chrisnoo

can anyone tell me what all is in the audition for cap21?

collegebound87

With CAP21 you have the option of doing the audition with or without the dance component. I didn't do the dance audition, so I will tell you my experience. Maybe someone who did dance could share the differences?

The auditions were held in a professional casting studio in NYC. The day I auditioned there were many other auditions going on. Everyone auditioning for NYU (CAP and non-CAP) first attends an information meeting where paper work is passed out and brochures are available to peruse. An NYU alum was manning the table. Then the three "judges" (I think there were three) talk, as well as the alum and describe the program, the different studios, statistics, and all that jazz. Then they separate the students into three groups, since there are three different rooms, each with one NYU rep. I was the first person to go into my room, so I had time to only run to the restroom and then head to my room. Some people had to wait for a couple of hours.

Once in the room, the lady introduced herself and told me that she would definately cut me off as she wanted to talk to me more than here me perform. I sang my two songs and she cut me off on both. She discussed the songs with me a little bit afterwards, kinda the acting choices I made. Then she had me do both my monologues, which she stopped me and worked with me on. After that (about 3 minutes total), we talked for about 5 minutes. She asked me what my hobbies were, what besides theatre I found interesting, why I wanted CAP21 only, (they ask you if you will only accept CAP21 and I said yes). It was very conversational. I was able to ask questions and we kind of just chatted. Then she thanked me and I left. The whole thing took about 7 minutes!

I think that's about it. I tried to remember the best I could, but I auditioned back in February, so it has been a while. Needless to say, I was accepted and am off to NYU in the fall. Good luck with everything!

soozievt

OH geez, I wrote out my whole description of that audition and when I went to post it, it disappeared in cyberspace. I'll try to drum up energy to rewrite it.

First, Collegebound87's account is way more important than mine because he actually DID the audition and I am merely a parent bystander. I will try to describe how I saw it from my end as my kid did audition there, got in, and is going to Tisch/CAP21 next fall. I am also going to describe it a bit as a critique, not meaning to be negative but more cause I think that can be helpful and I have now been to 8 different MT BFA auditions (could critique the pros and cons of each one but will stick with just this one) and I can afford to say what I am about Tisch's because after all, my kid likes it and is going there, so my intentions are not negative. Each audition we went to was run a bit differently. Tisch's audition set up was not the worst, nor the best of what we experienced. The audition once inside it, was just fine, however, and some of my critique is more on the organizational aspects. I don't think, however, that one should judge an entire program on how the audition was run. It is like one should not judge a regular college by how good the tour guide is, ya know?

My kid auditioned on one of the advanced/experienced optional dance audition days (there are two in Feb and two during early decision in Nov...she went in Feb). On those days, only kids who have CAP as a first choice audition so that is a bit different than CollegeBound87's more typical audition day at Tisch. On this dance option audition day, there were only 18 prospective kids auditioning and that was rather nice. Her audition took place at Tisch, not a casting studio.

It started out with some forms and then all the kids went to a two hour (estimate) dance audition. Because this was for experienced dancers, my D said it was great cause everyone there could truly dance which differed from other school dance auditions where there is more variation of backgrounds. She said some of the males were particularly skilled. She really liked this dance audition and found it sufficiently challenging. It was run well. They say the dance audition can help you but not hurt you since it is not required. I am of the belief that all programs should include a dance audition, to see simply if a kid can move comfortably at the least. One nice thing at Tisch, however, is that once in CAP, there are dance placement auditions and so experienced dancers are not in the same level classes as beginnners which makes sense for all concerned. My D does like that aspect.

After this, all the kids and parents met in a room with the three judges who were faculty members. One was a costume faculty member, one was from Meisner and one was from Experimental Theater Wing. Many, including myself, found it odd that there was no faculty from CAP present as everyone there was trying for CAP. At most other schools that offered a presentation, (some did not at all), the department head spoke or an admissions officer spoke. This presentation was rather brief and mostly reviewed the 8 studio options at Tisch and they strongly encouraged every applicant to specify a second and third choice studio after CAP since CAP has the slimmest odds. Had my D applied ED, she would have said CAP only but since this was RD, she did specify a second choice (Playwrights) and third (Stella Adler) but strongly preferred CAP21 (truly only wants MT) and in her audition did explain that and why she saw that as the placement for her. There was a brief chance for Q and A.

Then, they posted three lists of names with the order of auditions for three different rooms (each faculty/judge ran the audition in different rooms). Many found it odd that nobody from CAP was judging and that there was a costume faculty judging singing and acting and none of these judges were voice faculty. Another thing that many were remarking was that there was only ONE judge for your audition and that was not the case at other schools. Other schools either had several judges in the room, or you went to one judge for singing, one for acting, etc. or once you made it past certain judges, you were then seen by others (like at PSU and CMU). But at Tisch, not only did only one person judge both your acting and singing, that person is not the same person judging everyone else auditioning so the feeling of checks and balances was not quite there (but I guess they know what they ar doing).

Another thing that was different here was that this was the only school on my D's list where they did not provide a piano accompaniest and so you had to bring your own CD of piano accopaniment. I prefer a pianist because that is how auditions are run in the professional world. Also a pianist follows the singer, not the other way around. Some might like the CD thing cause some feel that then you know the accompaniment is how you like it but I feel most professional accompaniests do a great job if you mark your music well and you also chat briefly before you sing. Anyway, it is what it is.

Another odd thing to me was the set up. There were NO vocal warmups either as a group or no rooms to do it on your own. Then the rooms where you auditioned were adjacent to right where all the waiting kids and parents were sitting in a lounge and so there really was no privacy that way. I mean when my kid went in (she was second to go with the ETW faculty person who was very nice by the way), kids started to rush the door and listen because you could hear everything. I sat as far away as I could and I heard her entire songs. True her voice carries but this set up was nothing like I saw elsewhere except maybe BOCO.

A nice thing at this school is that you get to sing two entire songs, though you really should keep the length reasonable (under two min. each) and not do repeats, so make it more like 32 bars but still you can sing a bit more than at some schools. Do contrasting songs, one upbeat, one ballad. My D did get to sing both her songs through and was asked to redo the ending to one song a different way. She also got to do both monologues which were contrasting and I think this school is the one with two 2 minute monologues but this part was good. My D said that in the middle of her serious monologue, a girl was belting out a song in an adjoining empty room that she must have gone into to practice and it was so distracting that she felt she lost her concentration on the mood of the piece. Was not that great but I guess it did not affect her admissions. Then the person chatted a bit with her. I think she also looked over the resume and commented on a thing or two. She asked some questions, not a lot.

There were no current students present to ask questions of and that was too bad and most schools had that, not all, but most. I strongly encourage anyone to visit on another day as well (we had a year prior) and do the NYU and the Tisch presentations and talk to current students (my D even observed some classes and spent the night in dorms) as you get very little information at this audition day at this school.

I'd say that what was done IN the audition was just fine but the set up to the day was not the most ideal I had seen.

Hope this helps.

chrisnoo

im not so worried now...but i really need to get crackin on monologues...anyone know where i can find some?

chrisnoo

can anyone tell me what all happens in the dance portion of the audition...how hard it is...ive been taking dance for over a year now...but am not sure if i will be able to do all that they ask in the dance audition

soozievt

Chris, I can't help you THAT much...for one thing, my D is not here to ask but I recall it including both ballet and jazz. What you need to know with CAP is that the dance is not only optional but they state that it is only meant for experienced/advanced dancers. The dance audition can help you but not hurt you. You can get in without a dance audition. I would not sign up for this unless you felt very comfortable with your dance technique. I don't know you or your background to advise you well. Are you a boy or a girl? My D said the boys at this dance audition were excellent dancers. This dance audition was not like the others she had attended at other top BFA programs because at the other auditions, there was a much wider range of dance skills...from nondancers to very trained dancers. At CAP's optional dance audition, everyone was a trained dancer. She has taken dance her entire life in all disciplines. Her friend who also got in for CAP and did the dance audition, also has danced her entire life. They take dance almost every day. I don't know which disciplines you study. You ideally should be strong in ballet and jazz for this audition. Have you studied both? At what level? At your studio, are you in beginner, intermediate, advanced? I would say that those who opt to do the dance audition at CAP tend to be in advanced levels of dance technique classes back at their home studios, so use that as a guideline. My D said this was a challenging dance audition (she really liked it) and there was a wide variety of level of dance auditions at all her BFA auditions. For instance, at Emerson, she said you absolutely needed no dance background to do it, as it was extremely simplistic. Other schools were more challenging. NYU's rated up there on the most challenging but theirs is designed for advanced dancers. At Tisch, when you start the program, they have dance placement auditions (in fact, my D has gotten a note about that for this fall) so that kids are placed in the appropriate level dance classes based on their background and skill. I'm sorry I can't be specific as to what steps were in this dance audition but maybe someone else will come forth to advise you on that. My D is out of town.

Susan

chrisnoo

im a boy...and not that experienced...so i think ill opt out...i was hoping that i could at least show them that i can dance a lil (in case my singing and acting arent up to snuff enough for them)...but o well

theatermom

Hey Chrisnoo,

I read what Soozievt wrote about the CAP 21 dance audition and I'm sure she's absolutely correct about what her D experienced. My D did not audition for CAP 21 (because she was more interested in Steinhardt at the time) so I have no first hand experience with the Tisch audition policies. BUT.......if I were you, I might check with the audition folks directly and see what they think about your doing the dance audition. I think that it's great (and very smart) that you've been working on your dance skills and I would hate you to miss an opportunity to show them what you've accomplished. From what Soozie says, while it may or may not help you get in, it doesn't seem like it would hurt you either, so what have you got to lose? If they (the NYU folks) think it's okay and you've got the courage to strut your stuff alongside folks who may (or may not) have more training than you do, I'd say go for it! If I were an auditor, at the very least I'd give you brownie points for showing how hard you are working and how much you want to go there. It would tell me a lot about how hard you would be willing to work if accepted. And given that Tisch accepts a much larger number of students than most of the other top tier BFA programs, I'm betting you'll help your chances.

Just one mom's opinion.......Sounds like you've got a lot of what they used to call "moxie." Good for you and I hope you do really well!!!

actor465

So I auditioned in February for CAP 21 with the dance option. Here's my story about that:

When I visited NYU in October, I talked with the undergraduate admissions person for drama at Tisch for quite a while. When the topic turned to the audition, I asked her about the dance component. I told her that I had had three years of dance and that I wasn't sure if it would be appropriate for me to sign up for it. Since there would be a limited number of slots with the dance option, she suggested that I sign up for it just in case and that my dance teacher call her to talk about my dance level.

So I signed up for it, thinking it would be OK. My dance teacher called in December and told me that the woman said to her that I should not sign up for the dance option.

So I was in a little pickle, because the website said that everything was final or whatever. I was kind of freaking out about it, so in early February (my audition was in late February) I called Tisch Drama and asked if I could just show up for the song and monologue portion of the audition. He told me that I couldn't, and if I did that it would forfeit my audition. So he suggested that I just go in there and do the best I could, for the dance part can only help since there are so many who audition without it.

I did that. I sucked it up, and it wasn't THAT bad, but definitely very, very challenging for me. Everyone else had been training for like 10+ years. We did a lot warming up, on the floor, at the barre, and going across the floor, but it really didn't start getting too difficult until we started learning the combination. I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty lost, haha.

All in all, I didn't get into CAP 21 but was placed into the Stella Adler studio at Tisch. I decided not to go there, for that wasn't really what I wanted. Instead I'm going to Ithaca in the fall where, ironically, there was no dance portion at the audition.

My honest suggestion is: if you were just going to sign up to show them that you can dance "a little," don't do it. It's so nervewracking to get in there with all those really good dancers and you sometimes sticking out like a sore thumb. You have just as good a chance of getting into CAP 21 without the dance audition, so I would say just go with the acting and singing.

soozievt

I agree with Actor above. In the NYU literature that we have, plus what is told via phone, is that the dance audition is for "very advanced dancers only". If you feel you fit that description, do it but it implies dancers with a lot of training. Otherwise, I agree with Theatermom with regard to all the other schools....go in and do your stuff and go for it in the dance audition. It is GREAT that you have some dance background and keep it up this fall and you will be in good shape for the dance auditions. As mentioned, at all the schools, my D said she saw a wide range of dance background and skill in the audition. You will be ahead of the game than some kids cause you have taken dance. But there will be others who have studied all dance forms and for many years. The NYU dance audition is meant more for the latter. My daughter, as well as the two friends she has who did the dance audition at Tisch, took dance since they were in preschool and do it a lot, plus have the ballet training. Tisch will tell you this when you sign up for the audition. They only have two dance audition dates for RD and two for ED and there were just 18 kids at the Feb. date that my D went to so they are obviously not opening it up to the close to 1000 trying out for CAP. You might be better off not doing this dance audition but really strutting your stuff at the other ones.

Susan

theatermom

Actor465 and Soozie have given you good advice. It wasn't clear to me when I posted that the NYU folks advise that this audition is for experienced dancers only, but that's why I suggested checking with them before you made your decision.

Actor 465 - thanks for sharing your story. It's first hand experiences like yours that really help those who are trying to decide where to audition and apply.

Keep dancing!

soozievt

Theatermom, I figured you were not aware of that because had this not been the case with this school, your advice was excellent in terms of showing what he could do with dance and what he has accomplished so far (and I agree that it is great that he is taking dance and that puts him ahead of many boys who do not). It is just that NYU stipulates that this is not an audition to show that you CAN danc,e but in their words are "very advanced dancers only" and they seem to hold to that when making the appointments. My D said that the boys at that audition were amazing. I don't know the level that the poster dances and only the number of years he has been dancing. That is why I was asking what level class he is in at his studio. If he has only taken one year and only one discipline, for example, and is in advanced beginner or intermediate, the NYU dance audition might be overwhelming (my D said it was the most challenging of all her BFA dance auditions, which makes sense because you had to know how to dance to even attend it which is not the case at the other schools). I'd probably advise against him attending. In fact, they might ask him on the phone how many years of training and if he says 1 1/2 years, they might not let him sign up for the very few slots they allow for the limitted dance audition days. They audition like every day in February and only two of the days are this optional dance day. I believe 900 kids stipulate CAP21 as their first choice studio at Tisch and so if there are two Nov. ED dance audition dates and two Feb. RD audition dates and assuming they allow the same number to sign up that we saw at my D's date on Feb. 12 last year, that is only 36 kids for ED and 36 for RD who did the dance audition. So, I think that is skimming off the top of dance technique levels that opted to do this segment of the audition.

Honestly, I much prefer schools to include dance in their auditions for MT for everyone, as many do. Ithaca and BOCO had no dance audition though do ask about your dance background. And many who audition for Tisch also are not doing a dance audition (though at least they have dance placement there for levels once you attend, unlike Ithaca, for example). When it is so selective to get into these programs, it seems to me, why not see if a kid can at least move and feel comfortable with his/her body on stage, at a minimum. I realize they can teach someone to dance and the voice and acting is more paramount in the audition but I also think with so many auditioning who can sing and act, why not get ones who can also dance. They have their pick of the litter so they say, lol. Anyway, thought I would just clarify that I would have advised this boy to do a dance audition at ANY and every school but at Tisch only cause they stipulate that it is for very experienced dancers and try to hold to that. He might feel out of his element. I'd hate that to happen because they do the dance audition for the first two hours and then it is followed by the vocal and acting appointments and so I am not sure it would feel good to start out feeling a bit lost amongst some very trained dancers and the combination goes quickly and you know how that can be.

Susan

happy days

I am so amazed that a school like Tisch wouldn't require EVERYONE to do some kind of a dance audition. And I am also confused about the taped music for the vocal audition. I know that many talented kids audition for this program so LOTS of talent there. But it does seem that their auditions are not as professional as some of the other schools.

cluelessmc2

I also think Cap 21 must look for great dancers who can carry a tune in their dance auditions from the experience of my S's friend. This kid is a phenomenal choreographer and dancer who has been dancing since he was tiny. While he was in the top choir with my S he never was given a singing role that I know of. He auditioned at CTC with my son a number of times but never made the cast until it required a major dance role - then look out baby there he was front and center. We kind of got a kick of it at the end of the year – neither he nor my S were ever given major roles in the school musicals – I mean here we had this kid who just Wowed everyone with his dance and choreography outside of school and they never used him! My S was able to choose from some of the top MT schools in the nation, but he couldn’t get much more than ensamble in the school musicals. None of the kids that were used in major roles at the HS got into any schools outside of our state programs. I think both boys had a hook though that made them different, S is tall with a huge vocal range; B has a specialty in Chinese dance and lots of choreography credits.

MightyM

Chrisnoo,

I auditioned in late february, with the dance component. Like you, i had only been taking lessons for about 6 months before the audition and i was defintiely freaking out.

The dance component starts out with everyone just in the room, doing their own stretches. The judges ARE IN THE ROOM, with clipboards. They dont really seem to be watching, but im sure they take into account the attitudes and amount of prep each auditionee does. So be professional.

Then there's a group warmup, where one of the judges walks around and observes. It is intimidating when they walk right up to you as you warm up, just be cautious nopt to loose focus and forget what you are doing! lol. This part of the audition isnt too hard. Then there is an across the floor exercise that is short, but you need to show some character. They seemed more pleased with the charismatic dancers (who were good) than the good dancers who looked bland.

Then they teach you the combo. The actual steps werent hard, but the rythms and style were. Mine was a spanish themed dance, and everything was syncopated. They wanted to see who could handle a tough rythm, instead of who could kick the highest.

My song and mono was in a room with one woman. She ddint cut off either of my songs, or my monos. Afterwards we talked for about ten minutes. Try to sound diverse, cultured, and into academics, even if you arent exactly a picture of these qualities. It's waht they are looking for!

It's a great audition, a good experience. I did get into CAP21, but expenses prevented me from going. Break a leg! and do some fun raisin!