection is to put themselves back out there, say “I know what I did wrong, and I will do better next time,” and then be on their merry way off to the next audition. Now I think the best way to deal with this blow is to do all of the aforementioned options!

 Now let’s begin at the time when you don’t see your name on the list. Your heart drops, and you feel the tears swell up. That’s fine! Be sad. There is a reason you wanted to be in that play/musical. And after the sadness you will probably be mad. Mad directly at the director. He did not pick you! It is his fault you are depressed! And then after a day or two, or less depending on your rebound rate, of quiet fuming you could get the courage and go talk to that director about why you didn’t make it in, what you can work on, and how you could still be involved.

            Every single director will tell you the same thing, if you go and talk to them; “It was a hard decision. There was just so many talented people.” It’s basically the page one on “How to Be a Director.” Which is most likely true. They don’t just put people in that they want. They go by talent, it may seem unfair to someone who didn’t make it in, but to those who deserve it, they understand.  Now no matter how upset about not making it in you are, being involved is a good thing! It may be hard to just help behind the stage with lights or costumes but it’s good to be there as much as possible, getting your name and face in their brain.

Play time Poppy

Play Time Poppy is a children’s theater activity at all of my city’s local high schools. They put on one play time poppy show per year per school for young children. They have put on shows such as “The Cat in The Hat,” The Little Mermaid,” and “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” plus many more. This organization has been putting on fun plays and musicals for kids for 62 years! The show includes a lot of audience participation and yelling and singing and just a lot of fun!

            Play time poppy’s mascot is an ear of Corn; her name is play time poppy. When you’re a kid and you go to one of their magical shows she sings in the beginning about where she was born and who she is. The kids really dig it.

The thing I find so cool about play time poppy is that its been around for so long.  I remember going to it as a kid and I auditioned for it just last week, its such an odd feeling. I remember as a kid, the show being so magical and getting to meet the people after and knowing they were such big stars( because of course I thought they were their characters) was a great experience and I think its really great that kids can still get the experience now!

           

Costumes, Hair, Makeup

From eighth grade on I have been in acting and in show choir. Two totally different things, but they both have a few things in common; make up, hair, and costuming. Obviously I do not mean that all of those are the same for each activity.

            Make up for show choir must be dramatic. At my school we use black, grey, and white for eye shadow, bright red for lips, and pink for the cheeks. That doesn’t sound horrible, but when you spend an hour trying to get it just perfect, just to sweat it all off… that kind of stinks. Literally. Hair has to be big. Because, as my director from freshman year, Mr. Muters, said, “You will look bald from the stage.” Of course that’s not true. It just looks like you have really thin hair.  So the poofs and curls are very nice to have. And last, costumes. Show choir costumes are a mixture of gross looking, adorable, prom dress, and versatile. If they aren’t sparkly they won’t catch the judge’s eyes but at the same time they can’t be a dress made of sparkles.  They also have to give the feeling of the songs being performed. For example we sang “Set Fire to the Rain” by Adele last year and our dresses were red and orange thus creating us, the fire.  Dressing changes are hard to do when you only get half a minute to get all the sparkled clothes off and fresh, new sparkled clothes back on again, so dresses must be easy for quick changes too.

            Make up for acting and plays can very. If a teenager was casted as a teenager his or her make up wouldn’t take as long to do as a toad or a witch, they would simply have to express their features more. Ring the eyes with black and blush the cheeks. You have to make your features able to be seen from far away. Now if someone was casted as a frog his or her make up would take longer because there is more to do. They would have to green their whole face and add details. Costumes are also harder for plays because they need to express a certain character. So there is a very, very, broad range of costumes. Hair has the same problem as the costumes; they depend on the character.

            In a variety of arts there will be a variety of details but having to do hair and makeup will always be a trail.

Glee

Glee is a lovable comedy show about to enter its 5^th season. It fallows a high school show choir in Ohio through the year, it also is about the kids in that show choir and their lives as “normal” teenage kids, although to me I don’t find any of their situations “normal” with a handicapped person, teen pregnancy, gays, and lesbians all thrown in one. But who am I to judge what’s normal and what’s not?

Like I said Glee is all based around one show choir. But the differences in the show and show choir in real life vary quite a bit.

In the show they spend their class periods singing any upbeat, new, or popular song they want without the consent of their teacher, Will Schuester, and without any practice before hand, which is pretty miraculous if you ask me.  Their accompanist also just somehow knows what to play perfectly when they say “hit it.”  Actually in one episode where the piano player got fired he was going on a rant about how hard it was to work with “spoiled kids who point at you and say hit it” and how “het just expect him to know what song to play perfectly.” From one competition to the next, state, regional, national’s etcetera, their set list changes, as do their costumes and dance moves.

Now for a show all about show choir it couldn’t portray show choir to the non in-the-loop world more wrong! None of those things happen! At least not where I’m from. As a group we work on specific hit points on one move for hours upon hours, one song for days and days, and a whole show for months and months! We don’t perform random songs from the radio for each other and we don’t have a piano player who just knows every song there has ever been.  People spend late nights putting together our costumes for us and we perform at more than three competitions.

So when my hair dresser askes me “what activities are you in?” and I reply with “Show choir” with a big smile on my face and she reply’s with “Oh like Glee?” I will simply say “No. Not really,” because Glee is not like real show choir at all. 

Inspiration

There is inspiration all around us and when you are in performing arts you need to be inspired in many ways. You need to be inspired to just get out of bed in the morning when you are tired, to do the best you can on stage, to look the best you can, and to feel the best you can. I have learned that there are two different types of inspiration, inner inspiration and outer inspiration. The majority of good athletes have inner inspiration. They strive to be the best they can be. It’s the same with singers, actors, and performers.

You can also be inspired from the outside like if you see or hear something that is just so amazing that you need to be able to do it, or, as many teenagers would know, parents can be exceedingly motivating, with the threat of diminished allowance and less time out with friends, but it is inspirational just the same.

It tends to be that the people who try harder every day to be better every day are the ones succeed the most. That’s not to say that the other inspiration can’t do well. They definitely can., and have. In fact I would classify myself as a person who needs an extra push. Most of the time inspirational speeches help that.

Before show choir, before a show, before surgery…okay so I’m not one hundred percent sure on the surgery one…but for the others, there is always time for inspirational speeches by directors or leaders and I think it is those, extra little, pushed that make people do their best and leave everything they have on the playing field.

Healthy Living

When you are performing you want to look physically fit, like you have a lot of energy, and over all healthy. The only way to look healthy is to be healthy.  Eat healthy food, drink non-sugary drinks, exercise, and get a lot of sleep.  I’ve been trying lately to be healthier throughout my life and here are my tips on how to do that.

Read don’t watch TV. When you watch television it sort of reminds me of a movie theater, at least more so then reading a book, so of course I want a snack because you always get on in theaters. When you read a book your brain is absorbed in what it is saying instead of what your stomach is saying

                Start little and work your way up. Start with not snacking after 8 o’clock pm. Then work to only snacking on vegetables, then maybe only one bad thing for you per day, like a chocolate bar or a few pieces of candy. It won’t seem like such a big jump then.

                Exercise when possible.  Now if you’re super busy like me, right now you’re probably like “ha-ha no” and I would totally understand. I’m just saying that in this day and age, with food companies putting what they are, into what you eat, there is no way you will be the 100 percent best you can be while not exercising.

                Sleep. Praise the Lord for sleep! And it being healthy for you! That’s not half bad either! http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-topics/teens-and-sleep the national sleep foundation says teenagers need 9 hours and 25 minutes of sleep, which I know I don’t get. If you get enough sleep you will wake up refreshed and ready to start the day, Maybe with a little exercise?

Time management

Time management is a very good skill to have when you’re a teenager in high school because you need to be able to be in school, do homework, have good grades, be in extracurricular activities, hold down a job, have time for the social aspect of it, and let’s not forget sleeping! Wow. Wow is right.  For me those extra activities are performing arts, so it takes up quite a bit of time, actually a majority of it. Most of my friends in show choir and I would say that during competition season we spend most of our time at school or at a competition.  So I just have a few hints and tips about good time managing.

                Tip #1.) Be organized. If you have to run around trying to find something that you swear you left right on the counter you’re going to be late and therefore not very successful in what you were trying to do!

                Tip # 2.) Don’t stress too much. Most of the time people have so much stress over things they cannot control and once you learn you can’t control it you learn not to stress out about it.

                Tip # 3.) It’s okay to have a little bit of stress. it makes it so you get things done quickly.

                Tip #4.)  Don’t lie to yourself about how much time you have. You could always say “oh I can just double up on that later.” But why not do it now!

Now I have to confess something….I have been somewhat of a hypocrite while writing this because  when I do have a lot of things going on I do get stressed, So badly that I cry.  Most of the time I’m not very organized, my room is a great example of that right now.

                So who am I to be telling other people how to manage their time? Well I also wanted to make it known that I’m actually pretty good and everything I do. So being organized and all that jazz is good and it helps a lot when you can be but you can also do well just going with the flow.