So I'm a little late to the party with this post, but I'd like to share my experience with the performer auditions so that in the future, possible DCPers will be well informed about the process.
I don't have a car on campus (thanks Obama), but I was able to carpool to the location, which was approximately 15 minutes away. The auditions were inside of a dance studio apply named DC Dance Factory. We immediately knew we were in the right place when the parking lot gave us a view of Mickey car toppers and decals. We had arrived.
Upon entering we were encountered with a slew of different people. You had the barely 18 year olds with theirstage mothers giving them a pep talk, the true Disney fanatics with their personalized Ariel and Tiana regalia, the strange ones who were clearly not going to get in (based solely on the fact that they were not in the Disney look) and us. It was like the segment in mean girls where they described every clique. Needless to say I wasn't feeling plastic in this situation.
Ok, here's a little background on me. I have never had technical dance experience. I'm pretty sure my mom placed me in gymnastics when I was a weeeee toddler, but those skills have become nonexistent. My athleticism stems from the infrequent bouts of tennis that I don't regularly play and walking across my big-ass campus. I was hoping to pass through the first round of parade-type dancing and by general looks alone and then hope that they liked my animation and energy because I was totally going to tank when it got to the harder dance.
Alright, first things first. We wait, and wait, and wait, and OH LOOK.....more waiting. Disney Auditions aren't known for their punctuality. Good thing I brought my laptop and book to read. A little bit around 9:45 the crowd started to move, so we packed up our things and followed everybody into a large dance studio. We had received no instructions so far, so we put our bags in the back and took a seat (semi-near the front right) of the studio.
After everyone had filed in and we had made some friends who were sitting near us (everyone is so darn friendly!) the two Disney recruiters began talking. For the life of me, I can't remember what their names were. Hers was something started with an M and his was Ken or Kurt or something. Both had the Disney attitude and smile with a legacy with the company to boot! They had been doing this kind of thing for yeaaaaaars. We had some professionals on our hands. First, the woman--let's call her Miranda--explained the process. We were going to register our name, email, and program (the auditions were for the College Program and regular hire) on an iPad with Kurt/Ken and then Miranda was going to take our height. I think this is a huge preliminary cut that takes place without our notice. Disney has specific roles that need to be filled and they are very much based on height. You can either be an inch or two too tall or a foot too short for what they have available. I think the misconception is that Disney only takes beautiful/perfect/athletic girls and guys. That is somewhat true, but a HUGE factor is what height you are. Not all roles are available at one time and even though you are precisely the right height to be all of the Disney princesses and then some, that doesn't mean you will get cast. I almost wish they would tell you immediately if there wasn't a role for you.
After waiting for about 30-45 minutes for all 148 of us to sign in, Kurt/Ken told us all to stand up and get ready to learn the first dance. It's a very, VERY simple parade routine that I've never seen used at the parks haha. It's basically a good feel for them to learn how your body moves and if you can keep the beat, how fast you can memorize a routine etc... It started with skipping, a couple pivot turns with hand motions, two grapevines and a spin to the ending formation. For those of you who attended the auditions, I was able to find the song we danced to. Seriously, after listening to it play for a good 30+ minutes, I can't ever think about it the same way.
"For the animating part they had us be a zookeeper bathing an exotic animal of our choice and then for the second one we had to become the animal.. The second dance started out pretty easy (maybe slightly harder than the other dance) and got pretty difficult by the end with kicks and pirouettes and stuff."
Turns out she did make the cut and was offered a character performer role, however she is only a freshman at school and didn't want to deal with the hassle of logistics so had to decline. She mentioned applying again in the future so I wish her the best of luck! In case anyone is wondering, she has years of dance experience as a ballerina as well as other forms. Her height was probably a big deciding factor seeing as she is smack dab in the middle range for the mice.
Upon entering we were encountered with a slew of different people. You had the barely 18 year olds with their
Ok, here's a little background on me. I have never had technical dance experience. I'm pretty sure my mom placed me in gymnastics when I was a weeeee toddler, but those skills have become nonexistent. My athleticism stems from the infrequent bouts of tennis that I don't regularly play and walking across my big-ass campus. I was hoping to pass through the first round of parade-type dancing and by general looks alone and then hope that they liked my animation and energy because I was totally going to tank when it got to the harder dance.
Alright, first things first. We wait, and wait, and wait, and OH LOOK.....more waiting. Disney Auditions aren't known for their punctuality. Good thing I brought my laptop and book to read. A little bit around 9:45 the crowd started to move, so we packed up our things and followed everybody into a large dance studio. We had received no instructions so far, so we put our bags in the back and took a seat (semi-near the front right) of the studio.
After everyone had filed in and we had made some friends who were sitting near us (everyone is so darn friendly!) the two Disney recruiters began talking. For the life of me, I can't remember what their names were. Hers was something started with an M and his was Ken or Kurt or something. Both had the Disney attitude and smile with a legacy with the company to boot! They had been doing this kind of thing for yeaaaaaars. We had some professionals on our hands. First, the woman--let's call her Miranda--explained the process. We were going to register our name, email, and program (the auditions were for the College Program and regular hire) on an iPad with Kurt/Ken and then Miranda was going to take our height. I think this is a huge preliminary cut that takes place without our notice. Disney has specific roles that need to be filled and they are very much based on height. You can either be an inch or two too tall or a foot too short for what they have available. I think the misconception is that Disney only takes beautiful/perfect/athletic girls and guys. That is somewhat true, but a HUGE factor is what height you are. Not all roles are available at one time and even though you are precisely the right height to be all of the Disney princesses and then some, that doesn't mean you will get cast. I almost wish they would tell you immediately if there wasn't a role for you.
After waiting for about 30-45 minutes for all 148 of us to sign in, Kurt/Ken told us all to stand up and get ready to learn the first dance. It's a very, VERY simple parade routine that I've never seen used at the parks haha. It's basically a good feel for them to learn how your body moves and if you can keep the beat, how fast you can memorize a routine etc... It started with skipping, a couple pivot turns with hand motions, two grapevines and a spin to the ending formation. For those of you who attended the auditions, I was able to find the song we danced to. Seriously, after listening to it play for a good 30+ minutes, I can't ever think about it the same way.
the horror
Alright so after performing the dance roughly 10 or so times. The room was split in half. The first 70 or so numbers stayed to perform in front of Miranda while the rest went to a neighboring dance studio to wait their turn. This routine was a "cross the floor" one, so while you were dancing, you repeated the dance 3 times and gradually moved across the floor to make room for the next group. The groups were 4 at a time and our carpool group was fortunate enough to all get to go together.
Aaaaaand that folks is as far as I got.
After gathering us all back together, the group that I danced in was completely cut (which in itself was lucky cause the ride situation back would have been weird to figure out). I didn't feel awful though because only 40 people remained after the cut. We didn't stay around for very long after that. I wasn't disappointed nor did I cry. Disney has a specific image in mind and there were professional dancers as well as actors who didn't make it any farther, which put my mind at ease. Luckily I had a friend from school also attend and she made it so I was able to ask her what they did for animation and the harder dance. This is what she said:
Turns out she did make the cut and was offered a character performer role, however she is only a freshman at school and didn't want to deal with the hassle of logistics so had to decline. She mentioned applying again in the future so I wish her the best of luck! In case anyone is wondering, she has years of dance experience as a ballerina as well as other forms. Her height was probably a big deciding factor seeing as she is smack dab in the middle range for the mice.
Anywho, that's all I have for now! The end of the year is wrapping up and I need to devote my time to studies and finishing finals. If you have any questions about my process so far or details about my audition, feel free to comment below. Also, if you have a topic you would like for me to write about, I'm more than happy to oblige!
