Showing posts with label universal studios singapore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label universal studios singapore. Show all posts

Saturday 30 March 2013

Reflections: Auditions for USS


Yesterday I grabbed the opportunity to audition for a casual contract with Universal Studios Singapore (USS), and I think that was one of my worst auditions that I did. So what were the chain of events that led to my downfall in a major audition like this?

It all started with knowing that my fellow dance scholars were also parade dancers in USS. They mentioned that it was easy to get in, that they just went for it with minimal preparation and got the job. With their stories in mind, I thought it no harm to just go ahead nonchalantly as well since it sounded easy to get in. 

I didn't expect it to go wrong on so many levels.

Firstly, I'm at that phase in dancing where I want to perfect my technique. My double pirouettes are definitely getting better, and I've increased my flexibility. Secondly, I'm more comfortable performing emotive, contemporary lyrical pieces nowadays, because I think it narrates stories better, and it allows more control. Thirdly, I was lethargic, even though I had an afternoon nap. The wait was horrible. Even though it was scheduled to be at 7 pm, they only called in the parade dancers around 10 pm, and thank goodness my dance friend was nice enough to wait it out with me despite the fact that he didn't want to audition for this job. The combinations of these three factors made me feel like dancing in my comfort zone of slow paced music and really controlled, smooth movements.

The auditions was the complete opposite. It was all high energy, street jazz style (or a mix of jazz and hip hop), improvisational, wily-smiley, happy-go-lucky which I have lost touch since my Dance Arts recital was over. There was very little time to stretch instead of the ritualistic warm up that I was accustomed to, and I haven't even moved out from hip hop intro classes since the number of students were too little to start a hip hop 1 class. That, and I was too worried about perfecting the choreo that I was flustered that I missed a few counts, and I had no idea how to improvise in terms of hip hop. So I did like some weird beat in the air thing into a capoeira-esque move, and with the second round I failed an attempt at a calypso while busting in some club moves in between to suit the music. I definitely hesitated a lot, so my energy level compared to the other 3 I got grouped with was definitely much smaller. I just hope that my near perfect double pirouettes were my saving grace for the choreography part. 

Oh well, there's always next year now that I know how it's like to audition for something like this. Results only come in around the end of April, so there may still be hope. But for now, I shall distract myself with my final projects of the semester instead of dwell in the fact that this was my most botched up audition in my life.

Moral of the story? Do your research before any audition. Do not be nonchalant even though it sounds easy.