Auditions 2 and 3...and 4, 5, 6, 7,8
Biggest piece of audition advice: chill
After ABT summer intensive audition on the Saturday I got back, the next Saturday I auditioned for Charlotte Ballet's summer intensive and year round pre-professional program, followed by the same deal for Pittsburgh the day after. The next Saturday, I auditioned for Joffrey Chicago's programs, and the day after A+A Dance. Just this past weekend, I packed my weekend full of Oklahoma City Ballet summer intensive, Ballet Austin, and Ballet West.
They were all pretty good.
Charlotte Ballet's audition was a really positive experience--the teacher was friendly and cheery, and even with the Ellison Ballet boy at barre next to me, radiating the strongest atmosphere of anxiety I've ever felt, I had a good time. I also saw three of my classmates from JBS there, which made me feel even more at ease, since it made the audition feel more like a daily class.
Pittsburgh Ballet Theater was a solid class but unremarkable. I'm most disappointed about this rejection, though, because their pre-professional program would have been lovely.
Joffrey Chicago's audition was probably the second worst audition I have ever been to. It is, of course, beat by my first audition ever, when I had never had modern or contemporary training and they made me do both that and hip-hop at an audition. However, it was a close call. The studio at SAB that hosts many auditions is not enormous--it's a good size for maybe 30 to 45 people, but definitely not Joffrey Chicago's crowd of 65. Also the little clip that held my audition number to my leotard gave me a rash, and that just made me bitter. However, I also learned from this audition that my own school is lacking. The petit allegro was full of jumps I had never encountered, and when I watched third year students from my school, they also did not know what was going on, proving to me that it's not just because I'm a first year--they simply don't teach these jumps at JBS.
A+A Dance, on the other hand, offered me one of the best class experiences ever, let alone audition experiences. There were 6 people and Alexei Kremnev, the artistic director of the school and one of its founders and our audition teacher, learned my name and gave me more corrections in one and a half hours than I got from all of my teachers at Joffrey NYC in the entire month of November. I was admitted to their International Summer Intensive, Back to School Summer Intensive, Conservatory Year Round Program, and their Youth Company with the caveat that I attend all five weeks of the summer intensive. I would really like to train there, especially since they seem to like me and see something in me, and the teacher was so helpful. I will be unable to join the Youth Company this year, since I committed to ABT's summer program, but I still have my eye on the conservatory.
Oklahoma City ballet was a mess mostly because it was also a company audition. I had only signed up for the summer intensive audition, which I think was not only a good decision but also really beneficial, because I got to experience and see a company audition without the pressure of looking for a job or being cut. They made three cuts, I think, throughout the audition, after doing short barre with two groups (there were at least 106 of us), but I am pretty sure that they just kept all of the summer intensive auditionees for the whole class. It was nice to experience the atmosphere of a professional audition, even if it was crowded and intimidating.
Ballet Austin was 16 people and directly after Oklahoma City's audition. I really enjoyed the class--it was purposefully extremely simple, which told me immediately that Ballet Austin is looking for clean technique and good placement, which I've lately been starting to really learn about. I did my best, and I was also happy to have the opportunity to show off what I'm good at: quick tendus at barre and long balances. I would really like to enter the Ballet Austin world, but I'm not too hopeful about my potential there.
I admit that I half-auditioned for Ballet West because the program would be incredible to be a part of and half because I'm obsessed with Breaking Pointe and Allison DeBona. It was a fun class, full of notes not just on technique and placement, but on developing emotion and artistry, which I rarely hear corrections about in class, let alone during auditions. I was off my leg for most of center--Joffrey NYC never works with pointe shoes in a regular technique class, and they're awfully hard to balance in for adagio, and Ballet West also made us do fouettes, which I've not yet mastered. I just did paddle turns from 5th, and I feel a spark of hope in that I did them before they made the note that we could do that instead of fouette turns--sometimes you've got to improvise and problem solve!
I still have five more scheduled auditions and I also have intentions to make a video--something I should really start filming--so my season of seeking further training is far from over, but I feel pretty good about it anyway!
After ABT summer intensive audition on the Saturday I got back, the next Saturday I auditioned for Charlotte Ballet's summer intensive and year round pre-professional program, followed by the same deal for Pittsburgh the day after. The next Saturday, I auditioned for Joffrey Chicago's programs, and the day after A+A Dance. Just this past weekend, I packed my weekend full of Oklahoma City Ballet summer intensive, Ballet Austin, and Ballet West.
They were all pretty good.
Charlotte Ballet's audition was a really positive experience--the teacher was friendly and cheery, and even with the Ellison Ballet boy at barre next to me, radiating the strongest atmosphere of anxiety I've ever felt, I had a good time. I also saw three of my classmates from JBS there, which made me feel even more at ease, since it made the audition feel more like a daily class.
Pittsburgh Ballet Theater was a solid class but unremarkable. I'm most disappointed about this rejection, though, because their pre-professional program would have been lovely.
Joffrey Chicago's audition was probably the second worst audition I have ever been to. It is, of course, beat by my first audition ever, when I had never had modern or contemporary training and they made me do both that and hip-hop at an audition. However, it was a close call. The studio at SAB that hosts many auditions is not enormous--it's a good size for maybe 30 to 45 people, but definitely not Joffrey Chicago's crowd of 65. Also the little clip that held my audition number to my leotard gave me a rash, and that just made me bitter. However, I also learned from this audition that my own school is lacking. The petit allegro was full of jumps I had never encountered, and when I watched third year students from my school, they also did not know what was going on, proving to me that it's not just because I'm a first year--they simply don't teach these jumps at JBS.
A+A Dance, on the other hand, offered me one of the best class experiences ever, let alone audition experiences. There were 6 people and Alexei Kremnev, the artistic director of the school and one of its founders and our audition teacher, learned my name and gave me more corrections in one and a half hours than I got from all of my teachers at Joffrey NYC in the entire month of November. I was admitted to their International Summer Intensive, Back to School Summer Intensive, Conservatory Year Round Program, and their Youth Company with the caveat that I attend all five weeks of the summer intensive. I would really like to train there, especially since they seem to like me and see something in me, and the teacher was so helpful. I will be unable to join the Youth Company this year, since I committed to ABT's summer program, but I still have my eye on the conservatory.
Oklahoma City ballet was a mess mostly because it was also a company audition. I had only signed up for the summer intensive audition, which I think was not only a good decision but also really beneficial, because I got to experience and see a company audition without the pressure of looking for a job or being cut. They made three cuts, I think, throughout the audition, after doing short barre with two groups (there were at least 106 of us), but I am pretty sure that they just kept all of the summer intensive auditionees for the whole class. It was nice to experience the atmosphere of a professional audition, even if it was crowded and intimidating.
Ballet Austin was 16 people and directly after Oklahoma City's audition. I really enjoyed the class--it was purposefully extremely simple, which told me immediately that Ballet Austin is looking for clean technique and good placement, which I've lately been starting to really learn about. I did my best, and I was also happy to have the opportunity to show off what I'm good at: quick tendus at barre and long balances. I would really like to enter the Ballet Austin world, but I'm not too hopeful about my potential there.
I admit that I half-auditioned for Ballet West because the program would be incredible to be a part of and half because I'm obsessed with Breaking Pointe and Allison DeBona. It was a fun class, full of notes not just on technique and placement, but on developing emotion and artistry, which I rarely hear corrections about in class, let alone during auditions. I was off my leg for most of center--Joffrey NYC never works with pointe shoes in a regular technique class, and they're awfully hard to balance in for adagio, and Ballet West also made us do fouettes, which I've not yet mastered. I just did paddle turns from 5th, and I feel a spark of hope in that I did them before they made the note that we could do that instead of fouette turns--sometimes you've got to improvise and problem solve!
I still have five more scheduled auditions and I also have intentions to make a video--something I should really start filming--so my season of seeking further training is far from over, but I feel pretty good about it anyway!
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