Jan Tannos Colective

Jacinda Tsakalos

Then, and only then, did I start to look at the audition requirements. They all differed ever so slightly, so attention to detail was important.

Most of the initial auditions were via video submissions. I needed to prepare, film and submit various videos of myself dancing, singing and performing monologues. It was important to keep checking what each course specifically required, ie some required specific Shakespearean monologues or specifically pre-1960s Musical Theatre songs while others were more open ended. Choosing the ‘right’ song or monologue to showcase what you can do is time consuming. You generally produce two pieces of each. Then you need to spend the time getting inflections, timings, tones, accents, breathing, everything to the best you can do. I spent a lot of time with my vocal coaches and drama teacher at school helping me to produce these pieces. Dancing is something I have always done. My hardest decision there is choosing what to put forward. Once your applications were submitted, you play the waiting game… the worst part of it all! After a few months (yes that’s how long it can be), I received opportunities to attend live in person call-back auditions. Some of these involved taking the risk and going interstate to attend the auditions.

These auditions bought a whole new set of nerves and excitement. You feel like the next few hours could make or break your whole career, your whole life! You meet other candidates, applicants, some people you may have even met before, many you haven’t but you all share the same nervous excitement. There are so many different people of ages, backgrounds, heights (I’m short!). You listen to each other. You wonder, can I do it, will I do it? You take deep breaths, be there in the moment, do the best you can and walk away hoping you have done enough. Then you wait…again. It is part of the excitement, the anticipation, the hope. It is all part of auditioning. We don’t know what the schools are looking for, maybe we have it, maybe we don’t. All we can do is our best and love what we do. We can’t be anyone else, we can only be ourselves.