Showing posts with label Natalya. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Natalya. Show all posts

Friday, May 18, 2012

My Night of Neon Light

     At my school when we hear the word "dance" a lot of us think that means "dry hump each other to ghetto music". So when I heard we were having a prom, I wasn't exactly thrilled.
     Another thing that really put me down about it was that I wanted to go with a certain guy. About a week before prom I told him that I had a crush on him. His response? "Yeah, and you're a great actress." A GREAT ACTRESS?! That's the best possible complement he could give me? While that did wonders for my confidence level, my best friend was also left heartbroken by a different boy. So we figured we would go to prom with each other. It's not like we were going to get asked anytime soon.
     The day of prom I didn't bother to even go to school. Our final exams were over and we weren't doing much anyway so I thought I would just spend it prepping for prom. I went to go get my hair done and the stylist straightened it. It took an hour and a half to get all of my curls to go flat. I got up thinking that we were done, but she shoved me right back down into the swivel chair. Then she begins to curl my hair. I'm sorry; what?! After another hour of glaring at the stylist through the mirror, I ask "Are we done now?" She laughed. She then commenced the most complicated pattern ever on the back of my head. Finally I had a perfectly messy bun with a red flower in my hair. How it happened, I have no idea. In the end I looked very well...Latin.
     When it came to makeup, I was told "Go find the reddest lipstick you have." so I came back with my favorite stage makeup. I put it on and got a "DAMN THAT'S RED!" I threw on my dress and then was out the door and headed to Kate's house, where I was meeting up with some friends. From Kate's house we went to City Diner and laughed until our stomachs hurt. We figured that the dinner was going to be more fun than the prom itself. Eventually we left for the Ortiz Center where our prom was to be held.
     As we drove up we saw one of my good friends, Quentin. He looked dashing in an all white tux and we called him over to us. The first words out of his mouth made my night, "OMG your dress! You look just like Anita! So West Side Story!!!" Quentin knows just what to say to make me smile. As in one of my previous posts, I have a bit of a fetish for West Side Story and Anita is my dream role. Of course we danced and took plenty of pictures that were very West Side Story-esque. He was my Bernardo for the night.
Frances and Austin
     Every dance I had meant something different to me. I danced with another one of my good friends, Natalya (click here to see a 5 second clip of us dancing) and remembered why we are such great friends. As another one of my friends, Austin, spun me around the dance floor to "Neon Moon" I realized how much I missed having classes with him. With Frances I noticed how grown up and beautiful she was and it hit me that we were all growing up. With Steff a wave of dred hit me like a brick. I didn't want her to go to any high school except mine. I jumped around with Kate and I could barely contain my excitement to do high school theatre with her in the fall.
    Technically Lauren was my date, but she enjoys dancing more than I do so she never left the dance floor. I didn't mind; I walked around and chatted a bit with everyone.
     Our theme was "Night of Neon Light" so there were glow sticks everywhere. It was actually really pretty; so pretty that we were all surprised. The only thing that wasn't perfect was the DJ. He would stop the song so that we were all singing acapella. It wasn't pretty. If we wanted to hear these kids belt out lyrics to songs they barely know, and butcher it, Baker would do more musicals. DJ aside, it was a great night. My date and best friend, Lauren, spent the night at my house and we talked about who we danced with and who we wish we had. It was a great way to end the year and we lit up the night with our high spirits alone.
        

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Auditions and How They Aren't the End of the World

     At every audition there are those kids who think that they are just the bee's knees and are better than everyone else. Just because they star in everything, can sing "Defying Gravity" better than Idina Menzel herself and have been in dance classes since before they could even walk. There is always at least one.
     I am not one of these people. Sure I do shows but I'm not winning an Oscar anytime soon. As for my singing (oh God...), my own mother has asked me to stop singing in the car. Dance-wise I'm not terrible but I've never taken a dance class in my life.
     So I have no reason to be one of those crazy confident people. The thing is, I am. I know what I can and cannot do. I know that when I go onstage people are going to look at me; they are here to judge me. That's the whole point of theatre. Hey! Look at me! I'm here to tell you a story! Isn't that an established fact? It shouldn't come as a shock. This is why I get so frustrated with people who are there looking nauseous at auditions. If it makes you sick and uncomfortable, why do you put yourself through it?
     I don't get nervous before an audition; I get nervous immediately after. As soon as I walk offstage I think about how I could've done things differently. How that sucked compared to what I can actually do.  I always have to have faith that the director sees something in me that he/she likes.
     The picture above was taken at an audition. There was a line of chairs along the wall all filled with auditioners. I was second to last. As the auditions went on and the chairs began to become empty I noticed the boy next to me, Alec, kept looking worse. At first we made conversation but suddenly it died. Alec started looking greener than his shirt.
     Because of the lack of conversation, I started to talk to my friend, Natalya. Natalya was across the hallway and was the one who took the picture. She was laughing at how calm I was compared to the now sickly Alec.
     Soon it was my turn. I went in, did my two monologues and even got complemented on my characterization from my auditor. I came back out into the hallway and told Alec it was his turn. His face made it look like I just told him I just murdered his whole family and that he was next. He came out not even thirty seconds later. I asked him how it went and he told me about the horrible experience.
     He went into the room, and said "Hi my name is Alec and-". Then he made eye contact with our auditor and froze up. Then he just walked right back out of the room.
     A piece of advice? If you are someone like Alec don't audition. Work on your confidence. Wait until you know what you can do. Once you know what you can do, show it. Audition your butt off and do your best every time. It may take time but with every audition you get better and better, trust me. Soon you will be one of those kids that has crazy confidence because you've auditioned so much. An audition? No problem!