Student Blog: Life's a Circus & I Play Every Act

Musical theatre is certainly a different ball game compared to sitting for a whopping 10 subjects in secondary/high school with extra tuition and classes on the side.

I have always been an academic and an athletic kind of person but when I was first met with having to balance these two components in my course, and maintaining my personal life, it was like a circus. Being the ringmaster can be fun when everything comes into place, but of course, the chaos in the beginning was expected. It’s even wilder in a course that is so insanely physically because I felt like I was putting on a solo circus before forging with a collusion of performances to create a massive piece with my course mates. Also, I use circus because it’s the perfect image of how colorful the scene has been for me. Music blasting from every corner of the performing arts building, my classmates thriving in what they do best around me, juggling classwork together and making absolute magic.

Even with all the discord, it was quite easy sorting out my priorities as my course’s modules branch out into sub modules and most of the organizing is done for me. For example, the singing module divides itself into vocal technique, acting through song and music literacy which accumulates into a single grade. Acting is the same and it is only dance that doesn’t branch out like that. Along with what you would consider the ‘base elements’ of a musical theatre course, we have other modules that combine the three elements for a big scaled showcase for our assessments. So far in my first year, I had the pleasure of doing Devised Theatre and Extended Scene Studies which gauge how we transition from scene to song in a revue. Altogether, it does seem like a lot and if you’ve read my previous blog, we also have a theory-based module where we learn about the history of theatre which adds to the workload.

Lucky for me, I have a fondness for organization and planning things accordingly by categorizing my chores and tasks which reduces into more umbrellas of categories. It’s an entire spiral but it gets me through my day-to-day life when I have some lists to cross off and visualize my progress. That’s just one of the tools get me moving down a clearer path as I navigate through these woods. With all my classwork, I’ll make a schedule for each due date I have for certain tasks before making a priority list in order to allocate my time wisely. I certainly have my weaker points in musical theatre and when I’m aware of the areas I need time for most, I’ll start planning my way through the challenges either by myself or with the help of friends.

Since musical theatre is mostly collaborative, it was a lot simpler having someone or a small group of friends to do my work with.

That would be the most of how I manage my work; in the presence of friends who have created a safe space for us to be our most vulnerable. I would not describe this as dependence because of the nature of theatre. We have to understand that everyone in this course has a different skill set as well as different levels of experience. This is what makes collaboration so important because it’s all about trying to bring one another up and teaching each other what we know and such. Few of my teachers have told me the same thing and that is to always own up to your mistakes instead of practicing the wrong thing repeatedly.

For me, I have always felt that my dance needs work. Instead of practicing the wrong technique in my room over and over again, I have a friend to watch and help me make corrections. Same goes with singing and acting. It really is a really good thing to ask questions too instead of leaving it until the last minute. I have been trying to be a lot braver with asking questions, and believe me, as soon as you have that question in your head, do not ever second guess yourself. If it’s a burning question, it’s necessary.

Other than the power of friendship, I have a few other tools on hand that have helped me work on my own when it’s either terrible weather or the preference of isolation. This is in no particular order but rather the ones that popped up at the top of my head as I am writing this. Most of these really motivate me to get work done because I know that I have no excuse to be unable to do as I am required and also for convenience, it really helps me save a lot of time to manage my life.

For our first item, it is having a yoga mat in my dorm. This way, I can stretch safely in my carpeted room without having to make a hike to the gym. In Winchester, it is all hills, wind and rain, and I’m very prone to colds. While training my flexibility is relevant to my course, it is actually a very cathartic way to release stress. Like what many would normally do on their beds with a bit of a scream, with a yoga mat, I can continue stretching myself out instead of taking the risk of falling asleep in bed. I am quite the avid napper and unfortunately, I had to give up my naps to make full use of my time. Speaking of time, as mentioned before, planners, calendars, diaries are the way to go if I want to fit in a nap somewhere.

When I’m left to do my own homework in my dorm, one essential thing that I have to put on is some music in the background. It’s a tool that gets my mind to stay grounded instead of wandering off as I stare into the abyss of my essay or my ‘detective work*’ in acting. Having taken psychology in my A Levels, it makes so much sense but I won’t go into that. It’s worth looking into a study by Andrade who investigated if doodling helps one’s work, and a lot of it explains how the brain’s activity functions passively and actively.

But back on topic, most of the time, I would put on a new musical so while I’m actively doing a piece of homework, I’m somewhat passively exploring more for my course. It’s still a part of learning for me but if I really can’t focus, I’ll put on my favorite tunes and let the energy carry me through the work. It may well be a personal preference of mine but I know for a fact that I cannot work in silence. It will either result in sleep or the endless trap of social media.

A very minor thing that gets me grooving is to always have a snack in my bag. I always replenish the little compartment in my bag in case my break times are filled to the brim with extra rehearsal times. In semester 2, it was overwhelming. Though the café is just a 5-minute walk away, I prefer having something on hand already so that I don’t disrupt others or stress myself out due to a lack of lunch. Even if it isn’t to fill me up, a snack normally gets me up and going, especially if it’s a little sweet treat. I’m very easy to please.

The most important one yet, the tool of all tools, are my devices, my phone and laptop. They could cover everything that I have written on this blog, minus the snack, and I really have no excuse as to why I cannot manage myself. For classwork that requires practice, my friends are just a text away. If no one is available to hop on a call to rehearse our lines, I can record the lines of my scene partners and practice with the recording. For singing, I can edit what is necessary for my songs with numerous platforms and make my own instrumentals if it is not readily available. If I need someone to help me with technique, I can record a video and send it over to anyone who is willing to help. The possibilities are endless, and if I go on, this paragraph might take up an entire page. To conclude this bit, I can bring my material with me everywhere I go. My scripts, songs, notes. I can still make planners on my notes app if I don’t have my physical notebook on me.

Best of all, I think a lot of us underestimate the aid of Google, YouTube and social media. These addictive little things can be resourceful if I am in desperate need of help at an unholy hour.

I will say, everyone’s got a different way of managing themselves and these are just some of the funky ways I have learnt to adapt to my busy lifestyle. On some days, I’ll seek other means of managing if something doesn’t work out, and on other days, I might not even have the energy to face my work. I’m still exploring ways to manage my workload this summer as I may have taken a lot more than I can chew since I wasn’t expecting to get quite a lot to do.

But, I know it’ll be fine! Now that I’m home, I have all the help I can get and plenty of time to get through everything.

*detective work: a term my acting teacher once used to describe our character studies with Stanislavski’s techniques

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