Throw a bunch of eager girls in a high pressure situation with a few powerful people behind a table and only a few minutes to impress and you will get an experience to remember. With school ending soon, I've been getting into the swing of auditing more regularly, crashing AEA calls, the whole bit. Its been both fun (usually) and informative.
So in honor of those experiences, certainly worth documenting, I put here the first of many posts on a noble theme:
THE JOBS I DON'T HAVE.
Moonlight Musical Theater Summer Season 2010
Audition Date: 3/16/10
Location: Moonlight Ampitheatre, Vista
Highlight: the drive down to SD with Rachel and Nick eating carmel rice-cakes and stapling headshots in the car
Lesson Learned: the whole trip down and back (including dinner) took about 6 hours; the audition itself lasted 40 sec. if someone's going to tell me 'no', i might as well have a really good time before and after- which i did.
Starlight Musical Theater's Hello, Dolly!
Audition Date: 4/18/10
Callback Date: 5/9/10
Location: Scripps Performing Arts Center, San Diego
Highlight: either being kept to the last 4 female dancers or seeing signs for 89cent corn dogs on the drive down. SD is a magical magical place
Lesson Learned: check out your WHOLE outfit before leaving. new pair of tights = perfect for the skin tone of an Oompa Loompa, which i do not have. it's good to make a strong impression at an audition...but not if its that you're the best darn dancer in Loompaland.
Mama Mia! National Tour
Audition Date: 4/19/10
Location: Screenland Studios, North Hollywood
Highlight: dancing to Lady Gaga's 'Telephone'. i had no idea she had so much in common musically with ABBA
Lesson Learned: happy accidents can be the difference maker. one fiercey mcfierce fiercce girl had an almost tradgedy: toward the end of her group's turn, an extension fell out- like a nice big chunk of hair. what did she do? picked that sucker up and worked it! girl was adapting the choreo and getting down with her weave. and when it came to keeping ladies to sing- you better believe her headshot was in that pile!
Twist, a new musical Dir/Chor. by Debbie Allen
Audition Date: 4/21/10
Location: Debbie Allen Dance Academy, Los Angeles
Highlight: driving through the GHETTO and being casually told that the combo opened with a triple pirouette, but there's plenty of time for a quad...or five turns (oh, and then actually doing quads all morning! debbie allen made me a better dancer just by being in the room)
Lesson Learned: when people say to bring all your shoes to a dance call- just do it. no tap was listed on any casing notice but what did we spend the first HOUR doing? thats right- some major rhythm tap. thankfully we had tap class that day and they were sitting in the car. not that they made all the noises they were supposed to, but they were on my feet!
Radio City Christmas Spectacular
Audition Date: 5/4/10
Location: Screenland Studios, Norh Hollywood
Highlight: seeing the sign in sheet- 140 women. 2 men.
Lesson Learned: sometimes everyone's good. sometimes you get sent home with 60/70 girls who could all dance. sometimes you find out a few days later that the only people kept to sing had B'way credits and had done Spectacular in previous years. ya, don't feel so bad.
TUTS of Houston, Curtains
Audition Date: 5/24/10
Location: Hollywood United Methodist Church, Hollywood
Highlight: feeling at any moment the routine might be changed to "Mambo" from West Side. Yes- the gym we danced in was that spot on!
Lesson Learned: knowing someone behind the table (dear Peggy Hickey) makes everything seem so much easier. from now on i'm going to trick myself into thinking that everyone auditing me already knows and loves me. or... ill just track them down before the audition day and casually start conversations at the grocery store, bank, their local starbucks, their backyards...anywhere really. i;m just very committed to my craft, networking that is.
Well, that's it for now! There will be SO MANY MORE of these to come! and just remember The LaDuca's do not make the dancer...but they really don't hurt.
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