Thursday, March 02, 2006
The Zen of Dance Class
The mere mentioned of "dance class" probably brings up visions of anorexic girls in leotards doing plies at the barre while Chopin wafts in the background. This is not the kind of dance I do. I'm a tap girl. A jazz girl with a little hip hop on the side. I'm a card-carrying member of Broadway Dance. I ache because I miss the open classes at Alvin Ailey during the day.
Last night after eating some deli sushi in the lounge area at Broadway Dance, I went down to the third floor studios to wait for my class. All seemed as it should. Dancers loafed around in various states of dress. An Asian girl slept soundly while tucked into a corner. (I'm amazed at people who can do that.) The studio did recently replace the old carpet with a new,blue one, thus ridding the floor of that stale locker room smell, akin to an ice hockey rink. (Believe me, I know my ice rink aromas.)
A handsome man in a dark suit (huh?) watched the 6:00 PM beginner jazz class. (Which many of my dance friends shirk because it's too easy and full of NYU undergrads.) I watched the guy as I stretched out on the floor, wondering who he was. An agent? A scout? A boyfriend? (Again, seeing a man in a suit down in the studios is like seeing a giraffe on the subway.) As I stretched, I noticed two things about this guy: His suit was made out of a really cheap material and his shoes were crummy as well. That said, he was what I call a Monet: Looked good from far away but up close he was a big old mess. I assumed he was some teacher's boyfriend and secretly hoped he would discover Brooks Brothers.
Eventually, I got into class. Jim Cooney's warm up rocks, although because his class is so crowded it's normal to accidentally tap someone with a leg or arm while stretching. While getting up to get my shoes, I saw Leanne. Leanne and I were both in South Pacific last May. She's a cool girl and we were both very happy to see each other. She just finished a six-month run with a show out in Bucks County, and was itchy to get back into class.
Cooney taught us a number from "Sweet Charity" which was a lot of fun. Afterwards Leanne and I started chatting about auditioning and class and the fun of going to class. She auditions a few time a week, while I get picky about such things. Leanne has the right idea: Just go. If they cut you, they cut you. Just go and see what happens.
There are a few auditons coming up in the next few weeks. I'm lukewarm about all of them, but I'm going to go anyway. After all, in March of last year I didn't want to go to an audition out in Brooklyn Heights. It was one of the coldest days of the year and I had no resume and no headshot with me. (Poor planning, if there ever was...) I didn't even know any of the songs from the show. But I knew I could dance and I knew I could sing. After being called back, I was cast in South Pacific, where I met some wonderful people and realized how much I like dance and rehearsal and working towards the final goal of being part of a great show.
