Who Disney Desires

This morning I work up around 8am to get ready for an audition for a live stage show at Disneyland. It's about an hour drive to the park, and maybe even and hour thirty during rush hour and on weekends.  Not exactly something I want to be contractually obligated to do. To be honest, I've never had any desire whatsoever to work at Disneyland, although I do know many dancers do. To me it's always seemed like a job you went for when you didn't have any other auditions coming your way, or when you were really wanting extra money. Oh boy was I wrong. 

First of all, some of these dancers were F-I-E-R-C-E! The combo was a tid bit more hip-hop-ey than what's in my comfort zone, but after learning the combo and the comfy pay rate, I turned on the power. there were about 100 dancers all together, most with agency's like myself, and a few freelance dancers. We all learned the combo together and were called 5 at a time to dance twice in front of the casting directors and choreographer. 

Something I was never taught in the ballet world but have learned from years of experience in the commercial dance world, is improv! There are always a few eight counts of music to get you prepared to break out the combo. Well, you don't want to look like an idiot waiting for the dance to start so you have to improv. One thing i've caught on to (although I wish I knew this earlier) is to show off your expertise, even if it may not be exactly in the style of dance you're auditioning for. For example, my forte is ballet, so I'm not going to pop my booty or do split jumps even if it's a hip-hop or lyrical audition. No, I'm the girl doing fouettes in heels to a grand jeté.

To make a long story short, I was in the very last group and by this time I had a pretty good idea of the people the were watching... short, hip-hop training, and DISNEY.... basically everything i'm not. Anyway, after attempting to make fouettes look mildly funky, i'm afraid I looked a little more classically trained than I wanted too, and I got cut. So, I rewarded myself for even going and went to in-n-out for lunch. The end. haha.

Bye bye free park entry passes!

xx D

Fortress Social Club

Last Friday I was working all day on a music video shoot for Fortress Social Club. I was asked to choreograph on 10 dancers including myself to create visuals resembling those of old black and white Busby Berkeley films. If you don't know Busby Berkeley, run to your closest library and rent "42nd Street" or "Gold Diggers" (1933). He was an extremely influential movie director and choreographer who used arial cameras to show geometric shapes with dancers, resembling what I see as a sort of kaleidoscope effect. Needless to say, he was very creative, and it was a pleasure to do my research. For an example, check out this video!

I was hired by an amazing company called Arts & Recreation Group. They work in many different aspects of the entertainment industry. I suppose it's because of their small team and/or desire to do a bit of everything, but it was refreshing to work close with a company willing to hear other artistic opinions. It's not often that choreographers are encouraged or even allowed to have any artistic input other than the choreography, but working with these guys was a blast, and everybody's job was important. 

Don't forget to check out Fortress Social Club on Soundcloud, follow them on Twitter, and like them on Facebook.

Most importantly, keep your eyes peeled for a post after the video is released! In the meantime, here are some more stills from the shoot day. 

xx D