I auditioned for the Disney Cruise Lines. Now, I've been on a cruise and know the quality of their shows. In my mind, I thought that I was capable of performing at a decent level and getting me that nine month contract. During the audition, every hope and dream I had was shattered.
To prepare for this audition, I did a nice little warm-up, some extensive stretches, and brush-ups on technique. The styles I had to keep in mind were musical theatre, ballet, and tap. When I first decided to audition, I thought that I would have this in the bag; I could rock two styles and be sub par for the third. So I didn't think much of what I would be doing. This didn't stop me from completely warming my body, though, so as to avoid embarrassing cramps during the audition.
We started with Musical Theatre; Newsies. I thought this was gonna be easy. WRONG! The moves were intricate, the counts were fast, and I was dancing in socks on a hardwood floor. All of this just wreaked with disaster. The worst part, every phrase we did, there was always some sort of leap. We would walk, then leap, then turn, then leap, then pose, then leap, leap, LEAP! It got to the point that my high kick at the beginning of the piece, and audition, slowly started to lower farther and closer to a ninety-degree angle due to muscular fatigue. When I started to feel this way, I was very glad for two things:
1. That I did not eat breakfast. I was starting to feel sick and close to throwing up, but I luckily had nothing to throw up.
2. That I FINALLY remembered to bring a water bottle to an audition. If I did not have that water bottle, I would probably end up on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance on my way to the unwanted service and doctor's bill awaiting my arrival. No joke.
So on top of feeling this fatigue, I was having a hard time keeping up with the choreography. Things weren't piecing together fluidly, I was forgetting steps; it was a disaster. So then comes the actual audition. Mind you, only twenty minutes has passed at this point, twenty minutes. At this point, my body was ready to give up and throw-in the towel. Bt my mind was strong and I was determined to show the panel what I had. Then horror had struck. I was everywhere, literally everywhere. There was a couple of times that I was encroaching on the other auditioner's space and one directly at the end where I had almost smacked the guy, behind me, in the face as I opened up my arms not because it was the choreography, but for the joy that I survived and didn't end up killing anybody with my monstrous movements. It was then that we were asked to do it again and I was told:
Tap Judge: Can you make sure to stay in your own space this ?
Oh. Dear. Lord. Kill me now. I thought it was bad enough the first time, I didn't want to see what happened the second time through. So come second round, I had improved. I remembered the choreography a lot better than before and I didn't almost kill anybody. Score! Then came ballet. I was terrified as to what combination this woman had created.
When we went through the choreography, it actually wasn't bad; it was one of the easiest combos I have ever learned. Except, this one had a plethora of turns. I felt like I was on a never ending carousel; we just kept turning every time we had the chance. It was kick, turn, then leap, turn, now walk, then double turn. I thought that I was going to throw up all the water I had previously consumed from the prior experience of hell. Still, though, it wasn't as bad. If anything, I would have given my performance an eight out of ten; minus two for lack of point in my feet and technique. Then we had to demonstrate one of my worst nightmares: Fouette a la Seconde.
Readers, if you have no idea what I'm talking about, Google it. It's the worst. Basically, I was just a spinning top of death. At first, Choreo Woman just had our legs up in second and hopping around; that, I was fine with. The rest of the judges, on the flip side, had other things in mind. So when we started, I was doing well for the first three turns. Slowly and slowly, though, I saw myself creeping up to the man I had almost smacked during the first round of auditions. I knew that I was not his favorite; heck, I wouldn't like me. It got to the point that I was starting to get so close that if I did one more turn, I would have taken him out with a powerful kick. So, I did my horrible double turn and stopped. I profusely apologized for almost taking him down, again.
Auditioner: Haha. It's ok...
In his mind, though, he was probably thinking.
Auditioner: You little b****, get the hell out of my face.
If the first time wasn't enough, they had us do another round. At this point, I was so close to giving up, but I tried again and failed even more miserably than the last. The only difference was that this time, I did a few less turns and cleaned my double pirouette. Did I show them that I could it? Absolutely not.
We were almost done with the auditions and it had finally come down to the last, most horrible combinations of all: tap. It wasn't the fact that I hate tap, quite the contrary. I admire tap and tappers for being able to create a wonderful rhythm through their feet. In reality, I am horrible at tap. If anything, I went back to being the horrible tapper I started out to be. So come combination, the only thing I could do properly were flaps and bits and pieces of other basics. When it came to presentations, I faked it. You know the saying, "fake it 'til you make it", I was the living embodiment of that phrase; both times. Then they asked if we could tumble. I was done. That, for sure, was something I could not do. So I went in to the other room to change, get my measurements, and the rest is history.
I could say that this was one of the most horrific experiences I have ever had in my career as a dancer and performer, but it was one of the most hilarious and memorable. If anything, this experience reminded me how out of the game I was and that I needed to get back into serious dance classes. It's not about the gains that you learn from the most, it's your failures.
So I can't wait for what my future adventures and experiences hold.
Sincerely,
An Asian
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