"Up a steep and very narrow stairway/To the voice like a metronome"

That line from A Chorus Line* always goes through my head when I go up the stairs to the new dance studio (right).

[Note the lines from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock going up the stairs.]**

The line particularly went through my head tonight as I rushed up the stairs - 45 minutes late for class.

Maybe I should back up.***

I had the beginning of this week all figured out.  Today, younger son had a science class from 3:30 to 4:30 in Chapel Hill.  Then I would drive home, drop him off, and head off to the 6:30 dance class in Durham.****  Tomorrow, after a fairly peaceful day, I would do a nice, relaxed vocal warmup, go to the audition for the summer musical at 6, and go to choir at 7:30.  I certainly wouldn't want to do something crazy like stick the audition between the two classes today!

However, I came down with a sore throat last night.  It's a very mild sore throat, and, as you'll see, it's not the sort of thing to slow me down.  It has really affected my voice, though.  I was slightly hoarse yesterday evening and more hoarse this afternoon.  By the time we got home from the science class, my throat felt all gummy, and I realized that I needed to audition today because I wasn't sure how much voice I'd have by tomorrow!*****

I quickly changed in to my dance clothes, did a five minute vocal warmup, and headed off to the audition.  I was the second one in line. 

As I wrote previously, I was intending to sing No Way to Stop It from The Sound of Music.  If I felt I couldn't sing that, I had chosen Eidelweiss as a backup.  I decided to go with No Way, though, and really throw myself into it.

The singing part of the audition didn't go as well as I wanted.  I hit all the notes, but they sounded more harsh than they did on Saturday before my throat started going.  At least my voice didn't crack like it did when I was warming up at home.  I wanted to try for the part of the Minstrel (they're doing Once Upon a Mattress) so I had to wait until more people were ready to do that part of the audition. 

After reading a scene with some of the other people auditioning, I read one of the Minstrel's speeches, where he/she (can be either) tells the story to the audience.  I decided to do it the same way I would if I were reading it to one of my kids when they were little - which is more expressive than most things I say!  I had so much fun doing that. 

By the time I was done, dance class had been going for 20 minutes, and I still had to drive to Durham.  I still decided to go and do at least the end of it because I thought we'd be doing more of The Music and the Mirror (from A Chorus Line) which we started last week. There would just be a bit of the dance to catch up on.

I found a parking place half a block away and rushed up those stairs.  Looking through the window on the classroom door, I realized that the dance they were doing didn't look familiar at all.  I had a totally new dance, in a different style, to learn - this one to Dancing Is Not A Crime from the Broadway soundtrack to Footloose.

My brain was still racing from the audition, and I don't think I ever picked up choreography that quickly (the teacher remarked on how much I picked up in a short time!). 

I've always believed that you have to challenge yourself - you can't wait for others to do so.  However, I love it when someone else comes up with a wonderful challenge.  Acting is a really big challenge for me because it is so foreign (but also so fun), and dancing is always a challenge.

Driving home into the sunset,****** I was, emotionally, flying high.  I love challenges, and I love performing, and I got a bit of both this evening. 

 

* From the chorus of At the Ballet

** By the way, this is the sort of thing I love about Durham.

*** But not on the stairs.

**** I still miss my old dance class and studio, but I'm enjoying this new one.

***** The amount of voice needed for an audition is much larger than the amount needed for choir.

****** Really.  The top half of the sun was disappearing behind the Durham Freeway as I headed west.*******

******* One of my favorite fantasy authors is Robin McKinley.  She has a blog - and, on her blog (not in her fiction), she uses more footnotes than I do! 

Comments

[Summer]

I love that old building. I used to work in the flower shop below,when we first moved to Durham. Terrible pay, but so convenient to Cosmic Cantina. I hope that you take advantage of being right by the burrito shop every week.

[Moominpapa]

I really enjoyed seeing you flying so high yesterday, even though I knew you were going to pay for it for days afterward... The highs are worth the lows.

[M Light]

Summer: The Cosmic Cantina is a temptation every week. I'm hungry after class, and it smells so good! I'm going to get the guys to come along some Monday so we can all go there after class.

Moominpapa: <3

[Stairway lighting]

I really love your writing, unlike most blogs I actually learn things, find the content useful and it’s well written. 11/10 every time!