Holland America Cruise Line / Stiletto Entertainment Audition
On Thursday, Feb. 23 I attended the 12 noon audition for for Holland America Cruise Line dancers (one of three calls in NYC this week). A few perks about working for Holland America, as described in their add: "300 openings a year, 13 luxury cruise ships, 6 month contracts, worldwide cruises, competitive wages, officer status, family cruise prvileges, medical/dental benefits, no cruise staff duties, rehearsal travel and accomodations provided." Needless to say, working for Holland America seems to be quite nice. Dancers must be 18+ and have a valid passport. For more information about casting for Holland America, visit the web site of their casting company, Stiletto Entertainment: http://www.stilettoentertainment.com.
The auditions were held at Nola Rehearsal Studios, 250 W. 54th St. 11th floor.
As a side note that I've been meaning to address, make sure that you always bring your photo ID with you to auditions (although you should really bring it EVERYWHERE) because most New York City buildings require that you show a Photo ID for admittance.
I had never been to Nola rehearsal studios before. For those of you used to the luxuries of, say, Broadway Dance Center, the smaller rehearsal studios are the equivalent of a motel (vs. The Hilton). At Nola, I found out-of-whack room temperatures, dirty floors, and less-than-ideal surfaces for dancing. The bathrooms on the 11th floor are down the hall and past some other offices in a dark and desolate corner.
At sign in, the Stiletto Entertainment staff asked us to fill out an Availability form, Application for Employment form, and a Costuming Form and return the forms with headshot and resume. Female performers must be between 5'4" - 5'9" and dress size 2 - 8. Male performers must be between 5'7" - 6'3" and suit size 36 - 42. On the day I attended, male performers had a separate audition from female performers.
About 70 girls attended the audition. The staff asked that we wear only form fitting clothing. Nearly everyone was wearing a flattering, colorful leotard and tights or jazz pants. Hair was either down and half back, or completely back. We were instructed to wear flat jazz shoes. Usually, they audition in character heels. However, the floor at Nola was too slippery to wear heels.
The first (big) cut was all about technique. An 8 count set of high kicks, followed by right side fouettes (enter and exit with a double pirouette), a tap combination (time steps), and "showgirl walks." You may consider some of the first cut to be typecasting, too.
I would say that they narrowed the group down from 70 to about 30-4o girls in the first cut.
The remaining dancers were taught an extremely detailed, fast paced combination. To make it even more challenging, the combination was taught at lightning speed. Stephanie (the dance caster) said that, during actual rehearsals for the show, extremely large chunks of choreography are taught at once and very quickly. The entire show is learned in 2-3 weeks. So, they will only hire dancers who absorb choreography very quickly and very well.
The combination included: Isolations, double pirouettes (inside and outside), lots of changing directions, three point turns, chaine axel jumps, tilt kicks, lots of battements, and a split leap.
After we had learned the choreography and had practiced to music, we were taken into the studio 2 at a time to perform for the camera. We had to say our name (spell the last name), height, and original home town. Then we performed the combination from the first cut and the new combination we had learned.
That's all, folks!
Remember to visit StilettoEntertainment.com for more information. The cruise entertainment casting department is really wonderful about getting information about auditions out to dancers. They did a great job of running a top notch audition.
The auditions were held at Nola Rehearsal Studios, 250 W. 54th St. 11th floor.
As a side note that I've been meaning to address, make sure that you always bring your photo ID with you to auditions (although you should really bring it EVERYWHERE) because most New York City buildings require that you show a Photo ID for admittance.
I had never been to Nola rehearsal studios before. For those of you used to the luxuries of, say, Broadway Dance Center, the smaller rehearsal studios are the equivalent of a motel (vs. The Hilton). At Nola, I found out-of-whack room temperatures, dirty floors, and less-than-ideal surfaces for dancing. The bathrooms on the 11th floor are down the hall and past some other offices in a dark and desolate corner.
At sign in, the Stiletto Entertainment staff asked us to fill out an Availability form, Application for Employment form, and a Costuming Form and return the forms with headshot and resume. Female performers must be between 5'4" - 5'9" and dress size 2 - 8. Male performers must be between 5'7" - 6'3" and suit size 36 - 42. On the day I attended, male performers had a separate audition from female performers.
About 70 girls attended the audition. The staff asked that we wear only form fitting clothing. Nearly everyone was wearing a flattering, colorful leotard and tights or jazz pants. Hair was either down and half back, or completely back. We were instructed to wear flat jazz shoes. Usually, they audition in character heels. However, the floor at Nola was too slippery to wear heels.
The first (big) cut was all about technique. An 8 count set of high kicks, followed by right side fouettes (enter and exit with a double pirouette), a tap combination (time steps), and "showgirl walks." You may consider some of the first cut to be typecasting, too.
I would say that they narrowed the group down from 70 to about 30-4o girls in the first cut.
The remaining dancers were taught an extremely detailed, fast paced combination. To make it even more challenging, the combination was taught at lightning speed. Stephanie (the dance caster) said that, during actual rehearsals for the show, extremely large chunks of choreography are taught at once and very quickly. The entire show is learned in 2-3 weeks. So, they will only hire dancers who absorb choreography very quickly and very well.
The combination included: Isolations, double pirouettes (inside and outside), lots of changing directions, three point turns, chaine axel jumps, tilt kicks, lots of battements, and a split leap.
After we had learned the choreography and had practiced to music, we were taken into the studio 2 at a time to perform for the camera. We had to say our name (spell the last name), height, and original home town. Then we performed the combination from the first cut and the new combination we had learned.
That's all, folks!
Remember to visit StilettoEntertainment.com for more information. The cruise entertainment casting department is really wonderful about getting information about auditions out to dancers. They did a great job of running a top notch audition.
posted by Evie @ 7:12 AM
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