The Audition...

"You did it: you changed wild lament into whirling dance..." Psalm 30 [The Message]


Sunday, February 27th, 3:00PM...


oooooooooooooooooh boy I am nervous! I spent the afternoon in my bible and some time with God, which overwhelmed me, not with nervousness or excitement or anxiety, but with a sense of peace. If His plan is for me to be a company member, an unpaid project dancer, a homeless woman, or a disneyland aficionado (which I actually might be OK with...), it is in His plan and I there is nothing I want more than to follow it. 


I got to the studio with about 20 minutes to spare, filled out my audition form and spent the rest of the extra time with my heart in my throat, sweating before the workout even began, and stretching trying to calm my nerves, while also enjoying God's peace (if that even makes sense, being nervous and peaceful at the same time, but it did happen!). Mind you, I haven't danced more than 2 hours in the last 3 years, my thoughts: this is going to be rough! 


The audition started with a Limon style warm-up, which is just like what ballerinas do at the barre but in the middle of the room (with nothing to hold on to... rough stuff!). I was sweating half way through, it was hard not having taken a ballet class in a while, or maybe I'm just a sweaty person, either way... We then proceeded to learn 3 pieces of choreography from Travis Buttworth himself. The first was "easy", second was "hard" and the third was "slow" (his labels, not mine ;) ). They were all pretty fun! between each piece we performed them in small groups of four and rotated through so he could see everyone closely. 


After the dancing was over we all sat around and asked questions about the company. (like any interview, I was sure to have at least one question ready!) One girl flew all the way out from Indiana for the audition, she didn't even email and ask about it, just dropped $600 round trip to audition for a company when she can't even move out her until May when she graduates... I think that was just about the smartest thing she could have done... (sarcasm). Anyway, THANK GOODNESS Travis said he hated improv (as most dancers do, but ironically choreographers and companies LOVE to make dancers do it during auditions) so we didn't have to do that, and said that it was only right that we know the results of the audition "soon". (HALLELUJAH!!). 


I went home sweaty and tired, but anxious to hear from the company. Oddly enough even after the audition I was nervous! I showered and watched some TV to try to keep my mind off of the news I was waiting for. (nice try, pathetic attempt...) 


And then came the email, 7:06PM:

Hello Emily,

Thanks for your interest Butterworth Dance Company.  At this time, I would like to offer you a Company Member position with BDC.  Please let me know if you are interested in this opportunity.  

Rehearsals begin Saturday, March 5, 2011 at 2:00pm at APA.

Thanks again for your time and audition with BDC.

Traves

YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I can't even believe I'm a part of a professional company, this is too good to be true! 

The next day I get another email from BDC asking for some action shots and a bio for the "dancers" page of the website. I spent two days creating a bio (the perfectionist in me had a hard time with this) to be published, meanwhile I'm all smiles :)

I will post the link to the website when it goes up, but for now my bio goes like this, hope you like it!:

Emily James was born and raised in the small town of Placerville California. She began dancing at the age of 10 and spent 8 years performing in statewide dance competitions. Emily has trained in jazz, tap, lyrical, musical theatre, ballet, as well as her favorite: contemporary and modern dancing. In 2006 Emily joined Folsom Lake Civic Ballet Company and iMPACT Contemporary Dance Company where she danced in many benefit performances and shows working with her artistic directors Deirdre Hawkins, Jamie Hancock and Ben Schreivogel along with well-known choreographers such as Gustavo Zajac, Martha Kelly-Fierro, Ben Bowman and many more. She is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Point Loma Nazarene University and plans to graduate in May 2012.

And I know you've already seen these pictures, but these are the ones I sent with the bio:

Anyway, I am now all caught up with my blogging. Tomorrow I meet the rest of my company and I am beside myself excited (most of you know this can be a bit much sometimes, which I hope doesn't come out to my company until they know me a bit better... [this kind of excitement often scares off people in the admissions office because I also get excited to tell people about PLNU during campus tours and talking to families]). Although I'm excited, I have been constantly reminding myself how thankful I am for my passion and opportunity God has given me to be involved in something as great as this!