A Star is Born!

This Christmas I have been involved in the Carlisle Sands Centre production of Cinderella. I have had one of the best times doing it and made lifelong friends.

The audition:

On the 6th September I went to an audition in Carlisle, along with over 100 people, and discovered the production company were going to pick three groups of twelve to be in their show. When I turned up, I was measured, answered a couple of questions and was asked to wait for my age group to be called. After a 30 minute wait we were called into a large room and introduced to the choreographer and director. Straight away we got started on what would be the opening to the show, the song ‘you can’t stop the beat’ from the musical Hairspray. I really got to present my personality and understand the panto atmosphere and style of dance. Once we had run through the dance enough to remember it, we were put in small, random groups and asked to perform it as soon as the music started to play. I was totally focussed by this stage and was giving it my all. It was a lengthy process given the number that had auditioned, so I was in there for 2 hours! I felt good about my performance and had done my best but you never know how you will be judged so I just had to wait for a week to see if I had got in.

I was sat at home when my mum told me. I was jumping around, so excited, as I wasn’t expecting good news. I couldn’t wait to get started at rehearsals and get to perform on stage!

Rehearsals:

Doing rehearsals:

We all got to know each other while learning really cool dances. One of the pro-dancers in the show taught us the dances. We had 8 dances to learn in less than a month, making each rehearsal very intense. Every few weeks the choreographer, Kerry, would come in to see how we were doing. These rehearsals were extreme because if something wasn’t right, she wouldn’t be shy in telling you! Once we had learnt all of the dances we got to meet the cast. This was one of the best parts, as everything we had learnt began to make sense and the show started to fall into place. The cast were amazing; they were so encouraging and approachable, they sometimes even joined in the warm up! After that, we started to learn the songs that went with the dances; for this we had a professional singing coach that helped us along the way. Next, we started acting in scenes and learned our entrances and exits. Once we had done this, we could run the show from start to end - that’s when we all started to get really excited!!!

This was also when the long, all day (10am to 8pm) rehearsals began. These rehearsals were fun but really tiring as we were on our feet nearly all day. One day we had ‘onesie Wednesday’ which is when we all came in our onesies and had time to relax; this is a panto tradition! The floods hit Carlisle at around this time and our rehearsals had to be switched from the Sands centre to a hotel next to the train station. Twice it took us four hours to get home after rehearsal and I was tired the next day at school. Everyone was a bit apprehensive because there was a fear that the Sands centre might not be cleared up in time for the show but thankfully, although a couple of days late, we did return.

When I first saw the set I was amazed, it looked incredible and I felt so excited to think that in a couple of weeks I would be dancing, singing and acting on it in front of a live audience. In the last few days we were running the show through on stage and got the chance to do a tech and costume run.

The Shows:

I can’t explain how eager I was to do the first show. Backstage we had our own dressing room, where we got changed from dance to dance. We had 5 costumes we got changed in and out of 10 times during the show! At one point we had exactly 1 minute to get changed into a full riding outfit – even the boots and hat! We could hear the show from backstage and were given a two-minute warning before we heard “dancers to the stage please”. It was all very professional.

On the first show, I remember standing behind the curtain and hearing the crowd scream at the top of their voices; that’s when I realised that I wanted to do this for the rest of my life. The atmosphere backstage was electric, with everyone having the time of their lives and having fun with the amazing cast. They would come and see us nearly every show, and they let us take loads of selfies with them! As the show drew to a close we were all very upset and I couldn’t bear the thought of not going there every day. On the last show, most of us were in tears; we had all become really close and didn’t want this experience to end.

Finally:

I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who came and watched me. It made me so happy to know that you were all behind me! Most importantly I would like to give the biggest thank you ever to my mum and dad. It was hard for them to take me back and forward every week, especially with the flooding - so I would like them to know how much I appreciate what they have done for me.

Thank you,

Ellie Parr xxx

#CinderellaPanto