It is actually hosted by two different studios, one that has a company attached, and anyone from any studio can audition, but for some reason no one in my old studio ever did--while I was there, at least. (Except Addie, until she moved to California ]: )
I had talked to Ms Munro about it, since I've only been on pointe for a year and am 26, typically people who have been on pointe for the amount of time I have are about 10-12 years old. Although I would love to audition and be in the Nutcracker, I don't really want to awkwardly stand out among the 5-foot-tall preteens. Ms. Munro said to audition and she would let me know if there was a place they could put me, and she would let me know if there wasn't. She told our class--the Ballet/Pointe IV--to go to the second of the three auditions. I asked her if she wanted me with my skill or age, and she told me either was fine, I asked if I could go with my skill since I would be going out of town, and she said that was perfectly alright.
I knew in advance that I would stick out like a sore thumb, but I didn't expect it to be this drastic.
Thankfully, there were 6 of us from my class who were also there, including 2 of the other tall girls. I felt so much better having them there.
As the audition went underway, my nerves started to reside. It helped to be surrounded by overly nervous kids; you could focus your nerves on helping ease theirs and by doing such subside your own.
(I'll have you know, when the youngest ones asked how old I was, they didn't believe that I wasn't 15.)
Upon first seeing Ms Munro, she asked, "You're coming to this audition?" To which I told her, "yes ma'am, I'm going out of town right after." To which she replied, "Right, that's just fine." So, there was that.
We did most of the audition in our ballet shoes--being that not everyone there was on pointe, they wanted to do everything we could with everyone before we released the kids who wouldn't continue with us in our pointe shoes. We did some barre, some center, some adagio and petit allegro, and some acting. I found myself getting extremely nervous before things that were singled out. I would see these 11 year olds facing this audition with the utmost confidence and nailing it, giving it their all, and I would think, "I'm the adult in the room. If this 11-year-old can be confident, I can, too."
I miss being 11. Where you still believe anything is possible and don't have the doubts of growing up growing in your brain. I want to be more like these kids.
So, we got to pointe, and Ms. Munro put me in a group with the two other girls from my class that are about my height. That was nice, and helped me feel a little more secure.
We went first, which I tried to face head on and confidently, and thankfully got through pretty decently. There were a couple times I messed up, and one in particular that I wish I wouldn't have let my face show it, but I learned. We did this one echape combination first off.
Echape, Echape, Echape, Sous Sous, Passe Right, Passe Left, Passe Right, Passe Left.
The Passe's were my challenge going into it, but I tried to remain confident and tell myself I could do it. I've noticed if I tell myself I can do it, I have a higher success rate than if I let myself feel nervous and anxious about it. Imagine that.
In turn, I went all out. Without really even realizing it. I did the head, and the arms, and the face, and it was so much fun. I messed up one leg, but whatever, I finished fine.
At the end they would have us stand there so they could see our numbers write notes about us. This one judge lady that looked familiar but I couldn't place and appeared like a professional ballerina looked straight to my number first and wrote something down.
I'm hoping that's a good thing.
We did a couple things from the corner, which most of the kids seemed to struggle with. There were about 3 of the little kids that absolutely nailed everything. You can tell they work hard. One I had met before the audition started and she told me she'd only been on pointe for 3 months. I was impressed.
The last thing we did in our groups involved bourree's, releve passe's, and some turns from fifth--which I hadn't even attempted since Instep because I wasn't too good on them. On the last circuit of the combination, I did something wrong and rolled my right ankle. I think I made a face, but I got up and finished the last one. The shoes I'm in had made me nervous with how they seem to twist on my foot, and I guess this is why. It could have been worse, it could have twisted or broken, but it didn't. It's hurting today, and I have my advanced ballet class tonight, so we'll see how this all goes. Thankfully, I have that pointe shoe fitting I won on the 27th, and one of the girls at the audition said that Capezio should have something to fit me. So that made me feel better.
Did I mention I did all this with a popped blister on my right foot where my pinkie toe knuckle is?
Yeah, there's that.
Probably had an effect with why I rolled my ankle, but I had started by telling myself to forget about it.
We're supposed to find out in 2 weeks. I dreamt last night that they gave me these rolls I had never heard of that were really small but there were a lot of them, and it was mostly acting. At first I was going to turn them down, then I realized that it was an honor that they were trusting me with these rolls. Then realized they were for the spring production and they were already casting me even though auditions aren't until January.
So, my first audition is in the books.
Stay tuned for updates on what happens next.
Here I am with Mari and Lillian, who were about to go into the third group audition.
From what I heard of the advancement of the class, I'm glad I stuck with the second group. I'm definitely on the beginner side of the Ballet V class, and this audition went on the Advanced side of it.
I was glad that other friends of mine were there :)
Should be a great season!
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