Trying out for SYTYCD

I survived my trip to LA! I tried out for SYTYCD on Thursday (and was promptly cut--though I'm not sure prompt is the most appropriate word. You see, I showed up just after dawn, at the beginning of LA morning traffic, and waited around for 11 hours to be thrown in front of the judges for 15-20 seconds, get rejected, be stripped of my wrist band as I was shown out the door, and be out just in time for evening traffic). On Friday and Saturday I took dance class at the Edge and Millenium from some super-star teachers. Julianne ended up having to cancel b/c of her new job. So I was on my own. Overall the trip was amazing, though there were some low points.

Low Points of the Trip:
1.) I’d have to say the 5th hour of sitting in the tiny seats in the Orpheum theater balcony among hundreads of other dancers was a low. This was after spending 4 hours waiting in line outside. Since we had some time, my new friends and I calculated there were probably 1500 dancers auditioning. We had no good way to know how long we'd be there or when we'd finally get our 20 seconds in front of the judges. We'd been told to bring food for the day, but several of my comrades hadn’t come prepared, so we tried to ration what we had. One of my new friends declined and ate nothing all day. Poor kid. Two years ago when we tried out, Julianne and I were rejected by noon. That was much better. After about the 4th time of going to the bathroom, taking off the several layers of my dance attire and putting them back on again, I was just dying to get in and get rejected so I could go to a studio and take class.

2.) But a funny thing happened. When I was rejected, I didn't like it. I didn't expect to mind. I knew they take very few of even the good dancers. And I was there for the experience and to make friends, and I made several in those 10 or 11 hours. But there's something about waiting around so long before the moment of rejection that kind of makes you feel like a sucker. So I'd have to call that a low point.

3.) When I emerged from the Orpheum back onto the streets of LA, two of my fellow-rejected friends had no idea what to do now, so I offered to drive them to the airport. The drive there was a little solemn, as these poor kids, who were both especially upbeat and bubbly guys when I met them, had never before been dumped by SYTYCD, and were dealing with it for the first time. It was good to talk with them, but I felt so bad for both of them.

4.) I finally made it to the Edge for the last class of the day at 8 p.m. At long last, a glimmer in the darkness, the moment I'd looked forward to all day. I signed up, sat down, and in came the teacher to cancel class. He had a bad knee. I went back to my hotel room alone thinking this really hadn't turned out to be a good day. And to be honest, I couldn't remember why I'd ever fallen in love with parts of LA 10 years ago and was wondering why a city with so many pornographic billboards wasn't sunk into the ocean yet.

But things got MUCH BETTER the next day.

High Points of the Trip:
1.) My first class the next morning was a turns class, and indeed it turned everything around (pun intended). Bill was 20 minutes late, and at first, I was afraid it was a repeat of the disinterested teacher from the night before who canceled class. But Bill arrived, apologized, told us he was giving class free, and proceeded to be brilliant and witty and hilarious and insightful during the entire class, and taught me things about turning no one had told me after taking 15 years of dance.

2.) Discovering a-whole-nother studio—the Millennium, where Wade Robson teaches on occasion. My favorite class there was hip hop with Nick Wilson. On Thursday I took 6 classes between the two studios. And I remembered every routine--which has always been hard for me because they teach fast. It was a good day.

3.) Realizing my family loves me. My parents called, Julianne called, and Brent, of course called. And for that reason, realizing how good my life really is.

4.) Watching the sun set on the Hollywood sign from the window of my jazz class Friday night. What a great moment. All at once I started to remember what I loved about LA.