Parade Marches and Beach Days

Auditioning

   Sunday October 6th, my alarm went off about 6:30AM, and immediately, I started having the usual 6:30 AM internal conflict with myself.

Do I really have to get up?
   Yes you do.
But, am I really going to get a character job?
   Probably not.
Then why am I going?
   Why not?
Because I want to sleep.
   Not a good reason.
But but but... Ok. Do I have to take a shower?
   Your hair is dirty.
I'll put it in a pony tail.
   It's not long enough to put in a pony tail.
I'll wear a bandana.
   You don't have any bandanas.
Fine.

   I got myself up and out of bed, washed my hair, and was on the road at 7:30. The next few hours in the car were, of course, passed with the help of Disney music. Finally, I realized I wasn't nervous at all. I wasn't even anxious really. I wasn't an actor, or a singer, or a dancer, and I didn't really look like any of the princesses. I would be fine working in attractions. But, what the heck. Best case scenario, I get the job. If I get cut, I'll go shopping.

   Two hours later, I walked into the studio where the auditions were being held and immediately felt out of place. There were girls in their full dance gear, hair and makeup done, ready to go, and there I was in jeans and a tank top, tennis shoes and hair that almost didn't even get washed that morning. The nerves hit right that second.

    I met some people and stuck with them during registration. They got our heights and contact information, gave us numbers, and then started splitting us into three groups. This is where the nerves kicked in even more. In our three big groups, they taught us a parade route, put us in four lines, played a song and said "march". I tripped and fell, stumbled all over myself, turned the wrong way, stepped on the wrong foot and had a fantastic time doing it. They gathered us all in a group, called out the numbers that had made the cut, and sent everybody else home. I was already peeling my number off and finding my car keys when they called my number. What? Ok. I put my keys back away and went into the next room.

    Each of us got an application to fill out. They told us how the rest of the day was going to go, took our headshots, and sent us back to the choreographer. I got back into the room with everyone that had made the cut from all three groups. All the serious dancers were there stretching and doing warm ups. There were girls in high heeled ballroom dancing shoes and people doing splits, and there was me in my jeans and tennis shoes, looking around, wondering how the heck I'd gotten there.

    We did an animation workshop where we had to act like Disney characters on the beach, they taught us a dance, and again, split us up into small groups, this time according to height. Being the shorty that I am, I was in the very first group. Which was good, I didn't have much time to forget the dance. They started the music and off we went. I fumbled through the steps, and laughed every time I messed up, I tried to apply my middle school dance classes to the turns and kept my balance for the most part, and then the dance finished and we did our characters at the beach bit. I had a really good time with that part, building a sand castle and setting up an umbrella that was WAAYYYYY too big and catching a fish that pulled my fishing pole out of my hand. It was a fun experience. We finished, they thanked us and sent us on our way.

    I drove home, thinking about the audition. I'd had fun, but at the end of the day, I really probably wasn't very good at it. I figured I'd leave it up to fate for the time being.