So the weekend began with a lovely drive to Chicago-land. I drove. Stephen slept. It was a good time.
We arrived at Kevin and Christines house around 10pm (i think) their time and they are just great. We watched a little Jersey Shore, played with Payton, and got the tour of all the new baby stuff. Sadly, this was about all the time we got to hang out with them as they had to work the next day and we supremely wanted to sleep in.
And sleep in we did! Woke up around 10am and got ready to go meet up with Agnes. We did lunch at Palm Court, per usual, and spent a couple hours visiting with her after lunch. We brought her some wedding photos and she showed us some great old stuff about her family tree, etc. Agnes is just the best. The woman is 90+ and still going strong. It is always great to see her, even if it is just for a little bit.
After our Agnes time, it was time to head downtown! We got there in about an hour, which was pretty good for Chicago traffic. We got there with about 45 minutes to spare because I still needed to change and walk a little so I could feel a little warmed up. The Dance Studio was just down the street from the Sears tower so we walked almost to it and back, stopped in a Staples to change (it was convenient). Walked a bit more, then it was off to the audition! The Studio was enormous and I was directed up to the second floor to studio D. When I got to the top of the stairs, I was confronted by a mob of mom's and dad's who were all huddling around the little window which freaked me out because I thought I must have been super late if they were already dancing. Luckily, those parents apparently find registration facinating because that is all that was happening. I popped into the end of the line that was probably 60 some people long at this point. I grabbed and audition sheet and filled it out as I made some friends with the girls around me. Most people there were auditioning for the college program which successfully made me feel old. Most looked like college freshmen or younger if you can believe it! After all 117(or something) of us were registered, we were taken to the larger studio. They informed us that there would be three sections to the evening and two cuts. The first section was just a simple traveling dance where we were encouraged to "show our personality" as much as possible. And this is where I failed. I learned the dance just fine but did not smile nearly as big as I should have and did not put nearly enough energy into it. A girl that had befriended me had done this before and had tried to explain it, but I guess I didn't take it seriously enough. Or rather, I took the "get the dance right" part TOO seriously and the "show your personality" not seriously enough. I got cut (along with probably 60%) of the rest of the group in the first cut. I truly did not feel that sad. I don't think I ever felt really prepared for this and now I will be for the next one. The second section of the night was to be a more advanced dance portion, to truly weed out us fakers:-) and the third section was to be "tell a story with dance." I am endlessly gratefull that I didnt' make it to that section, as I would have been at a total loss as to what to do!
All in all, it was a fantastic experience. Easily the FUNNEST audition I have ever been to. I know not to be scared of the casting directors because they really were super nice and super happy. I know what I need to do to prepare for a dance audition now. And I know that I was very much not the worst one there, by a long shot, which is very encouraging.
It was a great experience and one that I would and will happily do again! I can't wait til my next shot at this!
