So next on the list is… GSA or rather Guilford School of Acting which is a part of the University of Surrey. GSA is known to be one of the ‘top three’ when it comes to Musical Theatre degree courses (the other two being Artsed and Mountview) so this audition essentially was a big deal for me!
The day started at around midday which was nice considering I didn’t have to get up so early in the morning to get to the audition. In total the audition actually lasted around 3 and a half hours so I got to leave the audition earlier as well! To be honest, even before I got to GSA there had already been a bit of a mix up. I had basically accidentally confirmed I was attending 2 different audition times when I was only supposed to respond to 1, the administrations office called me when I was on my way there and was lovely about the whole situation. Nevertheless I attended the earlier time and I was put in the ‘blue group.
Firstly, my group went and did singing. It is key to note that at GSA you and your group all watch each other perform your song (which I must admit for me is more scary than singing it alone in front of them). Before the audition I had actually also attended the GSA pre-audition day (which was the most useful course I have ever done I must say) and I sung ‘My Lord and Master’ from ‘The King and I,’ however it was a tone lower than the original and the pianist picked up on it and told me that it had to be in the original key. I went away and tried working on it but it just wasn’t happening, so on the Monday before my audition I changed my song… In the audition I ended up singing ‘So In Love’ from ‘Kiss Me Kate’ which I must say did not go the best. One other girl was also singing the same song, but actually that really wasn’t the problem and if that ever happens to you I really wouldn’t worry about it either (its about your voice, not who sung the song better. For all you know they could accept both of you). What the real issue was was for starters the panel actually lost my paperwork so I had to sing last, and then when I sung my song I let my nerves get the best of me and I just couldn’t pitch my last note! I was so annoyed and it sounds really dramatic, but I felt as though the ceiling had literally collapsed on me, I was so stressed and in a panic I ate my feelings away with the bag of popcorn my mum had given me, called my mum in a state and emailed my singing teacher demanding her opinion of what the outcome of the situation my be. That lunch break after the singing call was truly the worst part of my day for sure.
There were some extremely hilarious moments through during that singing call though. The acting through song during the call was interested lets say and is something to take note of (the acting through song is very important at GSA and is definitely something that has to be done right). One example of what happened was that a girl in my group started singing normally in the centre of the room, walked over to her chair and dragged it across to the centre and sat on it while singing, stood up and circled it while singing and then stood on the chair and finished her song. You could tell by the panel’s face that he was rather shocked. A better way of acting through song I say is to stand normally with your feet hip width apart and stay there, while still showing loads expression through facial expressions, focus, eye line and some use of the hands.
After the most stressful lunch break, I went into the dance call where they brought the two groups together. The dance call was held by this guy Stew who is the most craziest, loveliest person ever! He was at my pre-audition day, and this is the point where attending the pre-audition day became the best decision I have ever made in terms of auditions. When I went into the room, straight away he turned to me and asked me in front of everyone in the room if he recognised me! He didn’t know where from, but just the fact that he felt like knew me already automatically put a positive image of me in his head already even before I started dancing. Overall, the dance call was the easiest thing I have ever done and if you consider yourself a ‘dancer’ like myself, you will be absolutely fine! Also if you have hardly danced, don’t worry either because I swear about 90% of people in the room didn’t seem like they had either! What’s really important much like with the singing, is to act through the movement, in terms of dance this can sometimes literally mean ‘smile!’ if the music sounds happy and upbeat though I do recommend doing a bit more, even though it is better than nothing at all. What would be better would be to listen to the music you’re dancing to and really get into it and almost embody it, so for example if the music is a little more jazzy and sexy then you could add a little more hip and shoulder movement, and a bit of a smirk? It is easier said than done but it definitely something to practise if you think you need to because performance is just as, and if not more important than your technique. I mean, who’s going to want to watch someone who is an amazing dancer technically, but has no expression in their face whatsoever?
After the audition I went and found my mum who was picking me up, and this is when I truly fell in love with Stew! He came over to the two of us and started talking to me. He was asking whether he recognised me from the GSA foundation course or not (in a panic I said yes but my mum corrected me for me) and he started going on about how good my dance audition was! My mum being the smart, clever and wonderful woman she is mention the situation with my song and he reassured me that it wouldn’t matter! After that I was buzzing! I mean how nice of him was it to do that? Anyway, fast forward 8 days later… and I get an email saying I’ve got a recall! I was told I wasn’t going to find out until 2 weeks later but obviously that was wrong. So I suppose the lesson for today is to not worry if you mess up in an audition, they are not looking for perfection but someone they can train and develop into a star!
Kommentare