Joffrey Audition

I auditioned for another Summer Intensive! :) This one as I am sure you can tell by the title was Joffery School of Ballet. I went to this audition last Sunday with one of my good dance friends Hazel.  The class was really fun and the teacher was great. It was held like many auditions at the University of Utah State campus. I didn't do my very best but I still feel good about the audition. In the hallway everyone was warming up and there was this sense of competition. It is like an unspoken thing when you go to a ballet audition you are always trying to inure out who is more flexible and all of that. It is actually kind of interesting to people watch when dancers get ready for an audition. Some girls arrive hours early. Each person has their own routine. My pre audition routine goes a little something like this..

  First I wake up
  Then I shower and make the best ballet bun ever.
  After putting on my leotard and tights I eat breakfast (usually I have a smoothie)
  Then I head down with plenty of time.
  Once I arrive I check in and get my number
  I pin it on and look around this is what it looks like

Photo by Me

As you can see there are a lot of moms.
  Then I start to warm up my body by doing light stretches and pliés using the wall as my bar
  After I am pretty warm I stretch out completely (this is where I win the little competition I was talking about)
  Then I like to keep warm until we are ready to line up and go inside.


The audition was an a sand half class it was separated into three parts 45 minuets bar 30 minuets center and 15 minuets pointe. I do not really like when auditions are like this because I like a full length class and bar on pointe. However the audition was pretty easy going since there were no staff or anyone watching you but the teacher. This year was the first year I was put in the older age group mine was from ages 15 to 25 but, there were no 25 year olds in the audition and most of the people seemed about 17. Over all this was a very fun audition and I would love to attend Joffery in the summer.

Summer Intensive Auditions

Summer auditions have finally come this weekend there were many auditions around the US. Along with many of my class mates I auditioned for SAB (The School of American Ballet). The audition was stressful as always but fun. If you have never auditioned for a summer intensive they are almost always the same. This is how a basic audition goes. First you get up and get ready making sure you look perfect. Once you have your hair done absolutely perfect, you've found the perfect leo and you have cute warm ups to sike out the competition on you're ready to leave. I like to eat a really small healthy breakfast like and apple. You leave over budgeting about 45  minuets. Then you get there and you see everyone. The feeling you get is a strange mix of desperation, cockiness and a hint of fear. Then, You go get your number and pin it the front of your leo like 15 times until its perfect.  It is always really crowded but somehow cold. Its almost silent and there is this weird who is the most flexible contest going on while every one is stretching. (Although no one every says anything about it, you just know.) Finally when your group is called in you all get up and stand up as straight as possible to walk in, because first impressions are everything! Then it really gets intimidating. You all stand at the bar while three to five judges stare you down watching your every move. Once you finish the bar sometimes they let you grab a drink or they just move straight to center. It depends on the level you are if they ask you to put on your pointe shoes or not. Some auditions the entire class is on pointe.

Photo by Ballet Strength

 After center is over you clap and line up to thank the teacher then you go home and wait. Waiting is the worst for a couple of day then you forget about the whole thing or go to another audition. Usually you do not her back until April or May to see if you got in. All this waiting then you have about two weeks to decide which one you will attend. This particular audition was weird because it was in one of our own studios that the school rented while the Capital theater was under construction.  It was held there because when schools hold auditions for summer programs the tour the country and have to use what ever venue is best suited in that city. It was held at the Marriott Centre for Dance at the University of Utah.  Auditions are really intimidating but the are also really exciting. I personally do better at auditions because I try much harder. Although you probably won't get into every single school you ever audition to it is still great practice and a good experience to audition as much as possible, also aren't auditions and performances what you trained for?

Lots of rehearsals and Summer Programs Audition Preparation

Upcoming Utah Ballets:

Photo By University of UtahDepartment of Ballet

The University of Utah Department of Ballet 
The Utah Ballet will be performing November 13th -15th and November 20th -22nd. You can purchase your tickets through kingstix. The Utah Ballet's performances continue to impress me. I expected them to be good but last year I went to a couple performances with some girls from dance and we were very    surprised on how well the dancers are trained and how well the choreography was excited over all extremely well done.

 Daily Dance Days:

Along with nutcracker rehearsals we are already preparing for summer auditions which are in January. My teachers are telling us that it is right around the conner. This year I will be auditioning to several companies for a spot in their summer intensives. I will be auditioning for ABT American Ballet Theater, SAB School of American Ballet, NYC Ballet, The Royal Ballet

, Joffery School of Ballet and The School at Steps on Broadway. All of these are internationally recognized ballet companies and schools. All of them except for the Royal Ballet are in new york. The Royal Ballet is in London and is very hard to get into. Not only do they have summer programs but they have a boarding school that is year round. I would love to go there because I love London! We are working hard but got a break for UEA that was much needed. With Nutcracker rehearsals my weeks are reaching 28 hours and 45 minuets of Ballet! Saturdays alone are from 9AM to 6PM! I can say that I am very tired and sore to say the least. At least I love what I do.

Photo by Ballet West Blog

Reviews:
Dancewear Solutions
Dancewear Solutions is an online dance wear company that sells everything for every dancer. They have every thing from tights and leotards to tap shoes and costumes. I love this site and have probably spent way to much money on it..  Its not expensive at all in fact they have such good deals that I you could get 4 leotards for the price that you you could get one on a lot of other stores. If you are as obsessed with online shopping as I am you will really appreciate this site! Also there website has tons of selection. Sometimes I will find dance clothes that I really like but they are super expensive and almost always if I type it in to the search bar I can find it here for half the price. I go on this site all the time and defiantly would recommend it to friends. It is a great place to look for cute leotards for that one class a week where you get to wear your choice leotard. Ours is on Saturdays. They have tons of styles and colors to chose from. Dancewear Solutions get a great rating from me any day.

Stretch of the week: Frog

Photo by Different Steps to Ballet

The "Frog" has many names but what it is, is a stretch that helps loosen up your hips. This helps with turn out and basically every dance move you will ever do. All you do is lay down on your stomach and put you feet together and knees out, Try to get you feet and knees flat on the ground with out arching your back. This is a great stretch for all levels! After doing all of your other stretches your hips get tight and to make sure you have maximum range in your hips and to increase flexibility you need to loosen them up again. Plus it feels really good. At first most people can not get there feet any where near the floor but after doing it almost everyday it gets pretty easy and you end up like the girls in the picture. Depending on how flexible you are the can stretch a lot or a little. This is in almost every bar stretch at the end.