Audition with a legend!

We weren't planning on attending any more summer intensive auditions, but Miss Nicole convinced Zoe to go to the Gelsey Kirkland Academy audition and we made a last minute decision to head to Fountain Valley with her friend Sonia. Although her Academy is in New York City, the national tour audition today was held at Southland Ballet Company in Orange County.


Gelsey Kirkland is a legend in the ballet world. She began her professional career with the New York City Ballet, eventually connecting with Mikhail Baryshnikov and joining ABT for a long and successful career. She starred in the first televised Nutcracker movie, and was on the cover of Time magazine in 1978.
The excitement of this audition is that Gelsey actually conducts the auditions in person. She evaluates each dancer and makes the decision with her co-executive director. I wish we could have gotten a better picture of her, but I was only able to get this quick shot on my phone as she came in the room. (She's in the dark glasses)

The girls from Dunamix got their numbers on and were excited and anxious to go in.

Of course they need to make sure they are warmed up and stretched. Zoe and Sonia were doing their matching ballet warm up.

They came out of the audition with big smiles, although a bit bummed that they didn't get to show any pointe work. They said Gelsey was wonderful, and they were very impressed by her.
They couldn't leave without doing a little dancing on pointe, so they put on their shoes and spent some time waiting for the older girls in one of the studios.
I am so glad we decided to head to the audition. It was a wonderfully positive experience for the girls and Gelsey is very inspiring to be around!