How to deal with disapointment (Dancers please chime in!)

[Aussie Willy]

I should have, he was a wanker.

[Rob]

The worst part is I messed up my OWN choreography that I've been working on for months! Now I know I need to get my head together and stop obsessing and losing sleep (literally!) over small details that don't matter as much as the actual dancing does.

Do you have any opportunity to work with improv? Might help your confidence that you'd be more prepared if it even happens again. A group class or a workshop? I once got called back from an audition, and instead of teaching us a combination, they called us in two by two (I was paired with someone I had never met), gave us a scenario (we were two animals fighting in the Sahara ), put on music, and said go! No time to plan anything at all. I was a little unlucky that we were the first two up, and a little lucky that the girl I was paired with had an idea and I was able to mirror her and get into it. Otherwise, I would have been mortified and embarrassed (improv isn't usually a ballet thing or at least it wasn't in the 70s/80s). But I didn't get the job. She told me afterwards she did a lot of improv workshops. My two friends were paired together, and even though I was able to tip them off on my way out/their way in, you should have seen their faces when they came out.

[Smiley0884]

Do you have any opportunity to work with improv? Might help your confidence that you'd be more prepared if it even happens again. A group class or a workshop? I once got called back from an audition, and instead of teaching us a combination, they called us in two by two (I was paired with someone I had never met), gave us a scenario (we were two animals fighting in the Sahara ), put on music, and said go! No time to plan anything at all.

I was in a similar situation in my audition on Saturday, although not nearly as bad! I went to a pre audition workshop that was held to prepare auditioners for what to expect when they audition. The itnerary was 1. Across the floor combination 2. Free style 3. 1 minute choreographed dance we were to learn the day of auditions. Usually the first two would be no problem for me. I did an good job on the across the floor, not perfect but it was enough to advance to the free style round.

At the pre-audition workshop we were told that every round we would be performing in groups of 3-4 dancers. We were told to have a starting pose and ending pose for the free style and perform our own choreo for 10 eight counts in between. That's what I had rehearsed for months. At the audition they changed it to groups of 6 dancers, each would take turns dancing their freestyle one by one in front of the judges for 7 eight counts. That detail completely threw me off mentally. They took out the starting poses they asked us to have, and we had one count of eight to "dance" into the mark where we were supposed to perform our freetyle. I had to shorten my dance, and of course I was obsessing over what to take out ect. I also think I should have done a simple well done routine, as opposed to a difficult, yet sloppy one. I think if I had been well rested and feeling good physically I might not have been so taken aback by that change.

Not a dancer here, but I've done auditions a lot. Smiley0884- do you have any chance to do other auditions throughout the year, apart from the yearly "big one'? Often a part of the game is getting used to the idea of being judged on a regular basis. When it happens very rarely, the amount of pressure we put on ourselves can be overwhelming. As for flops- yes. The first year I auditioned I could not sleep at all before the audition days, and as a result got so stressed out about not being rested that nothing would go well. Then, with the repetition, one learns that one can function even with no sleep ( and as a result I started sleeping again- because I realized it would not automatically break me). But it took time. Putting everything into ONE audition is tough.

Good point Dina! There are two other similar auditions I can go to, and I think I'm going to give those a shot. I was so anxious I didn't get any sleep the entire week before the audition. I was literally running on 4 hours of sleep per night. I spent so much time stressing out about my weight, my outfit, being tan enough, the perfect hair style, ect. I spent a lot of time on my freestyle as well, but I think if I spent less time focusing on the other things, I would be in a better spot mentally when it comes to the most important factor, which is the dance.

The OP could be hit by a bus before the audition begins.

I hope not

But that's why I asked to OP try to and figure out why she didn't do the things she knew were the right things to do (eat right, rest), because until she does that, it'll be hard to move forward. I don't think the problem is that she didn't eat right or rest well, I think it's that she didn't eat right or rest well, despite knowing she should. Anxiety, self-sabotage, fear of failure, immaturity, inexperience, not caring, not having a plan, or a number of other things - they may be a reason for someone not to do something they know they should do like this, and they're more important to get to the bottom of then actually fixing the "easy" problem.

Exactly. I KNEW it was important to get rest and eat right. But I didn't. I stayed up all night gluing rhinestones on my outfit, I spent hours at the mall picking out sneakers that would match my top, instead of wearing my usual dance sneakers which are way more comfortable to dance in, I spent too my time worrying over small details instead of getting myself into a proper sleeping habit.

Everyone's advice has been great so far. I know I have a lot to work on, and NOT make the same mistakes as I did before. Taking classes regularly, taking some privates, and going on more auditions is definitely a good place to start. But most importantly, overcoming anxiety will help all of those things come together on audition day.


Ozzisk8tr- your tap shoe story made me not sure if there's any thing I can do to make myself stand out in that way, but glad it worked out for you!

[skateboy]

If possible, get out there and do another audition ASAP.

[cruisin]

This is not the same but similar. I did a brochure for a company I work with. Pages of type. I missed a typo, not a terribly important one, but still. Anyway, I always send the galleys to the client to proof. It's never a good idea to proof your own work. They missed the typo too. So, it went to the printer. After it was printed, they found it. I got a call, and they were not happy. I took responsibility for it, and didn't lose the client. But I paid half the printing costs. I refused to pay for all of it, since they missed it too, and they approved it. But, I was mortified and spent days making myself crazy over it.