Gotta Be Familiar...

I can't tell you how many times I've heard dancers bemoan the fact that they get passed up at auditions by lesser technical, better connected dancer.  I could have a steady passive income if I got paid everytime I heard someone ask, "Who is HE sleeping with, He always gets kept."  This question is inevitably answered by another jaded dancer with, "Hmmm, its all about who you know."  So hold on, pause for a second and think about that.  Put yourself in the choreographers shoes, and chances are, you would behave very similarly.  Now, I'm sure there are people out there who would insist that they would take a very meritocratic approach, and only cast the BEST dancers...BUT REALLY?!?!  I mean, think about the majority of Broadway shows.  For 95 percent of the shows out there, you need to be a good dancer...but not a GREAT one.  It isn't necessary for you to look like Corella or Vishneva.  So consequently, if you are friends with the choreographer, have a working relationship with the casting director, or are simply a familiar face on the NYC scene, and they know that you are capable of the doing the choreography...YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE THE BEST, DOLLY DINKLE, STUDIO TRICK, COMPETITION DANCER TO GET THE JOB.  Which is why so many technical, monkey flip, dancers get disillusioned when it comes to auditions..."I was always winning competitions, but now I can't get a job, what happened?"  SO, what do you do?  Well, keep in mind, that the goal is to become a "FAMILIAR FACE."  Even if choreographers don't actually KNOW you, if you audition for them enough times, eventually they will begin to associate your dancing with your name, with your face, with your attitude, with your voice, with your personality, with your special skills...and somewhere down the line, you will become very FAMILIAR to them.  They will feel, in a sense that they already KNOW you.  Once you have gotten to that spot, you are in a much better position to get hired.  But realize, it might take a half dozen auditions for this process to take place. And since projects audition every couple months, you have to be willing to stick it out long term.  I guess it comes down to this- Show Business is really all about who knows YOU, even if they don't really KNOW you...I know that sounds like a contradictory statement, but if you're a smart dancer, you understand.  So don't be surprised, if in ten years, you are the one sitting behind the audition table hiring four dancers and five walk in.  Four of the guys are people you have worked with, they are good but average dancers, and you really like them, personality-wise.  The fifth is a phenomenal dancer you have never seen before and know nothing about.  As long as the choreography is typical Broadway fare, the amazing new guy doesn't really stand a chance until he becomes more familiar.  And yet, its very likely, that he would leave this audition feeling very put out that he just got passed up by "lesser" dancers. So people, thats the game, and the sooner you learn the rules and start playing, the sooner you will reach your goal!!

"Put things in perspective, you are alive, you can dance, you have A LOT to be thankful for.  Quadriplegics envy paraplegics, they say "man, he's got it made!""