The Very First Audition - Part 5

(Part 1 - click here)

(Part 2 - click here)

(Part 3 - click here)

(Part 4 - click here)

Day 5

It was day two of my very first audition at Disneyland.  On the first day I showed up so naive, so confident.  This time, I was so different.  First of all, my brother drove me, so I had some support.  Second, I had a backpack with snacks and water.  But more importantly, I arrived so grateful.  It was such a small group of women compared to the hundreds and hundreds of women who were there the day before.  Earlier in the day, my friend Randy suggested this audition would be easier because I was up against fewer women.  The truth is that while there were less women, I knew it was the best of them, and that was so intimidating.

We got to the rehearsal hall and I immediately noticed two differences. First, instead of having us sit on the hard wooden floor, they had set up a few rows of white folding chairs on the side.  Second, there were about 30 3x5 cards taped up on the mirror in rows of 5.  We were called to the floor and the choreographer said, “We won’t be teaching or reviewing tonight.  You should know it, perfectly.  Let’s start with the first routine.”  They turned on the first pieces of music and with a “5…6…7…8” we were on our way.

We danced through each routine once.  I did pretty good, but we weren't being watched yet.  I prayed I would do that well when my time came.  We moved back to the white chairs and I grabbed a seat in the second row.  They started calling groups of five and whispering.  

I was never called.  Not once.

After hours of doing nothing, I slouched in my chair as I realized they had accidentally called me back and that I had spent all day practicing and hoping - dreaming of what it would be like to dance for Disney.  I was so embarrassed.  I didn’t want to be there anymore.

I grabbed my backpack, walked over to a stage manager by the exit and asked if I could leave.  I explained the situation and she said, “Hold on a second.”  She walked over to the jury and chatted with the person on the end.  They looked over to me. The person on the end looked at some notes, shrugged, nodded and then the stage manager headed back over to me.   She said, “You can leave if you would like, but I would HIGHLY suggest you stay.”  I felt so dumb. It took everything inside of me to stay.  Was she suggesting I stay just to not look like a quitter?  Whatever her reason was, I decided to stay.  I kept my backpack on and sat back down, now feeling even more ridiculous.

When finally everyone was done dancing and I still hadn’t danced a single bit.  A choreographer stood up and said, “Ok, this is how this is going to work.  If we call your number please come stand on this line.”  She gestured to a red tape line they had put on the ground.  “Then we will hand you a part.”  She gestured to the 3x5 cards.  Oh my gosh, there were only 30 spots?  Less than half of us were getting a job that night.  I just stopped listening because there was no way I was going to be in the happy half. “Ok, first, let’s see 12, 26, 34 and 254.”  Three women jumped up and got on the line. “Who are we missing?”  They looked at the three women “12. 34. 47….  254?  Is 254 here?”  Then they looked down at the application in their hand.  “Liz Hetzel?”  My head shot up in disbelief.  “Liz Hetzel?  Are you here?”  I honestly didn’t know what to do.

“Um… yes… I’m here.”  I was trying to rip off my back pack as I squeezed through the first row of chairs, catching my foot and stumbling onto the floor.  We all laughed. I bowed as I ran to the line and I got a little cheer of success.  The choreographer gave me a card, “Welcome to Disney.”  I looked down at my card.  I was shaking.  “Track 31 - Kaa. Pirate. Pinocchio.”  I had no idea what that meant and I couldn’t care less.

A couple months later, I had my orientation day.  We watched a show I had never seen before.  I was blown away by the performers, the special effects, and the music.  When it was done, the girl sitting next to me said, “Can you believe we get to do this?” I jerked my attention to her, “This is the show we are in?!”  The stage manager stood up and said, “Welcome to Fantasmic!”