The do everything girl

I once had someone tell me "I've got to hand it to you, you've always got some sort of a job"

Thinking back on it now, it was a pretty back handed comment. However, at the time I was (and still am) very proud of my ability to find a job... whatever it may be. Of course I would rather be consistently booking dance/choreography jobs, but wouldn't we all? Any young artist knows that you can't always rely solely on your art to provide for you, sometimes you need to find an extra gig here and there. I've tried my hand at quite a few jobs over the years because I refuse to settle down and give up on my art to sit in an office 5 days a week with only 2 weeks vacation time. No way, not this girl!

D's extensive random job list:

Receptionist at a Pilates studio

Office assistant at a flameproofing shop

Cashier at a cafe

Mannequin model

Hostess

Dance stylist for a dance studio photographer

Home organizer (ok that was only a couple of times)

Waitress

Telemarketer for a travel company (that I'm starting to think may not have been legit)

Dog walker

Sales associate

Personal assisting.

Of course seeing this list inspires me to push even harder in promoting myself as an artist, but i'll be honest in saying, I still hold a lot of pride in my ability to swallow my pride to get the job done. Pointe shoes don't pay for themselves you know.

What random jobs have you taken to keep busy and support your art?

xx D

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