Katherine arranged for auditions to be held in Soho Theatre London on the Friday 8th December 12 - 4pm. We also had some dancers who were unable to attend apply for the roles via a showreel/video audition. We were looking for two male dancers of a contemporary style. One to play the army figure and one to play the gunpowder mill worker within the dance. Katherine sent everyone who inquired a synopsis of the piece along with the soundtrack Colin has made for it and the inspirations we like such a Pina Bausch.
I was told before hand by Katherine that she would like me to lead the auditions so she could focus solely on looking at their skill and making notes on this. I was also making notes while leading the audition and Sugini the DOP was there filming each audition. We had Colin as a meet and greeter downstairs in the theatre for those auditioning. We planned it out and Katherine briefed us so we all knew what to do on the day to keep the auditions running smoothly and getting the most out of them.
On the day we had 3 dancers turn up to audition. Each audition was structured the same. We had Colin greet them and take their photo along with their main information like name and age etc. He passed this onto us to fill in on our audition form. We then called the dancer in and gave them time to warm up while we prepared ourselves. I would introduce myself and the team and then once ready ask them to look into the camera and state their name, age and information about their dance background and interests. This helped us gain more insight into who they were as dancers and their skill level. I then got them to explain weather they were dancing to our piece of music or their own and if it was their own dance. We set the music up for them, 2 auditions used our music and 1 used his own. We would watch the dance taking notes on what we felt their strengths and weaknesses were. Afterwards I then asked them how they interpreted the piece and what their audition dance was trying to show/express. I also asked which role they felt they would fit out of the two. We then allowed it to go into much more casual conversation with them about the piece involving all of us just to bond with them as a person and then we allowed them to leave letting them know that within a week we would be in touch.
A decisions was made on the day after auditions finished that their were 2 dancers that auditioned that were perfectly matched for one another and were the strongest dancers that auditioned especially within the style we wanted. We all agreed that these would be the two we should use for the piece.
Auditioning in London was a new experience for me, especially leading the auditions which I have only done on a more local scale before. I felt this experience was valuable as it allowed me to gain skills and be professional when talking to these experienced dancers and it went so well that we have ended up with two really skilled and well suited dancers for the piece.
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