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.

The Audition Outfit

What should I wear today?  This question plagues many people on the planet every time the sun rises.    Yet somehow, as a performer going on auditions, the decision holds a lot more weight than just being cute for the day.  Now, I do not subscribe to the idea that you must go in costume or even dress for the show you are auditioning for.  You will see me in the exact same outfit at almost every audition, a bright colored leotard/tank top and my trusty black skort.  I'll be wearing that at Annie, Wicked, Oklahoma, Young Frankenstein ;) , Memphis...you get the picture.  I truly believe that if you can dance it doesn't matter what you wear.  If you are right for the role AND can dance it REALLY doesn't matter what you wear.  There are only two instances where I think that an outfit can make or break it at an audition. 

The first instance is when you are borderline right for the role and can dance.  For example, the other day I auditioned for Fame which takes place in h.s. in the 80s.  Now, I am almost 5'9" which means I do NOT read as a high schooler.  So in order to look the part, I wore tennis shoes a t-shirt and my hair in a ponytail.  I dressed younger, like I was in high school, so that I would not be typed out immediately.  So if someone is trying to look younger, older, more ethnic, less ethnic, shorter, taller, etc.  then yes consider your outfit.  However, if you cannot get the choreography this will not help you in the least.

The second instance is when the audition is for something so specific that it is well known what you should wear, i.e. The Rockettes, A Chorus Line, Mama Mia, Rock of Ages, etc.  For the Rockettes and A Chorus Line you need to show up in a leotard, tights, and a heel.   NOTHING else.  Linda Haberman and Baayork Lee do not play and they do not want anything breaking up your lines like pants or *gasp* shorts.  Baayork nearly had a heart attack when a girl wore shorts in her chorus line audition.   For Mamma Mia they want you in street clothes, don't come in a leotard and a Laduca they will not appreciate it.

Those two instances are the primary cases where you need to craft a specific look for your audition, but again they will never make up for poor technique and if you are fantastic enough they won't keep you from getting hired.  I have seen a girl in a unitard and ballet shoes make a Rockette cut simply because she was good, but that is the exception and not the rule and most of the time you will not be the exception.  So, do not go out and buy anything for a specific audition.   Make do with what you have and let's all focus on the dancing and not the fashion.