I've had two main things knocking around my little brain today because more has happened in the past 14 hours than I'd anticipated. I mean, I knew today was going to be a nutty day, and it was but in the best way possible. Here's why:
So remember that photo contest I was a finalist for for HerHattan NYC? Well here's what happened: WE WON! The photo itself might has been of me, but I did not one thing to make that win happen. From the very beginning, all I did was send an email to submit the picture. (I saw that they were doing this contest, I had the photo, and I had already applied to be considered to be a blogger on their upcoming site so I actually figured maybe resubmitting for this contest would help that along a little bit. That was really the primary reason why I did it in the first place!) But my fantastic sister Morgan actually took the photo, the HerHattan team chose the photo, and then you INCREDIBLE friends and family made some serious moves happen in the "liking" and the sharing department! (And my beautiful friend Christina was the one who introduced me to the site from the get-go several months ago.) Like, guys, I'm humbled beyond words by all the support that came about by this little contest and have been absolutely floored by all the positivity and the heartfelt excitement that was shared throughout the process over last two and a half days.
I find myself in this place again of feeling like no matter how many times I say "thank you," the phrase won't do justice to the magnitude to which I feel it. To me, every thumbs-up and every share became about something greater than the contest really quickly. Yes, it was definitely fun and I'm glad we all got to do it together, but even more importantly I was reminded yet again just how incredibly powerful a loving support system is. I was shocked at the response the whole thing received and I hope every person reading this post--especially those of you who passed on the HerHattan love and made some winning moves happen--knows just how much I appreciate your activity in my life, whether it be local or distant, frequent or infrequent. Simply being able to know the people I know brings me peace because I know that through it all, I have people to which to turn and ask for help, guidance or a laugh at any time. And I pray every single day that I'm able to give back even just a fraction of the love that I feel so enveloped by. Life is a journey that's not meant to unfold completely alone. I know what I have to do routine-wise, training-wise, business-wise to make my goals realities, but none of that would be possible in the least without the encouragement and faith of the beautiful people that so regularly share their hearts with me. Each and every day I'm given reminders by these stunning people, whether they know it or not, why I keep working as hard as I can and they consistently give me the motivation to keep on moving forward. So to everyone reading this, thank you. Seriously, thank you. And I'm telling you, even if you don't think you're doing anything, to me you're doing everything by simply allowing me to be part of your life.
Here's the other thing that happened today: for the first time I made it from the beginning to the end of an open cattle-call dance audition. Over four hours and five rounds of cuts, the numbers when from 250+ to about 50 and the next thing I knew I was filling out my contact info and hearing a "Thank you all, we'll be in touch in the next few weeks after reviewing all our materials if we think you will be a good fit for this." So I didn't leave with a job today, but I'm in the final pool of New York dancers and you'd better believe I was feeling accomplished upon leaving the 12th floor of Pearl Studios today! The audition was for the Christmas shows (they're currently casting two) in DisneyWorld in Orlando, and when I left my house this morning, this is what I told myself: "Okay Michaela...Just get past the first cut. Get your headshot into that first stack of keepers and no matter what else happens, it's going to be a great day!"
Here's how an open call goes (I'm using today as an example and they will vary depending on the show, but they're pretty similar in format): The call was scheduled to begin at 10 A.M., sign-in was scheduled for 9 A.M., so I tried to aim to leave my apartment by just after 8. I ended up getting out a little later than I wanted to which put me uptown later than I wanted to be there, but I got to the studio at about 8:45 A.M. and was still only #89. Not bad. Third group. They started calling people in early (about 9:15) and took us next door in groups of 30 (guys and girls were all together for today's audition) and told us we'd be doing ballet first. We did about a 32-count ballet combination in groups of four. Cut. Wait. Went back in for ballet round two. They added on another 16 counts and we did the whole thing. Cut. Wait. Switch to jazz shoes for the jazz section. Really fun, classic and theater-y. Wait. Hip hop. Wait. Then a few lifts and specialty things like pointe work, tumbling passes, etc. Basically, it's a lot of waiting. But like I've said before, it's actually a process I very much enjoy, and it's really something to keep hearing your name called after each section when you're usually finished 10 minutes after stepping into the dance studio first thing in the morning.
This brings me to point number two for today: Success. I'm writing about this today because over the course of the last few years, having been given the chance to learn and grow and see things outside the walls of high school and my family's home and my local dance studio, what my standards of personal success are now are SIGNIFICANTLY different from what they used to be. Four years ago, saying that I wanted to be a professional dancer basically was me saying that I wanted to dance on Broadway, only on Broadway and I wasn't going to stop dancing until I got there. This is still true in the big picture, but I'm learning that success doesn't and can't happen in one fell swoop. No, I take that back. The ultimate dream doesn't happen in one fell swoop. Success happens every day, and every "small" success is just another building block upon which those ultimate dreams will rest eventually. For me today, my goal upon leaving my apartment was to make it past the first cut at an open dance call. The second I did, my goal had been met, and everything that followed were awesome extras. Whether or not I land the job--though I've got my fingers crossed that I do, of course!--the outcome of this morning's adventure is, in my mind, a success. And honestly in this crazy game, I couldn't have asked more than that on this beautiful Wednesday at this point at the starting line of this career that I'm really looking forward to :)
So my little pearls of life lessons for today: give thanks ALWAYS for the graciousness of those who so selflessly build you up for exactly who you are, and take a minute to see how you gauge your success. There's no such thing as a small success, as everything is valid and full of much worth in the big picture.
There's my ramble. I hope you were able to decipher it okay. Maybe I should include a code of some sort next time...! :)
Happy Wednesday, friends!
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