I'm up every morning at six
And standing in line
With two hundred girls
Who are younger and thinner than me
Who have already been to the gym
I'm waiting five hours in line
And watching the girls
Just coming and going
In dresses that look just like this
Till my number is finally called
When I walk in the room
There's a table of men
Always men - usually gay
Who've been sitting like I have
And listening all day
To two hundred girls
Belting as high as they can!
I am a good person
I'm an attractive person
I am a talented person
Grant me Grace!
-Climbing Uphill, The Last Five Years
This was the song that was running through my head when I pulled up to the dance company where the auditions were being held. My best friend Mary and I pulled up at 10:15, as the instructions online had requested that no one arrive until 10:30. The line was already a couple hundred people long. There were a lot of pretty people there and so a little intimidated, we got in line and started the wait. We were both bubbly and just excited to be there, and through our silly chatter got the attention of the two people in front of us. They introduced themselves and we made friends and started talking as we waited.
That was the general theme of the audition. Talking and waiting. Waiting and talking. Waiting and stretching. Just waiting. A lot.
We waited to be let into the door. We waited to receive our audition numbers. We waited in a small dance room to be brought into a bigger dance room to be taught the audition combo. We waited our turn for the chance to perform our first audition combo.
After waiting until 1:30ish, we finally got pulled into the audition room with roughly 75 other people. The first combo was fairly easy. It utilized all the standard musical theatre combos, the three step turn, the pivot, the grapevine. We danced to Hawaiian Rollercoaster Ride in groups of four and performed the combo four times in a row. After that, they read out a list of numbers that they wished to stay and dismissed everyone else. I was the last number to be called and waiting to hear that 219 was nerve wracking the first time and continued to be so. Mary was not in the group of numbers called and I almost started crying then, but she hugged me, told me she was proud of me, and said she was okay, and then the precious angel proceeded to wait for the next six hours.
The numbers who were called were funneled into an adjacent room and we were measured and then given a paper after they took a picture of our faces and any tattoos or unusual piercings. We filled out the form and then went to another room to wait another couple of hours or so. After they got through the first round of cuts, they started bringing in groups to learn the second, more difficult jazz combo. After telling us that the combo would involve some more technical work and battements, it was comical how quickly we all started stretching our splits so that our kicks could be as high as possible. Unfortunately, the fast stretching didn't do us much good as we waited for quite a while to be called in to learn the combo. Eventually, we were called in and the combo terrified me, as I am not a technical dancer. It started off decently easy and moved to very fast and technical. They also told us that we were to perform an "animation" beforehand, where we created a small story and had to act it out with no words.
After learning the dance, we got to wait another hour or so and got a chance to really practice and work on our animations and choreography. They were calling in groups of 8-10 for this round. We were put into two lines, staggered, and then to "Calling All the Monsters" from Disney Channel, we had a set amount of time to perform our animation and then the choreographer called out, "5,6,7,8!" for us to know when to begin our dance combo. After finishing the combo, we reset, performed a different animation and then danced through the combo once more. They then called out the numbers they wished to stay and sent the ones they called into the waiting room. We then waited some more.
Finally, after they had seen everyone perform the second dance combo and made cuts, they came in called a list of numbers to follow them. All the girls left and I were confused and nervous, but slowly came to notice they had taken all of the really good technical dancers out and left just pretty girls behind. We then realized they called out the parade performers and kept the face characters in the room. We spent the waiting time guessing who would be what princess and what each others' faces looked like.
They then sent the dancers out and brought us in, took our pictures, and then sent us home.
I then waited a month and a half to hear back, and I didn't get cast this time, but I loved every moment of the experience. I learned so much, had so much fun, and made so many friends. I can't wait for the next one! Walt Disney World auditioning staff, look out! We're coming at ya May 26th!
