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Saturday, February 6, 2010
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
A Shiny New Instructor
This weekend was my Jazzercise audition. Here is the long story of how it all went.
I'm used to auditions. Getting your degree in theater means you prepare for you next audition all of the time. This audition was different. This time I wasn't auditioning for one role, this was an audition to see if I had worked hard enough so I could teach a class by myself and all of the preparation wasn't a waste. Before I could even get to this audition I had to complete various steps including a movement screening as I talked about here. There is also an online anatomy/fitness/philology test that has to be completed and CPR certification. The biggest part of this audition is learning the routines. We have a list of 10 routines that we learn and we learn them well enough to teach them. And teach them well. Saturday was that day.
All of my fellow workshop trainees came to Edmond, OK for our Jazzercise audition. We filled out a bit of paperwork and then got right to work. We drew numbers to see who would go first and then drew what routine we would perform and then once we finished our first routine we would be given our second routine onstage and would be picked by our workshop trainer. I drew #2 and my first routine that I drew was 'Control' by MetroStation and my next routine was 'Dazzle' by Hyperact. I felt really good about both of my routines and was able to cue the basics for my fellow trainees/students. There were a few hiccups during my first routine but I was able to maintain control of the routine and found my way back to where I left off.
After all of us went thru our two routines we were sent away while our trainer tabulated scores my fellow trainees and I went to get a quick bite to eat and then came back for our results.
We came back to the center and found out that....we all passed!
After the initial excitement we were sent home for the rest of the day and would return the next morning for a full day of technique training. I went over to the SuperTarget and got some dinner and treated myself to a well deserved hot bath.
The next morning we all made our way to the center and had a quick seminar about Injury Awareness and then it was on to the Movement Technique section of the day. This was 2 hours of breaking down each and every move and perfecting them until I wanted to pass out. Marches, Skips and Run, in place and across the floor on to lunges, plies, knee lifts, kicks, jabs and so on and on and on. My booty still hasn't quite recovered from all of the plies across the floor. After a quick lunch we went on to the Art of Teaching portion of the day. We were given a microphone (very Madonna/Britney Spears/rockstar mic) and then we had to teach a 8 count to our fellow trainees to music we hadn't heard before. To end the day we had our final seminar on how to cue routines better and were given notes on a routine and asked to teach it by just reading the notes. We all quickly learned the value of reading the notes along with watching the dvd. Afterwards, I went over to Target and Old Navy to pick up some new workout/yoga pants and to get a quick bite to eat. Later that night my friend Emma called and took me down to Oklahoma City for a large bowl of pasta and a glass of wine.
The next and final day was all seminars on how to put together a set of routines for class and how to use all of our corporate resources to help use teach the best class possible. Before we left we had our picture taken with our trainer and given a Jazzercise pin and our very own mic pack.
All of my workshop trainees will be teaching in Oklahoma but we will remain in contact to cheer each other on in our first year of training.
I returned to class on Monday to a big sign congratulating me on my success at the audition and my instructor had put a few of my audition routines into her set and pulled me up onstage to teach the routines. Over the next few weeks I will be getting more and more stage time and then I will be given a class of my own and be able to substitute for other instructors in the area.
Let the Jazzerventure begin!!
I'm used to auditions. Getting your degree in theater means you prepare for you next audition all of the time. This audition was different. This time I wasn't auditioning for one role, this was an audition to see if I had worked hard enough so I could teach a class by myself and all of the preparation wasn't a waste. Before I could even get to this audition I had to complete various steps including a movement screening as I talked about here. There is also an online anatomy/fitness/philology test that has to be completed and CPR certification. The biggest part of this audition is learning the routines. We have a list of 10 routines that we learn and we learn them well enough to teach them. And teach them well. Saturday was that day.
All of my fellow workshop trainees came to Edmond, OK for our Jazzercise audition. We filled out a bit of paperwork and then got right to work. We drew numbers to see who would go first and then drew what routine we would perform and then once we finished our first routine we would be given our second routine onstage and would be picked by our workshop trainer. I drew #2 and my first routine that I drew was 'Control' by MetroStation and my next routine was 'Dazzle' by Hyperact. I felt really good about both of my routines and was able to cue the basics for my fellow trainees/students. There were a few hiccups during my first routine but I was able to maintain control of the routine and found my way back to where I left off.
After all of us went thru our two routines we were sent away while our trainer tabulated scores my fellow trainees and I went to get a quick bite to eat and then came back for our results.
We came back to the center and found out that....we all passed!
After the initial excitement we were sent home for the rest of the day and would return the next morning for a full day of technique training. I went over to the SuperTarget and got some dinner and treated myself to a well deserved hot bath.
The next morning we all made our way to the center and had a quick seminar about Injury Awareness and then it was on to the Movement Technique section of the day. This was 2 hours of breaking down each and every move and perfecting them until I wanted to pass out. Marches, Skips and Run, in place and across the floor on to lunges, plies, knee lifts, kicks, jabs and so on and on and on. My booty still hasn't quite recovered from all of the plies across the floor. After a quick lunch we went on to the Art of Teaching portion of the day. We were given a microphone (very Madonna/Britney Spears/rockstar mic) and then we had to teach a 8 count to our fellow trainees to music we hadn't heard before. To end the day we had our final seminar on how to cue routines better and were given notes on a routine and asked to teach it by just reading the notes. We all quickly learned the value of reading the notes along with watching the dvd. Afterwards, I went over to Target and Old Navy to pick up some new workout/yoga pants and to get a quick bite to eat. Later that night my friend Emma called and took me down to Oklahoma City for a large bowl of pasta and a glass of wine.
The next and final day was all seminars on how to put together a set of routines for class and how to use all of our corporate resources to help use teach the best class possible. Before we left we had our picture taken with our trainer and given a Jazzercise pin and our very own mic pack.
All of my workshop trainees will be teaching in Oklahoma but we will remain in contact to cheer each other on in our first year of training.
I returned to class on Monday to a big sign congratulating me on my success at the audition and my instructor had put a few of my audition routines into her set and pulled me up onstage to teach the routines. Over the next few weeks I will be getting more and more stage time and then I will be given a class of my own and be able to substitute for other instructors in the area.
Let the Jazzerventure begin!!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Happy Mother's Day Motherlovers!!
Yes, Mother's Day was this past Sunday and I hope you all called you mom and said gave her a big Thank you.
Those kids over at SNL thought of another way to express your love to you mom.
Those kids over at SNL thought of another way to express your love to you mom.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Countdown to the Tony Awards
This morning the American Theater Wing announced this years Tony Award nominees. Billy Elliot grabbed 15 nominations. Next to Normal, Hair, and Shrek also snagged a slew of nominations. Check out the Tony website for more information and pictures.
Vanity Fair caught some of this years actors at a recent photo shoot for the June 2009 magazine.
Head on over to the VF website for more videos.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
What Cancer Can't Do
Cancer is so limited...
It cannot cripple love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith.
It cannot eat away peace.
It cannot destroy confidence.
It cannot kill friendship.
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot reduce eternal life.
It cannot quench the spirit.
It cannot cripple love.
It cannot shatter hope.
It cannot corrode faith.
It cannot eat away peace.
It cannot destroy confidence.
It cannot kill friendship.
It cannot shut out memories.
It cannot silence courage.
It cannot reduce eternal life.
It cannot quench the spirit.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
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