Today was my character performer audition!
I met up with Lauren (my visiting CP friend from Louisiana) at her hotel where we proceeded to put on our makeup and sing and dance to the oh so beautiful Zac Efron in Hairspray on tv.
We then walked the sixteen blocks to the audition site at Ballet Austin. When we got there, we only saw a few people in the building, but after all, we were 45 minutes early. After wondering around, we ran into the judge for the CP audition. I recognized her from last semester and it was that point that we were both like 'oh god, this is really about to happen'. Eventually we asked where to wait for the Disney audition and when we found the room, it was filled with 30 or 40 people waiting and mingling. We ran into
Marion in the waiting dance hall and sat in her little social circle while we waited for them to call us in to the main audition room.
Once we made it into the room, they explained the whole process and we filled out paperwork. After the paperwork, we lined up, got a number, had our photo taken and had our Disney height measured. In all actuality, I'm 5'1. I was measured at 5'2.5 today so I was measured up. Your Disney height is most likely different than your real height because its based on what height ranges they need.
After that we started learning the steps for the audition. The audition is split into two parts: dance and animation. In animation, they give you two scenarios to act out through body movement without speaking, sort of like charades. The first animation exercise we got was to meet a character in the park. I met Cogsworth, the clock from Beauty and the Beast and it was basically me going in to hug him and then being like wtf? and looking at my watch and then moving the clock hands on him to make him be the right time. Then I gave a thumbs up and hugged him. haha. The second animation exercise we got was to eat food at the parks. I got a hot dog and loaded it with ketchup and mustard using giant bottles, then i went to eat it and the hot dog flew out of the bun and into outer space so I kicked back like shooting a large gun and then jumped to my tippy toes and had my hand over my eyes to watch it soar far far away. Then I was sad. hahah. It might not have made sense watching it but it was fun in my mind grapes.
So... the dance... ugh. It was so hard! Like the steps I would say were moderately difficult. I took a semester of Jazz dance last semester and I felt I was only prepared for half of the steps and not nearly at the quick speed we had to perform it in! It was stuff like pivet turns and grapevines and step-hop-posse sort of things... then the whole thing ended in a quick pirouette and some Power Ranger punches. haha. You learn it 8 counts at a time and you learn it as a whole group (all 75 of us). Each 8 counts is generally more difficult than the last but ours were sort of mixed up. It all depends on what you're used to. The jazz steps I got pretty quickly, but the hip hop sort of steps, I wasn't too quick about. They did do the bent down lifting thing from We're All In This Together, so that was sort of fun. So after you run through the dance and the animations a few times, they send everyone outside and call you in 6 or 7 at a time in the order of your numbers. I was 43 so I had some time to go outside and practice (thank god!). Honestly, I would suggest being towards the end of the audition so you have more time to practice. I get that you want to go first so you can be some of the first people they see, but I'd rather be last and be prepared. Thats just me though.
In your actual audition, you're in there 6 at a time and you perform in front of the judge (there were three this semester, only one last semester) and the choreographer. The choreographer will instruct you on what to do when but the order is this: strike a pose, first animation, second animation, (count 5 6 7 8) dance, first animation again, second animation again, (count 5 6 7 8) dance. Then you're done! For the animations, do the same exact thing both times around. This is in case they weren't watching at a specific time because there are 6 of you in there. And the choreographer will perform the dance with you so you have something to follow in case you get lost.
I saw them keep two girls behind and take additional pictures of them. Idk if that is what being "pulled for face" consists of and therefor the rest of us don't have a shot at face... or maybe they still have decisions to make on that front. Both of them were super dolled up. But then there were other really pretty girls who were way dolled up and you could tell it was too much. Who knows? I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for Jasmine but thats IF I pass the audition at all. haha. I would give myself a 7 out of 10 I think. Maybe I did better than that, I'm not sure. I feel like I was as prepared as I could have been with the dance but I think if I would have practiced my animation more in the days before the audition (since they ended up being the same scenarios as last semester), I would have felt better about those. Oh well! Que sera sera.
Oh and they said they're expecting about 1,000 people to audition and they have 200 spots to fill. So, a 1 in 5 shot basically... which isnt too bad!
I'll find out in the coming weeks what will be the final verdict, but either way.. I'm moving to Disney World!! 60 days until check in! Woohoo!!
