Latest / Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast / A Day in the Life of a Broadway Performer

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A Day in the Life of a Broadway Performer · Making The Impact - A Dance Competition Podcast

• 0:07
  SPEAKER_01: Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the table at a dance competition?
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly what are the judges looking for anyway?
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: This is Making the Impact, a dance competition podcast.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: Each week we'll cover a different topic related to the world of competitive dance, from the perspective of the judges behind the table.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: One of the most well-known jobs in the dance industry is that of a Broadway performer.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: But what does that job even look like?
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Today on Making the Impact, we take you behind the scenes with two Broadway dancers to learn about what a typical day in the life includes, from audition to performance and everything in between.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_03: Hey y'all, welcome to this week's episode of Making the Impact.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_03: I'm your host, Courtney Ortiz, and I'm here with my co-host, Leslie Mueller.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_01: Hey Courtney, are you stoked about this episode today?
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_03: I absolutely am because everyone knows I love me some Broadway.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_03: And today we are talking all about the Broadway, a day in the life of a Broadway performer.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_03: And um, there's a lot to learn here for our listeners because I'm sure many people are curious of what it really takes to be on Broadway.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_03: And they're working, y'all.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_03: They are busy as can be on Broadway.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: They are.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I love I love Broadway as well.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm also really excited because I think I personally love these Day in the Life episodes because I think they're very telling as to, you know, really what your life is like when you do performing jobs.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: And this is, you know, obviously sort of the pinnacle if you're pursuing this career, is it's Broadway, you can't get much better than that.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm excited to hear about what these guests have to tell us about being on Broadway.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's gonna be a really fun one.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_03: I agree.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_03: We are loving the Day in the Life series over here at Making an Impact.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_03: So if there are more performance jobs that you wanna hear and have an inside look into that you would like us to tackle in future episodes of our Day in the Life series, then hit us up and let us know.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_03: But today, if you have dreams of being on Broadway, you're gonna learn all about it.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_03: And before we jump into this episode, let's hear from our sponsors.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_03: A new dance season is here, and that means competition is coming up quick.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_03: And we have a great way to help you prep your performance before hitting the stage with IDA's online judges' critiques.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_03: One of our professional pre-screen judges will provide you with a video critique similar to what you receive a competition.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_03: But we also take our critiques one step further with our best selling feature, uh post-critique additional feedback.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_03: Your IDA judge will go back through your dance and pause the video to elaborate even more on specific corrections and personalized requests.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_03: And exciting news for choreographers that our popular choreography console critiques are back in action this season.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_03: Your specialty judge will focus on choreography specific feedback, covering everything from concept and costumes to transitions, style, and musicality.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_03: Enhance your creative vision and elevate your voice as a choreographer, with guidance from a pro on technique, song choice, difficulty level, and so much more.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_03: Starting at just$35, IDA's online judges critiques are a great tool to utilize at any point in the dance season.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_03: And we are one of the only online critique services in the industry that offers genre-specific judges and rush 24 hour delivery turnaround times.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_03: Are you ready to take your dance to the next level?
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_03: Click the link in our show notes or visit our website at Impact Danceadjudicators.com slash online critiques to submit your dance today.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_03: All right, dance world.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_03: We're back and we're here for our next A Day in the Life episode, which so many of our listeners have loved.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_03: We love getting an inside look to many different sides of our beautiful dance world.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_03: And today we are heading to New York City, Broadway.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_03: And I hope that everyone in that's listening has been able to see a Broadway show in their lifetime.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: And if you haven't, make sure that you put it on your list.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_03: And it doesn't have to be in New York City proper because Broadway shows are all over the country.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_03: They go on tour, there's a lot of regional houses that do Broadway productions.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_03: So go take a seat in a Broadway show because it is worth the experience.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_03: And I remember my very first Broadway show.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_03: I'm pretty sure it was Wicked at the Hippodrome in Baltimore when I was maybe 15, and I didn't even know like what Broadway was because we weren't a family that grew up going to Broadway shows.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_03: And wow, that experience changed my life.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_03: And then I moved to New York, and now I can go see Broadway shows all the time.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: And listen, y'all, she does.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: She is the queen of the lottery.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: Courtney Ortiz wins the lottery constantly for Broadway shows.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: So like she is always at a Broadway show.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, fun fact.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_03: If you didn't know out there, when you go to New York and even on touring productions, there are oftentimes digital lotteries and rush opportunities where you can get discount a tickets day of.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: Take advantage of that.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_03: If you don't want to pay over$100 to see a show, you can pay$30,$40 to see a Broadway show.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_03: Anyway, enough about that.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_03: We have two guests joining us who are Broadway dancers.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm so excited about this because I love me some Broadway.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm excited to welcome back a guest to our episode.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_03: And she was on a summer bonus episode back in season four, where I met her live from the Muni when we were doing West Side Story.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_03: Now, fun fact back then she wasn't on Broadway.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_03: Fast forward to now, and she is currently in the Lion King on Broadway.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so, so proud of her, and I can't wait to hear all about how her Broadway journey has been going.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_03: I'm excited to welcome back Tatiana Nunez to the podcast.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome, Tati.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: Hey.
• 5:55
  unknown: Yay!
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_04: How's it going?
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_03: Good.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_03: Life is good on Broadway.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_04: Life is great.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_04: Life is great.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_04: I'm loving uh every day at the Lion King.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_04: It's like a dream come true.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I'm so happy for you.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_03: And I mean, it's just crazy because I specifically remember this conversation with you.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: You came and took class.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_03: We went and we went and caught up over over dinner, and you were like, girl, I am I have to book Lion King.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_03: Like I have been in a million times.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_03: That is my dream show.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_03: I can feel it.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_03: I I I just need to book this show.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_03: And then, like six months later, you got the call.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_03: It's crazy.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that's just how it works, y'all, out there.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_03: So Tati, thrilled for you.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for joining us back on the pod.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_03: And if you could tell all the listeners a little bit more about you, where you grew up, your little bit of dance training, and some career credits and how life's looking now.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_04: I'm originally from South Florida.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_04: I'm a comp kid at Core.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_04: Hey.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_04: And I went to a middle and high school of the arts.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_04: So that's kind of where I like stepped into heavy ballet and modern dance training.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_04: Uh in high school, I went to Ailey summer intensive, Joffrey Ballet Summer Intensive, Ballet Hispanico, Jacob's Pillow.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_04: I did all the things while also being like full comp kid, going to all the competitions till I was 18.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_04: I then decided to pursue a career in dance and I went to NYU Tisch and I got my BFA.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_04: I freelanced for two years, doing any and every gig you could imagine: tap dance, point gigs, swing dance, social media marketing.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_04: And then after about seven auditions for the Lion King, I finally made my Broadway debut.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yes! Oh my gosh.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's amazing.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_03: And just out of curiosity, why Lion King?
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_03: Why was that the show that you really wanted?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_04: I think spending so much time at Ailey and studying Horton, once I auditioned the first time, I was like, oh, I could do this.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_04: Like, this is a show for me where there's enough dance where I don't feel like I'm sacrificing all that training that I did and also getting to sing and to act in different ways.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_04: And also like the animalistic, the puppetry is super cool.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_04: So it let me tap into different things.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_03: So I think that's so real because as I I'm sure all of us probably have felt this.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_03: When you go to an audition and you know that you like you could do this job, you're like, this suits me, my style, my movement quality, like I enjoy doing this, you know, those are those are things that you have to think about even when you go to auditions, because there have been many auditions where I go and I'm like, I would not want to do this show eight times a week.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_03: I just don't love this choreo.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_03: Like, no offense, but like I don't, or it's gonna hurt my body, or whatever it is.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_03: You know, there's like things going on in your mind, or maybe it's not enough dancing, or whatever the case may be.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_03: So when you find those shows that you know like you're a perfect fit for, it's so great that you were able to like put that into the universe and that dream came true.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_03: So congratulations, Tati, for your Broadway debut.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_03: You're welcome.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_03: All right, our next special guest, who I am so excited to welcome to the podcast, is someone who I have auditioned alongside for many, many years, but also have been following her journey and rooting for her since day one.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: She is a true triple threat, y'all, and she is a Broadway vet.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_03: She has been in the original revival cast of Bob Fossey's Dancing, the original Broadway cast of Moulin Rouge and Hamilton on Broadway.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_03: I'm so excited to welcome Carly Denardo to the pod.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome, Carly.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_02: Hi, thanks for having me.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_03: Thrilled to have you.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for squeezing this in because I know you're currently on a contract right now.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_03: What are you working on right now?
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: I'm currently playing Cassie in a chorus line at Goodspeed.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, congrats on that.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_03: Perfect role for you.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: It is a dream role for sure.
• 9:49
  unknown: Yes.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Carly, same thing.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_03: If you wouldn't mind sharing with the world a little more about you.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: I'm originally from Melbourne, Australia.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: I grew up dancing and performing through my dance studio.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: I also similarly grew up through the competition scene, which looks a little different in Australia than it does here in America, especially then.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: And then I moved to New York when I was 17 to go to college.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: I went to the American Music and Dramatic Academy.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: I did the two-year conservatory program because I wanted to really just start working.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I loved, I loved that course specifically because at any moment in time I can go back and get my BFA if I want to and just do the academic credits.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_02: So I liked having options.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_02: But I knew at the time I wanted to just really jump in and start working.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_02: So I did that consolidated in a year and a half without taking the semester off, and then jumped right into auditions, which I think is when I met you, which is wild.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_02: I know.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_02: And then right after that, started working regionally.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_02: At that moment in time, I a whole visa situation because as an international student, I then um when you graduate a course, you get like a post-course completion visa.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: So for one year I was on that, working regionally non-equity, which was really the only thing you're allowed to do.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: And then from there I applied for my O1 visa.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_02: That was approved, and I worked regionally, national tours with that, off Broadway as well, with the permission of Actors Equity, because at that time you weren't allowed to work equity unless you were on a green card.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_02: Oh things are different now.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, good.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_02: But at that time it was very strict and complicated.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: And then from there, I applied for my green card.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: My green card was approved, and then literally a month after that was approved, I joined the National Tour of Hamilton, first national tour of Hamilton, and then kind of was able to start that next chapter of my career.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_02: So it was a wild journey, but it was very much all intentional and leading me to exactly where I was at each moment in time.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_03: I feel for you because I feel like that there's a lot of international dancers that move to the states wanting to just hit the ground runny, and there's obstacles that get in the way when it comes to visas and green cards, and sometimes you can only spend a certain amount of time in the states and then have to go back to your home country for X amount of time.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_03: So that's then going to restrict what you can book and how quickly you can book and all of those aspects.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_03: So do you feel like that if that wasn't an obstacle from the jump, you could have been on Broadway sooner?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_03: Tough question.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_02: Without going into the details because it's not necessary, I I actually booked my Broadway debut that I was not allowed to do.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_03: I wasn't allowed to I'm sorry I asked this really uh intense question.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's okay.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's it's all part of it, right?
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's yeah, I it's taken years to to process and thank you therapy and and supportive family who have helped me, you know, keep everything in perspective.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I I would have made my bromet debut 10 years ago.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: But that obviously shows how talented you are.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's like it was there's and and this can be said about so many different things, you know.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_03: Like obviously a lot of people are going to experience different things like this.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_03: It could be the same as like an injury, you know.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_03: Book something and then I can't do it anymore because I got injured before the contract started.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_03: You know, there's very a lot of similarities that could happen in this, in this story of yours, but it really shows that you were in demand and hireable and talented, and Broadway wanted you, and it was just a matter of time.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm glad that it all worked out in the end.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_02: It did all work out in the end for sure.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, though.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_02: It happens for a reason.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_02: So it wasn't meant wasn't meant to be that because it didn't.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_03: Well, both of you, I'm so excited to hear even more about what it's like every day on Broadway.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_03: So let's jump into this chat.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think the people really do want to know.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, let's talk about a Wednesday on Broadway.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: What does that look like?
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: When do you wake up?
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: What do you do?
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: What happened the night before?
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: Are you morning people?
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: Are you evening people?
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how does your schedule change what your life looked like pre-Broadway?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_01: Just somebody can start and just give us your rundown.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so curious.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_04: So the one show day is definitely completely different from a two-show day.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_04: I feel like I have a life on a one-show day, and I have like work is my life on a two-show day.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I feel like if I have one show, 7 p.m.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_04: on a Wednesday, I'm running errands, I'm taking class, I'm socializing, making sure I hang out with my friends, seeing my boyfriend, uh, getting a massage, all the things.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_04: And if it's a two-show Wednesday, which does exist, I wake up, go straight to the theater, warm up, do my thing, do the show, take a nap, do the second show.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_04: And then I don't go out because I know I have a something to do the next day.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_04: So usually I just like rest in the morning as much as I can.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_04: I'm definitely like a night person versus a morning person.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_04: So that also kind of depends on the day.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_02: Similarly, I guess it's it's very depending on what schedule your show has, also depends on how you can kind of structure your week.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_02: But between physical therapy, between, you know, self-care things that you have to do for yourself, between balancing auditions, and if you're teaching, and you if you said yes to helping out a friend with a project that all of a sudden is the exact same week you have nine shows instead of eight, like it's all very Tetris into a beautiful seven days a week.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_02: But I I I will always take time away from the socializing to make sure that I have enough rest and recovery and making sure that I'm able to be my best self around whatever schedule.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, two show day is very much wake up.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: I try to eat a certain amount of hours before the show so that I've had time to digest, but still getting enough nourishment and even depending on the show with water, like I have to stop drinking water for a chorus line at least an hour before the show so that I'm not trying to pee the whole show when I can't.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_02: So it's it's just it it is one of those things where every two-show day is very different than a one-show day because during the day, like I can have my is as Tati was saying, like I can have my day.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: I can go to a class, I can maybe go grab lunch, but then I don't have to think about prepping for work until later in the day.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: Versus two show days really are you wake up and then it's kind of already started.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: So if you have a 2 p.m.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_01: matinee, what time do you get to the theater typically?
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: 12 30.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: And that's then you've been on the train for probably 30 minutes to an hour, maybe.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: So like your day, you have to really start getting getting out there in the morning.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_03: Typically, just so everyone knows, with call times for Broadway, it's only 30 minutes before for it required.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_03: Now, obviously, not everyone can show up with 30 minutes to spare and jump onto stage.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, some people's warmups take 30 minutes, plus you gotta do your makeup and your hair, and you gotta, you know, all the things that happen.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_03: So most, especially like female dancers who have to do makeup and hair, wig prep, all of those things are there at least an hour ahead.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_03: But I know a lot of a lot of guys that just show up.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_03: Rolling, you know, right at exactly when we get some powder and then I'm done.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_03: Another thing I just want to let listeners know, if you're unfamiliar, is a Broadway schedule is is very hard because they are working six days a week out of seven.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_03: There's only one day off a week, typically in a standard Broadway schedule with eight shows and performances a week.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_03: So there are always typically two days that are uh double show days, two show days, and then the other days are single show days.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_03: But I think that is one of the hardest parts about being on Broadway.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_03: And I have done Broadway tours, not on Broadway in New York City, but it's always the same schedule everywhere, even in regional productions like you're doing right now, Carly.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's always an eight-show week somehow, some way.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_03: And having one day off sometimes just doesn't feel like enough.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I don't know.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_03: I there's been a lot of talk in the industry about like, are we gonna, should we change the we can still do eight shows a week, but can we do like two days off and we cram in an extra matinee so somewhere else?
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if that's better.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know what's right.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_03: Is it a seven show week instead of an eight-show week?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I don't know because it is really tough on the body for recovery and turnaround.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_03: And I don't know if y'all feel that way too, but I know I did.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's definitely something to get used to.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_04: I definitely feel like the Monday isn't enough or it doesn't feel enough.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_04: You're like, wow, that just went by.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_04: I feel like I didn't even leave the theater.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_04: That's kind of how it feels.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_04: You're in like this black box and you just see the same people over and over and over again.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_04: It's like a never-ending cycle.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_04: But um, yeah, I think I've tried to get used to the eight show weeks, but it's really which I'll touch on for a second.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_04: When it gets to like the nine, the ten, the overlapping twelve of things.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_04: That happens.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_04: What?
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_04: Then why?
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_04: Um holiday season, sometimes the cram shows, or sometimes because our schedule is Monday through Sunday, or Tuesday through Sunday, they'll have one on a Monday.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_04: So technic technically, like contractually, it's a new week.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_04: It it's just other ways that they go around it.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_04: That for us it's consecutive, but contractually it's separate weeks.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_04: So for that it becomes a lot, you have to like work smarter, not harder.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_04: You don't want to kill yourself, you're gonna do the show tomorrow, you know.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_04: So just being smart about that, you know.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: Well, now can you talk about so that that's just a week of the best case scenario when you have no no understudy rehearsals, when you have no put ins, when you have no new people to get talk about what that process is like because Broadway isn't always just the same people forever and ever.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: There's always somebody new coming into the cast.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_01: So what does that look like when your week changes for that kind of schedule?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my gosh, it feels like you're doing two show days every day.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_04: Like Lion King, there's always someone getting put in, there's always an understudy rehearsal.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_04: Or I I get to do um social captain for Lion King.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_04: So sometimes I'll have meetings during the day with the dance um Disney theatrical group just to like just random stuff.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_04: So they're what's a social.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_04: Sorry.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_04: Basically, I'm like the person who they uh to be like a content creator for the show.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_04: Really?
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_04: Disney has that.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, they have their own social media manager, coordinator, all the things, but sometimes they have a person in the cast who's actually there to like brainstorm ideas or create content or be there for a request that they can't make in a specific amount of time.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_03: That is a new phenomenon of Broadway, uh post-pandemic and content creator influencer world.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_03: That's cool.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_04: But those things that adds to the schedule as well.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_03: So And Carly, I know that you've understudied principal roles before.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_03: So you've obviously had to have a put in or understudy rehearsals.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_03: So, like, what is that like for you also playing double duty essentially, where you're doing your regular role every night, but then you also have to go home and do the homework to prepare for your understudy rehearsal the next day?
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, sometimes with certain shows, you're it ends up being I've had some times where I've had rehearsals almost every day, even around like a two-show day, depending on what circumstance has presented.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_02: They try to not rehearse on Tuesdays because it's the day after our day off.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_02: But I've had Tuesday rehearsals that go into your Tuesday night show, into the double Wednesday, rehearsal Thursday, show Thursday night, rehearsal Friday, show Friday night, two show Saturday, and sometimes even rehearsal on a Sunday morning if you have to before the matinee.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, they try to avoid that as well.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_02: These are all, you know, very specific circumstances, but there have been weeks where I've had rehearsals every day of the week almost, and that's wild and not consistent, but definitely happened several times.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, especially, you know, in the in the COVID world of things.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Where it was just very last minute, and we all just tried to do the best we could to stay safe and do what was necessary.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, you're and and the times, you know, you're you're at work often, always, but then the work you do at home as well, you know, those hours are just for yourself to make sure that you can walk into rehearsal and knowing what you have to know and making sure that, you know, if I was a swing, I was able to have done the homework for maybe the three parts that I needed to brush up on so that I could do my understudy in rehearsal, knowing that if I then was thrown on in the evening for one of the other tracks, that I wasn't all of a sudden starting from scratch at that moment in time.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_02: Just kind of compartmentalizing the brain to be able to, okay, I can trust the work I've done on that, and now I can be present for this, and then I can deal with whatever happens after that.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_02: After that, it requires a lot of mental stamina for sure.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_01: When I want listeners, listeners, dancers, and parents to hear what these two people are saying.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: Every time they reference what they do, they do work.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_01: This is a job.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I think sometimes there's like this romanticization of like performers' lifestyles.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, like how blessed are you to be able to do something you love as a job.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: But like you're not over here saying, well, we just flitted about and did our pretty little dance.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: Like, no, you did work and there's work to be done.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, this is a profession.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: This is a real job.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: And just because it looks very different than what we expect of a real job, like doesn't negate the fact that this is work.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: I just wanted to like really point that out.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, it's also safety, you know, like you have to do, you have to know where you're supposed to be at all times.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_02: Because otherwise, I mean, especially your show, I mean, like, one wrong position could affect several other people.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so you never want to be the person responsible for hurting somebody else or being in somebody's way or or hurting yourself because you were in the wrong spot.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_02: So the work is not just the lines and the and the music part that you sing and the and the choreography that you do.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: There's so much else.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_02: Backstage traffic and tracking and costume changes, and you there is so many more levels to things you can prepare and make sure that you're ready to go than what meets the eye.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_03: So I have a few thoughts on some of the things that you said that I want to touch on.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_03: And one of those are the music lines that you have to prepare, because that is something that's very different on Broadway than many dancers might not realize.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_03: But before I mention that, I also want to say that, especially if people are unfamiliar, that Broadway is under a union, the Actors Equity Union.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_03: And that union is there to help protect all of the workers, the performers from proper working conditions.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_03: And when we were talking about the amount of rehearsals that are existing, there are union rules as to how many rehearsals you can have in a week and how the amount of hours that you're able to rehearse prior to a show and the turnaround time from the end of show before you can get back into the theater to start rehearsing.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_03: Those are some of the perks of working under a union contract where they protect you and everyone's on the same page and things like that.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_03: So I just wanted to mention that if you are ever to work on Broadway one day, that you do most likely have to join the actor's equity union.
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um, some people are already a part of the union before they even get the Broadway job.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_03: And uh at this point in time, the actors equity union is open access.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_03: So as long as you have done some type of professional performance in some capacity, you can get approved and buy into the union.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_03: Previously, many, many moons ago, you had to work your way into the union.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_03: And that's that was tough.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_03: I was non-union for a very long time, for at least eight years.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_03: And that comes with its own obstacles and hurdles as an auditioning dancer in New York City to get to Broadway.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_03: But times have changed and it's a little different now.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_03: But I just wanted to touch on the union aspect because it's a big part of Broadway.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_03: And with that, let's go back to this whole music lines and singing thing.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_03: So, would you say that it is a requirement to know how to sing to be on Broadway?
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_03: So there's no like you can kind of fake it till you make it, or like, you know, you're you you don't sing at all, but hey, you hey, I'm on Broadway all of a sudden.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you still have to know how to sing at least a little bit.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 26:27
  unknown: Yeah.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_04: I think it's very rare that there's shows where the dancers don't sing.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_04: It exists, but it's very rare.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, that was something for me, even when I went to see you in Dancing, Carly.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_03: You know, this the the title of the show is called Dancing.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_03: It's Bob Fossey.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_03: You're thinking that it's just gonna be this fantastic dance review with the best dancers in New York City, which it was.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_03: But then there were actual songs being sung, and like you had a whole solo song in the show.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, so that immediately informs me that yes, are these dancers extremely talented, top-tier Broadway caliber, but also they didn't just slip on through because they're great dancers, they have to know how to sing as well.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we we sang in almost every number, there's some section that is sung um as an ensemble.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I think that's the beauty of Broadway and and theater specifically, is that you really do have to sing, dance, and act to some capacity.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_02: And you don't have to feel like all of those three are equally um strong or or your strengths, but you do have to be able to have a foundation in all of them and be willing to continue working on them all as individual crafts, no matter what show you're in.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's something that, you know, you might do one Broadway show where you're singing alto.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_02: You might do another show where they're like, actually, we need you to be second soprano for this.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_02: So how you I've sung a different vocal part in every show I've done.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_02: And that's kind of fun to me because it it makes me have to think about things very differently.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_02: And how you maintain and how you prepare for each show is very different.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that's what's so beautiful is that we constantly are working on our craft, even within an eight-show week.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_02: It's like you still are trying to train, you're still trying to keep up your technique in other disciplines, you're still in vocal lessons, you might still be in acting classes, and or you might just jump in a studio with friends and jam because that's just fun and you just enjoy that you exchange of energy and skill.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_02: So I think the work it never stops, and that's important because we're constantly using our instrument and in a very regimented schedule, and so it's important to kind of refuel it aside from work as well.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_03: I know, Tati, that the Lion King feels like more of a dance-specific show for a lot of viewers and people, but did you have to sing to get that job?
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_03: And you sing every night, you have a mic on, and you're singing for your life.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_04: People because it because Lion King has singers and dancers, uh-huh.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_04: Um, they think that I don't sing, which is kind of valid.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_04: But yes, I sing every night, which you don't believe.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_04: But yeah.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I can speak personally from years of auditioning.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_03: The singing is the hardest part for me as someone who grew up as a competition dancer, who my my studio did not say, Hey, you should get into a voice lesson one day if you're moving to New York.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like, no one prepared me for that.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_03: I just kind of showed up and learned the ropes and learned from experience, and then found a weekly vocal teacher and invested time, energy, money into getting my voice prepared to make it through an audition successfully.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_03: And and to it even just to walk into an audition feeling confident, because I think that's the hardest thing is, you know, I'm I feel like that I'm a fine singer.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_03: Can I blend in with an ensemble?
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_03: Am I singing a solo?
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely not.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_03: But I can carry a tune, and that sometimes is enough for the show, pending what you need, as long as you aren't like sounding absolutely horrific, right?
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_03: You can't be tone-deaf.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_03: But even just the understanding of like, how can I sing my song confidently and feel good about it when I walk out of the room and you did the best that you could, and it's just a matter of, am I the right fit for the show at that point?
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_03: Is is my are my vocal skills enough for what is needed in this particular show?
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_03: Because every show is is different with the needs for dancers and the cast.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_02: Every show and every track within the show often has different requirements.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_02: So it's important to just do the work and then trust that if you're right for the job, you're right for the job.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_02: And and I think that's also hard because sometimes we don't really get all the information or feedback from auditions.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_02: So you just have to kind of like take it, go to the next and and not take it personally and just continue, you know, showing up and and training and and practicing the things and your audition book, making sure that you have a book that reflects what you can do vocally and so that you can walk into an audition and sing as yourself and not feel like you're so nervous that you can't sing.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's something that not only it took me some years to to navigate, and even still there are days where I'm like, oh, I was really nervous today.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_02: That that's strange.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_02: But we have to navigate that and then do the work and then show up again.
• 31:15
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• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's one really important thing, speaking as you know, somebody who did sing growing up, but like still needed some work once I got here.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: It's so different singing by yourself versus singing with a group of people because it's like I've got my solo.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: I I can sing this song, I can carry a tune, I know exactly what I'm singing, and then you get in the room and you've got the five other vocal parts.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: But singers who are like balls to the wall singing their song, and you're over here like, I think this is right.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: And what's so crazy is that like that just like we as dancers can look at a piece and pick out the nitty-gritty tiny problems that are happening within a group.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_01: Music directors can do the same thing.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're over here like, I think I'm singing the right line, they know you're not.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: They know you're they can hear you when you're not singing at all.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_01: And they're like, wait, I'm missing, I'm missing a soprano.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_01: And you're like, oh, that's me, because I'm not singing.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_01: So I I would suggest for the young people, like, not only get into a vocal lesson by yourself, but there are classes for group singing, which I think is infinitely one of the best choices you could make as a dancer who sings, is to be used to singing with people, hearing these other vocal lines, hearing other people singing correctly too.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's that it's all part of it.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: And that's, you know, it's something we just don't do as dancers.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's easier as a singer to get pulled into something, you know, different or like get onto another vocal part as opposed to being dancing, and you're like, nope, I'm good.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: I know my piece and I'm doing my piece.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're messing up, you're messing up.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's you over there.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_03: I want to give a quick plug uh to a new organization that is in New York City called the Broadway Ensemble Project.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_03: And I love following what they're doing on Instagram.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_03: So they're creating exactly what you said, Leslie, like classes where you can sign up and they have a music director and it's like 30 people and they assign you different musical parts to the software.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a chorus.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's a chorus.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_03: But for Broadway, and you're singing like Broadway show tunes, and you get to practice, like, okay, I'm I'm on the soprano line today.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna practice, like you're gonna sit alongside others who are singing the same line as you.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_03: So you can hear what that is like being surrounded by others and not waiting to experience that until you get on the job.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_03: Because that was always so hard for me.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_03: I never had opportunities to sing amongst others on my harmony line and put that together before I got to the first music rehearsal for a musical.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_03: And as a dancer first, that was just really intimidating and confusing because it's like, wait, I already got through singing my song and 16 bar music cut at the audition.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you approved me.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm approved as a singer, but now there's this whole other layer of harmonizing with your ensemble and staying on your line while you're also kicking your face.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, it's a it's a very hard skill to wrap your head around.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that what uh the Broadway Ensemble Project is doing for the New York dance community is really special.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_03: So giving them a little plug.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_03: Very cool.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_03: I know.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_03: I like couldn't believe it.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, where was this 10 years ago when I needed it?
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like seriously, I think like BDC and Steps, I think have group vocal classes, but they're, you know, you don't hear about them, they're not advertised, you know.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: So, but that's wow, very cool.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so auditioning.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_03: We're kind of there right now.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_03: I'm curious because I feel like a lot of people think that when you book Broadway, you're set, you're booked, it's you, you know, a home run.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_03: I've got my job, I'm set, I'm gonna do my eight shows a week.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_03: But as we kind of mentioned, there's all these other aspects to a day in the life of all uh rehearsals and put ins and other layers.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_03: But auditions.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_03: Do you still have to audition while you're on Broadway?
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_03: Is it a choice or is it something that you feel obligated to do to stay relevant in the industry, still in front of the right casting directors?
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_03: Because who knows?
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_03: Broadway, it does feel very secure for many pending the show that you're in, but it might not feel secure pending the show that you're in.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, are you actively seeking other work while you already have the golden job of Broadway?
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_04: I think, I think it's very important to always audition.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_04: Like we're not always auditioning for other Broadway shows.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_04: We're maybe you're auditioning for a TV film gig or a small project that you can also do while on your show or like take a leave of absence, right?
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_04: Or something like that.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_04: I think there's like an art in auditioning.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_04: And so just like you said, like staying relevant or being in front of people that you never worked with that you want to one day, maybe it's not right now in this moment within like the great job that you have, but I feel like the opportunities are endless.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_04: So the moment that you you close yourself off, you're preventing yourself from expanding.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_04: Cause the last thing that I feel like we want is to be in a show and to only be able to do our show and then lose everything else that we just trained for just because we have this one job and being in a long-running show, like that is kind of my greatest fear.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_04: So I kind of make it a point to audition, to take class, to do all those things to just keep my face out there and then have opportunities if they come my way.
• 38:02
  unknown: Yeah.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_02: That's very smart.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's it it really does depend on many things.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_02: Obviously, like The Lion King is one of the long-running shows in New York right now, and obviously for a long time.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_02: And two of the shows I've been on on Broadway are still running as well.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_02: And I think there's something to knowing that you're in, for lack of a better word, like a hit where you can not settle but relax into the fact that you're not going to lose your job anytime soon.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that informs your ability to make decisions auditioning.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_02: And maybe the types of auditions you go in for, you may not go in for everything that comes your way.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_02: You might be a little bit more selective or you might not.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_02: You might just want to go in and continue practicing auditioning because it is a skill in itself.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_02: And if you're in a new show, you might not have the time to audition until opening because the schedule's just so specific.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_02: And once it opens, you might be like, okay, now I can start auditioning again because A, we don't know how long shows actually run.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and B, it's part of what we do.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_02: Auditioning is part of what we do, but it also depends on the season and what comes in.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes there are so many auditions in a short period of time, and you're like, oh my gosh, I can't even keep track of what's happening right now.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_02: And then there are other times where it feels like it's very dry, and you're like, has have you heard anything?
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_02: And my friend's like, no, I haven't got an audition for a while.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_02: And so it really is like seasons, and I think that's important to know that if it's something you're interested in and something that you're excited about, or something you're curious about, I will always try to make it fit in a schedule because that in itself is something that I seek a lot from even just an audition breakdown in an email.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, oh, this is exciting.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I want to be in the room and see, see what it's about.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_02: And then there are other auditions that I feel really excited about, but I literally cannot get out of my job to go to it.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_02: So it's just you have to be okay with having to let it go.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_02: And if it's meant to come around again, it will.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_02: But I do think that it's important to keep auditioning because you just never know, especially in this climate right now, you just never know what is going to last or how long it's going to last from an adult perspective.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_02: But then at the same time, I think as an artist, it's important to continue growing and investing into the thing that you're doing, but within reason.
• 40:23
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I wouldn't go to an audition if I didn't think I could do the job.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I I never would want to put myself in a situation with the casting director or the team where I'm like, here, hire me.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_02: And then if I was to not be able to do the job, that would be that would not reflect well.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_02: So within reason of the things that you actually could do if you're in a contract.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_03: That's what's definitely hard sometimes.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_03: I always tell a lot of dancers like options are better than no options.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_03: So like hit the ground running and go to every audition possible because you never know who will bite and who will actually want to hire you.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_03: And maybe you have three offers on the table and now you get to lay them out and pick which one is best for you.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_03: But when it comes to like already having the job, it is tough to navigate having to pass up other opportunities that excite you, that fuel you, that you know, you want to be a part of.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_03: But your commitment is this job first, right here, right now, that you're currently living in.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_03: So it is tough to juggle.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that is one of the harder things to think about for dancers who are in a consistent job.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_03: But then at the same time, you're getting a consistent paycheck.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_03: You don't have to hustle into the audition grind as frequently as you used to.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_03: Like, there's so many perks to booking that dream job, and everyone else is still hustling like crazy, trying to get that same exact job.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_03: So then you step back and you're like, wow, I'm so lucky to be here.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_03: Like, people would kill to be in these shoes, but also I want to like branch out and do other stuff too.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_03: I don't want to be be just stuck in this show and not stuck, you know, like as a negative term, but just it is consuming.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_03: And there are a lot of other projects that will that you'll see happening around you.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_03: And so you have to kind of like weigh the pros and cons.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_03: And there's a lot of people that play double duty and they'll be doing like a workshop for a new Broadway show during the day, and they're sacrificing and giving up their time during the day instead of socializing, instead of taking class, instead of doing whatever because they want to be a part of something new and then do their show at night.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_03: But then it's also hard to juggle what if there is a rehearsal for your Broadway show?
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_03: Then are you able to do the workshop because it conflicts?
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's so um many layers to the scheduling aspect of a Broadway dancer life.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_02: But and nowadays I will I will say double duty is tough.
• 42:42
  SPEAKER_02: It is doable, but it is really tough and it requires a lot of self-discipline.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_02: But a lot of workshops these days are very accommodating to a show schedule, which is really wonderful.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_02: So at least on two show days, like they know that you have to leave to do your matinee, and the schedule is kind of worked around, which is a really, you know, wonderful thing to be able to have facilitated.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_03: That's great.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_03: I'm curious to know about like, we didn't really touch on the specifics of your Broadway bookings and the auditions that took place, like how you got there.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_03: Do you remember anything about those specific auditions?
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_03: Like how many times did you audition?
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_03: Did you book it right away, like one and done, booked and blessed, or did it take time, feedback from casting, getting in front of them multiple times, or how many callbacks, you know, like what what was that experience like before you even got the job?
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, Lion King is uh such a long audition process.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_04: It's like a one-day thing, but you're there from like 10 to 5, like something insane.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_04: It's five rounds.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_04: I know I audition like in different times in a span of like two years, seven times, all the way through.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_04: Like you do a Horton combination, then they cut.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_04: Then they teach you lioness chant from the show, then they cut the dancers.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_04: Then they have basically test your specialties.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_04: So for them behind the table, they're seeing.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_04: If you can do gazelle jumps, if you could do a cheetah walk, if you could do Bores across the floor, they ask who does point work, and that's kind of where they like place you with their little sheet.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_04: And then after that, you do a whole ballet combination where you're doing like full panche, right, left, big leg, so random compared to what you just did.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_04: Your body is like going all over the place.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_04: And then finally you sing whatever song you brought for the day.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_04: And that's kind of the end of it.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_04: But I went through that whole process so many times to the point at which I kind of like mastered it.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_04: Because I was like, I already know what's gonna happen.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_04: So there's no way, like, you know, you kind of learn how to perfect your craft or what's being asked of you.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_04: So having a better idea of what I was going to do that day and how I could prepare myself beforehand definitely benefited me.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_04: But it's definitely a long process, that one specifically.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_03: That's really interesting.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_01: And the poetry on the right and the left got me.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh no, apologies.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, promenade all the way.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_04: Wow, that's crazy.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_04: After you're just like lateral T.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like, let me renegotiate my center.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_01: Gosh.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_02: That's crazy.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so I I auditioned not that many times for Moulin Rouge.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like I'm trying to remember because I know it was in the span of a month.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_02: We had from my initial audition, callback, I think it was another callback, and then I had a work session for understudy material, and then my final callback.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was probably like that was the trajectory within the span of a couple weeks, I would say, probably two and a half weeks.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_02: But again, they were looking for very specific things in a cast that they had already had out of town.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that's why it was that specific.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_02: Hamilton on Broadway, I'd already done the tour, so it was kind of like, and I only I auditioned once for that show.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_02: It was two days.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_02: It was like my first day and then a callback.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_02: And you booked it.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, that was, I mean, a long time ago, but yes.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_02: Um so the the the Broadway section was very much like a hey, we need someone for this amount of time.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_02: Like, are you interested?
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, Yeah, I'd love to.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_02: That was the amazing.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_02: But I was on tour for two years with the show.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_02: So it was kind of like a different situation.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and dancing was an extensive audition process, but again, a consolidated amount of time.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that was before our first workshop.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and something that was really special about that was that that was my first audition back from COVID.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of people's first auditions back from COVID.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_02: And so it was a very wild time to like be seeing our friends and auditioning in person again, especially for a j a dance show, which was really exciting and and crazy at the same time.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_02: But we did that, I would say maybe again, like maybe two and a half weeks a couple times.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_02: And then we did our workshops soon after that.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_02: And beautifully, like the on-stage company stayed the same all the way through.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_02: So till Broadway, which was very special.
• 46:59
  SPEAKER_02: So I didn't have to, you know, they didn't make us come back and audition again, which was yeah, nice.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_01: It feels like I think that's something people don't realize either.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_01: That if you're doing a workshop, those those get cast could be completely different by the time you hit Broadway or whatever the end result is because they find things out in the workshop of oh, that doesn't quite work, or this doesn't quite sound right or look right, and then they have to redo some of that process.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, and each show has a different length process into it.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_02: You know, Dancing was a year and a half journey, kind of.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_02: I know Mullen Rouge had been had been workshopping for like five years before I was a part of it.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_02: So Hamilton was created for 10 years kind of total before it ever hit a stage.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_02: So each show it's different.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, they were my audition experiences for those shows.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I think that's something also to say, even about like once you get the job and then you go into what could look like a rehearsal process, that could be very different pending what type of show you're going into.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_03: If you're going into a show that is brand new, original Broadway company, maybe it didn't have an out-of-town, it's just jumping right onto Broadway.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_03: You're the first cast to ever do this.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe the rehearsal process is longer.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_03: And also you get to experience that rehearsal process at with everyone at the same time, versus a scenario like yours, Tati, where this is a long-running show that's been happening for 25, 30 years on Broadway and you are a replacement.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_03: So it was kind of like a special, let's put in a few other cast members at the same time.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_03: Let's put them in the rehearsal room.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_03: You're not really actively working with the entire company at the same time.
• 48:31
  SPEAKER_03: And that's when this whole put-in thing that we keep talking about, that's when the new cast members get put in to the show.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_03: And that's when they call the rest of the cast and say, Hey, you gotta come in for a rehearsal today on your Friday.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry about it.
• 48:44
  SPEAKER_03: We have to put in five new cast members to the new friends.
• 48:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_03: And then that's when you finally meet the cast, but you're not in a rehearsal process with them.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_03: So that's something else to think about is when you're entering the show, and if the show's already been running, your uh your rehearsal process in particular could be very different.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_01: And this is like sort of less, I mean, it's just about the job in general.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_01: But speaking of, you know, Tati, you went into a very long-running show with I'm assuming especially that the cast member who just left after like literally 30 years, who left the summer, who played before.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah, CeeDee Manier, yeah.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_01: She had been in the show for a million years, and you're coming in brand new to energies and personalities and people who have like spent their literal lifetime working in a show versus Carly, you got you went into dance in with the same people that performed it on Broadway.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_01: Like, what a different experience, you know, to to have.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm curious how that like for Tatiana, how how is that like entering into something with people that have been doing it for so long and being the new girl?
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, no, yeah, being the new girl.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_04: It is so fun and so crazy to experience because Lion King has like mixed ages.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, like you said, people have been in the show.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_04: We have an original Broadway cast member who's been in the show since it was a workshop.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_04: So like 27 years.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_04: And I think it's nice because you get different perspectives and you can like ask all the questions because they've been there for so long.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_04: They've seen the show ebb and flow and like what works for dancers, how people typically get injured, etc.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_04: So you kind of have a better way to like access how to go about the show before you start it because you have everyone around you who has had that experience of being in it and also watching their peers.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_04: So I think that definitely helped me.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_04: And it's a it's a really nice and warm community there.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_04: So I feel like I was welcomed with open arms and also being a replacement, right?
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_04: Not being an original cat uh Broadway cast member.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_04: Being a replacement, you know, you have to make the track your own.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I I'm learning the track the way the person before me did the track.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_04: They're like, well, so-and-so did this, so and so did this.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_04: You have to stand where so and so put their costume on.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_04: Even to the backstage choreography, there's you kind of have to just follow that, even though it's not necessarily choreographed, it just ends up becoming choreographed because people are so accustomed to their their schedule or the way things are.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_04: It's sometimes it's hard for people to adjust with new people, but you find your way.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_04: And then I feel like for me, so far, so good.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_03: That's a good point.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_03: I want to talk about something really briefly that we hinted at before we started.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_03: And it's this phenomenon of dancing on a raked stage.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_03: Now, for all of our listeners out there, some people are probably like, What's that?
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_03: What what are you talking about?
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_03: What's a raked stage?
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_03: Isn't a stage flat?
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_03: FYI no.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_03: Not everywhere.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_03: And a raked stage is when the stage is slightly slanted.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_03: Typically from the upstage point is a little bit higher to down to the downstage point, it's on a slope.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_03: And this is where we actually get the terms upstage and downstage from dancing on raked stages.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_03: Now, fun fact there are many Broadway theaters, and I don't know all of them, but we have two friends right here right now that are currently dancing on raked stages.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_03: Can you share a little bit more about what that's like and how is it difficult?
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_03: Is it hard to get used to?
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_03: And do you prefer a rake stage over a flat stage?
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_03: Tell us more.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_02: No, I do not prefer a rake stage over a flat stage.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_02: I figured that was the answer.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_02: I think I'd be fascinated to know if anybody actually did.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_02: I would love to have a conversation with them.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_02: That would be fascinating to me.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_02: So I'm currently um up at good speed and the stage is raked.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_02: Thankfully, I have not danced on a Broadway stage that is raked in my career yet, as I touch wood.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_02: This is my second time working on a rake.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_02: I were I did West Side Story on a Rake in Australia in an outside theater, which was wow.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_01: These are two of like the biggest dance shows that there are like chorus line and West Side Story.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_01: How dare they?
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_02: Both very separate.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_02: Again, one was completely outside, which was beautiful and very interesting on its own.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_02: We had a wonderful time, but it was a short, short run, so it kind of felt like it was manageable.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, the run up here, doing a chorus line is is much longer.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_02: And so it's been a very unique experience of, you know, we do a whole rehearsal process on a str on a flat stage in the rehearsal room.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_02: So you're like, it's great, I feel good, I know what I'm doing, and then you get to technically like, oh my god, I don't know how to dance, I've never danced a day in my life.
• 53:27
  SPEAKER_02: Like that way, why can't I stay on my double turn?
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_02: Like, why am I falling?
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_02: And wow.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_02: Definitely a lot of outcast had little moments of breakdown where you're just like, I have to just reassess everything, and everything that I know I can rely on isn't the same.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_02: And it requires a lot of patience and grace with yourself as you navigate everything being different, like all the things that you know from training your whole life about balance and center and and where you put your weight and what you spot and what you focus on, none of it's the same.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it all depends on where you're facing and and in what movement you're doing at that moment in time.
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, especially for Cassie for Music in the Mirror, it's all about freedom and release and surrender.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_02: And there's so many beautiful sections within the number and you're all over that stage.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_02: All over the stage, and and and in a heel too.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_02: So it's kind of this thing of dancing in heels is already something very specific.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_02: You have to kind of train to make sure that you're doing correctly for maintenance and longevity, but the rake does shift the perspective.
• 54:28
  SPEAKER_02: So if I'm doing something upstage, facing the mirror, and I have to lean back, I can't release my ribcage because I'll fold.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_02: Or if I'm doing something like I have to do a chill pirouette facing the mirror upstage, but then landing into stage left sideways.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_02: And so how you in the middle of your pirouette change the technique to then land to the side without letting gravity take you over as you land, uh all those little things that we really don't think about on a flat surface, it really requires a lot of strategy to practice completely separately.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I actually have to think about being this way so that it counters gravity so that I'm actually straight.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
• 55:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's been it's been wild and it's it's it's tough.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's very uh challenging on the body as well as the mind.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_02: But also requires time to be like, there might be a day where if it's not perfect, right?
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_02: I have to be okay with that because there's only so much I can control on a rake.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_02: And obviously we strive for perfection always.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_02: We're all trained as dancers, that's just the way it is.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_02: But being kind to myself to be like sometimes, okay, I just have to let it go and keep going.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_02: Can't get stuck on the thing that wasn't, you know, as perfect as I wanted it to be.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_02: But it definitely was an adjustment.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_02: I did it with in tech, my understanding and I had many conversations where I'm like, I'm thinking of this.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_02: She's like, well, maybe try this.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_02: We were fully both just trying to figure out what was the most effective way to navigate what the task at hand was.
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_02: So I can't even imagine doing it for a long contract, like like a year-long contract.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_02: I bow, I bow down.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_02: I don't, I don't know how physically that's a lot of different maintenance than what we what we're accustomed to.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Tatiana, tell us.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_01: You've been there a year now.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so our rate goes up and down.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_04: So luckily there are moments where we are dancing on a flat stage.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_04: Thank goodness.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_03: But you think that's a little sliver of a yeah, basically like Okay, like a Marley panels length of like do you know what I mean?
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_04: I think yeah, I think the elevator that we have separates so like wing, so wing one and two, flat, and then wing three, a four, or that's the kind of part that goes up, right?
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_04: I see.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_04: Um, but there are like reprees or he lives in you in act two, like the rake is up.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_04: So we're basically doing like uh we call them ibangas, or like hitch kicks in a circle, and really just there's just so many jumps in the show, and the we have a rake and a steel stage.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_04: All of our jazz shoes have two pairs of insoles, my point shoes have two pairs of toe pads and they're rubbered.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_04: Like every shoe has cushion because of how much impact that we have, and doing eight shows a week with so much like heavy choreography like that.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_04: Um, we just have to be careful.
• 57:20
  SPEAKER_04: So, yeah, the rake stage is also like a safety thing.
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_04: Cause if the rake is up and it's supposed to be down, we can't leave.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_04: You know, like there's a big drop from where the floor is if we're leaving the stage.
• 57:32
  SPEAKER_04: So sometimes, like, even that, if you're a hyena and you have to exit, like that's dangerous for the performer, for the actor in those puppets.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_04: Because we're not just dancing and singing, like we're in full puppets, sometimes on all fours, you know, so or we can't see we're in a puppet.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 57:49
  SPEAKER_04: All the things.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_04: So you just have to be smart and uh try to figure out what's safest, whichever puppet costume, whatever you're doing.
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_03: Safety first, everybody, uh across the board, you know, Eve in any any dance world that you're in, and we preach about it all the time on the pod.
• 58:08
  SPEAKER_03: Like, don't be afraid to use uh tools and and uh safety devices like putting insoles in and wearing additional support and knee pads, knee pads, knee pads, swearing pads, back brace.
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_03: KT tape if you need it, but make sure that we don't see it.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you know, whatever we need to do to make sure that we're protecting our bodies based on our environment and where we're being asked to perform.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that it is really, you know, obviously you guys are performing these shows over and over, so you get more chances to feel it out, figure it out, all the things.
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_03: But a lot of times even in competitive dance, a lot of dancers will be like, well, this doesn't feel like the my floor at home, or this doesn't when they get to competition, this doesn't feel like the Marley that I'm used to.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_03: And you just have to like, you have to figure it out and you have to be prepared for whatever is being thrown at you, and you come with all the supplies to make it work and and all of the different footwear that you need to make it work.
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_03: But like in long-running shows like Broadway, you know, we're you all are experiencing the same type of thing where there's challenges on the surface, on the style of the stage, on the the the space and restriction.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_03: But obviously, practice makes perfect.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_03: You get many chances to feel it out, figure it out.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_02: But it sounds like right to even as seasons change, the stage changes.
• 59:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, I was just about to know going from summer into autumn or fall, and like all of a sudden you're like, wow, it's slick today because the humidity is different.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_02: And so even in long-running shows or even in a year-long contract, you're navigating the floor texture changing, or all of a sudden it's snowing outside, and everybody's been walking across the stage with their boots on, and all of a sudden there's like salt, and you're like, Oh no, and the crew are you know mopping, and you still navigate floor changes, and your shoes are your shoes, so you have to navigate that sometimes in real time.
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, you can't use rosin.
• 1:00:01
  SPEAKER_04: We have a pair of like rubber jazz shoes and regular jazz shoes.
• 1:00:05
  SPEAKER_04: We're only allowed to use like water on a like a towel, that's our like rosin box, so that we don't ruin the stage.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_04: But yeah, sometimes we joke that it's like Disney on ice in the winter because of how slippery it is.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_03: I actually that made me think of when I went and saw the outsiders recently and I did a little backstage tour with a friend, and they're dancing on the stage is covered in like rubber.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's like little tiny shredded rubber, like tire rubber, and that is their stage.
• 1:00:35
  SPEAKER_03: They are dancing on that, everyone.
• 1:00:37
  SPEAKER_03: This isn't a Marley floor with sprung blah blah blah.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_03: Like that.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_01: When they all have on two shoes, and Tatiana, I'm assuming y'all all have on two shoes.
• 1:00:45
  SPEAKER_01: Two yeah.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_01: Two yeah, not one shoe.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_01: Not one shoe like comp two shoe dance.
• 1:00:50
  SPEAKER_01: Just shouting it out to the people.
• 1:00:52
  SPEAKER_01: The people on Broadway, we wear two shoes.
• 1:00:55
  SPEAKER_03: And a heel, like you mentioned, Carly, which is something we didn't cover, but we have done many other episodes where we talk about the importance of training and dancing in heels.
• 1:01:03
  SPEAKER_03: So if you want to be on Broadway one day, it is important if you're a female identifying dancer or any dancer to learn how to dance in heels.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_03: I also heard you mention, Tati, that you have a jazz shoe.
• 1:01:13
  SPEAKER_03: I also heard you mention that you have a point shoe.
• 1:01:16
  SPEAKER_03: You know, like these are the versatility that is required for many shows.
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_03: Even dancing in sneakers for a lot of shows these days is really important.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_03: So footwear is important for Broadway.
• 1:01:28
  SPEAKER_03: I don't really think there's many shows that let you dance bare feet or in a sock or in one shoe.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_02: Listen, but I'm being dancing.
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_02: I did with that show, I wore every shoe that exists.
• 1:01:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, except a point shoe, but somebody else did that.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 1:01:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's every barefoot, little padini, uh Cuban heel, a sh a Laduka heel, a luduka boot.
• 1:01:52
  SPEAKER_02: Like we really wore all of it.
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_02: So you never know.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes with heels, you're in a two and a half inch, sometimes you're in a three and a half inch, sometimes four inch.
• 1:02:02
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's like a very different experience how you navigate within that, and then changing to a jazz shoe, or you know, depending on the style that you're dancing as well.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_02: And and if you're in a sneaker, being like, Okay, can I have this with suede on the bottom so I can still turn?
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_02: But then sometimes you're like, actually, that's not enough traction that I need.
• 1:02:20
  SPEAKER_02: So you you just have to figure out like with Hamilton and I had a little secret.
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_02: I have a strip across my shoe right on the ball of my foot of suede, but the rest is rubber.
• 1:02:29
  SPEAKER_02: It's rubber.
• 1:02:30
  SPEAKER_02: Smart.
• 1:02:31
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like when I turn, I can turn, but otherwise I need to have traction where I need to stop or go upstairs safely, or things like that.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_02: So you you figure out the things that you're like, I actually think this would be better for my knee to not be squeaking every time I do a turn.
• 1:02:45
  SPEAKER_02: So let me add some suede.
• 1:02:47
  SPEAKER_03: Broadway magic, everybody.
• 1:02:49
  SPEAKER_03: And we can we can implement that into even our studio training.
• 1:02:53
  SPEAKER_03: Don't be afraid to go visit a shoe cobbler if you need to get some suede, get some rubber, make it work because safety, and again, it comes down to protecting our bodies and being safe.
• 1:03:01
  SPEAKER_03: That's the most important thing.
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_03: Y'all, this was a really fun chat.
• 1:03:05
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like I've learned a lot, even though I've I've definitely performed in musicals, but I've never done a consistent, like long-running eight-show week.
• 1:03:13
  SPEAKER_03: That is that is tough.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_03: And y'all are doing it flawlessly, and it's just it's so exciting to to see friends in the industry killing it and living their dream, leaving living their Broadway dream in particular.
• 1:03:26
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm so proud of you both.
• 1:03:27
  SPEAKER_03: And uh thank you for being here and sharing your stories with us on the podcast.
• 1:03:31
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having us.
• 1:03:34
  SPEAKER_03: Well, how we always have our guests lead us out is with one final thoughts that you'd like to share.
• 1:03:39
  SPEAKER_03: So anything about this topic today of being a Broadway performer that you haven't shared yet here with all of our listeners that you can send them off with.
• 1:03:48
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, mine is gonna be to just make sure that you are as diverse and versatile as possible because I think the more that you do, the more that you become bookable.
• 1:04:00
  SPEAKER_04: And you know, for me example, in this show specifically, because I still did point work, that's why I got hired versus someone who didn't.
• 1:04:08
  SPEAKER_04: So there are things or are that will make you unique in spaces, and I think that's that's your best thing to have.
• 1:04:15
  SPEAKER_02: So definitely that's a great one.
• 1:04:18
  SPEAKER_02: I would say to always be a student.
• 1:04:22
  SPEAKER_02: I think there's always value in learning, no matter what environment you're in, no matter what job you're doing, whether it's a job, whether it's an audition, whether it's uh a competition, whether you're in a class, I think that always being a student is one of the most invaluable things that keeps you grounded in um exploration and keeps your ego away.
• 1:04:45
  SPEAKER_02: I think sometimes we forget we're surrounded by incredible people, no matter what space it is.
• 1:04:51
  SPEAKER_02: And even if you're at a competition where you're technically competing against each other, there is so much to learn from watching and absorbing other people's musicality, dynamics, um, storytelling, whatever it is.
• 1:05:05
  SPEAKER_02: I think we get used to routine and we get used to doing certain things, and it's important to remember that we can get inspiration and continue growing from any environment we're in.
• 1:05:17
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for tuning in to our latest episode, all about a day in the life of a Broadway performer.
• 1:05:22
  SPEAKER_03: Be sure to follow our special guests on Instagram so you can stay up to date on their Broadway journey.
• 1:05:28
  SPEAKER_03: You can find Carly at CarlyDonardo and Tatiana at TatiNunz143.
• 1:05:35
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• 1:05:41
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• 1:05:47
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• 1:05:55
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• 1:05:59
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• 1:06:05
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• 1:06:13
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• 1:06:20
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• 1:06:23
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• 1:06:34
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• 1:06:41
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• 1:06:50
  SPEAKER_01: Making the Impact Season 7 continues in the next few weeks with a throwback episode about what makes a successful musical theater entry and an IDA competition feature.
• 1:06:58
  SPEAKER_03: See you next week for some more great episodes.