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Front and center: dancers and artistic directors tell their audition secrets.

Article Excerpt
Auditions offer some of the most intense dance learning experiences anyone can have. They may be scary or amazing, heartbreaking or even funny, when you look back on them over time. These six dancers and directors have been through it all and come out the other side of the audition process a little smarter. Laugh, empathize, profit from their advice, and enjoy.

CARLA MAXWELL Artistic Director The Limon Company

During an open-call audition we select a small group of dancers who will continue to work with us for a week in a workshop situation.

During the week, they learn from the Limon repertoire, as well as selections from our current repertoire of other choreographers. We like to work one-on-one and have the dancers be coached by me, and by others. I do this weeklong workshop because I am very interested in process, how people take direction, and how they learn.

To execute our repertoire, dancers have to be more than good, smart, intelligent movers. It is important that a dancer have a good facility, but they need to be able convey dramatic ideas, use dramatic gestures, and communicate feelings on stage. I consider everyone in our company a soloist or potential soloist and therefore we and they must work together to help them become a complete artist.

At the end of the week, dancers show us what they have learned and also dance another piece of choreography that they have performed before and are...