2010 Audition #2

I am a little late in writing this entry because I needed some time to decompress after Sunday night's audition for Disney LIVE!/Feld Entertainment.

I left early to make sure that I was at Lou Conte Dance by the 6pm sign-in time. there was NO WAY I was going to be late for this audition and even being 30 minutes early, I was not the first one there!

The sign in process was "typical Disney." Shoes off to get measured (6'0"), hand in headshot/resume/character picture, receive number, get a picture taken on the computer, fill out paperwork. Then wait while everyone goes through the process, say "hello" to people I recognize from Orlando and people I know from Chicago.

Then...time to go into the room. The first part of the routine was very -- Cinderellabration, the second part was Snow Queen, 8 counts of specific animation over 4 specific characters, 8 count pirate dance section and 16 counts character farewell. The music was from the first Pirates movie. Rumor has it that the new show will be Pirates, Princesses and Villains....

Well, I had it during rehearsal, I went into the hall and kept practicing until my group of 4 was called in. Princess part went about as well as a 6'/non-girly girl could make it. I literally was just channeling the court dancers in Cinderellabration and hope it came through. The 8 count "military" switch went and then my feet got messed up going into the Villain section. I tried not to show that I messed up and worked hard to keep my face and arms intense...and then I lost a little bit of balance and still tried to keep my intensity. The Mickey/Minnie/Louie/Stitch section went and the pirate section was fun and for my 16 count free form goodbyes my body instantly went into "Goofy". 2nd time was still not great and some of the mistakes I mentioned making might have been made in the second attempt and not the first and for the final animation I did Snow Queen.

As expected, I was NOT asked to do the second routine (nothing has changed from color coding) and I was mad at myself, so I stuck around to cheer on my friends. And after watching the second routine all I am going to say is that I am GLAD I wasn't asked to stay! I need about 5 years of serious dance training to be good enough for that routine!! Hopefully the dancing is not the main thing they look for when casting the shows.

When this started I was not sure if I really wanted to do this because I would have to put the auditions for musicals and "legit" theatre on hold. But the gypsy in me jumped up and said "YOU WANT THIS!!!" You want to travel and you can find ways to work with your voice teacher and it is not over, it is just more performance experience and a way to see the world!! Yea, so I got mad at myself.

I don't know if it is over yet or if there is still hope. The new show starts rehearsal in March and there is a *small* chance they might use me in one of the existing show (not counting on that though due to the height thing). My audition is good for a year.

In the meantime, I am going to take dance lessons and keep on keeping on with my voice.