Shine Out! pt. 2

If you haven't read the super long pt.1, scroll down and read that first.  Done?  Cool.


After eating a substantial breakfast of sausage and oatmeal I returned to Radio City for day two of Rockette auditions.  I didn't arrive too early, the audition was at 10am and I got there around 9:30-9:45, and when I walked into the holding room BAM!  There were about 40 additional girls in there than the twenty that were left from yesterday.  Joy.  It was obviously going to be a rough and tumble audition day.  I spent my time in the holding room, warming up, reviewing material, and trying to chit chat with people, but everyone was a little stressed understandably.  Thankfully, although running a little behind, we were ushered into the audition room to begin the 2nd day.

The first combination we learned was the one from the previous day.  Everyone who hadn't learned it moved to the front and we ran through it all the way through.  No stopping in between the first and second sessions like yesterday.  After everyone felt comfortable its time to perform it for the panel and wouldn't you know they want us to go two at a time!  Now, there are over 60 people in the room so this is going to take forever!  I wait and wait for my name to be called.  (I definitely prefer to be in the beginning or soon after, so that you can just get it over with no standing around letting your mind get the best of you.) What in the world is going on?  Oh, I'm at the end, its a bummer to stand around so long, but at least my name is in the pile.  Right before I went out, I decided to let all the nerves go.  I asked that God's will be done and remembered that this was not the end all be all of things.  I stood out on the floor, the music began, I danced, and it was good.  I was happy and felt much more stable in my shoes than yesterday.  Hooray!

They didn't make a cut and we moved on to tap.  They added onto the combination from yesterday and then we danced again.  Good.  Still no cuts.  Now it was time for the last jazz combination.  For the past few auditions it has been a combo from the number Shine and today was no different.  It was great to already know it and really get a chance to sell it.  In May after we did Shine, Linda told all of us auditioners that we had frozen up under pressure and not performed to our full potential.  I was not going to let that be the case today.  So I just went for it, arabesques, leans, kicks, and all...and...I had fun.  Don't tell, but I actually had fun at a Rockette audition!  After that, it was time for kicks; which, went off without a hitch (see what I did there?) and it was time to go.   She didn't make any cuts on the second day, so we all went back into the holding room to complete our paperwork and then I scurried out of there to my next audition. (more on that later).

Now the great thing about August auditions is that you don't have to wait months for a decision to be made.  RC made calls with offers just two days after auditions.....and I got one!!  After screaming at the poor women on the phone, I confirmed that I would be in the New York cast of this season's Christmas Spectacular!  I am thrilled, in a way that could never adequately be described in writing.  After turning it down last year to go on tour I was afraid that I had missed my opportunity, and after not getting the job from the May audition I was pretty sure that was it, but somehow I am going to be kicking it up for Christmas this year!

Blessings have literally been raining from the sky for me.  I am incredibly humbled and grateful for it all.  I'm checking something ridiculous of my bucket list with this one.  Four years ago I was sitting over at 380 Greenwich in a button-down shirt and trousers making pivot tables in excel.  Wearing sequins is sooo much better!

Signing off with my senior year h.s. yearbook quote: "Do what you love and love what you do"

P.S.  Man this entry got sappy towards the end, sorry about that.
P.P.S. Jeremiah 29:11

Shine Out! pt.1

A public service announcement:


This will be my last blog about Rockette auditions.  I mean seriously, I've talked about the process so many times my teeth are falling out of my head. But for those of you who want to hear it one more time...here we go!



I didn't get a call from Radio City after the May audition.  I flew myself all the way from Nashville, missed part of my last week with Young Frank, did really well at the audition, made it to the end, and nothing.  Really? REALLY?  When calls started going out, and I didn't get one, I was bummed.  Really bummed, but unlike two years ago, I did not breakdown, cry, and feel bad for myself.  (Ok, maybe I felt a little bad for myself)  To be honest I was a little fed up with the whole process and when people asked me if I was going to go back and audition again I just wasn't quite sure.  Truth is, it was a really tough year to get a job.  Radio City had to cut two of the out of town shows for the upcoming season and that meant that 40 rockettes would be without work.  Any open slots from the three remaining shows would most likely be given to one of the 40 with no place to go.  After not getting a job at the first audition, I figured there were just no spots available for me.

When I saw they were going to go ahead and have an August call, I debated with myself if I should go.  First, I would be missing some other great auditions happening those same days.  Second, rumor had it that there were only around 13 spots available still and that many of those were actually being reserved for current/former rockettes coming to the audition to earn their spot back.  But, eventually I just decided to go for it.  The Monday of the audition I rolled out of bed, did my hair and makeup, grabbed the same pink leotard I've been wearing for the past 2 years and headed to Radio City Music Hall.  As usual, there were far fewer girls at the audition in August than there were in May.  I was about #180 and was in the last group of girls to be seen.  So there couldn't have been more than 200-220 girls there.

I got into the audition room and they were teaching the same combination from May.  Well, almost the same.  They love to change up little details like head movements and arms, just enough to keep you on your toes if you'd been to the earlier audition.  After learning it we did it three at a time and a cut was made.  I got kept.  Then all the other girls who had been kept in the earlier groups joined us in the room.  We learned the second half of the combination, but whoa! they were trying to change things up!  Luckily it was a mish-mash of another audition combo that I knew so it wasn't completely foreign.  After learning it, we performed it for Linda and Julie and then they made another cut.

Next was tap.  Instead of learning the combination from May, we learned a portion of the dance from "Twelve Days".  I had never learned this before so I got really scared, asked questions and made sure I figured it out.  When doing a tap audition you always have to know it.  Other times maybe you can get away with watching the girl next to you in the mirror, but in tap those sounds have to come from YOUR feet and if you miss a sound or get off the rhythm it is painfully obvious.  I got the tap down, we auditioned, and they made yet another cut.  Now usually at this point we get told to come back tomorrow but not this time.  It was too tough of a year.  Linda tells us to put our heels back on and learn a kick combination!  NEVER in all 6 of my other times auditioning have I ever kicked on the first day, but here we were kicking.

At this point I was not feeling well.  Chalk one up for being dumb and not having a good breakfast/drinking enough water/something.  I got the kicking over with but was feeling a little woozy and nauseous.  I was a very strange auditionee trying to sneak pieces of bagel out of my bag while other girls were auditioning.  After the kicks no cuts were made; instead, its announcd that we will be doing the first jazz combo again!  Oh. No.  I do not have it in me.  I did my best, but felt crappy, and on the final pose when you are supposed to stick the landing like Kerri Strug at the Olympics... I bobbled.   Like started to fall off to one side bobble.  Oh Lord...come on!  Fortunately they let it slide, I made the cut and we were finally told we could come back tomorrow.  At this point there were about 24 girls left, but tomrrow, oh tomorrow, would be the day when the rockettes were coming to get their jobs.

Welcom to Duloc.....now get out!

Yesterday I went to the equity chorus call for the Broadway musical Shrek and I got there an hour early! Go Me! But I was still number #86 on the non-equity list. I take my seat in the waiting area and the boys, who auditioned earlier in the day, begin filtering in all sweaty from their audition and it quickly becomes known that they are not keeping anyone after the first round and that means they are not really looking for anyone as they have no openings.

How is it that they are having auditions when they don't need any dancers? Well, being an equity employer all Broadway shows are required to hold auditions twice a year, regardless of whether they have any openings or not. AWESOME......its like going through interviews for a new job, several of them, only to be told at the end that they like you but they don't have the headcount to hire you.

Now after hearing this news, I began to contemplate leaving as there were 150+ girls there and since I get seen last I'd be waiting for hours. However, I had nothing to do anyways so I decided to wait. After waiting four hours....thats right FOUR hours, I finally get to go in and learn the combination which is a little snippet of the Duloc Number starring Lord Farquaad himself. The number was very character specific. Given that Lord Farquaad is an ego maniac, we the citizens of his town were expected to perform in these great musical numbers he wanted, however, we were terrified of being dismembered if we messed up. So we were supposed to have forced smiles with a look of fear in our eyes. It was ridiculously hard to do.

Now on the opposite side of things the dancing itself was....eehh. Insanely easy and definitely not for a dancer dancer. I could tell immediately that this was not the kind of show I would want to be doing 6 days a week. Nonetheless I put on my best forced smile and go out and perform for the choreographers. But like I thought, they don't make any cuts they just thank everyone for their time and we are free to go.

So am I glad that I wasted a whole day for nothing? Yes and no. On one hand I'm sure there was something more productive I could have been doing, but the other side of it is that I now know for sure, that I would not want to be in Shrek ever! Yay for revelations!

Over and out.....National Tour of Hairspray on Friday!

Rockette Auditions

Why is it that the more you want something the more it seems to slip through your fingers? Last week I had the pleasure of attending my 3rd Rockette audition of the year. It seems I never tire of standing outside in line with hundreds of girls all going after the same thing. I have been having a lot of luck in Rockette auditions this year, so I figure I'm going to keep going back until they make me one of those high kicking, Christmas beauties!

After getting to the line at around 9:30am (#176 yay!) and standing in the beating hot sun for at least an hour, I and seventy other girls had a chance to show our stuff. The director, taught us four counts of eight, the same four counts of eight from earlier this year I might add. Therefore if you were one of the unlucky girls not to have attended in May you were at an extreme disadvantage of not already knowing the combo. After learning the combo we went three at a time to perform the combo....this is incredibly nerve racking as you wait, never knowing when your name will be called and then finally when everyone is done the audition manager called the girls they wanted to stay and the rest would wait again until next year.

After making the first cut we went into the red room, where we get our heights taken and I met up with a friend of mine who I met at auditions earlier this year. We were led back into the room and learned another six counts of eight. While the first four eight counts were confusing because of the little hand details, the second half of the combo brought the famous eye high kicks into play and suddenly all the girls in the room were sweating...Finally after learning the rest of the combo we added it all together for a total of ten eight counts, practiced it a few times and then performed it three at a time. Another cut was made and then it was time for tap!

Now I personally love tap and am fairly good at it so to me the tap combination was not difficult. An intricate little time step, some tricky rhythms, again more very specific arm and head details. It was the same combination as May so we went through it quickly and then went three at a time and auditioned again. After the cut was made there were probably around thirty girls left and we were all invited back for callbacks on day number two!

When I showed up the next day imagine my surprise at seeing thirty new faces in the audition ready room! Turns out that several veteran Rockettes were coming to day two to audition for their jobs back. Joy..... As we went into the room that morning I was expecting to do the second jazz combo I had already learned from May so imagine my surprise when we were learning a new combo! I gave it my best, didn't mess up, but got put in the "maybe" pile after I went. Yes I keep track of where my headshot goes, so that I can know what to expect...it keeps my blood pressure down. Anyways, they took forever at this cut and I guess that was when my "maybe" turned to "no" and cut I was.

Nevertheless I will describe the rest of the process since I made it to the end earlier this year. After this they make you do the combo from the first day, the tap, and the new combo all again, because they videotape you. You are also given a kickline combo to do with the others in traditional Rockette fashion. Afterwards they take all your measurements and tell you they will call you and let you know.

Clearly after my successful May audition I didn't get the call and I didn't make it all the way to the end in August, but they recognized me by the end and I keep making it far enough that I know they think that I have a what it takes. So I'll be back! and by the way, my friend got the job!! She auditioned and auditioned and never gave up! Hard work and persistence always pays off!