Are they actually warming up... or showing off?

On Saturday I had a very last minute audition in London, so I got on the train and made my way to Dance Attic in Fulham.  There were a lot of boys that had turned up for this one so straight away everyone is eyeing up the competition and seeing who is the biggest built, who is the most flexible, who is dressed the most eye-catching.  I probably find the worst part of auditions is the warm up, because it's so competitive.  All around the room were guys laying in box splits and just having casual conversations and I couldn't help but wonder, are they actually warming up... or showing off?  As soon as you walk into the room, the other auditionees glance over to judge whoever has just entered as a new contender.  It's all a bit tense!

So the audition finally got to a start after a long, drawn out warm up, and we got learning a funky commercial routine.  Now I'm not really a very streety/commercial dancer, so straight away I'm having to concentrate even harder on trying to make the moves look good.  I feel so much more in my element at a musical theatre audition.  Oh by the way, this audition was for backing dancers!  After about half an hour, the routine had been taught out, and the first the time ever, I wasn't really enjoying the audition.  It was just not my style.  To the point where I considered walking out and not even bothering to audition.  But I thought to myself 'No Billy, you have come all this way on the train, spent your money on the train fare, what have you got to lose?'  So I decided to stay.
When it come round to my time to audition in front of the choreographer I just wasn't feeling the same energy and competitive adrenaline that I normally do feel.  I think that showed in my audition as well, and needless to say, I didn't get the job.
Afterwards, I didn't regret my decision to go for the audition because at the end of the day, it's all experience and confidence building.  It did make me realise that maybe I'm not made for backing dancing.... perhaps I am just a theatre show kinda guy?

Me and Alison have our audition tomorrow for Belinda King, it's all very exciting for us, as it's our very first couple audition!  It'll be nice to go to an audition with someone and be able to share the nerves with her.  Tonight we will be deciding what we're both going to wear as that is a very big part of going to an audition.  You need to dress to impress!  For boys it's quite easy, clean shaven, neat and tidy hair, best to wear a vest top to show off your build, perhaps a very small amount of tan, but you don't want to cake yourself in it and go looking like you have been well and truly tango'd, just like my friend here: 

For girls on the other hand, it's all about big hair, gorgeous makeup, a sun-kissed tan, sparkling teeth and wearing something that shows off their figures and elongates their legs.
Also not forgetting to always take a copy of our CV and headshot.

Just typing out this blog makes me get butterflies thinking about it!

I will keep you posted on how we do!

'A Great Leap Forward For Male Dancers'

Men In Motion opens today at Sadler's Wells.  This is a show which is bringing together some of the best male ballet dancers in the world.  The show was organised by a guy named Ivan Putrov, a Ukranian born ballet star, who trained at the Royal Ballet.
I found this article on The Independent website:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/a-great-leap-forward-for-male-dancers-6293562.html
The title of the article is 'A Great Leap Forward For Male Dancers', and the article goes on to explain how females have dominated the ballet scene for many years but now as dance is becoming a lot more popular and also a lot more accepted in England, more and more male ballet dancers are being discovered. 

This isn't the first time that there has been a show devoted to us male dancers, Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake for example and of course one of my favourite West End shows, Billy Elliott, which tells the story of a young boy who wants to dance but hides it from the world, as years ago it wasn't seen as a "manly" thing to do.  I for one can relate to this as growing up I was in exactly the same position.  I loved to dance and although I wanted to do it so bad, there was a little part in side of me that was ashamed of it and wanted to hide it.  The hardest part for me was when it came to P.E. lessons and the teacher would announce to us all....

"You have two choices today, whoever would like to do football go to the right hand side of the sports hall, those of you wanting to do gymnastics and dance go to the left hand side of the hall."

So there I was, left standing in the middle of the hall, while all of the boys ran to the right side and all of the girls ran to the left.  I tried to do football like the other boys at first, but then as I grew older I decided to do what I WANTED to do, not what I felt I should be doing.  So I walked over to the left hand side.  Then came the sniggers and the pointing and the mocking, "GAY BOY!" from the jocks across the room.  It was horrible, and I felt completely isolated from the other guys but once I had started the lesson I realised how much I thoroughly enjoyed it and knew from then on that that would be the choice that I would be making from now on.
I carried on with the dance and gymnastics lessons and worked so hard at it because I wanted to be the best that I could.
One year when I was about 11, my school decided to put on a show and allow all of the pupils to perform and show off whatever skill they thought they had.  I put together a gymnastic/dance piece and thought to myself why not just grab the bull by the horn and show the school what I was made of.  So I did.  It was one of the most nerve-wracking moments of my life waiting to go on stage infront of all of the big, tough guys that had been laughing at me before but I thought, to hell with it.  I did my routine to the best of my ability, I got some laughs at first but as the routine went on, the other kids began to quieten down and  actually watch what I was doing.  When I came off the stage, my heart was pounding, it felt like it was going to come bursting out of my chest, I was really scared, but part of me was also relieved to just get it out there and show the bullies and the low lifes, 'I don't care what you think of me, no matter how much you taunt me, I'm not going to be a sheep any more and follow the group, I'm going to do what I want to do.'

It has been really interesting for me growing up with dance as literally within the last 10 years, I have been able to really notice peoples attitudes change towards dancing.  When I first started, it wasn't the done thing, but as the years have gone by, show after show, I've had more and more young lads, grown men, fathers and grandfathers come up to me and shake my hand to say "Well done".  It really is nice to feel like the hard work and perseverence has actually paid off.

So to any young boys out there that happen to be reading this and want to dance but feel embarrassed, screw the bullies and the so called "hard nuts", you do what you want to do because it paid off for me and if you stick at it and try your best then it will for you.

If any of you want to see Men In Motion at Sadler's Wells, it's running from the 27th to the 29th January, so get booking.

A Book Called 'Contacts'

When I first started going to auditions, the only place that I could find them was through internet sites, such as http://www.thestage.co.uk/ or signing up to online performer databases like http://www.starnow.co.uk/ and http://www.dancerspro.com/.  Although these websites are good and they do expose your profile to a lot of people, the auditions that you get from them are always open auditions, unless on the very rare occassion, you are contacted by the company direct and they invite you along to a closed audition.  This never happened to me. 
Now, although open auditions are still good, you have to give up your entire day for them as people turn up in their hundreds to try out.  So the chances of the casting directors spotting you out of all of the people from the day is quite slim, and you'd have to be something pretty damn amazing.

So as of last year, I began attending agency auditions as I had been told by a guy I knew, who was in the business, to get an agent because they will offer so many more opportunities.  He also told me to get hold of a book called 'Contacts'. 

Which is available here http://www.spotlight.com/shop/contacts12
Contacts is essential for any performer who is looking to meet people within the business.  It contains new listings of over 5000 companies, services and individuals in the entertainment industry.  So it's great for people who are just starting out.
My friend told me to literally work my way through the book, noting down all of the agencies that I would like to be considered for and then send emails and letters out to all of them asking for audition details.  Admittedly I didn't do this for all of the agencies in the book as I would have been there forever but I did do it for quite a few of them.  One company being Success.

Then in August 2011, I got an email back from Success informing me that they had auditions coming up and that they would like to see me!!  Hurray!!  So I went along to the audition and got through, it was a brilliant feeling, and after a couple of days they called me to confirm that they would like to represent me.  Ever since being with Success I have noticed how much better it is.  I cannot stress enough to every performer out there, how important it is to get yourself an agent.  It makes such a difference!  Success called me and asked me to go along to their office in Regent Street and meet the team and basically just get to know them and let them get to know me, and know exactly what sort of thing I would like to be auditioning for.  After doing this, I was being called every week with auditions for the top London shows, such as Chicago and Singing In The Rain.  Not any auditions either, CLOSED auditions!  They are so much better than open auditions, as there are only a few select people that the casting directors have already read up on.  So they only request people that they think will fit the bill.  Sometimes you could go to open auditions and wait around all day long, and you could be a fantastic performer but the casting people know exactly what they want and I mean EXACTLY, even down to hair colour, skin tone, height, weight and if you're not exactly what they want then game over.
Also with closed auditions, some of them you could be finished with the audition within an hour and heading back home in no time, still with plenty of the day left for you to do something productive with.

So once again, all you performers out there, if you're not already represented by a company, get on to it!!  It really does make a difference.

I must follow my heart...

So as you know, my goal is to make a career out of dance.  However at the moment, I'm working in something completely different..... microbiology!  Something that you never would associate with a dancer, but hey ho, there's always a first.
It's a good job and the people I work with are really, really great, but I can't help sitting at my desk and staring out the window thinking...

"Why am I here?  I should be on the stage staring up at a spotlight, not in a lab staring down at a petri dish".

The one thing that the lab job does offer though, is a stable and monthly income.  Something that dancing doesn't always do.... unless you teach, or you're lucky enough to secure yourself a really long contract.
But, as a lot of people have told me before, I must follow my heart..... my heart well and truly beats for the stage.

So, I have made it my mission to make sure I can get myself a decent dancing job, the dream has always been the marvellous West End of London or even better Broadway but as dance seems to be ever increasingly popular because of all the televised dance shows that are out, such as, So You Think You Can Dance and Got To Dance, the competition for the business is huge, which makes it a tough job when you go to auditions.

The other dream is to get onto a cruise ship, but not on my own, both me and my partner Alison want to do it together.  Go travel the world, dancing our way through each country.  We have been just recently completed our showreel, which can be seen in my previous post, so now the job of sending it out to agents and cruise companies begins.  Alison is such a determined person and so I am, so I don't think we will stop until we have done at least one contract on a cruise.  As I said before, there is a lot of competition out there, but Alison and I have been dancing together for a long time, and in that time have worked up a strong trust between us which has enabled us to learn some pretty impressive lifts, which I think and hope that not a lot of people could do.
We shall find out!

Just today we have booked ourselves into an audition which is on Tuesday (31st January), for a company called Belinda King.  They are looking for dancing couples, so hopefully we are what they're looking for!  I will keep you posted!

Home!

I thought I'd give you all just a little more information about me, as so far I've only blabbed on about what a huge mission it was trying to figure out a title for the blog.
So my name is Billy, I come from a small island in Kent, yes that's right, I said island... in Kent!  It's called the Isle of Sheppey and here it is....

PAHAHA!!  I wish!!  No our island is a little less tropical looking than this one and bit more swamp-like.  It's nothing special, but its home.  I have lived on the island all of my life, born and bred.  My family moved here from London when they were kids, I think their parents wanted to escape the hustle and bustle of London, as well as the smog.

I currently live with my parents, who I have a lot of time and respect for.  In my opinion they have done a brilliant job of raising me up, as well as my brother and sister and providing us all with a warm, clean and loving home.
My brother is 30 years old and currently living with his fiance, they have a lovely home and gorgeous cat called Bella (named after his fiances Twilight addiction).  My brother and I didn't always get along when we lived together as we are like chalk and cheese.  We are both 100% completely different people, and when we shared a room we clashed like mad and were constantly at battle with one another.  Now that we have our own space, we get along brilliantly and I couldn't ask for a better brother!
My sister is 34 and she is living with her husband and two beautiful kids, who I adore!  All in all, we are a really close family, and all very happy people.

As well as my parents, brother and sister, it is also home to my huge family and of course my best friends; Chloe, Sian, Stacy, Laura and Alison (who I will talk more about later).
We're a very close group of friends and always there for each other.  Each of us are very different, which I feel is a good thing, as we all bring something individual to the group, the one thing we do have in common is that we love a good party!  That's the benefit of having dancers as friends, they know how to have a really good time.

Alison is very special in that, we were best friends for years and years, and finally we got together.  We have been together for 4 years now and I couldn't be happier, she is beautiful and very talented.

As well as being my lovely girlfriend, she is also my dance partner, Alison dances too and we are hoping that some day we will make it onto a cruise ship together so we can make our way around the world, seeing all the wonderful sites and doing what we love at the same time.
We have been dancing together for around 9 years, and at the end of last year we finally put our showreel together, which we will be sending out to agents and cruise companies in the hope that they will take an interest and hire us!!  Fingers crossed!
Here take a look:

What did you think??
I will keep you posted on the progress of our little double act!

So there you go, just a little insight into my home, family and friends.  I'm sure you will hear a lot more about each one of them through my blogs.

Sorry, this title is unavailable....

So, this is it, my very first installment onto my blog. 
My Life In Rhythm..... blimey, that was a task in itself just trying to find a name.  I was so excited about starting the blog, and I have loads of ideas for different subjects I want to post about, but I couldn't get started until I had a unique and smart sounding title.
I wrote down as many different options for a title that I could find, and yet none of them were jumping out to me....

A Dancers World.......Nope, not feeling it
The Boy Who Just Wants To Dance...... Too long
The Dancer Chronicles.... Woo a bit much!

I even asked my followers on Twitter for help, the only person who replied was a guy I've never even met, who said... "How about 'Too much to say, too little time'..." not a bad option, but just not personal enough and plus, I have actually got quite a bit of time on my hands, so I'm pretty sure I'll be able to vent all my thoughts before bedtime comes along.  So thanks Mr Randomdudeontwitter, but no thanks.

So then I took to looking up quotes about dance on the internet as I thought, perhaps if I find a good one I can personalise it.  I actually found some really good ones:

To Watch Us Dance Is To Hear Our Heart Speak
Dance Is The Hidden Language Of The Soul
Dancing Is Poetry Of The Foot
Dancers Are Messengers Of The Gods.....Wowsa, that makes us sound awesome!!!

And then I saw this:
Dance To The Rhythm Of Your Heart..... it's beautiful, but not what I want, however 'rhythm' could be used.... The Rhythm Of Life!  YES I'VE GOT IT!!  The Rhythm Of My Life! 
I finally had my title, entered it into the box and clicked "Check Availability".... waiting, waiting.... come on!.... "Sorry, this title is unavailable"...D'OH!!!!
But then all it took was a quick jumble round of the words, minus 'The' and 'Of', add 'In'... Voila!!

My Life In Rhythm

I think it's perfect because life does have a rhythm, from the repeating sequence of weekdays, getting up and going to work.  To the exciting, cresendo of birthday parties, days out, nights out, job interviews and auditions and then the slowing down, sombre moments in life.... which we don't like to talk/think about!  But that proves that life has its ups and downs, much like the rhythm of a song.

Not only is the title suitable for that reason, but also because if you haven't already noticed, I love love love LOVE to dance.  Dancing is a HUUUGE part of my life.  I have danced since I was a young lad, and fell in love with it straight away.  It's a huge passion in my life, and I couldn't imagine not doing it.  From ballet to swing to contemporary to hip hop, you name it, I love it.
I have basically grown up dancing and met and made the best group of friends through dance, as well as my gorgeous girlfriend, Alison.
So in that sense my life has been in rhythm also.

So there we have it, my explanation for the title, and now I can't wait to get started on all my other posts.

..... I still think "Dancers Are Messengers Of The Gods" would have been brilliant!