Reflection: Hosting our First Audition

A week ago, on October 27, the Junior class hosted an audition for the Student Dance Festival. Most individuals choreographing for this concert have attended many different auditions, but never been sitting behind the table analyzing the dancers. This was an entirely new experience. We had to come in with some kind of knowledge of either skills or quality of movement we wanted our dancers to possess. We also had to be able to look at and work around dancers schedules and work with our fellow choreographers so we could all have a cast that would work well for our pieces.

Also, for a select few of us, we had to create movement phrases that were simple enough to teach quickly but had elements that could show us what the dancers could do. Some elements used in the phrases were speaking, improvisation, both slow and fast movement, movement across the floor, movement on the floor, and some very basic partnering. Jessica Mego and I created a phrase that used a lot of movement on the floor and abdominal control.



Our phrase was only four 8 counts long but included an improvisation at the beginning and end. By both creating and teaching this phrase we had to learn to be both succinct and accurate in demonstrating what we wanted from the dancers, both in the choreography and improvisation sections.

Having this whole experience as part of our journey towards a degree is extremely helpful to my future. Whether I become a choreographer and use this beginning knowledge to build upon for future auditions, or at least to understand what all goes into the audition and selection process for a cast or company.

-Colleen Weiher (Junior BFA Dance Major/2011 SDF Choreographer)