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Paris auditions


afab

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Hi all again,

 

Last (finally) audition tomorrow for DD1... Earlier this year, some of you might remember, DD1 auditioned for a Performing Arts School in Paris and got in. Even though she had been offered a place at Tring for the Performance Foundation Course, she believed Tring wasn't offering enough dance (6 hours/week) as she wants to be a "dancer-singer" and not an "actor-singer" (her words). So she auditioned for the school in Paris who offers around 14 hours of dance plus singing, musical and theatre i.e. around 20h/week.

 

The audition consisted of a short ballet class, a jazz class with a short variation to learn on the spot and dance in front of a jury, a poem to tell (they had a choice between to fables) and an imposed song created for the occasion also in front of a jury and finally a group interview (10 of them )in front of a jury asking them in turns why they wanted to enter the school, what they were expecting from the school, what was their strength and weaknesses and so on. Remember we're talking kids between the age of 15 and 20!!! My DD and another girl were the youngest at 14 and had to be deemed mature enough to be offered a place.

The jury (6 people) wasn't particularly smiling nor encouraging, stern faces all around.

 

Prior to that, they had to answer a questionnaire about why they wanted to become performing artists and sent it by mail and they had an interview with their parents being there with the head of the school and the head of studies...

 

I didn't tell DD1 that the first meeting was a kind of interview so she went in free of worries to check out the school and she didn't realize she was also being checked out and because DD3 was also interviewed at the same time (she was 9 then) to enter the school at her level, everybody went just "to have a talk and see what they had to offer...

Audition for DD3 was only that talk and she got in too.

 

Any way going back to DD1, she was delighted to be offered a place and even more to be offered a call back for a scholarship. Out of around 50 kids and young adults that day, 2 were offered a call back and I don't know how many got in without being offered a scholarship.

 

There was a second date for the preliminary audition but I don't know how many were called back. I simply know some of the students already in the school are also allowed to audition for the scholarship tomorrow.

 

For tomorrow's call back, DD is called at a precise time, she has to arrive 1/2 an hour before to warm up and she'll have to present a free variation in either jazz or contemporary and she chose contemporary as she has never done jazz in her life.

She also has to present a jazz set variation sent by the school. It's very Flashdancey and it's was quite funny at first to see her try and move her bum in a way she's absolutely not used to but she got better... She's still quite worried about that part though!

The last thing she'll be asked is an improvisation on the spot and on her own! :wacko: But she seems quite confident about that part, I suppose she's used to it!

 

She can be offered up to 3 years worth of scholarship which would be a blessing for us and would mean she can go. At the moment, even though French fees are much lower than UK ones, we're not sure she can go because we have 3 DDs and adding the fees become really expensive.

 

So fingers crossed for her, I'm sure she'll do her best as she always does...

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Back from Paris and very hot!!!

 

Thank you so much for your lovely messages! They meant a lot for DD and I...

 

The audition went quite well. DD had to perform all 3 dances in a row in front of a huge jury of about 15 people! She had to do the set jazz solo first which didn't go as well as she hoped. Her lack of training and confidence in that style showed in bits. She then had to do her free solo, contemporary in her case. She did really well and seemed very at ease. Then she had a couple of minutes break, the time for the jury to decide what they wanted to see her in. I suppose they wanted to see what they hadn't seen before as one girl got the theme "Joy" and another one who only did jazz numbers got "Adage". My daughter got "Rythmic" and she threw herself in a fantastic solo half inspired by an automat doll and half by something that seemed to flow straight from her!

As people could see the dances through a window but not hear the music, I sat there mesmerized by her ease at improvisation... Very proud mother moment!

 

Anyway, she's not too unhappy with herself... They were 25 auditionees and the school has 1 or maybe 2 scholarships to offer! Terrible choice!

I'll keep you posted as always...

 

Thanks again for your support!

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Very well done to your DD for getting through such an intensive audition. Not many young dancers are able to improvise with such confidence - what a wonderful gift to have. Very best of luck with the results and thanks again for sharing your experiences :)

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The results of the scholarship audition are back and DD1 didn't get it! I now realize how much I was counting on her getting it to be able to send DD1, DD2 and even DD3 to their schools of choice.

 

We're back to square one trying to find funding and even though fees are cheaper in France than in the UK, 3 DDs is really expensive on 1 salary...

 

The worst for me was that the school told me after DD1's 2nd audition that they fully expected her to do a ballet solo since she's a ballet dancer! But their website states jazz or contemporary! So when they told me she could choose her style, I never even thought of suggesting ballet to her!!! And now they tell me she would have had a better chance with ballet! GRRR!

 

To top it all, she had a wonderful ballet variation ready!!!

 

Any idea for funding anyone?

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So sorry to hear this, especially as she could have really shone if she had done her ballet piece. Is there any way you could contact the school saying you misunderstood what was required of her at audition,and could she possibly re-audition doing the ballet solo,or is it too late?

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It's too late unfortunately as they had a panel of judges for that day only and the scholarship has been given to the only boy who auditioned and he auditioned in his special talent: hip hop...

 

Thank you for the suggestion, though...

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Sorry to hear the bad news.I hope you find a way of sending her,it must be heartbreaking,i really feel for you.If she gets to go this year can she try again for the following year for a scholarship?

yes she can, and they already told me she should do ballet then... But we have to come up with the money for this year first!

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Oh, Afab, I'm so very sorry! Can you appeal, since their website had the dance details wrong?

No they only had 1 scholarship and it has already been offered...

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