Hi, I’m Johnny!

a Completely synchroninzed Vocal and dance warm-up

www.broadwaywarmup.com

I’m Johnny Shea and I am the newly appointed Blogger-In-Chief and Head of Brand Ambassador Development for The Broadway Warm-Up.

I’m going to be posting some awesome content on this blog over the coming weeks, so I thought I’d take a moment to say hi!

I have just moved to New York to pursue a career in acting. Just over a month ago, I graduated from Ithaca College with my BFA in Musical Theatre. The link to Ithaca is actually how I met Kim Stern, Owner/Creator of The Broadway Warm-Up. Back in March, all of IC’s graduating Theatre Arts majors traveled down to NYC to for a week-long series of panels and workshops with industry professionals. Kim was joined by fellow IC alums Mark Price and Caesar Samayoa in their panel called Empowered Artistry. I remember feeling so inspired after this panel. I left with a feeling of confirmation that my dreams were legitimate and possible in this city.

I’ll be honest – there are times when I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing. For all my life to this point, I’ve had the structure and schedule of school to return to and live by. Now that I’ve graduated, the blank canvas before me is both exciting and terrifying. I’m choosing to be excited and inspired by the unknown ahead. I’d love for you to join me as I venture into the unknown and pursue my dreams of acting professionally.

This city, this lifestyle and this business are new to me, so my plan is to be a sponge. I will soak up anything and everything that pertains to life as an artist in New York. I thought it’d be fun to share what I discover as I go. SO, I’ll be conducting interviews with industry professionals to break down their daily habits & routines, and to deconstruct what makes them the best at what they do. In these interviews, I’ll talk to people with all different backgrounds and ties to the entertainment industry. I’ll speak with anyone from Broadway actors, composers, directors to ENTs, therapists, personal trainers…you  name it. I am interested in speaking to anyone with relevant info on this awesome industry. My mission is to inspire you to do what you love by interviewing people who have done just that.

Why do we warm-up? I know I warm-up so that I may perform at my best and stay healthy. I want my voice, body and mind to be in optimal condition before I go out onstage. The Broadway Warm-Up is designed to help performers reach optimal states before audition or performance. These interviews and blog posts are designed to dissect top performers so that all of us may strive to reach and realize our potential. My hope is that these interviews will provide tangible, actionable information that will inspire you.

The interviews will vary in form: video, audio & written. Be sure to follow the blog and check back soon for our first!

Be Warm,

Johnny

www.broadwaywarmup.com

3 Things That Every Thank You Note To A Casting Director Or Agent Should Include (And 1 Thing You Should Definitely Leave Out!)

We’ve all heard that after an important audition, callback or meeting it is a good idea to send a Thank You Note.  Certainly a wise business decision- a way to keep in touch with your new business contact and potentially grow your relationship with them.  However, I think something gets lost along the way when this act of giving thanks turns into a business transaction. Over the years I’ve had multiple students ask me about what their thank you notes to casting directors or agents should look like. While no two thank you notes will look the same, there are a few elements that are of utmost importance to include and one thing you want to be sure to leave out:

THE ACTOR’S CHECKLIST OF WHAT TO INCLUDE IN EVERY THANK YOU NOTE

1. SINCERITY

 

 

 

 

 

Whatever you do be sure you are coming from an honest and sincere place when writing your thank you note.  We are all people and we all have instincts and can smell insincerity a mile away.  Be sure to give yourself the proper amount of time to write your note and find a space to sit and think back on your meeting or audition experience. Try to find one or two specific things that you are really grateful for regarding your audition/meeting experience.  If you can’t think of any,  you probably should not be writing that specific note.

2. CONNECTION

 

 

 

 

 

Your thank you note  is your opportunity to reach out to that new person in your life and begin to build a connection with them. Try to include your voice or personality in the note in some way.  Give the person on the receiving end a taste of who you are. A few examples of how to include this are:

– Choosing a note card that reflects your own personal style.

– Allowing your humor or personality shine through in the text of your note.

– Mentioning something specific about the role or audition that spoke to you as an artist.

3. PURPOSE

 

 

 

 

 

 

This goes back to the idea of sincerity.  Know WHY  you are sending a thank you note in the first place. Whether it is because the person you are writing to has taken the time out of their day to consider you for a role that you’ve been chomping at the bit to play or because they helped you discover your song in a new way – have a specific purpose for sending the note.  If you were at an open call with 300 people and they were typing and you got typed out-this could be a situation where you either don’t necessarily need to send a note OR you might find that you really appreciated the efficiency of audition- that is your call to make and really depends on your personal experience of the situation.

Once you’ve included Sincerity, Connection and Purpose into your note, the rest will generally take care of itself.  You may want to mention something specific about your audition to jog the person’s memory and put a face to a name but as long as these key elements are in place you’ve got a great place to work from.

Now that we’ve taken a look at what we want to be sure to include. Let’s discuss the one thing you want to leave out of your thank you note:

THE ASK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s talk about Thanksgiving.

Thanks.

Giving.

Giving Thanks.

When we write a thank you note, it is an act of giving.  We are giving someone our genuine thanks for their generosity , their time or just for being who they are. So many times we get lured into the trap of thanking someone with an expectation or hope that we will get something back in return: another audition, an agent referral, some feedback etc. See what it feels like to send a thank you note with the the pure intention of thanking the person for the experience that you shared with them. I guarantee you will feel better for it and will most likely begin to build a more solid relationship.

 

Kim Stern is a co-creator and owner of The Broadway Warm-Up along with Deidre Goodwin. She is also a private voice teacher and vocal coach in NYC. Kim is the editor of The Broadway Warm-Up Blog. For more information go to: www.broadwaywarmup.com

A Completely Synchronized Vocal and Dance Warm-Up for Performers

Now Available for Digital Purchase or Rental and on DVD!

www.broadwaywarmup.com

“Am I my resume?” : Living life wholeheartedly as an actor

Another wonderful and insightful blog from our monthly contributor Jessica Latshaw!

Check it out:

 

 

I care very much about health. I am lucky; my parents put me in ballet when I was eight years old, introducing me to a way of life that both challenged me physically and fulfilled me emotionally. Soon, one didn’t come easily without the other. It’s still that way, and I have them to thank for it.
And though I am not sure the world needs one more article or blog post about the recent tragic passing of the great Robin Williams, his death is indicative of the fact that our health is not comprised solely of how we look, the numbers that appear when we step on the scale, the amount of accolades we have garnered, or how fast we can run.
Our health is the sum value of every single part of us. It’s what wholehearted living is all about: your body, mind, and spirit working towards the same goals. There is chaos and unbalance in our lives whenever one part of us–whether it’s physical, emotional/mental, or spiritual–betrays the goals we have and the values we nurture.
Many years ago, a good friend of mine reached out to me sobbing in the middle of the night. Being the genius and sensitive discerner that I am, I asked what was wrong.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head and kept crying.
“Is your family okay?”
She nodded this time, sobbing even harder.
Finally, she started talking and I pieced together what had brought her to this place. She has core values. She loves these values. She believes they are the right way to live and she has always strived to uphold them. Until recently, when she started betraying these values and shame set in. She still believed the values, and yet she was acting in a way that said she didn’t.
And subsequently life became chaotic.
This is not a matter of being good or bad, though, see? This is a matter of living wholeheartedly. Of living in balance. Being in sync with yourself. Meaning every part of you is in agreement and moving in the same direction. It’s a healthy picture of a person. It’s what’s available to each of us.

 

Another part of wholehearted living is community. Reaching out. My friend talked to me that night for as long as she needed. I loved her; I listened. By the end of that conversation, something changed. Not because she or I were able to actually erase the past or snap our fingers and give her an immediate solution, but because she is loved and knew it and sometime between finding her crumpled in the corner of a hotel room–more tears than dignity–and taking deep, trembling breaths before standing up and declaring that now she was at peace enough to sleep, at least–the fact that she is loved became the bottom line.

All this to say, it is very important to surround ourselves with people who care more about who we are than what we do. The pressure is real. To make money, to get the job, to fill your resume, to get the girl, to look good, to be good, to have a thousand things to say when people ask you that inevitable question: “So, what do you do?”
When is the last time someone asked you who you are?
If you crossed off the list of external things people can readily see when they look at you (an accountant, a performer, an instructor, etc), could you answer?
I remember in grade school, getting the assignment to write an essay on who I am. I was young enough to write out the whole thing in pencil, the letters big and awkwardly printed across lined paper. At that point, I had no job, earned no money, and had an unfortunate haircut that was a byproduct of allowing my brother to play barber with me one day. After he cut my bangs in a perfect diagonal line, my mom simply cut them all off (who needs the hassle of going to a salon when you have a perfectly good pair of scissors at home, anyway?), creating a short–albeit still tragically uneven–fringe on the top of my already too big forehead.

Good times, guys; good times.

But I had a lot to say about who I am. I wrote about loving my family, loving animals, and drawing, too. I didn’t know it, but I was writing about the connection to both people and creativity, which has turned out to be the two greatest needs in my life when it comes to feeling fulfilled and alive. I had a sense of self then, and it had nothing to do with what the world would call success.
You don’t need me to tell you that life can be hard. From time to time, people who have heard about some darker nights that I have walked through will reach out to me and ask how they get through their own dark night. I always tell them to surround themselves with kind, safe people who love them more than they need them. To be purposeful about hanging out with those who they never feel a need to impress. To let your personal life be vastly different from an interview or an audition. To realize that life is more than a facebook status in which a new job is announced; that it’s made up of pictures. All kinds of pictures–many that we would never post on Instagram.

This is not a DOWN WITH SOCIAL MEDIA! post (I am a fan of social media, actually–Instagram, especially, because FILTERS!). This is me telling you that you are way more than what you do and until you realize this, life will always be precarious, rising and falling with the awards, jobs, and notice you do or do not receive from others.

Live wholeheartedly. Be at one with yourself, your values, your goals. Create for yourself a community where you are loved for who you are, period. And from that place, you will end up doing so very much; you will end up impressing the world, whether you ever meant to or not, because a healthy, loved, balanced and wholehearted person is a breathtaking, beautiful sight, indeed.

Jessica Latshaw is a monthly contributor to The Broadway Warm-Up Blog.  For more info on Jessica check out: www.jessicalatshawofficial.com

 

A completely synchronized vocal and dance warm-up for performers. 

Now Available on DVD!

www.broadwaywarmup.com

Get Generous With Your Warm-Up!

Our friends at Motivated Movers recently asked Broadway Warm-Up co-creator Kim Stern to contribute a blog post that talked to their monthly theme of generosity. Check out this post and then get to know more about motivated mover over at www.motivatedmoversnyc.com!

GET GENEROUS WITH YOUR WARM-UP!

It’s been said that generosity is the act of giving even when we are not necessarily in a position to give.

I recently joined a gym again and have started swimming. It feels great! The past two weeks I’ve committed to swimming every day and I have seen a marked change in my overall health, my energy level, my productivity and general well being.

Despite all of these incredible benefits, this week it seemed to be more of a struggle to motivate to get to the gym and get myself swimming. I knew I would feel better for it, I had conscious intent to go and yet there was a part of me that felt a definite resistance. Oy! It’s no news that sometimes taking action to do the things that will benefit us the most can feel like moving a mountain. We just don’t feel like we have the time, energy or desire to give to ourselves.

Over my years of teaching, I’ve found this to be an overwhelming truth when it comes to performers taking the time to warm-up before a performance. While we all may have great intentions of warming up before each performance, a lot of the time when push comes to shove, our warm-up seems to be the first thing that gets thrown to the curbside if we are running short on time or energy. That was actually one of the things that inspired The Broadway Warm-Up, my business partner Deidre Goodwin and I recognized our students and colleagues either skipping their vocal warm-up and just doing a dance warm-up—skipping their dance warm-up and just doing a vocal warm-up or not doing a warm-up at all. We recognized that there was an urgent need for an efficient warm-up that could organically warm-up your whole instrument in a set routine and make it easier for performers to commit to the generosity of a warm-up.

What if we looked at the warm-up as an opportunity to be generous with ourselves? An opportunity to give even when we are not necessarily in a position to give. How many moments in a day do really take out to take care of ourselves? A warm-up can be the daily gift we give ourselves and a true act of generosity towards ourselves and others. In warming up, we’ve prioritized our time and our energy towards the maintenance and betterment of our instrument. We’re being kind and generous to our muscles and are giving ourselves the best odds to avoid injury and achieve optimal performance.

Every time we warm-up we are increasing the probability that we will have a successful performance. By taking the time to prepare our voice, body and mind we are not only allowing the actual muscles to reach their potential but we are giving ourselves the incredible gift of preparation. Armed with the knowledge that we have properly prepared ourselves for our performance our level of confidence will automatically increase exponentially. That’s when we have an opportunity to discover some really magical moments as a performer. Because our instrument is awake and ready and we have gifted ourselves the confidence of preparation we are far less likely to become distracted by what is happening for us technically and have the freedom to be in the moment and artistically present! Huzzah!

In finding the time to warm-up you are not only being generous to yourself and your instrument. You’ve also created an opportunity for yourself to be generous with your fellow performers and your audience. Take the challenge to give yourself the gift of a proper warm-up every day this week. Be generous with yourself. Let that generosity feed into your performances, your auditions and practice sessions. Comment on this blog and let me know how it feels to commit to that sort of generosity on a daily basis. As for me… I’ve got my bathing suit in my gym bag and am headed for a swim.

 

Kim Stern is a co-creator and owner of The Broadway Warm-Up along with Deidre Goodwin. She is also a private voice teacher and vocal coach in NYC. Kim is the editor of The Broadway Warm-Up Blog.  For more information go to: www.broadwaywarmup.com

 

 

A completely synchronized vocal and dance warm-up for performers. 

NOW AVAILABLE ON DVD!

www.broadwaywarmup.com

 

How To Love Yourself In 8 Counts of 8 and One Try

Holy Cow! We are sooo excited to introduce our newest guest blogger: the incredible Jesse Palmer from Motivated Movers! If you haven’t heard of Motivated Movers yet, boy are you in for a treat. They are an inspiring company that is all about creating a safe space for movers and dancers to create , explore and grow. We love it!  In this installment, Jesse will talk about how to leave your movement or dance call feeling great AND she will share a FREE 1 minute Audio Motivation EXCLUSIVELY to Broadway Warm-Up Blog Readers! How awesome is that?!? Read the blog , click on the link to get your FREE awesome motivation and check out Motivated Movers today  Y’all!

How to Love Yourself in 8 Counts of 8 and One Try
By: Jesse Palmer
Creative Director & Co-founder of Motivated Movers NYC LLC

There you are in your dance call, movement callback or in your nightmares (depending on how comfortable you are with movement). You’ve had 20 minutes to learn 8 counts of 8 of choreography… Run it a few times in large groups… Small groups… With the choreographer and without.

Now: it’s your turn to show them your stuff. Book that job. Do what you do best and show them how you love it.

In a blink of an eye: it’s done. And they say THANK YOU… Next group.

What?! Huh?! You forgot count 4 and then were late on count 5… But YOU KNOW COUNT 4!! Your heart is screaming,”PLEASE GIVE ME ANOTHER CHANCE!!” Your brain is taunting “You know better”.

In this reality of low employment, 6am sign ups, and contracts getting smaller and smaller, auditions are getting more and more crowded. This means that creative teams and casting directors don’t have time to give us that second chance we so desperately want.

Motivated Movers is all about empowering you to make confident and smart choices, SO
Here are 5 ways to help mentally prepare yourself before,during and after your audition to help you keep shuffling off to your next audition with confidence.

BEFORE:

1. Create art. Don’t book jobs.
What the what? This is a tough mindset to get yourself into, but dang, how good it feels when you are there! No matter why we are in this business, the base reason is: to create. See each audition as a chance to do what you love. Detach yourself from the expectation of booking work and revel in the process and creation of “something” in that 8 counts of 8 or 32 bars of a song.

2. Mantra it out.We LOVE mantras at Motivated Movers. Having a little conversation in your head isn’t only for the slightly crazy people who you see on the train any longer! Here are a few we love:

 

* I am enough

*Breathe in joy and simply make a choice

* I am enough

* Breathe in joy and simply make a choice

* What is meant for me will not pass me.

If you can use these little triggers to get your mind in a better place– you are already walking into the room more willing, able, and open… All very castable qualities. CLICK HERE to get our special gift to the Broadway Warm-Up community. It’s a great tool to get you motivated for that next movers call!

3. Warm-up
(I know. I know. Here I am writing for BROADWAY WARM-UP and I am about to harp on the importance of warming up, BUT I only speak the truth! I promise they didn’t ask me to do this.. haha)
By choosing to start your day with the Broadway Warm-Up or getting that rehearsal room to run through material and/or your own form of mental/physical/emotional prep, you are setting yourself up for success! You have time to get your brain into the right mental frame, you are able to prepare your body and voice so that they are able to work to the best of their ability in that moment. Plus, you’ve already made sure that everything is in working order, so you can enter that room confident that you are at your best!

IN THE ROOM:

4. Create a sense of community– not competition.
Actors have a bad rap for being cut throat and crazy (pushing the lead down the stairs… sabotaging costumes… etc) but we all know that we aren’t THAT crazy….
I love to make eye contact with the choreographer and their assistants, answer them when they ask a question “Should we try it from the top?” Or “Anyone have questions?”. This makes me feel more at ease and comfortable, and they notice as well.
I also love to compliment people when their work or presence moves me. Now– I don’t mean you have to hand out compliments right and left. I mean when you see a great performance – tell someone.
Sizing others up and wishing others ill just makes for a toxic environment in the room and in your mind. Let’s try to quell that.

AFTERWARDS:

5. Write it out and LET.IT.GO.

I keep a journal with me at all auditions: On the train ride home,
I write:
•what I auditioned for
•who was in the room
•2 things I did well
•1 area of improvement

Then– I’m done with it. It’s off my back,and I am on to the next. Auditions are just job interviews. We don’t deserve to beat ourselves up all day about what we could have done better. We also have to be wary of pumping ourselves up too much when we think we do well. The journal helps me keep everything in perspective.

Now go out there and hit the ground running!

Follow these 5 easy steps and maybe you’ll even be able to embrace
Motivated Movers 3 favorite words in your next audition:
Love. Joy. Movement!

Motivated Movers is a contributor to The Broadway Warm-Up Blog

About Motivated Movers:
Motivated Movers is a unique mind/body dance program designed to create a safe space for beginner dancers to explore, express, create, and manifest empowerment as performing artists. It is our mission to motivate and educate movers within the musical theatre industry in a safe and positive space to set our students up for success for all auditions and artistic endeavors.​ We provide affordable, convenient dance classes, private coachings, goal coachings, and masterclasses, all ways for actors to hone their dance skills and evolve as artists. Our classes are theatre based, exploring fundamental jazz, ballet, and tap technique, take the time to break down steps and concepts at the pace our students needs, and pay close attention to the mind and emotions of a beginning dancer. For more go to www.motivatedmoversnyc.com.

About Jesse:
Jesse is a Catholic University of America alum & Maryland native. As a performer and teacher, Jesse loves empowering others to find joy and abundance in their lives. Jesse resides in New York City as she is pursuing both a career in theater as well as choreography. For more about her, check out her website http://www.jessekpalmer.com. Do what you love. Love what you do.

A completely synchronized vocal and dance warm-up for performers. 

Now Available on DVD!

www.broadwaywarmup.com

Practice Makes Progress

Jessica Latshaw hits some really inspiring points about practice, progress and patience in this month’s installment! We’d love to hear some secrets/tips you’ve found for committing to regular practice or hear you talk about your struggle getting to practice!

We’ve all heard it: Practice makes perfect.

You know what is the best part of that saying?

Practice.

You know what is the misleading part of that saying?

Perfect.

I am reading a book by Dr. Brene Brown. The words she writes resonate in my soul. Reading them feels a little like coming home. Perhaps it is like finally looking at a real, honest-to-goodness photograph of that fabled land, Narnia. True, I have never been there and seen it with my own eyes, but I’ve read enough of C.S. Lewis’ books about it, that, were I to get to see it, I am sure it would be familiar. It’d be deja vu and then some.

Brown writes, ‘Bulletproof and perfect are seductive, but they are not a part of the human experience.’

What, then, are we reaching for?

Why the constant struggle? Forgive me for ending with a preposition, but–what’s it all for?

Progress. Journey. Maturation.

I think it’s easy to see that there is a plan in all of creation. An apple tree bears fruit. A bee makes honey. Sea otters play games and fall in love and hold hands while swimming so as not to lose track of each other. Are any of these things perfect? I guess it depends on what you mean by perfect, right?

Perhaps the apple tree has some nicks in the bark. Perhaps one season does not yield as many apples as previous seasons had. And yet the next season doubles the number. Is this perfect? I don’t know. Is the apple tree being an apple tree? Is it being exactly what the Creator intended for it? Yes.

I am currently training an eleven week old puppy (Oh, you didn’t know? Oh, so you don’t follow me on Instagram?). Every book that I have read on the subject–from the elite Monks of Skete to the no-name articles I look up on my phone at three in the morning–say the same thing: be patient; be consistent.

Guess what Luna, my pup, finally did tonight?

Her down stay.

I have a feeling that it will take a lot more of the same training tomorrow to get her to do it again, but it happened tonight, and when I saw it, I just about did the kind of Irish jig you saw being executed in the bowels of that great ship, The Titanic, in the movie with the same name.

After I gave her the treat, of course.

Is Luna perfect? No. Is she progressing and maturing and growing?

YES.

I MEAN, SHE DID HER DOWN STAY, GUYS!

And we’re practicing, together, all the time. Every day. Multiple times a day.

When she misses a cue or doesn’t reach a goal, I think to myself, Next time, Luna-Loo; it’ll happen next time.

Dr. Brown says something to the effect of using the same kind of self-talk that you would use with a loved one. Patience and kindness. Encouragement. A you’ll-get-there attitude.

Just today I was talking with my good friend, Grace, about her performance on stage. She’s constantly asking me what I think she could do to make it better. So I tell her, but not without first saying that she’s amazing. That I am splitting hairs. That I am finding the tiny bit of rust in a sea of brightly shining metal. And then I tell her to be patient when she is frustrated that her craft is not yet perfect. I tell her she’s on her way–and, more than anything else, to be herself and enjoy the process.

The professors I admired most in school critiqued from a wide, beautiful place of love. Ruthie, especially, a fiery and beautiful blue-eyed woman who was one of the great American choreographer, Paul Taylor’s, muses, would begin every criticism with a compliment.

“You have such a beautiful way of moving, Jessica,” she’d say, “Why not try it with a greater sense of groundedness? Can you imagine your pelvis closer to the floor as you initiate your movement with an undercurve and always, always, always a plie?”

She thinks I have a beautiful way of moving? I will do anything she asks. Anything.

Ruthie brought the best out of me. Her kindness and patience actually motivated me to work harder, believe it or not. It wasn’t that she didn’t have standards–no! Her class was hard and everybody knew that her warm-up alone would either get you in shape or have you die trying. But somehow her words had a way of encompassing every kind of dancer–all sorts of shapes and sizes and talents and abilities–and setting us up for success, rather than failure.

She led us to believe that success looked differently on a dancer who is 5’2 with tree trunk legs and a contraction for days compared to a dancer who is 5’8 and more comfortable in pointe shoes than anything else.

The word perfect wasn’t mentioned, yet the word math–in the sense that there would be problems and here are the tools to solve them, class!–was mentioned quite a lot.

Like I said before, it was a you’ll-get-there-attitude, and I always left class feeling like maybe, just maybe, if I worked hard enough, I really would get there.

My point is that we could try these same things on ourselves. I am convinced that the battles we fight in this life are won and lost first in the mind. Why not set ourselves up for success? Why not practice patience and kindness within, just as we practice those same things with those around us?

 

 

And perhaps we will fall so in love with the journey of practicing and where it takes us, that we will forget about the static old goal of perfection. We’re movers and climbers, anyway. You can pull out your flag and stake it on a small plot of earth that you dub PERFECT and then stay there forever, if you’d like. And, yes, I am going to admire it for all its loveliness, for sure, when I visit, but I won’t be staying. I will keep going. Because there is always something up ahead. Something right around the bend. Something more in this journey that we are on, whether we like it or not. Whether it feels good or not.

So practice makes progress.

And patience is made of more durable stuff than roadblocks, my friends.

 

Jessica Latshaw  is a monthly contributor to The Broadway Warm-Up Blog.  For more information on Jessica go to: www.jessicalatshawofficial.com

A Completely Syncronized Vocal and Dance Warm-Up for performers

Now available on DVD! 

www.broadwaywarmup.com

Snapshots of NOW: My Photo Shoot With Lululemon

 

 

Another inspiring blog installment from Broadway Warm-Up monthly blog contributor Jessica Latshaw:

 

Snapshots of NOW: My Photo Shoot With Lululemon

Tomorrow I am doing a photo shoot for the ambassadorship for Lululemon. If you don’t know, Lululemon is a fantastic clothing line for all things movement. With the hashtag, #TheSweatLife, they encourage people to live their best lives; to constantly be challenging themselves and working towards health–physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, etc. If there is a way to be healthy, they are for it. I am so happy to partner with them. I love their philosophy and their positivity and it’s an honor to be part of their team. And like I stated already: tomorrow morning is my photo shoot with them.

The ironic part is that right now, I have probably never felt less like being photographed in a tight tank top. You think about these moments in life; you imagine them being a certain way. I remember first walking into the Lululemon in Union Square and seeing a large poster-sized photo of a beautiful dancer/ instructor on the wall and literally thinking, I’d love to be on that wall someday.

That was a little less than two years ago.

Now it’s happening.

Now I get to be on the wall.

And now I am almost four months pregnant.

“Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans,” is what John Lennon wisely said. You have plans–you should have plans, too–but they are not the obedient little children you thought you were raising. They are wild things, plans. They sometimes go their own way. And as the plans run the opposite way, you face something even more wild than the plans: the moment. And if you’re smart, and maybe a bit wild, too, you embrace it. You learn to let it lead in this dance, swaying and dipping to a music that is both wonderful and new and unlike anything you’ve heard before until now. Until this moment. And life is a lot of things, yes, but it is not boring and it is not predictable and it is probably better than what you’d originally conceived in a mind that is brilliant, yes! but a mind that cannot take in or consider all the elements of this glorious universe that, together, land in the same place. A place we call now. A place where the wise and daring ones live.

So tomorrow morning I will not be rocking my favorite crop top, as I would have just a few short months ago. Not this moment; for this is a different one than then. I don’t regret this baby growing inside of me for one second. I just never imagined that I’d be a pregnant girl on the wall of Lululemon. It is a vulnerable thing to pose without feeling perfect. But it is also an honest thing. And it is also an always thing. For we are kidding ourselves when we toss around the word perfect. It does not exist, really, in the realm of art and movement and individuality. There is excellence and there is vulnerability and there is you–and I would argue that those things, together, capture a heart and make one content to stop looking for perfection, for what they’ve found instead is far more captivating, anyway. So here goes embracing this moment. This beautiful, imperfect, vulnerable, new, never-before-seen, awesome, and pregnant moment.

 

 

Jessica Latshaw is a monthly contributor for The Broadway Warm-Up Blog.  For more info on Jessica go to: www.jessicalatshawofficial.com 

 

The Broadway Warm-Up: A completely synchronized vocal and dance warm-up for performers that can be completed in under 30 minutes! 

Now Available on DVD! 

www.broadwaywarmup.com

 

 

 

Revelation Reverie With Marc Santa Maria!

Broadway Warm-up Blog Contributor Marc Santa Maria has had a busy month!  Check out his recent blog for all of the revelations.  And give him an extra shout out for his recent nuptials! Congrats Marc!

 

Revelation Reverie

What Up Team Broadway Warm-Up! It’s been a wild month since we last connected. I’m going to jump right into My Three Reveries because I’m that excited to share with you!

ACTOR REVERIE: Yesterday was a total creative play day. By 7:15am, I was on the set of Good Morning America, presenting a workout called “Hard Knocks” that launches nationally at Crunch Gyms next week. I love live TV because you have to be so frickin’ present to roll with whatever changes pop up. Staying in the moment is key to making it all happen the way producers, PR folks, hosts, live audience and your support team want it to. Right after that, I got to shoot an industrial/in-house corporate commercial where I had to sing lines from the 42nd Street song “The Lullaby of Broadway” over and over and over again. IT WAS SO FUN! And in between takes, I’d do BW exercises straight from the DVD to stay present and ready. Loved having access to something clear to do to keep my voice take-after-take ready.

FIT DUDE REVERIE: Then right after we wrapped the industrial – I got to hang with Charissa Hogeland, the Dance Captain from Heathers the Musical and dance fitness expert Carol Johnson to learn choreography for a very special Musical Theatre Dance Fitness Class we are putting together for Crunch, featuring Heathers songs! I get to choreography to “My Dead Gay Son” and “Blue” (as in one’s balls). I know . . . so very. Class is in June for 4 weeks – Tuesdays @ 5:45pm at Crunch, 23rd Street in Chelsea. Wanna come boogie down with us theatre style – email me at marcsm@me.com and I’ll get you in as my guest. “You make my balls feel so blue.” My new fave line from the show.

ADVENTURE REVERIE: I got married 5 days ago. How’s that for an adventure? Still on a high from our wedding day and I can feel that this vibe is going to be around for a super long time . . .

 

Marc Santa Maria is a monthly contributor to The Broadway Warm-Up Blog.  For more info on Marc go to: www.marcsm.com

www.broadwaywarmup.com

A completely synchronized vocal and dance warm-up for performers. 

Now available on DVD! 

 

I Lost Control and Then I Found Something Better

Check out this awesome and hysterical blog from Monthly Guest Blogger Jessica Latshaw about the benefits of losing control!

I Lost Control and Then I Found Something Better

I think good things happen not only when we lose control (because, really, when do we ever have total control?), but the best things happen when we lose our dearly held–albeit delusional–idea of our control over anything other than what exists between the crown of our heads and the soles of our feet.
How’s that for a first sentence? If it’s not long enough for you, I can work on it.

Somebody told me a story about Ella Fitzgerald. I cannot tell you if this is entirely true, because I was not there, but this is what I heard. When Ella went to the studio to record, her producer made her sing a song over and over again-to the point of exhaustion, even. It wasn’t until then that someone would finally hit record. The truth comes out when you’re too tired to pretend anymore. And there’s nothing so interesting as the raw, unguarded truth, was the point of the story, I believe.
(Tell that to someone who is belting, and they may very well prefer clarity of tone and pitch over interesting, but still.)

I work for a company called Fly Wheel Sports, teaching indoor stadium cycling to people who have big goals and the motivation to match. Oftentimes clients will tell me they perform better when they are exhausted and walk into a class with not nearly as much expectation on themselves because of it. They are shocked. But I wonder if it has something to do with the pressure being off and a sense of control being lost. I wonder if better things happen as a result of those two factors.

One of my best auditions came out of some of the worst circumstances. First of all, I was late. Not just I-am-not-there-to-sit-in-a-split-in-the-holding-room-with-headphones-on-an-hour-before-they-call-me late. I mean, I literally was not there when the audition started. The casting director called me, “Where are you?” she asked, concerned.
“On the train–it’s delayed and I will be there as soon as humanly possible.”
I had come to the conclusion that there was nothing I could do about the train being delayed and the fact that I was still on the other side of the Lincoln Tunnel while my competitors were dancing for the director I wanted to hire me.

Finally, I arrived. I heard the music, but I couldn’t help it–I HAD to go to the bathroom. Yep, my belly was not feeling so well and it chose that moment to decide to move things around inside.

I was already late–what’s a little bit later? I decided.

Then I got my period.
(I am sorry, but that is a part of this story, and to leave it out would be an injustice to the art of story telling.)

So I did what was necessary (the art of story telling sometimes demands certain details be left out, too, you know), and finally walked into the audition room. I threw my heels on and without so much as a stretch, started doing whatever the choreography demanded of me.
Somewhere between my train getting delayed, getting sick in the bathroom, and getting my period, I decided to let myself off the hook in terms of HAVING TO GET THIS JOB. I decided I have no control over most things–and what I do have control over, well, I can only do my best.

They made a cut and told me to please come back and sing when they call my name.
So I went back to the bathroom and composed myself.

Which is when I saw it.

The thing about getting your period is that you use certain tools to keep yourself clean.

The thing about being a dancer is that you sometimes wear a leotard and just fishnet tights to auditions.

The thing about those certain tools is that they tend to have strings.

The thing about fishnets is that they tend to have holes.

I noticed with horror that a string was actually threaded through my fishnet tights and sticking out the other side in a most unseemly and untoward manner.
In short: I was mortified.

While hiding the embarrassing evidence of my femininity, I couldn’t help but laugh over the whole situation. Late. Sick. Unexpected time of the month. And then my tampon string literally threaded through my fishnet tights and out the other side–all this while I am doing high kicks just a few feet in front of the whole production team.

I tuck the string away and walk back into the room. I sing. Then I read a monologue. I realize that I don’t have a say over whether or not I get the job, but, man, at least I am very alive and at least I am doing my best and life is more fun when the pressure is off, anyway. Plus, there is a part of me that is standing back, analyzing the situation, and realizing that this will make a good story.

I finally finish and start the journey back home. Which is when I get a call from the casting company.
“You got the job!” they say, “You’re our Kristine in A Chorus Line–either here in New York, or the 1st National–whichever opens up first. But the production team wants you.”
I thank them. I can’t help but smile, laugh, and cry a little. The role of Kristine is a somewhat neurotic and quirky role; if they saw the tampon string, it only helped my case.

But the point is, there is a freedom that comes with realizing that none of us are in total control. That we all just do our best in the moment. We take whatever we can grab within our very finite reach and we make something. Dear God, we hope that something is good. We really hope that something makes money. But it’s what we do, over and over again, and the more we do it, the more we realize it is imperfect, hardly ever according to plan, and sometimes even better than we could have imagined.

But no, it never really involves us being in control of the situation.
And maybe that’s when the truth comes out; which, as someone told me, is way more interesting than a carefully composed lie, anyway.

Jessica Latshaw is a monthly blog contributor to The Broadway Warm-Up blog. For more information on Jessica go to: www.jessicalatshawofficial.com

www.broadwaywarmup.com

The Broadway Warm-Up: A Completely Synchronized Vocal and Dance Warm-Up that can be completed in under 30 minutes Now available on DVD!

What to Wear To An Audition: The Rules

Ladies in Gentlemen, it is with absolute joy that we introduce our next guest blogger… Gretchen Bieber! Gretchen is one of those multitalented folk who we just marvel at. You’ve seen her performing on Broadway, she’s one of the top hair and make Hair and Makeup Stylists we know and she just so happens to be a Broadway Warm-Up Cast Member.

You can discover more about Gretchen by clicking HERE, but first check out this installation of her blog for The Broadway Warm-Up titled From The Outside Looking In.  Keep an eye out for this monthly segment for fantastic Hair, Makeup and Style tips geared specifically for actors!

From The Outside Looking In: What To Wear To An Audition

Hey! I’m Gretchen. Your friendly Actor/Makeup & Hair Stylist/Broadway Warm-Up Cast Member. As a stylist, having a “good eye” is critical. It’s not really something that can be taught. But it is something that can grow and change and morph into what’s current. As actors, it is our responsibility to also be current and know our product, know our brand. It’s our job to take a critical look at who we are and how we present ourselves in life and in the audition room.

When I first moved to NYC ten years (or so) ago, auditions were different. There were unwritten “rules”. We had black and white headshots, wore dresses with stockings year round (unless auditioning for Rent), and wore our 3 inch Capezio/LaDuca’s when we weren’t even dancing at a Singer Call! I had 3 audition dresses and 3 dance outfits in sensible jewel tones on rotation. Men wore a button down shirt, slacks, and dress shoes. Was it convenient? Absolutely. Was it appropriate? Not so much.

BTW- we do love our La Duca’s!

The new rule is that there is no rule. We just need to find what is flattering to our type and “dress in the world of the play” (as Jen Waldman says). Anything goes as long as it is carefully thought out and on purpose. Do your research! The information is available at our fingertips with the click of a few buttons.

 

Musical Theatre and Broadway have changed. What’s required of the actor has changed. And if we have to be able to belt a high “G” in spanish while dancing on roller skates playing the cello- all while looking fetching in our underwear…Rules are obviously out the window.

Gretchen Bieber is a monthly contributor for:

 The Broadway Warm-Up: A Completely Synchronized Vocal and Dance Warm-Up that can be completed in under 30 minutes! 

www.broadwaywarmup.com

Be Warm