I realized I completely forgot an entire makeup case with all my "dry" goods -- like eyeliner, eye shadow, bronzer, face powder, blush, etc. I managed to get some blush out of my blush brush from the last time I used it and made up for the rest in glitter! My outfit was pretty incredible: the gold and red costume from the Hoopdance Workout DVD along with an amazing gold crown with crystals and of course , gobs of golden glitter. I felt like an intergalactic goddess!

The cab dropped me off at the end of what looked like a line of 500 people. I was kind of in shock.. but was soon ushered to the front since I had an appointment. The woman said that on each of the last two days, they had 2000 people and were expecting about the same today. The turnouts in other cities over audition days was similar... so I figured about 35,000 people, and me. Wow! The immensity of this gathering was awesome.

I signed something that said I wouldn't talk about what I saw, but let's just say I saw some pretty amazing things back there! All kinds of acts warming up in the hallways, some with animals, instruments, props, etc. ! What I also wasn't expecting was how smiley and happy and encouraging everyone was. I didn't sense any weird competativeness among those auditioning. It was neat. To be saturated in so many people oozing with creativity and the courage to reach for their dreams was the best part. Beauty, beauty, beauty.

Between arriving and auditioning, I was herded to several waiting areas for about an hour and a half. When they called my number, my heart was pounding so hard! I kept trying to calm myself with breathing meditation but for some reason I couldn't calm my nervous system. Too much yerba mate?

In I went. The producers were super nice. I gave them my paperwork, they turned on the video camera and got my stats -- name, age, city of residence, etc. They pressed play for my music, I danced! Honestly, I can't remember much of what I did. My body went into autopilot and I did everything which had been practiced in my choreography. My "power moves" which had a potential of having the hoop drop, came off perfect... no problem! But it did feel a bit hard to settle into my full joyous flow in only 90 seconds. Suddenly, I was standing in my end pose, breathless. Of course that is when they started to ask me questions.

This is a challenging thing that has happened to me before on TV, as well. Right after performing, I find it hard to talk because I am often gasping for breathe -- especially if I was nervous, like I was auditioning... I probably held my breathe.

So here I was, breathing pornographically, trying to speak and tell my story. It was pretty comical, but they smiled and nodded and said thank you. Just like that, it was over.

Now here is my thread of hope.... before I left the dance floor, he asked me to wait outside before leaving. The producer wanted to review my paperwork and make sure they had all the information they needed. I said "thank you", (breathlessly) "sure" and went outside. Having sat outside for dozens of people going in and out before my audition, I never saw anyone lingering outside while their "paperwork was checked". Soon a runner came and said I could go, they have everything they need. And that was it! I'm not getting my hopes up, but it sure would be dreamy to go to the next level.

And that's the whole story! Keep your fingers crossed.

xoxo
Christabel