These days, headshots and dance shots are a performer’s gateway into any audition. They’re the first thing casting directors and artistic directors see of you—a first impression, if you will—making quality images a necessity. But for me, photographs documenting my dancing and my likeness go beyond being crucial audition materials. After nine years off of […]

I’m ready to start auditioning, and hoping that someone will take a chance on me. This month I’m sharing a bit about my process for finding auditions, submitting self-tapes and taking advantage of networking opportunities without an agent.

So how exactly do you go about finding an audition-appropriate look that’s also confidence-boosting? We turned to three professional dancers who have years of experience honing their sartorial senses across ballet, modern, commercial and Broadway auditions.

With millions of things to think about before an audition, it’s easy to forget about slating, or the moment before actuall­y auditioning­ when you introduce yourself to the panel, whether­ on a self-tape or at an in-person casting call.

The pandemic has contributed to many shifts in the dance world, as the community has outspokenly criticized longstanding practices and cultural norms. However, no one has called into question the structure (or, rather, the lack thereof) of the job market. As a now-retired ballet dancer of nearly a decade and a PhD student in economics […]

How much should you personalize the audition material, imbue it with a sense of who you are, express­? After all, isn’t that exactly what art asks of artists?

At 6:30 am on a brisk day in September 2018, Christina Kotsopoulos found herself standing in an open-call audition line for Wicked on Broadway—wholly unprepared for what was about to happen. She had just spent the last four years at SUNY Purchase primarily studying concert dance. The training had taught her foolproof concert audition tips, […]

There’s something uniquely crushing about summer intensive rejection. Perhaps it’s because it’s the first time many students have ever experienced this kind of rebuff. Or perhaps it’s simply hard to not think, If I can’t even get into the summer program, how am I ever going to be good enough to make it in dance?