CV

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QQICUSD5NlkERez24fOz2j_XYgeGnuoS/view?usp=sharing

SKILLS

      Over the past year, I have gained and developed many various wider skills from the Performing Arts course at Westminster Kingsway College, such as focus, confidence, stage awareness, teamwork, creativity, improvisation, communication, discipline, articulation

FOCUS
      By working with a class of 27 people, the focus may get quite difficult to maintain sometimes, there can be many distractions from the script and the class exercises. Usually, when we are working on a play, before going through the script we do focus and breathing exercises so we can have the right energy to work. A good example of an exercise that we also did recently in class is when we all stand in a circle, one of us starts the game by pointing at someone through the eye contact. The person who had been pointed at has to leave his spot and do the same ( eye contact) with somebody else while the person who started the game takes his spot. The exercise starts slowly, but it gets faster and faster. It helps us as actors to focus on what is happening around by paying attention and following the eye contact. It's very useful, especially because we're such a big group of people and we're all working together at the same time, which requires a lot of attention paid. Over the past year, going through all these exercises and techniques, I've developed focus as an actor. It is way much easier for me to get into the character now comparing to the first month when I started the course.

CREATIVITY
      When it comes to creativity, I can not compare myself from 2 years ago with myself now. Just because of how much the course had trained me, which led to a huge improvement. It is way much easier for me to write a script or just to come up with ideas now than it was then. The Broken Hearted Youth also helped us with some techniques and advice to make writing a script easier for us. Also, by writing, our brain is constantly exercising and we all know that through exercising we become better.
      Feedback from the other people in class after performing helped me a lot as well. When I hear opinions and ideas from outside, I immediately listen and try to understand which makes me more creative.

TEAMWORK
      As I said before, there are 27 students in our class. All of us are different types of people but we want the same thing, that's what keeps us together. Having the chance to work with many different types of students turned me into a real team worker. Even though before the course I might've thought that there is nothing I can develop about teamwork because of the sports I've done, my opinion has completely changed. Before the course, I did 9 years of Taekwondo, which created the teamwork spirit inside of me, but the Performing Arts course has shaped all those abilities.
      As our teacher said, " The performance is just as good as the weak link". For me, this means that everyone needs to put all their energy into the rehearsals, the performances and everything else we do. That means attending to lessons, being present and being on time.
      At the moment, we are developing a script written by our tutor, Rob Alexander, inspired by our ideas. To finish this, we all net to work together and put our energy in. Not just for the performance but for rehearsals as well.

IMPROVISATION
      When I first got into the course I had no experience in improvisation. I didn't really know what to do or how. Also, I was a bit shy to do it by myself in front of the class because I wasn't used to doing anything without planning it. Working on a script is always a good idea, perhaps a safe one, however, going off-script can offer the audience an indescribable moment.
What I believe is that improvisation is really an example of heightened communication, relying on an actor’s ability to engage completely with their performers as well as their own character. Taking a character off-script and seeing how they react in different situations helps create a character and can lead to more natural, believable performances.

ARTICULATION
      "An actor's voice is their instrument, and in order to be understood an actor must pronounce words clearly. Articulation an essential skill for actors to master."
      Articulation exercises must be part of an actor's life every day. In our class, before we start to rehearse, we make sure we train our mouths, so we can clearly pronounce all the words and phrases.
      This is the part where I really need to work on, mostly because of the fact that I only learned English when I moved to London, which was also when I started the course. Even though it's not my first language and I only started to speak it one year and a half ago, that doesn't make an excuse for me to not improve it. I need to work on this as much as possible so the audience can clearly understand what I am saying.

CONFIDENCE
      Gaining and developing all these skills above have increased my self-confidence. The course has shaped all my abilities and it turned me into a better performer.

Personal Statement UCAS

      I moved to London about 2 years ago to study Performing Arts. Since I have been involved with acting, my life has completely changed. From the moment I started studying Performing Arts at college I knew that this was what I wanted to do. The course has shaped my decision of wanting to go to Drama School, I want to develop my acting skills with my career goal to become the best version of myself as a performer.
      At college, we have worked on a variety of projects, including "Antigone" by Sophocles, "The Seagull" by Anton Chekhov, "Macbeth" by Willian Shakespeare and "Love and Information" written by Caryl Churchill. During the rehearsals for these projects, we used a variety of different methods to develop our skills, for instance Stanisvlaski's techniques. It was great how we took the concept of the theories and put these into practise. It really helped with my understanding of them.
      We have also worked with companies such as The Broken Hearted Youth and Papatango Theatre. Here we developed our filming skills with the former and our play writing skills with the latter.
      Before I moved to London, I did Taekwondo for 9 years. It defined me as a person. Besides learning how to fight, this sport has also shaped me as a team-worker. Training and fighting with my teammates every day for nine years taught me what really means to be "behind the scenes" and it developed various wider skills such as respect, cooperation, trust and open communication. It also helped me to develop discipline by training my body and mind in the tenets and techniques of Taekwondo and build confidence by encouraging me to succeed and take control of my life.
     When I was 14 years old I got into the modelling industry. While I was for the first time on the stage in front of hundreds of people watching, something wasn't feeling right so I tried to understand my feelings. I realised that I wanted all those people to watch me for who I am, for my skills and my stage presence instead of just admiring the clothes I was presenting. Doing it for 2 years made me understand that being on the stage is what I've always wanted, but also, I wanted my voice to be heard which led me into acting and television work. Because of the lack of appreciation and opportunities for actors in my country, I decided that the best way to become an actress was to move to England, where everything is possible.
      2018 is the year when I became a TV host by hosting my first gala for Alexandrion Foundation. Working as a host was an indescribable experience which brought multiple skills to my life, such as stage awareness, vocal projection, screen presence and improvisation.
      Over the years I have tried to find myself in many industries. Only when I perform I feel like I do the right thing. My life starts to make sense, I am motivated and always willing to learn new techniques, to meet new people and have new experiences. As an actor,  I believe that theatre is like a religion, it must be practised daily, even if it can get complicated sometimes, it will definitely get you somewhere. I love the connection between the actor and the audience. How the applause encourages the performers and increases their self-confidence. I love how by tapping into feelings quickly and with precision, actors can cause feelings of happiness or sadness to the audience or simply just make them laugh.
      One of my favourite parts about being an actor is that I can be whoever I want to be. While performing everything becomes possible. I can be the villain today and a hero tomorrow. I am what I believe. My imagination is channelled through taking on different characters. For me, being an actor is a way of life, not a job or just a passion, it's a lifestyle.

Pros and Cons of going to University/ Drama School

     Going to study drama at a higher level is a big decision to make, especially when it's about 3 years and around 27000£ in total. Either it's Drama School or  University, both can be good choices for studying Performing Arts, but obviously, they have advantages and disadvantages. Many actors may be confused about Universities and Drama Schools because they don't know what is the difference between them. Even though it may not look like, there's a big difference between the two ones. In a few paragraphs below, I'll be showing my point of view about the differences between studying a drama course at University or going to Drama School.

      All the actors should know that getting into a Drama School is not easy. The reason why it's so hard to get in is that there's a very big competition. There are lots of people outside who want just the same as I do, to follow their dream and get a degree in drama at the same time. Maybe that's the reason why some actors don't even try to audition. But who wouldn't want to be a part of the acting classes where students play and take risks, improvise, use their imagination, work collaboratively, perform in front of the class, create shapes and learn how to use their voices for three years and to get a degree from that? Acting school is a safe place to push one's boundaries, develop the range, and discover yourself as an actor. It also requires a deal of risk, experimentation, and failure.
      What some students might not like about Drama Schools is that it includes all-day training from 9 AM to 5 PM Monday through Friday. The actors are expected to do their homework in their free time, which leaves no time for personal life, part-time jobs or auditions outside the school. This can be very challenging for some students but if you truly enjoy it, you can't find it hard.  Some people would choose to go to a university just to experience "a real student life" and maybe to have a part-time job so they can pay their fees.
       Here are some more advantages and disadvantages of training in a Drama School:

     ADVANTAGES

1. It has the highest degree in Performing Arts 
2. Amazing training for actors
3. Higher chances to get noticed by an agent
4. Opportunities for meeting people in the industry
5. Gives you higher chances to get into the industry
6. You learn breathing techniques, improvisation, and scene movement
7. Physical training
8. Voice exercises 

    DISADVANTAGES

1. Not easy to get accepted
2. Busy schedule which gives you less free time
3. No time for auditions outside the School or any jobs

      I am pretty sure that many actors have thought at least once about how going to University would be an easier way to get a degree in Performing Arts. Well, like I said about Drama School, there are advantages and disadvantages in going to study drama at a University as well. One of the things that I personally don't like is that the drama courses at universities are more in theory than in physical work. They have more an academic approach to teaching. The courses are mostly based on drama theory, history of theatre, dramatic analysis or writing essays. Generally speaking, these degrees are more catered towards students interested in working in the theatre industry, but not necessarily wants to become professional actors. It appears that universities don't equip you with sufficient acting skills.
Even though there are so many famous actors who don't have any degrees, as an actor, I believe that performers can always learn new techniques to improve themselves, either it is in a Drama School or University. Also, the competition these days is very big so an acting degree might give you one step forward for jobs in the industry.
      For me, through acting my imagination is channelled through taking on different characters. This is one thing I love about drama, and by studying the theory of it, I certainly don't believe that this can happen.
      Here are some other advantages and disadvantages of training at a University:

    ADVANTAGES 

1. Not a lot of homework
2. Easier to get accepted
3. Having a chance to experience "a student's life"

    DISADVANTAGES

1. Too much theory
2. The degree might be worthless in the industry
3. Same cost as Drama School
4. The theory doesn't help you to perform

 My final thoughts are that going to a Drama School is what I think is the best for me.  I don't really find myself in studying the theatre and the techniques more than practising. It took me a while to understand that this how I want to spend my future but I strongly believe that when you enjoy something it can't be hard to do. Even though there is the possibility of being in school for 9 hours and then to home and start doing projects for perhaps 6 more hours. I enjoy performing and it is certainly the way I want to spend my future no matter what. 

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Week 4-5

     This week, we continued to work on the Christmas play. The characters have gotten in shape. There are five kids and a dog. The parents of these kids have been taken by the Evil One (EO) because they broke the lows by trying to celebrate Christmas (C-word) giving gifts to their children. 
     The teenagers work together to bring their parents back and they found a mysterious book that takes them across history. There are several scenes where all the actors are on stage, for example, a market scene where everyone is walking around buying stuff from the market while the kids are lost trying to understand where they are.  There's a scene where the teenagers land in the middle of No Man's Land back in time where the Germans and British people have a war, but it turns out that they finally agree with each other because of the day it was (Christmas Eve) and they play football, eat chocolate and drink. Also, there are some dumb acolytes who try to find the kids but never succeed because the surroundings are always too important for them.
      The title has finally been revealed when we came back from the half-term holiday. A Questmas Story.
      We have also been given a script. By now, it is a working-script.

Speeches

      I have chosen 2 monologues by now, a classical and a modern one. My classical monologue is played by Hermione in The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare and the modern monologue is from The Cagebirds by David Campton.

      In the classical monologue, Hermione, The queen of Sicilia is accused of adultery and treason by her husband, the King. In prison, she gives birth to a girl and at the trial, she pleads NOT GUILTY. Her objectives are to assert her innocence, to shame her husband with her protestations, to honour and respect her King while maintaining her dignity, majesty and propriety. Also, she does not fear death as her life is so unbearable.
      In the modern monologue chosen, the character I play is The Wild One. The play is about seven birds each having the characteristics of a type of woman, imprisoned in a cage. They have become used to their capture and are now unwilling to return to outside the world. The Wild One, who has just been captured, thinks quite differently and tries to stir the other one's feelings, to join her in escape.

      In Soho centre, I performed the classical monologue. I believe that it went quite well.

Week 3-4

      At the beginning of this week, we started by doing stage presence exercises and improvisation. The improvisation was based on a piece of the play East - written by Stephan Berkoff and we worked into groups of five.

      For two weeks, we have worked as much as we could on the Christmas play, coming up with new ideas.

Week 1-2

      On Thursday, 12th of September we've been split into 4 groups. Michael presented us with his idea of a play. It is about Christmas being banned by the government and how 5 brave kids find out about it and try to bring it back.
      We started based on what Michael said, each group was writing different stories, we all came up with ideas, we discussed it as a group and we started writing.

      "Christmas has been banned a long time ago. Most of the people even forgot about it or they don't even know, nobody talks about it because of the fear. The government has two sides, a good one and a bad one. Of course, the bad side doesn't know about the good one. They all think that everyone's the same while the people from the good side are thinking of bringing Christmas back. They want to bring happiness back to the family's life but they're afraid about how people would react to this new feeling of joy and happiness.
      They take 5 teenagers to a secret place to use full of modern technology. Using it, they get into the children's minds and see the reaction of seeing what Christmas really is.

      In the second week, we worked on the same play trying to continue writing. We also got to perform it in front of the other groups.

   

      We have also discussed about the unit 10 and 11 blogs. Also, we had a lesson where we exercised on how to perform our monologues.