When the Music Stops (25 page)

Both girls nodded.

"Who'll be our judges?" Rosalia asked.

Marta wiggled her finger at the girls and smiled. "Ah, that's a secret. They'll fill out long forms of information about each of you, so prepare to stand and wait. I suggest you call each other and ask questions you think they'll ask to help you prepare." Marta hugged both girls and shooed them from the room. "Now go home, practice your solos, and be here and ready tomorrow evening at 6:50. Do your best and stay confident. Good luck."

h

The practice audition judges arrived at 6:30. Lily Rose and Veronica Osbourne, the prospective new instructor, smiled as they hung their coats on the coat rack and seated themselves at the long table beside Lindsay.

Marta handed out the forms and pens. "When the girls arrive, I'll introduce you formally, then explain the judging system. The girls will go through the first part of the process together, then they'll dance alone and answer questions. Take lots of notes; I'll share your information with them during a future class. We want them to have every advantage possible when they step into real auditions. Also, don’t smile your encouragement to them. The audition judges will keep their faces as neutral as possible. Remain objective and assess each girl using the criteria I've created on the forms."

Marta called down to the girls, "Please come upstairs, ladies." A sudden memory of her own audition experience flashed through her. She relived the pulsing tension she imagined they felt as they reached the top of the stairs.

Paige and Rosalia entered the room dressed in black leotards, black practice skirts, pink tights, and
pointe
shoes. Marta handed them audition numbers to pin onto their leotards. Neither dancer smiled as they moved to stand before the judges in fifth position awaiting directions.

“Good evening, ladies. I’m Marta Selbryth. Your judges tonight are Mrs. Holland, Mrs. Costello, and Mrs. Osbourne. We’ll begin shortly.”

The judges started writing, appraising the girls for body proportions, posture, tidiness of their dance costume, and their stage presence. When they completed their assessment, they looked toward Marta and nodded.

“We’ll be judging you on seven elements including your basic style during
barre
exercises, your form during floor exercises, your ability to memorize new choreography, your rhythmic sense, how you interpret and perform the group selection together and as a solo, plus how you dance your prepared solo. Please move to the
barre
to begin warm-ups.”

Marta watched both girls as they moved to the
barre
. So far so good. They looked calm, but she noticed Paige’s legs trembling and Rosalia squeezing the
barre
. Both probably felt as if they’d swallowed jumping beans. That’s how she’d felt. Warm-ups and the center work, both well known procedures, would relax them—hopefully not too much.

Instead of dancing with them as she usually did during class, Marta directed them by speaking her commands and clapping the beat much like Madame Cosper and other dance company directors did. It provided one more chance for the judges to observe how they handled themselves in an unfamiliar situation. The girls performed without hesitation once they adjusted to the change.

For the group dance, Marta shared her choreography for
Rhapsody in Blue,
a flowing choreography to showcase their skills. Both Lily Rose and Lindsay knew the music and choreography, providing them with the background to judge the performances artistically. Veronica represented a fresh perspective since she’d never met the girls or seen the choreography.

After instruction and two practices, the girls danced together, then performed the selection as solos. Marta relaxed her hands, realizing she was holding them as fists. Both young women continued with strong skills, filling Marta with a confidence that she’d provided useful training they’d take with them as they advanced to real auditions.

As they danced, she noticed how much Paige reminded her of herself: tentative at times, but also graceful with flowing arms and good finishing detail. Rosalia, technically the better dancer, moved mechanically. Her amazing memory became obvious early on, but her lack of finesse filled Marta with concern. During future practice sessions she’d address the importance of finishing every movement before moving on to the next.

Marta dismissed the girls to wait downstairs to allow the judges time to complete their forms. In a few minutes she brought them back, one at a time, to perform their individual selections. Rosalia selected her “Sugar Plum” solo; Paige chose her “Dance of the Flutes.” After each girl danced, the judges asked their individual questions, wrote comments, and dismissed them.
Poof
. Their practice audition ended abruptly just like real ones did; harsh, maybe, but true to form.

As the girls left the room, Marta refrained from following them to check in with them. After all, this was a mock audition. In real auditions, judges never spoke to the dancers once they left the room.

Tonight the judges would score the girls and give Lindsay the results to share with Marta. When the girls heard the comments, they’d know what skills to work on to prepare for real auditions coming up between April’s spring vacation and the end of July. Marta would build on their strengths, then work with them to improve sections in their audition that would increase their total scores.

The mock judges completed their forms, then stayed after to discuss their scores and comments. “It looks like we agreed on their average scores,” Lindsay said. “Paige is more prepared than I anticipated she’d be. With one more year to develop, she’ll be a lot like Marta.”

“I agree,” said Lily Rose, looking at her notes. “They are both strong dancers. Paige lacks confidence at times, but she’s graceful and finishes each movement before she begins the next.”

Marta kept her head down, listening to their comments, gauging how to share their thoughts with the girls while maintaining their confidence.

“Rosalia has great focus,” Veronica said, “and accurate skills, but I wish she’d flow from one step to the next and appear to enjoy what she was doing. Her face is tense and expressionless.”

“She has amazing strength and agility, but you’re right,” Lindsay said. “I don’t see her passion. Maybe she’s feeling pressure from her mother.”

“Or she’s nervous,” Veronica said.

“I’ll work with her on both her flow and her facial expressions,” Marta said. “Her needs will take priority since her upcoming auditions will determine if she’ll receive a professional ballet position this fall.”

h

The mock auditions inspired Marta to stay after the others left and work on her recovery exercises and think of how to help the young women improve their chances for garnering a ballet company position. For Paige she’d offer more detailed praise to encourage her self-confidence. She’d also push her to think ahead and to plan her next move before she began the movement. That would eliminate her occasional jerkiness.

Helping Rosalia took a more delicate approach. Since Zandora pushed her daughter so hard, Marta didn’t want to add to her stress. She’d adjust the speed on the record player to slow down the music in hopes of helping Rosalia relax, anticipate her next move, and soften her facial expressions.

Relaxing. Marta laughed to herself. Lately she’d been a tense person herself, so maybe she needed to heed her own advice. She adjusted the rotation speed of the record for her practice session and began dancing. Within a few seconds she felt her movements soften and meld together. This tactic would work for both girls.

While she felt mellow, she decided to place a call to Steve. It was time for her to make a move. The phone rang several times before Mr. Mason answered, “Mason residence.”

He wasn’t there. Should she leave a message? What could she say? Her plan to stay relaxed disappeared. “No, thank you.” She hung up and leaned against the wall. That was stupid, she thought. Why didn’t she say who she was? What was wrong with her?

h

Lindsay called Marta a few days after Marta shared the mock audition scores with the girls. “Zandora called me yesterday. She’s spitting pins about the judging and wants to know how each judge scored Rosalia. I told her we averaged our scores and she’d get no further details. I’m so glad I took the forms home and burned them. How is Zandora behaving toward you?”

“More frowns than before, but she hasn’t approached me directly. Mom’s overheard her bad-mouthing my mock audition, saying I favored Paige even though I’ve offered to spend extra time with Rosalia and she flat out turned me down. Paige told me Rosalia is excited about going to a handful of early auditions, all around her spring break.”

“Oooh. That’s a lot,” Lindsay said. “Traveling to so many cities over so few days puts immense pressure on Rosalia. I’m glad Paige has a year before she decides if she wants to pursue a career.”

“Paige’s mother will pay the thirty dollars for the Seattle evaluation, but she isn’t certain she’ll get time off work, so I may accompany her. It would be great if I took both girls, but Zandora will undoubtedly want to handle Rosalia’s auditions.”

h

March 3. For Marta, returning to auditions in the Olympic Ballroom in Seattle felt like returning to the scene of a crime. True, that audition had gone well and she had become a member of the Intermountain Ballet Company, but her nervousness flooded back as she entered the ballroom corridor with Paige. “Just remember, do your best. Give it all the energy you have, and thank them before you leave.”

Paige nodded. “Thanks for coming with me. I feel so funny inside. I can’t imagine doing this without your help.”

Marta pulled Paige into a hug. “It’s been my pleasure. I’ll be in the waiting area. When you finish, they’ll hand your scores to you since you aren’t being considered for a real position. We can look them over on the ferry ride home. Good luck, Paige.”

As Marta returned to the waiting area, Rosalia and her mother entered. Rosalia smiled and waved. Zandora looked the other way and nudged Rosalia ahead of her to the ballroom corridor. This could be an amazingly long afternoon.

Zandora didn’t return for several minutes. When she did, she chose a seat far away from Marta and pulled out a cigarette case. A member of the hotel staff approached her and told her the smoking area was further down the hall, away from the kitchen and banquet rooms. Marta pretended she’d not heard or seen the confrontation. Zandora put away her cigarettes, pulled out a pack of Juicy Fruit gum and a
Reader’s Digest
, checked her watch, and settled into her seat.

Half an hour later, Paige returned to the waiting area carrying her evaluation notes. A smile spread across her lips.

Marta stood as she approached. “So, it went well?”

“I think so.” Paige nodded and handed the evaluations to Marta. “I can’t wait to call my mom. Can we stop before we catch the ferry?”

“Absolutely!” They exited through the door furthest from Zandora and stopped to make Paige’s call.

“…and, I think I did a good job on my solo. When they asked me questions about myself, I looked at each judge the way Marta suggested we do.… Yes, it was hard, but I did okay. I’ll share everything with you when I get home—Love you.”

On the hour-long ferry ride, they discussed the judges’ notes. “Fifty-seven points out of a possible seventy is a good score from the San Diego ballet group. Their comments are consistent with what we wrote at the mock audition. You’ll need to work on refining your
barre
and center movements, and maybe we’ll add more difficulty to your solo to lift those sevens to eights or nines. You have plenty of time to decide. You told you mom you enjoyed the audition. What made it enjoyable?”

Paige’s face wore a smile that extended far beyond her lips. “I enjoyed the challenge to push myself to relax when I danced the new choreography. I didn’t enjoy answering their questions. Maybe you can help me with that before next year?”

“Whatever you want and need. Now, let’s relax, enjoy the view, and think about where you want to insert more challenging choreography into your solo.”

h

Rosalia attended the first practice session following the audition. She participated in discussing and working on skills suggested by Paige’s evaluation, but had not yet received her results. Now, as Paige exited the practice room, Rosalia lingered, slowly packing her dance tote. Marta sat next to her on the floor.

“Is everything alright, Rosalia?” Marta said.

Rosalia shrugged. Her clenched jaw and pulled in lips told Marta how she felt. “Marta,” Rosalia sighed. “What if I don’t get invited to join the San Diego Ballet?”

“That’s why we all do multiple auditions. We never know what they are looking for. We use their evaluations to improve our dancing, we make changes, then we move on to other auditions and perform our best. It’s seldom a dancer earns a position after one audition.”

“Can you help me with my flow between steps? I think it’s a problem.”

“Of course. I’ll help you with anything you need, Rosalia.” Marta stood and pulled Rosalia to her feet. “For now, go home, forget about auditions, and get your school homework done. You’re a strong dancer. I wish I’d had your memory when I auditioned. It’s a marvelous skill most dancers need to work on over time, and here you are, owning that skill already.”