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Health & Fitness

Audition! Audition! (Charms #21)

Why not give something new a whirl?

Why are auditions cool and magical?  This Sunday’s audition at Elm City Dance Collective has gotten me to wondering.

So, in the spirit of research (also known as joy!), I’ve just “auditioned” a new recipe, a new dance class, 2 new musical genres, and a new place to visit and maybe live. 

My explorations make me think the magic, especially for the chancier tryouts, is partly about the adrenalized journey onto the shaky branches of uncertainty, exposure, risk.  Your survival instinct is revved, even as your knees are knocking, to help you through the challenge.  Including your own fears: What if the audition is a dud?     

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But woven into all the uncertainty is the glow of possibility.  What if it’s a cool adventure?  What if you take a chance and survive, maybe even land the role?  What if there’s a new connection, and you dig the fresh ideas, food, city, people, inspiration?

Because every time we break out of the cocoon of the familiar, we open the door of the exciting unknown.  Yeah, ok, that could mean falling on your face, but how else to discover what else in the wide world lights your fire?

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The icing on the cake is when you’ve got this heightened awareness, this sense of being fully present.  Whether you’re in the kitchen trying a new concoction or interviewing for a job or making art, you’re in the zone.  And when you’re in “flow” mode, you can field all of  the curve balls thrown your way. The audition rocks.  As do you.

1) Real-life audition:  Attention, dancer friends.  The beautiful, talented and fierce choreographer Kellie Lynch is looking for dancers for her new project with Elm City Dance Collective.  What an opportunity! This Sunday, August 5, 3-6 p.m., Connecticut Capoeira and Dance Center, 1175 State Street, New Haven; www.elmcitydance.org for info and www.elmcitydance@gmail.com to register.  See you there!

2) Helpful reminders from 2 great movie directors: ”The only safe thing is to take a chance.”– Mike Nichols

and

“The whole thing about making…an organic film on location is that it’s not all about characters, relationships and themes, it’s also about place and the poetry of the place.  It’s about the spirit of what you find, the accidents of what you stumble across.” –Mike Leigh

3) Fresh, tasty new summer dish: “Roasted Salmon**, Snap Pea and Cucumber Salad,” Weeknights with Giada, Giada De Laurentiis, p. 44. 

I gave this a whirl and am glad I did.  Miraculous–I was able to make a dinner that met all the criteria of the fam.  Namely: high flavor, high vitamin and fiber, some protein, low calorie, low carb, low fat dish that didn’t heat the kitchen a ton.

* *I actually substituted for the canned salmon a pound and a half of thawed, peeled, deveined shrimp that I roasted in a pan with a little olive oil, kosher salt and pepper at 400-degrees F. for 8ish minutes, cooled.

The citrus dressing, crunchy, sweet vegetables and shrimp combined beautifully, lightly. YUM.

4) Tryout A + Tryout B=Inspiring, New-to-Me Music:  One of the cool results of my son’s having tried out (and loved) living in France last year is that he’s found a fresh source of great music.  When my son asked me to have a listen, I immediately gave the thumb’s up to the highly danceable Nu Disco remixes and mashups of French electronic musicians like Justice and Madeon (only 17?!).

Then, yesterday my son turned up the volume on some of the highly distinctive tunes of Onra’s “Chinoiseries” series.  A Vietnamese/Parisian hip hop artist, Onra intriguingly combines Chinese pop music from the 60s/70s with vocal samples of everyday Chinese conversation drenched in a soul/hip hop feel.

5) Hope your tryout goes great! enjoy….

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