<p>One of my Ds is a professional dancer; classically trained, with good cross training and experience in jazz, modern, character, etc. She just started her sixth season of dancing with ballet companies. </p>
<p>She’s considering attending a Disney audition - possibly a character look-alike or parade performer audition. Does anyone (or your kiddo) have experience with these auditions? For the character look-alike auditions, I understand you want the casting folks to visualize you as the character you are auditioning for, but do auditionees attempt hair and makeup that emulate the character and carry themselves “in character”, or do they want to see you as yourself, without affectations?</p>
<p>Also, are most of the Disney auditionees drama/acting types, or is there a wide range of training present? My D’s training has been very broad and certainly included some acting classes, but acting for dancers is quite different than acting for say, musical theater.</p>
<p>@flossy, what do you mean by “type”? In ballet, that means body type. What does it mean for an audition like this?</p>
<p>Yes, we have reviewed the website. The things we would like to know are the unspoken things someone who has never done this type of audition wouldn’t know. For example, for the character look-alike auditions, it says:</p>
<p>“We won’t ask you to have any specific content prepared for a Character Audition, but you can prepare in other ways. Remember that most roles in this category will require you to portray one of our world-famous Disney Characters with no words at all. You’ll communicate through gestures and movement. The auditions are based primarily on movement, physical coordination and attitude.”</p>
<p>So does that mean she should enter the room “in character”? How should she dress? Should she attempt to make herself look like the character for the audition? Do they see people one at a time, or do they audition as a group?</p>
<p>No, don’t go in costume. But, get close enough that they can envision you as a character. Princess is the big one but there are also Alice, Wendy, and Cruella Deville. They screen as a group and then have callbacks.</p>
<p>For height and type, S1 was looked at for Beast because he was over 6’ tall, strong so he could hold up the costume, and could waltz. They figured they could teach him the rest. He did not go for it in the end, could not stay long enough for the commitment since he was in the college program and had to get back to school. So know what you are going for and embody what would be expected for the character. </p>
<p>OK - thank you for the type examples. Any other recommendations or helpful tips other than the things they cover on the website would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Another question - for headshots, should she just show “herself”, or do they use them for pre-screening (and hence, she might have a different headshot for say, Belle, than she would for Snow White)?</p>
<p>I really think she would have a much better shot at a parade performer given her body type and extensive dance trainng, but that audition conflicts with a contractual obligation with her current company. If anyone has feedback about those auditions we would appreciate it.</p>
<p>I don’t have specific audition information but a young woman who used to work in my office was “Belle” for a couple of years. She was a dancer without acting experience. If you spent even a couple of minutes with her you would totally understand why they chose her. She is bubbly, pretty, and great with kids.</p>
<p>Don’t worry about the headshots differentiating between characters. You audition less for a specific character than you do for a category. And the hairstyles are mostly wigs anyway.</p>
<p>Has your daughter done any research into what these characters make per hour? My D, who lives in LA, looked into it. She currently works for a party company that provides Disney characters for children’s birthday parties. She thought about auditioning for Disney, but found out how much they pay, and she realized she can make just as much money, if not more, in one weekend doing parties, than working almost full-time at Disneyland. So she decided not to audition.</p>
<p>My D did character auditions just for fun a few years ago. Went in and it was a cattle call. You can’t be upset if you are cut based on looks. For that call, they were just looking for a few of the princesses…so if you’re a “Jasmine” and they are only looking for the blonde princesses, don’t take it personally. </p>
<p>As I recall from her story, they all went into a room and just certain of them were asked to stay to learn a “dance” which was extraordinarily basic. After that they cut some more, then went around and talked to each about their availability, etc. They also asked about visible tattoos. Then, a few were asked to say a few lines, the way their character (princess) would say them…the delightful part is that they dressed them up to a degree for that part. D got to wear the Cinderella wig and bodice…the real deal! She was so thrilled. </p>
<p>She made it through all the parts but then was never called for a job. They keep you on file for 6 months.</p>
<p>What is more important than looking like the charcter in the movie, or the current version of the character in their marketing materials, is looking like the people they currently have playing the character. You could look exactly like Belle from the movie, but if you have a round chin and all the other current Belles have square chins, they likely won’t hire you.</p>
<p>Best of luck to her. (At the time, the pay was $12 an hour.)</p>
<p>@teriwtt, yes, she currently makes double that for teaching (per hour). We’ve been in the business long enough to know that she won’t get rich. This is just to try something outside her box.</p>
<p>@missypie, thank you for that summary. That is the kind of information we are looking for.</p>
<p>You might be able to find some additional information and ask more questions on the link below for the Disney College Program section of a popular Disney message boards website. There are a number of threads about Disney auditions.</p>
<p>I took my daughter and her friend to an Orlando audition. There were probably 400 people there, from 16-40 years old. Everyone gets a number, you march in in groups of 50 or so, you walk up to the line, SMILE, and they cull 2-3 from the group. Out of the 400, maybe 30 go through an audition, the rest march out. Out of the 30, maybe 5 or 6 are picked. We lived 2 hours away, so not a big deal. DON"T go to Orlando just for the audition, but it’s worth it if you have other business in the area of an audition.</p>
<p>My daughter wanted to do it, but I was glad she saw how it worked, because now she knows that it’s not all that great. The actual ‘audition’ was just a few minutes. Entirely based on looks, body type, height. Her friend, who had had some professional roles, auditioned about 8 times and was finally hired as a character in Disneyland. He stayed about a year while he was a student at Cal State Fullerton, but recently left. It was a ton of work and not great pay. He was too tall for Peter Pan, so was often a ‘fur’ character. Hot, long hours, not as much fun as it seems.</p>
<p>Another option is to look at some of the overseas Disneylands. My D started as a performer at one last March and just extended her contract until next April. When she got the offer, she hesitated as if was not on her “career path”. However, Disney pays her transportation there and back, as well as her housing in full, a substantial food allowance, local transportation, and full medical. She does 3-4 shows a day and is on standby for 3-4 more: during her standby time she can do anything she wants as long as she stays on the property: go to the gym, go running, go on rides etc. The pay is very good and she will return with a sizeable bank account to further pursue auditioning. In addition, she has time to extensively travel while there. So far she has been to 4 nearby countries and has 2 more planned soon. She is the central character in a show we do not have here and sings and dances. There are a lot of dancers there portraying other characters who do not using. She is having the time of her life, loves her job, is making a lot of money, is meeting people from all over the world, and is traveling. Plus most of our family has now been to visit and can stay with her free! </p>