Michael Jackson

One of my favourite Jazz choreographers is Michael Jackson. His dance moves are legendary and are incredible to watch. He added his own flare to each move and made it into his own style. For example, he didn't create the moonwalk, but he made it an iconic move by adding a robotic seamless style to it that many around the world have tried to mimic.

When looking at Michael Jackson concert videos (like the one on the right) I can't take my eyes off of him because he attacks even the smallest of moves and his confidence and passion for dance really shines.

Enrolment/ Induction task

Creative planning task based on a stimulus

From my perspective prior to any research, Feeling Good by Nina Simone was simply describing someone`s version of their perfect bliss – what makes them feel good. However, I wanted to find out the true meaning of the song and according to http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=8996, Feeling Good sends a message of contentment and joy after hard times. In order to understand what these hard times were, I researched a summary of the Broadway musical the song was written for: Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd (http://www.masterworksbroadway.com/music/the-roar-of-the-greasepaint-the-smell-of-the-crowd-1965/) and watched parts of it to understand the meaning of the song       (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heORSuz49yM&t=6839s) which was originally sung by Gilbert Price. I learnt that these hard times were referring to racial abuse and about someone being downtrodden. I suddenly found a new perspective on this song. It represented the incredible strength of someone who despite being abused and downtrodden, managed to see the light in a very dark world. Someone who paved his path to his own success and wouldn`t let anyone bring him down. The phrase “Oh freedom is mine” really stood out to me in a powerful way and summed up what this song was really about. I wanted to have that feeling of power and dignity portrayed in this performance as well as the feeling of enjoyment and appreciation of the world.

I decided to plan a musical theatre scene based on a live performance of the Broadway version of Feeling Good (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pulEa0cfNcw). This is my vision:

It starts off with the singer side on in a silhouette and shadow puppets would be used to create the effect of birds flying and leaves being blown in the wind in co-ordination with the lyrics. As he sings “it`s a new dawn  . . .  for me” a white spotlight shines on only the singer as he walks forward with a strong gait. When he sings the line  “feeling good” and the instruments come in, the stage lights up to reveal a colourful scene with bright green grass, a light blue backdrop (representing the sky) with a rainbow displayed across it and pastel-coloured silk ribbons fly across the stage – almost fairy-tale like.  When he sings about “fish in the sea”, people holding cardboard fish will bob up and down in between blue silk ribbons. When he sings about dragonflies and butterflies, dancers dressed as these insects will pirouette, leap and do all sorts of circus tricks across the stage. Then the dramatic change in music as he sings about “stars when you shine” will plunge the stage in darkness as rotating stars are projected onto it (but there will be a white spotlight on the singer). When the powerful phrase “freedom is mine” is sung, a golden glowing spotlight will shine on the singer to emphasise the significance of this phrase and communicate to the audience that this character doesn`t need anybody to give him freedom because he`s strong-willed enough to create it for himself. Then as he sings “it`s a new dawn . . . new life”, he will take three strong steps towards the back of the stage (parallel to the walking with a strong gait at the beginning of the song) and as he sings “for me” he slowly turns towards the audience. Finally when he belts out “feeling good” and the instruments come in, he is lifted up as the song concludes.

One of my goals for this performance was for the audience to relate to the singer and empathise with he`s going through. As the lyrics come to life around him and the contrast between the stage filled with colour and movement, to it being plunged in darkness engages the audience as they are taken on a journey through this song and are drawn in by this lively performance.