Day 1
I woke up the next morning feeling amazing and ready to show the talent scouts what I could do! My goal for the first day of auditions was just to make it to call backs the next day…
I get there, register, turn in my papers and videos and wait and wait and wait…it felt like forever until they finally called us into the gym (in retrospect it was only about 30 mins but if felt like forever). We all gather on the floor and by that time, there was a good 40-45 people there. Stacy and Julian introduced themselves as the talent scouts who would be evaluating us for the next two days and told us that everything we were going to be doing was going to be filmed so they could go back and watch it later.
We were instructed to warm up our bodies and warming up our tumbling passes because we would start on floor. Since everyone’s tumbling passes were going to be filmed, they only wanted us to go in one corner so the camera didn’t have to move constantly…imagine 40 people trying to warm up in one corner of the floor…it was a little hectic at first but we managed to spread out and get it done.
Here’s the link for more pictures
When it was time to start showing, they divided us into three groups: the artistic gymnasts, the tumblers, and the ‘other’ group, the gymnasts went first. My game plan was to keep it simple and to do the passes I knew I would hit with good technique, simple and to the point; a double full, whip half front full, and a punch layout. I could not have asked to perform those passes better then I did!
Then we moved to the fast track and rod floor where the tumbling group really had a chance to shine. I had been practicing on the fast track but the landing wasn’t what I was used to so I went over to the rod strip. My plan was to showcase my double pike, 2 1/2, and triple full but I decided to nix the 2 1/2 and just go straight to the triple which worked out well!
We moved back to the floor to find that this was when the first cuts were going to be made…everyone suddenly became a little quieter. 5-10 mins later, Stacy called up about half the group and told them to come to the table where they would get some advice and constructive criticism from the scouts in the areas they could improve upon for next time.
Woah…I Made It Through The First Round Of Cuts!!!!
We took a quick lunch break and were told to grip up because uneven bars and single rail was up next. So since I had come into the gym the night before and played around on the equipment a little, the bars were already on my setting from the night before! It was perfect, I was so comfortable and knew I was going to perform my best! Back when I first started training to perform bars, I wanted to throw all my big skills even if they weren’t as consistent as I would’ve liked. But as time went on, I wanted to keep the same theme as I had on floor and do simple and too the point with good technique. So I showed my blind to Jaegar, blind to straddle back handstand, and 2 giant fulls in a row. Nailed, Nailed and Nailed, I was so happy! Then Stacy asked us to show her a set of cast handstands to showcase our bar stamina, wham bam thank you mam, handstand handstand handstand handstand handstand haha. Can you tell I was feeling good at this point??
Then we watched the guys finish up single rail and headed back over to the floor. It was time to show off our standing tumbling skills, so not tumbling passes across the floor but standing skills like back tucks, front tucks, dance elements, or any cool/different skills you could perform. So I put together as many standing skills and dance skills I could think of and went right up and presented it! One of the guys had a pretty cool skateboard routine he performed outside, there was definitely a ton of talent there.
After that, Stacy gathered the girls and told us we had made it through to call backs tomorrow!! I was ecstatic! My first goal was completed! We were welcome to stay the rest of the day and watch the boys do p-bars and rings. I stayed and I’m glad I did because she told us that tomorrow was more oriented in showing our dancing and acting skills. This is where a lot people who come right out of sports get cut because they aren’t willing to be open and put themselves outside of their comfort zone. They look for potential to teach as well as what you can perform now so we just needed to be willing to let ourselves look like a bunch of circus freaks 🙂
I could not stop smiling the rest of the day! I got so many congratulations txts and calls, it made me realize how many people are supporting me and wanting me to succeed as much as I do! Thank you so much everyone, it means the world to me to have such a great support system!
But the icing on the cake was when my dad and I made our way over to a sushi bar across the street for dinner and got half off everything because it was happy hour prices! Haha it’s the little things in life…what a great first day!
But my job in Vegas wasn’t done yet…my inner Ringling Brothers would have to pop out of the tent for Day 2.
Chronicled Adventures 