Show Boat

Musical: Show Boat

Audition date: October 27, 2012

Link to casting notice: Show Boat Dance Audition

I’ve danced in 5 productions at Washington National Opera and loved every single experience.  We always want the job, but truthfully, I only remember 2 other auditions for WNO where I wanted the job as badly as I wanted Show Boat:  The Pearl Fishers (my first opera with WNO) and Iphigénie en Tauride (Starring Placido Domingo).  There were rumblings a year and a half ago that ShowBoat would come to WNO after opening at the Lyric Opera of Chicago last spring and then going to Houston Grand Opera this winter.  I’ve waited anxiously for the audition since receiving the company’s 2012-2013 season announcement on March 6th!

With all of this build up, I felt extremely calm throughout the process!  I woke up early and used hot rollers to curl my hair then headed to ballet class at my favorite D.C. locale: Maryland Youth Ballet.  After barre and a few combinations in center, I finished getting ready and caught a ride with a friend to the rehearsal space, which is located in Takoma Park (my sweet home away from home!).

Auditioning at WNO is usually fairly comfortable because I know the space and half the people in the room.  For this audition, I got dolled up quite a bit more than usual because of the musical theater aspect of Show Boat (officially an operetta), wearing my polka dot halter leo, bare legs, a little black skirt, and a matching polka dot headband (with hair down and curly thanks to lessons learned during Oklahoma!).  Sign in started at 11:30 with the audition beginning at 12:30.

At about 12:45, they called the union dancers into the audition room where we were met by:

• Michele Lynch, Choreographer
• Eric Sean Fogel, Associate Choreographer
• David Foti, Director of Production WNO
• Stephanie Wallace, Rehearsal Coordinator WNO
• Eleni Kallas, Mid-Atlantic Area Representative WNO
• One chorister from WNO whose name I don’t remember but who is super sweet!

I heard from friends who did the show in Chicago that Michele is an absolute sweetheart.  This is too true!  Plus, she’s really fun.  I know Eric (Associate Choreographer) from Zvi Gotheiner’s ballet class in New York.  Before the audition we were chatting it up, exchanging class info.  I told him how glad I was that he was there because I didn’t see a lot of tall Caucasian men (as in…I needed him to partner me).  Um, I didn’t realize that he was the Associate Choreographer!  Woops!

Show Boat has separate tracks for the African American and the Caucasian dance cast.  We’re talking 1927 Mississippi River here!  The first piece of choreography we learned was for the Caucasian cast and involved some really beautiful, fun movement that included high leg extensions, a few jumps, and coordinated por de bras that made the sequence flow nicely.  I felt great!  High legs….absolutely!

The second piece of choreography was more for the African American dance cast so they did it in a hoofing style while the Caucausians danced it more upright, show tap style.  I also enjoyed this movement and had fun learning the rhythms.  Even though I haven’t taken tap in 6 months, those lessons sure paid off!

They did a cut and got us down to about 12 Caucausian women and 3 Cacuasian men.  The show needs 3 Caucasian women and men, each.  We got send back to the holding room while they saw the non-AGMA/Equity dancers.

For the call backs, they split us up and taught different choreography.  The Caucasians learned a little partnering.  There were 4 tall girls and not a single tall guy so Eric stepped in like a trouper!  Thank goodness!

My first pass at the partnering didn’t go well.  Eric took full blame and even expressed concern that I hurt myself.  What a kind and professional partner!  We figured it out on the second pass.  Then Michele asked for special tricks.  A few of us tried a few cartwheels in place with moderate success.  But I’m sure that I could learn this trick or aerials if needed since the show doesn’t even open for another 6 months!

I waited for a week after the audition to hear back.  I felt absolutely amazing about my audition, which is a rarity to think let along admit!  I danced great, looked great, and loved the vibe from the Michele and Eric.  What more could you ask for?  Well, I was terribly worried that I might not get hired just because there wasn’t a tall Caucasian guy that auditioned and could partner me.  Sometimes that’s all it takes to lose a job to no fault of your own!

But not this time!  I got called a week later and offered a contract for Show Boat.  I am so so so EXCITED!  Now I’ll just have to patiently wait until the show starts rehearsing in the spring.

Lessons learned:

• Be nice to everyone you encounter in New York and everywhere else you go.  You never know if they will reappear in another role at some point.  Fortunately, I think I’m almost always nice to everyone in a pretty genuine way!

I love the look of this video!

A Christmas Carol

Musical: A Christmas Carol

Audition date: October 22, 2012

Link to casting notice:  A Christmas Carol Casting Notice

I’ve heard that A Christmas Carol doesn’t have a lot of dancing in it.  But this one at McCarter Theatre includes choreography by Rob Ashford so I figured the audition would be interesting, fun, and full of learning moments.  I was right on all 3 accounts!

I showed up at 8:30am.  No one started an unofficial list, and the line was unorganized.  The monitors were setting up and let us know they’d start sign-in at 9am.  I took the time to put some make-up then pounced to the front of the line when sign-in started, filled out the information sheet quickly, and landed myself in the first group!

I went with the nude tights, polka dot halter leotard, and short black ballet skirt outfit.  This time I wore my hair down with a matching polka dot headband.  The following people were in the room:

• Michael Unger, Director
• Jennifer Paulson Lee, Dance Supervisor
• Eddie Zitka, Choreographer’s Assistant
• Charles Sundquist – Music Director
• Adam Immerwake – Casting Director
• Cara Tucker – Casting Assistant

Jennifer and Eddie taught the choreography, which felt really comfortable and just slightly more balletic than the party scene from Nutcracker or even the opening of the opera, Nabucco, I danced in last spring.  Jennifer is GORGEOUS!  And while writing this blog, I did a little googling…she’s apparently an extraordinarily talented dancer and choreographer while also having a fierce entrepreneurial streak as the President of Lash Control!   Who doesn’t love a multi-dimensional artist?  I sure hope to cross paths with her again in the near future.

The choreography had some partnering.  Jennifer said it best as, “I can see a lot in a little partnering.”  I’m finding that statement to be truer and truer the more musical theater auditions I go to.  We danced the combination, and I felt so comfortable and in my element.  I even got called back to sing that afternoon!

Initially, Adam asked me if I could come back at 3:30 so I asked if there was a later time since I really needed to head into the office for a few hours.  He conceded, and I got the 4:30 slot.  When I returned at 4:00, they were running quite a bit behind so I used the dressing room to do a little vocal warm-up.  I hadn’t sung since the Oklahoma! audition 6 days prior so felt a bit rusty.  I also hadn’t really rehearsed anything except for Honey Bun for several weeks so I figured I should stick to that song.

Um, it didn’t go so well, and I think that I hit a few notes that weren’t so pretty.  Out the door I went…slightly embarrassed.  I haven’t had a vocal call go down like that in a long time so it was a good reminder of how vigilant I need to be in maintaining this new instrument!

Lessons learned:

• I can’t take 6 days off of vocal practice and expect a vocal audition to go well.
• Depending upon the choreography, I can take 6 days off of dancing and get a call back, but even that’s a pretty big risk.
• It might be worth getting a Christmasesque song in my book for next year.  Maybe Hard Candy Christmas?

Oklahoma! at the Lyric Opera of Chicago

Audition date: October 15, 2012 with final callback October 16, 2012

Link to casting notice: Oklahoma! Casting Notice

Close but no cigar…or contract!

I’ve wanted to visit friends in Chicago for over a year.  More recently, I started thinking that I should wait until there was an audition that interested me.  On September 12^th I got an audition notice e-mail for Oklahoma! from the Lyric Opera of Chicago.  I booked a super inexpensive flight and started planning to see friends and researching for the audition.

Sign-in began at 2pm with the audition at 3pm.  I took the ever so spectacular Laura
Wade’s ballet class at Visceral Dance.  After class, I grabbed a snack and headed to the Lyric, which is quite a stately building on Wacker Drive in the Loop.

The audition had about 40 women at the union call.  I landed as number 23.  What a mix of dancers!  It was so fun to see all my Chicago dance friends and even a few New York faces too.  My favorite NYC dance blogger was even at the audition too!  Check her out: http://haveladucaswilltravel.blogspot.com/.

I prepared a bit for the audition before the trip by watching the dream ballet sequence from the 1979 Broadway revival:

I also read about Gemzi de Lappe who is re-staging the original Agnes de Mille choreography.  I asked around a bit about what to wear and decided to go with nude tights, my polka dot halter leotard, and a short black ballet skirt.  I put my hair in a French twist.  I think the outfit was a great choice except for the hair!

Director Gary Griffin and Associate Choreographer Victor Wisehart were both in the room.  I thought they were great and appreciated their fun, upbeat energy!  We started with all of the union women in the room, and Victor taught us a phrase in flat shoes.  The phrase felt good and involved some arabesques as well as a few grand jetés.  They made a quick cut and moved on to a second phrase that involved some more extension, a crazy hard arabesque turn sequence, as well as faille, fouetté, sauté sequence at the end.  I made it through that cut too!

Next, they taught the men a dance combination while the women had a chance to organize themselves to sing.  Since we had a little time, I asked the moderator, Gretchen, if there was a space to warm up.  She sent me up to the fifth floor, and I had a little time for a vocal warm-up.

They kept 12 women and brought 10 of us into the room at the same time to sing.  We sat in chairs on the side of the room and sang one by one.  There was a wide array of experience as far as the singing, and I fell toward the middle.  Watching everyone sing helped me to realize just how much I’ve learned the last year, and for once, I didn’t feel like a total beginner!  The audition notice specified Rogers & Hammerstein so I sang Honey Bun.  I couldn’t imagine singing anything remotely legit in an opera house so I went for character.  I felt pretty good about my singing audition even though it was the first time I used that song in an audition.

The other two women sang with the men.  They told everyone in the group that I sang with to come back the next day for the call back.  Woo hoo!  A day two callback!

Day two was the same drill.  Sign in at 2pm and audition at 3pm.  They had held the open call that morning for both singers and dancers so the space felt bustling when I walked in around 2:15.  Since I arrived early, I asked again about doing a vocal warm-up.  I had no idea whether we would sing or dance first, but I figure it’s always best to be prepared for anything!

At 3pm, they started with a group of women from earlier in the day.  I’d guess they were the singer-dancers.  They didn’t keep anyone in that group and then asked the dancer-singers to come into the room.   Gemzi de Lappe was in the room on day two!

We started with the second combination we learned the day before but with quite a few minor changes.  Then we danced it 2 at a time.  They cut from about fourteen dancers to about 8 dancers.  Boo!  I got cut.

Lessons learned:

• Musical theater auditions outside of New York are way more chill.
• I’ve learned a ton about vocal auditions in the last year.  I still need to improve my technique, but that’s just a matter of spending the time working on it and allowing myself the patience to improve.
• If I think there’s a chance for typing on the young side, I should wear my hair down.  I might want to curl it and go with a headband.  A French twist is way too elegant when going for youth!

Flashdance

Musical:  Flashdance 

Audition date: August 7, 2012

Link to casting notice: Flashdance Casting Notice

It seems as though I can reasonably expect to get myself to about two auditions a week and still balance the rest of my life.  This week I had to make some decisions about which to attend.  I decided to give Flashdance a shot because I’ve never auditioned for a workshop, and I want to learn more about Sergio Trujillo!

Since this was an afternoon audition, I started the day off will ballet class from Ashley Tuttle at Mark Morris Dance Center.  She is angelically sweet and gives a wicked, devilish class!  Thank goodness her class focuses on getting you on your supporting leg with a strong supporting side because I sure needed it for the audition.

I didn’t arrive until about 1:45pm for the audition.  I ended up as number sixty, which put me in the 3^rd group of equity dancers.  Since the casting notice mentioned everything from ballet to hip hop to gymnastics, I was really sure what to expect.  I decided to wear another new outfit from Lululemon that included the Wandering Yogi Tank in gray with white circles, the Free to Be Bra in pow pink, and gray bike shorts.  The outfit had a good feel to it and worked well for the audition!

Associate Choreographer Dionne Figgins taught the movement very clearly and very quickly.  She’s also quite beautiful to watch!  Choreographer Sergio Trujillo was very professional, efficient, and business like.  Casting Associate Kaitlin Shaw was also in the room from Tara Rubin.

We wore ballet shoes, and the combination was technical in a ballet sense with a lot of turns and extensions but more contemporary stylistically.  I liked the movement a lot, and it worked well for the type of dancer I consider myself.  But I have to admit that I needed my brain turned on a bit more!

We learned about 6 phrases of 8.  The 4^th phrase of 8 I struggled with the sequencing.  I needed to focus on the counts more because certain sections felt bright (fast) and others felt slow.  I danced fairly well (mostly thanks to taking a great class that morning) but not my best, which is a little frustrating because I could’ve killed that combo!

I didn’t get a callback, but I gathered some good information on the audition process for Pre-Broadway Workshops and Sergio Trujillo (I’m an even bigger fan post audition!).  They kept about 4 maybe 5 dancers out of my group of twenty five.

Lessons learned:

• If I take ballet class before an audition then I need to plan on going straight to the audition from class because going home takes too much time and makes me late.
• Pre-Broadway Workshop auditions run pretty much the same as all other auditions.
• I might consider drinking a cup of coffee between class and an audition if I take a real hard class that morning.
• I need to pay particular attention to counts when the movement is fast.
• Even Pre-Broadway Workshops have research possibilities before going into the audition.  While writing this blog, I found a wiki entry, the tour dates, and a great article from Playbill.   Dancing around in my living room to the trailer for the West End production would have really put me in the mood…check it out!

9 to 5, MA

Musical:  9 to 5, MA

Audition date: July 30, 2012 with callback August 1, 2012

Link to casting notice: 9 to 5 Casting Notice

My AGMA (American Guild of Musical Artists) card gets me into the AEA (Actors Equity Association) Audition Center!  This means that I can sign up for auditions days before they happen.  Dancing/auditioning earlier equals less time spent waiting around!

I think I finally figured out the Monday morning audition! Rule number one, get a decent amount of sleep.  Rule number two, wake up early and go to the gym.  Doing a little cardio and core strengthening is a good substitute for dance class when the timing just doesn’t work out!

Since I’m still behind in my musical theater knowledge and researching before an audition seems to help, I read up on wiki about 9 to 5 and watched the opening number from the Broadway show on YouTube.  The research along with the casting notice that specified both heels and jazz sneakers helped me in deciding to wear my new Lululemon top in black with lipstick red bikes shorts from American Apparel.  Gotta love a fun new dance outfit!

I also took note of the director/choreographer: Richard Stafford.  I auditioned for him before when he directed/choreographed George M! in Elmsford, NY.  I also introduced myself to him about a month ago in Diane Laurenson’s class sort of on accident because he looked familiar (and nice!).  Now I see him every once in awhile in passing at Steps.  He does a ton of work and is highly regarded so I looked forward to another opportunity to audition for him….and of course, one day to work with him!

I ended up in the first group of Equity women.  They didn’t collect headshots/resumes but had us fill out these yellow cards in addition to the equity cards.  We learned the opening number of the musical, which is to the song 9 to 5.  In the room were Director/Choreographer Richard Stafford, Associate Director/Choreographer Jonathan Stahl, Accompanist Christopher McGovern, and Casting Director Jason Styres from Binder Casting.

Richard and his assistant Jonathan described the movement as more modern, which is why we wore jazz sneaker instead of heels.  The story line was about waking up in the morning and getting ready for work only to find yourself pulled in five hundred different directions once you get there.  I loved it!  I loved that the movement was more modern/contemporary, and I felt fully engaged in the story.  What day don’t I get pulled in five hundred directions once I show up to the office?  I danced in the last group of four and had an absolute blast with the choreography.

In fact, I had so much fun dancing that I accidentally blanked on the last 8 counts of movement.  Instead of taking two steps for a preparation into chainé turns, I just started the chainés early.  Well, I had no choice but to keep turning and make that mistake absolutely intentional.  It worked well enough to get asked to do the combination again!  I danced again with two or three other girls, and when they read the names of people to sing, mine was one of them!

Back in the holding room Jason explained to us that we could stay until 4pm and sing at the end of the Equity singers or come back on Wed.  Since I had quite a few meeting already scheduled for that day at work, I decided to wait until Wednesday. This also allowed me a little more time to decide on what song to sing.

Jason called me Tuesday around 5pm to let me know that my time slot on Wednesday was 4pm.  He instructed me to sing a song in the style of the show, to bring my entire book in case they wanted to hear something else, and to be ready to dance in case there was time for more choreography.  I decided to sing Before He Cheats because it falls into the pop/country category and seemed like a good choice for this musical.  I’ve worked on this audition cut for quite a few months now so I feel pretty comfortable with it even though I’ve not worked it in an actual audition or class setting.  I settled on wearing skinny jeans, black patent leather pumps, and a fun little black top.

Wednesday morning I went to yoga at the gym (which always helps my singing because of the breathing), ran into the city to pick up my printed headshots at Reproductions, practiced singing, did a little core strengthening, and headed back to the city for the audition.  I got there on the early side at 3:30pm, but they were running a little late so I got seen at about 4:30.  This time they did ask for resumes and headshots, and it felt great to hand over an updated headshot!

I’m really not sure how the singing went.  I didn’t get nearly as nervous as I have in the past.  This is probably a good thing for the breathing.  The accompanist did a wonderful job with tempi and playing so nothing freaked me out on that front.  Although I have no idea how I sounded, I do know that Richard and Jonathan seemed to like my song choice.  They were both singing it when I walked out of the room…I think that’s a good thing!

I haven’t heard anything about the audition and whether I booked the job.  Regardless, I’m really happy with how it went.  I want to work with Richard Stafford, and if it doesn’t happen with this show, I think it will happen in the future.  I’ve checked on the Callback Corner of Audition Update, and it doesn’t seem as though anyone has offers yet.

Lessons learned:

• Even if I sign up at the AEA Audition Center before an audition, I still need to be in the holding room thirty minutes before the audition starts because that’s when the monitor starts handing out numbers
• I love my new audition outfit!
• Preparation for an audition includes a gym work out and research on the musical.
• If something goes wrong during the actual audition itself, I have to use it as an acting or intentional moment.
• Practicing yoga before a singing audition is really helpful both in mindfulness and breathing!

White Christmas, CO

Musical:  White Christmas, CO

Audition date: July 24, 2012

Link to casting notice: White Christmas

I love afternoon auditions because I can take a ballet class before!  And the one thing I love even more is to dance at an audition warmed up!

I hemmed and hawed about going to this audition.  Traditionally, White Christmas has a lot of tap dancing in it.  I haven’t consistently taken tap class since before Nabucco in Washington, D.C….so that means since March!  And I’ve been a little gun shy about tap auditions since the Stages St. Louis audition that I cut myself from.  I decided to go with the idea that it’s always better to be seen than not.

I decided to do a little research before going to the audition.  I found this video about the White Christmas on Broadway in 2008/2009, which features one of my favorite teachers/choreographers of all time Randy Skinner.  Although Patti Colombo is choreographing the White Christmas in Colorado, I still learned a lot about what to expect stylistically at the audition from this video.  And it helped me decide what to wear: fishnets,  black and white polka dot halter swimsuit, and a short black skirt.  A perfect choice!

I started the day with ballet class at Mark Morris Dance Center taught by Ashley Tuttle.  Mark Morris is less than a mile away from my Brooklyn apartment, which makes ballet in the morning that much more appealing!  Ashley’s class is real tough, no nonsense, straight up ballet.  Although her class is diabolically hard, Ashley is so sweet…not to mention stunning to watch!

After doing a few hundred tendus and finding my entire supporting side, I headed into the city.  Even though I didn’t go to the AEA Audition center to sign up prior to the audition, I still ended up #37, which put me in the second group of twenty-five equity dancers.  Choreographer Patti Colombo and her assistant taught the combination with a lot of clarity.  And guess what….we danced in heels and not taps! The movement had some nice extensions, sharp accents, and even a lame duck (that’s a type of turn for you non dancers!).  I enjoyed the style and had an absolute blast dancing it!  The room felt like a sauna, and the dancers joked about bikram White Christmas.  Each group took about forty-five minutes.  Out of my group, they only kept three dancers.

Lessons learned:

• It’s better to go to auditions and learn than to let fear prevent you from going at all.
• I need to write down who is in the room before dancing.  Once the audition is over I’m too rushed to get on with my day and always forget.
• French twists require more bobby pins for security than what I typically use when going to the office!
• When learning movement, I tend to learn the sequence and transitions first.  Once I dance it full out then I make sure I know the counts.  This does NOT work for musical theater auditions, which are uber crowded!  Oftentimes, I don’t get to dance a combination full out until it’s time to go in groups of four for the actual audition itself.  I need to work on marking the movement and paying close attention to counts, especially when some of the movement has accents.  Then when I have space to dance full out, I need to make sure that I root my movement in those counts/accents and don’t get carried out with having space to move!
• Patti Colombo is a name to watch out for in audition postings.  I’d love to work with her someday!

Sustainable New York

Reblogged from Restoration Effort:

Though some have more valiant efforts on this topic, my personal struggle to sustain a life here in NYC is tempered by leaving it. Recently, I managed to slip away for ten days to visit my new (husband's side of the) family and found the city quite welcoming upon my return. A stunning sunset illuminated a Brooklyn bike ride and I felt simply, home.

Read more… 368 more words

Sometimes living in NYC means getting away from NYC. Read about some great getaways from a fellow artist!