Auditioning in Magdeburg was interesting, and I thought I'd better write it down somewhere, or else I'd be sure to forget some of the details. (I perhaps already HAVE forgotten some of them: it's two weeks after the audition now.) I didn't even know there was going to be an audition! It was only after taking training there on Wednesday, that I was asked if I'm going to be there Sunday for the Audition. It was a bit difficult with timing, and getting there, but I managed in the end.

And that was more than most of the people who'd called the theater had done. The theater had heard from thirty guys who wanted to come, (there were only two positions available, both for men,) But only nine showed up. Including me.

In the hour and a half training, I felt that 80% to 85% of my technique capability was displayed. (Or displayed to 80% of my capable technique.) I also felt that I was one of the best two people there for learning the choreography after the class, which all nine stayed to do. In the choreography though, I was the single most precise in the group: getting small details that others missed, such as a tonlevé passé parallel with the knees together, and THEN a normal passé parallel.

The choreography was... was three pieces, in entirely different styles. We first learned a neo-classic section from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. It was occasionally awkward, due to the body moving in unexpected ways and directions. But once it was learned, and once the body could be habituated to it, the piece could really be danced. Next came a classical, and rater short excerpt of the Jester in Cinderella, (but not the jester's variation.) I thought it was a nice level for my technical capabilities, and would be a good roll for me to have. There were some surprising movements / directions in it, whose effect pleased me. The last we learned, (being told each time, "Keep that last choreography in your head...") was in a modern style, though not extremely modern. The steps were harder to learn, (as each was truly new, and had no precursor I could compare it to.) It was all right to dance, and didn't feel horrible on the body. It was not challenging technique, yet it was still not easy to make it look Really good.

And then we were told that we could each do One of the pieces we'd learned. "You've got five minutes to go over it." Which should I choose? Which did I choose? I felt that I'd done well, and near to my best already in the Classical and the Modern. And we'd done each bit in small groups already. So I decided to try to make the best Overall impression I could, and get the Neo-classic looking better. Which I only half did: It was better than I had done, but not as good as I should have been able to do it.

The Ballet Director, Gonzalo Galguera, then took ten minutes to discuss things with his colleagues, (and dancers too?) and called the first three guys back into the studio, for a polite "thank-you, but you're not the type of dancer for me." Or that's what I think he said... I was in the second group: "You're all good dancers, and I could be interested, but I don't think it's exactly what I'm wanting right now... not perfectly. But please, Please, stay in contact, come back next time I need dancers, and... "don't be a stranger."" -Which I think means that we're his Second Choice; That if his preferred dancers have other contracts, then he would choose from among us. Also, he said to the other two in this group with me, "You're both very good in modern, but your classical technique is dragging behind." Now what does that mean for me? That I'm just a smidgen under my potential? That's what I prefer to think.

I don't know what he said to the last three of them, as I was eager to take a shower and get to the train station. I think that there's a chance though, that I could be called, and asked if I'd go there next season. Perhaps not any Great chance, but some, anyhow.

And now for a bit of hallway gossip, (because some of the company members were there, and remembered me from last Wednesday.) I had been concerned, because the Ballet director had taken training, and seemed a bit arrogant in it too. And then I noticed him in a picture of one of the pieces. And I was fearing that he built all the pieces around himself, and cast himself always in the principal rolls. And that can get simply nasty and bad for the dancers in the company. The members told me, happily, that it's rare that he dances in any of the pieces, and that even then, he isn't a diva about it. In general, he seemed much nicer in the audition, and better to work with, than I thought he would be, after doing class beside him. The general atmosphere of the workplace, and the happiness of the dancers, I would rate at something like 75%. (Just don't ask me how I arrived at that number!)