Muny tryouts

On Saturday Kristen tried out for the MUNY. Driving to the auditions was super exciting, nerves and the unknown, but we figured "hey what can it hurt." We saw a homeless man and we gave him 5 bucks figuring it couldn't hurt our karma :-). When we got to the audition site there was a huge traffic jam and no parking anywhere on any of the lots that were suggested on the website. Being a "city" girl, I cut down a few alleys and found a spot about 5 blocks away, it was SUPER cold. We quickly walked to the sight asking a few directions along the way and this is what we saw when we walked in...

And that was just at the door. We found our way to the line and got our "card" and number and were told that it would be 2 or so hours until our number was called. (can you say "American Idol" ;-). Kristen saw two of her friends and went to ask them everything that they knew, which only made it worse for her nerves. Needless to say, I was overwhelmed!! Dance instructors with their girls, voice teachers warming girls up, girls stretching and practicing, mommies primping and doing hair. Costumes in zipped up bags, dance shoes, every type of dance leotard made, matching out fits, outfits that made the girls stand out...make up! Ok so I figured we are definitely in over our heads! I told KJ lets go to Bushia's and come back (forgetting she was on a cruise, until I called the house). So we went to O'Connell's pub which was right around the corner. We had a great time watching all the mardi gras folks :-). We talked and laughed about the "what ifs"...mostly just keeping the talk away from how REALLY unprepared we were! But HEY it was our first time. I told Kristen, "we didn't bring anything but the TALENT!" I kept reassuring her that it was a great experience, she must have asked me 100 times, "do you think I should really do this." After an hour or so, we paid the bill and went back to the site. We got a spot in the lot!

We walked in filled out her card, found a spot on the floor and sat down. Kristen had to go to the bathroom (which was a zoo, just imagine a thousand girls and their mommies UGH!). While she was in their THEY CALLED HER NUMBER! Yikes! I ran to the bathroom and yelled in "Kristen" and she said "Yea" and I said you have to go RIGHT now. In retrospect it was a great thing that we didn't have any time to think about it! She went over to where her group of numbers were called and they lined up the girls. She was number 270 (in group ten). She was cool and I was freaking out. She was the only kid in her group in jeans and a holister shirt. Granted she looked adorable, but everyone else had on their dance outfits or at least their body suits and dance shoes. I felt HORRIBLE as a mother. But I watched her talking to the leader and smiling. Then they took her in an elevator!! DANG I freaked out! Total nerves. What was I doing sending my kid into a situation where she is over her head! Took a lot of texting to Chris and self talk to get myself calm. That only lasted about 30 minutes and I was in full out "bring my kid back to me right now" mode as I was imagining other girls being snotty to her and the judges rolling their eyes! LOL, I know it sound irrational, but you should have been sitting in the huge hall with all the "mommies" and dance teachers and voice teachers and listening to the hours and hours of work they put into just for this audition. Ok , so I freaked. But all at once a calm came over me and I knew she was just having fun...I could not have been more proud of her. What courage to walk away from your mother and put yourself out there for others to judge. She was amazing and I knew she had the confidence and talent and above all else she was genuine, not fake! It was about the experience and not about winning. So many girls have been professionally trained since they were two and have tried out for seven years and have NEVER made a performance. SO it was ok that she was just there, enjoying the process!

I sat there, waiting for over two hours, watching groups of kids come out of the audition hall. Always looking for KJ...there were really happy girls, who were saying the dance was easy and those that said the dance was really hard. There were girls with tears saying they messed up their singing and others saying they did great. (more mommy nerves, why haven't I given her dance lessons, voice lessons?) FINALLY I recognize some of the girls from her group coming up the stairs, I just KNOW that KJ is going to be the last one up as she wouldn't want it to be over. She finally comes up the stairs she sees me across the way and LITERALLY jumps three feet in the air and runs into my arms! She whispers "I was the best singer there." Here is what happened according to Kristen...They took them up the elevator to the dance studio, the choreographer says, here is the dance routine..."shuffle, something something, buffalo dance, toe tap something, shuffle skip, tap, something something"...I was laughing so hard hearing KJ tell the story. She has no idea what the teacher is saying and then a girl raises her hand and says can you show us the buffalo steps...lol...KJ said she was so happy that they showed the whole dance, she showed it to me several times and there were parts that were complicated, KJ says "I just faked it."...lol...then she says they lined them up and of course she is FRONT ROW CENTER! OMG...they took pictures and got number tags, and then waited in a long hallway after they practiced for awhile. They took the group on stage (mind you KJ front and center). She said there were judges in rows and several with clipboards on stage. They cued the music and did the routine as a group. Then they had each row dance the music by themselves, while the judges marked on their clip boards. Then it was time to sing and the kids sat in seats and came up one at a time and gave their music to the pianist. She said most of the girls sang softly and some voices broke and there were one or two that were ok. She said there was no microphone, she gave the pianist her song and she was upset that the pianist played the song faster than she wanted, but that she belted out the song and several girls were clapping when she was done. The judges said, thank you, and she said, "no, thank you!!" LOL...she said she was one of the only girls to say thank you, which of course upset her.

When we were leaving a group of 3 girls who obviously have done this before (think beautiful matching outfits, makeup, dance shoes, etc) came over to Kristen and told her she did a great job and had a great voice. She hugged each one of them and wished them good luck...two other girls came over and said the same thing, Kristen of course giving them tons of praise and hugs. Even when we were walking out an older girl on her cell phone, stopped talking and said to her, hey you were great! Nice to know I have a nice kid!! So now we wait until March 6 to see if we hear anything! All in all she said it was a great experience and she would do it again! I am so very proud of her for putting herself out there and doing great! We know our chances are slim to none (doesn't keep us from keeping our fingers crossed), as a mom I know that these things are often as much about who you know...but still how fun!