Mock Dance Audition Prepares Students for the Real Thing

Three non-instructional choreographers from the Twin Cities professional dance community held mini mock auditions for Senior Dance Program Students. In addition, these three choreographers spoke on a panel about the process of auditioning after the auditions. Dancers had the experience of engaging in three different audition processes, as well as talking to the choreographers about how they hold auditions and how they choose dancers to employ. This grant and partnership allows us to raise the stakes by taking this audition experience off-campus to the TEK BOX Theater in the Cowles Center downtown Minneapolis, a venue where dance auditions commonly occur in the professional world.

This mini mock audition could be seen as equivalent to mock interview experiences. Dancers get work through auditions. This experience gives our students additional practice auditioning and helps demystify the audition process and allows students to see the process from both sides—the side of the dancer and the side of the choreographer.