LKR
Well-Known Member
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As somebody who did 12 cattle call auditions this past winter, in addition to five company classes (including three companies where I had the option of doing a cattle call), I can say that cattle calls are still prevalent in the U.S. While NYCB never holds cattle calls and ABT hasn't recently, some renowned U.S. companies were holding cattle calls this year, including Houston Ballet, Boston Ballet, and Pennsylvania Ballet. Many American companies are required by AGMA to hold open auditions; I don't know how NYCB gets out of holding one, but of course they have a long-standing tradition of hiring from their school.
In Europe, however, cattle calls where anybody can show up are rare. Instead, many companies hold private auditions which are by invitation only (not the same as a company class), and I did partake in one invitation audition at the Norwegian National Ballet in January.
If the companies view holding cattle calls as cost-prohibitive, many of them don't show it because some U.S. companies hold up to five cattle call auditions a year, all around the country. A dancer will usually pay a $25 fee to attend the audition, which if 150+ people attend (quite a common occurrence at the New York auditions), the company can bring in $3750 or more from one audition. Obviously with transportation and hotel costs the company doesn't come out making a fortune from these auditions, but it's not as if they're unable to hold them either. And most of the time the companies will charge even if they are holding an audition at their home base (the only exceptions, in terms of the auditions I attended, were Pennsylvania Ballet and Norwegian Ballet). Cuts are also very common at these auditions, and dancers are rarely refunded (this year, Ballet West was the only company which refunded dancers who were cut).
Company classes auditions are allowed at most companies (though not all), but in most cases the dancer must be invited and invitation to take company class is highly selective. I'm certain things are very different for established professionals in the field taking company class, but as for starting or aspiring professionals, I had an instance where I took company class and the director wasn't even there; I took another company class where the director was in the building but never even set foot in the studio. So company classes can be a gamble in terms of getting seen, also. Auditioning is a brutal system and there is no perfect way to do it.
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