Audition classes aren’t too different from other classical technique classes, however ballet masters have their own resources to find out who has what the company is looking for.
Show your compatibility and adaptability
Contrary to what one might expect, aspiring dancers don’t need to know how to do a Balanchine exercise, but they do need to be strong. Both ankle work and hand placement can be learned, but no one can teach it unless the dancer has a classical foundation.
Said base must be a clean technique ready to go. Does the aspiring dancer have acquired vices that are believed to be difficult to change? Is he able to maintain technique when moving? If you can’t get the job done with quality in the middle once you drop the bar, you’ll probably struggle later on stage as well.
Learn fast and apply corrections
What dancers really do when they dance on stage is weave. How the dancer connects rhythm, step, weight shift, and how space is used speaks volumes about a dancer’s ability to communicate fluently. During the audition class, the ballet master teaches the combination only once, which helps to see who is really ready to focus and perform.
The ballet master gives corrections during the audition and observes and records how they are received. That’s how he sees when people assimilate them. Also, what you want to see is how long they take to be assimilated and applied.
Relax in a corporate setting
Companies normally use an open audition format to attract a wide variety of dancers at the same time, although some ballet companies, instead of making open calls, invite certain outstanding dancers to participate in their studios for two or three days. This audition format reveals not only information about their adaptability to the job and its possible problems, but also about their integration into a corporate atmosphere. Just by looking from the plié to the first tendu, the ballet master immediately knows if the dancer has what the company is looking for. However, to be able to appreciate other traits of the dancer such as his artistic sense or the quality of his movement, a little more time is required.
