Auditions Offer Chances to Live and Learn.

For performers, auditions are a fact of life. Here, dancers respond to the question: "What was your most memorable audition?" and teachers and directors describe what they look for. Some say the most important thing to be is yourself; others found that getting the part is not the most important outcome.

DANCERS:

NINA GOLDMAN, CONTACT CAST MEMBER

"I have an acting teacher who always says to the class: `When you audition they are not against you.' We go into these auditions and they're sitting at a desk, but they're not the enemy. We know they are going to judge us and it's horrifying, but we have to remember that they want us to be the part. it makes their job easier, and how exciting to find someone! I never thought I'd be in a Susan Stroman show. Ever! I went in there saying, `I don't tap and I can't tap.' She wasn't even looking for that. She was looking for people with some ballet technique. I didn't know that; I was trying to learn how to tap before the audition!"

DAVID CHO, NATIONAL TOUR OF THE KING AND I

"In 1993 I was living in San Francisco and had started dancing a couple years prior. A lot of people were encouraging me to dance. I thought I was so old. I was taking ballet at the studio where the audition for NYU's graduate dance program was to be held so I figured I'd just do it. They gave a ballet barre and then asked people to do a solo. I hadn't brought music or anything. A lot of people had costumes and music, so I told the auditioners, `This piece is done to no music.' I did a phrase I had been working on in a modern class. At the end, NYU's Linda Tarnay pulled me aside and said, `We know we are going to take you' When I walked out of the studio I was totally shocked ... When I auditioned for The King and I, I had a similar experience. It was the third time I had auditioned for the show. The first two times I had done really well but I got cut. When I saw the sign the third time, I didn't want to be humiliated again, but when I woke up that morning, I didn't have anything to do so I decided to go. Six months later I got a call from the casting company and they offered me a contract."

DANIELLE SCHULZ, 11, STUDENT AT BALLET PACIFICA

"My most memorable audition was the last one I had for The Nutcracker. I felt a lot of pressure because I really wanted to get the role of Clara, but unfortunately I didn't get it. When I found out I was going to be a Party Girl instead I was a little disappointed. At the audition I did my best: I smiled, showed my technique, and performed the best I could. After the first rehearsal as a Party Girl, I discovered it's a really great part and I'm having a good time."

DONNA COSTELLO, MODERN DANCER

"One of my most memorable auditions was for Li Chiao-Ping's project in Madison, Wisconsin. It was a small audition in New York City, probably twenty-five to thirty of us. It's funny that I did the audition, because when she told us what the dates were for the project, I realized I had a conflict. But she said if we wanted to stay we could, because she had other projects. So I stayed.

"We were sitting on the floor and she said, `I want each of you to stand up and introduce yourself to everybody and go from a straight, plain face, into a smile that continues to grow, into laughing uncontrollably, into feeling sad or self-conscious and then sing three notes.' I was a little nervous, but it was fun to try something new. Everyone did it a little differently. Then we got up and learned a phrase that was rhythmic and physical but it also had gestural, pedestrian movement. I liked the way the whole audition started because it was very individual and there was no `wrong.' I really enjoyed it and it had nothing to do with getting the job."

TEACHERS/CASTING DIRECTORS:

LIZ LERMAN, DIRECTOR OF LIZ LERMAN DANCE EXCHANGE

"Auditions are a two-way street. People should be auditioning us as well, otherwise there is only grief to pay. We try to make it a learning experience so that, hopefully, people can reveal themselves in a multiplicity of ways--how do people use their bodies? We have a contemporary dance class that will show strengths and weaknesses of a certain nature, then we do something where people have to invent movement. Then we do something where they have to share what they have made with somebody else so that we can check in on their collaboration skills, and we'll probably do something that requires text or singing--not that I necessarily need people that do that well, but often that will show people's minds at work. It is so interesting to see people in a moment in which they have to approach something that is difficult.

"My husband always jokes when we watch football: `Don't watch where the football is, watch everything else.' I think that's true in auditions: There is so much going on and it is not just about their talent. At the Dance Exchange we say, `The more you are an individual, the stronger this ensemble is.' In effect, it is discovering the right balance of people that makes a company strong. A big part of what goes on at an audition is trying to see people's strengths, and how they handle their weaknesses."

SIMON DOW, ARTISTIC DIRECTOR OF MILWAUKEE BALLET 

"I look for many things. The first is the dancers themselves just as they are standing. I think the human being and who the person is--and I am fairly sensitive in my judgment--is a very important thing. Because it's a ballet company, and so much of classical dance is based on line and appearance and aesthetics, you always take into account the physique. For some people that's more important. My first impression is: I want to know a little more about who this person might be underneath their exterior appearance.

"As the audition class and process moves along, you have to look for technical ability and ability to create classical lines. In tandem with that I look for someone who is an artist. As an artistic director I look for someone who can take risks, be open, move from one style to another, their level of sensitivity. In today's ballet company, the repertory is so diverse that the ability to do very contemporary work has to be there. Many young ballet dancers tend to put all their focus and training only on classical ballet. I think it's very important that young dancers also focus on different styles of movement."

RACHEL TECORA TUCKER, DANCE CAPTAIN FOR BROADWAY'S THE LION KING

"In our show a few extra levels are added on to basic dancing and singing--puppetry, flying, mechanical masks, stilt-walking--so a lot depends on who we are replacing. Watching Garth Fagan, the show's choreographer, audition dancers over the past two years, I found that he auditions the person as well as the performer. They have to have a special something to contribute: confidence and pure passion. Absolutely. It has to come across. They shine out of the group. You can see it a mile away in their focus. It's like performing in the audition.

"I recommend that people be the best they can be in that moment. You can't change yourself. If you're not the right height or vocal range that we are looking for, we may see you and say, `Wow, this person has that special something,' and put you on file. Then, for the next person that needs to be replaced, we will say, `Well, what about so-and-so?' It really does happen."