Ever since I saw the movie Flashdance, the idea of auditioning as a dancer has been at the very very back corner of my mind. I have always wondered what a dance audition would be like. Will it be like the movie, where there are the ultra-confidents, the renegades, and the worriers?
So when I saw an ad at a local Vancouver city paper,
AUDITIONS Open Call for Strong Male and Female Dancers.
I told myself “Why not? If not now, when?” I consider myself strong and I have gotten good reviews before in the past with my dancing, that is disco dancing. So I penciled in the date, November 3rd, 2011, 10 am Harbour Dance Centre.
Please dress in close fitting dance attire, technical exercises & contrasting combinations will be taught to you at the audition.
A nippy dry autumn morning, I wore cut tank tops, the tightest jeans I have, and a thick pair of socks. Clutching the newspaper ad clip, I took the No. 3 Bus on Main Street, and then the Sky Train to downtown Vancouver, walked towards 927 Granville Street, climbed up to the third floor, and entered a dance studio classroom with floor to ceiling mirrors and ballet bars. Inside were mostly women, around 30 and six men including myself. Everyone looked under the age of 30, young, fit, svelte and elastic as they did their warm ups. Resumes were lying on top of most bags lined up against the walls.
I was the only one over 30, in fact, I was over 40! But I was trim and fit (after losing 30 pounds in the past few months, I was confident and gung-ho).
Just like in the film Flashdance there were cliques and I felt like the Jennifer Beals character, out-of-place. Lovely taut youth were doing stretches, odd movements, some standing, some sitting with their legs stretched on the shiny warm wooden floor.
Likewise, I took my shoes off, and sat legs out on the floor. A friendly smiling guy extended his hand and introduced himself, “Hi, I’m Collin.”
“Oh, I’m Jake.”
A bit of a short talk. He is from up north, Prince George.
Collin asked, “What’s the plan?”
“I am just dreaming.”
“Good, go for it.”
Finally 20 minutes late, a British-accented man called the group, bald in his 50s with a tummy, identified himself as in charge of recruitment for Carnival Cruise Line’s 20 plus ships. Each year he said he has around 45 cast positions to replace.
He showed us a few steps, “One, Two, Three … a flip there, a switch there, front, back, slap your hands, one, two, twirl and then bang. Your thumb, your fingers … point them straight up!” The entire dance floor shook several times as we glided, thrusted, gyrated, turned around while lightly fast hopping, now and then checking ourselves at the wall-to-wall mirrors. I was trying to follow my neighbors as I can’t remember the full sequence.
As a whole, we had to do every short routine around seven times. Whew! It felt like an intense super-charged aerobics class but more fun.
Then he asked the ladies to line up by height, and accordingly grouped them to fours and fives. The six men, halved into threes, comprised the last two sets.
To the beat of Usher’s “More” each group did ala Radio City Hall Rockettes style straight eye-high leg kicks. This was followed by ballet pirouettes, around five 360s, from one corner diagonally across to the other. That made me dizzy!
Again – Fun!
And again! I thought I will fall down and quickly held on to the bar. I heard no one laughed nor saw anyone snickered. Anyway, I was woozy at that point.
Then in a gentle way, the culling began. First the ladies’ groups. After a quick repeat of a dance routine, the man would waive the select up front who would stay for the afternoon semis try outs and the rest walked wordlessly back to pick up their belongings. Surprisingly it was a very dignified quiet way of sifting. I was surprised that some girls who I thought were good did not make it and some that were not did. No one cried or said anything. Gradually the room became roomier and subdued.
Finally, it was the men’s turn. Of the six of us, guess who got a Thank You?
It was 12 noon, I was hungry and tired and actually I was glad. I did approach the audition director and his local assistants to thank them for what I thought was a great experience.
Collin came around and said “You’ve got guts!” I said with a gleeful smile, “Yaaaah!”
It was time to celebrate. Off I walked to New Town, a Chinese restaurant at Pender Street, and had their famous House Special – Chow Mein.
What a Flash of a day.
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