Demo/Audition/Interview

Today, I had my first interview.  I've been prepping my hour-long choreography every day since last Friday when I found out.  I was asked to give a full demo, and I was told that I would be interviewed afterward.

Here's how it went:

I woke up ridiculously early.  An hour earlier than usual, which sets the alarm to 4:45 am!  I took my Australian Shepherd to doggy day care so I didn't have to worry about him until after my interview.  I had cooked my breakfast and lunch the night before, so I snagged them out of the fridge on the way out.

I got to work when it opened (an hour earlier than usual).  My days are flexible as long as I put in 8 hours before 5pm.  I have to drive 40-minutes one-way (and almost an hour from doggy-day care).  It was a really busy day at work, but at least that helped the time go by.

At 3:30pm I rushed to my car and drove home.  I immediately hopped in the shower (my curls are outta control), ran around getting dressed and packing everything.  I had extra clothes, about 10 different forms of my hour playlist, notes, pen/paper, water, towel, a sweatband?, ballroom shoes, jazz slippers, who knows what else.  Everything else was on my body and I rushed out.

Traffic was awful.  I was stuck at the I-580/80 interchange where traffic combines coming off of the Bay Bridge forever.  Though I had done everything in my power to get there on time, I pulled up to the studio 4 minutes after my interview started.  Then, there was no parking.  I drove around the parking lot next door hoping to snag a spot, and I finally gave up and parked in the back parking lot of a neighboring apartment building.  Sorry... gotta run!

I walked in and met the manager, and she was totally laid back, which was a relief.  She immediately looked at the schedule and realized she had scheduled my demo on top of a yoga class.  Crap.  The only room that was open... was the childcare / play room:

Not the actual room, but very, very close.

Then the manager drops bomb #2.  She has been dealing with a sports injury.  Today she was finally told to stay off it.  So, there will be no demo.

[I think I'm kinda funny looking.  I had to be convinced by one of my instructors that people would even have interest in taking classes from a chubby instructor.  However, I'm slowly getting over it.  I think my dancing speaks for itself.  Here, though, my dancing, and all of my practicing, will go unseen.  *Must* Keep *Smiling*]

She asked me a few questions, but didn't really write anything down.  The expansion that they are going to have Zumba classes in isn't even done yet.  She said that they would call people that make the second round and bring them in for a real demo in the new studio.  Then I left.

Overall impression?  Underwhelming...?  I worked really hard for nothing.  I'm happy I did it, because I'm ready to give demos all over the place.  However, I had really amped myself up thinking that this was going to be the place where I started, and from which I would gain tons of experience and a small following of devoted dancers.  So far, we're not much further along in the process.

Life will continuously throw obstacles at you.  Roll with the punches, and keep pursuing your goals.  I will.

Determined to be a Zumba Instructor,
~RoB