All campers for TAP Junior & TAP Senior are required to audi­tion at the begin­ning of camp. Auditions are held for many rea­sons. The staff will get the oppor­tu­ni­ty to know all the campers and their strengths and weak­ness­es in all types of per­for­mance. Additionally the staff will be able to make cast­ing deci­sions about the final show­case, place campers in the cor­rect class lev­els, and make sure that all class­es are chal­leng­ing and appro­pri­ate. All campers will par­tic­i­pate in mul­ti­ple sec­tions of the audi­tion. The audi­tion process will be con­duct­ed in a pro­fes­sion­al and encour­ag­ing envi­ron­ment. It will be fun, but we are expect­ing your per­son­al best.

Jump to Junior Camp | Senior Camp

Auditioner Basics

  • Give 100% Effort
  • Take A “Creative Risk”
  • Showcase your tal­ents and abilities
  • Be sup­port­ive of oth­ers at the audition

Junior Camp

You will be called in one-at-a-time to slate. Your slate will con­sist of the fol­low­ing com­po­nents: your full name, where you are from & some­thing inter­est­ing about you.

Example “inter­est­ing” responses:

  • Your pre­vi­ous training
  • Favorite shows
  • People who have inspired you
  • Future goals or endeavors
  • Recent suc­cess­es
  • Reason for com­ing to this camp

*Note: These are just exam­ples; you should be cre­ative with your responses!

We will be look­ing for poise, artic­u­la­tion, stage pres­ence, eye con­tact, believ­abil­i­ty, dic­tion, vocal pro­jec­tion & sin­cer­i­ty. We are not look­ing for com­e­dy, silli­ness or skits.

Dancing
A jazz com­bi­na­tion will be taught to every­one and you will per­form in small groups. Please wear either jazz shoes or ten­nis shoes to the audition.We will be look­ing for poise, stage pres­ence, facial expres­sions, con­fi­dence, clar­i­ty of steps, mem­o­ry for steps, sense of style, use of body & self-awareness.

Singing
We will teach you a song from a Broadway show of our choos­ing and you will each sing part of that song, first in groups and then as a solo. Everyone will sing alone at some point! We will be look­ing for poise, artic­u­la­tion, stage pres­ence, eye focus, expres­sion, inter­pre­ta­tion, dic­tion, vocal pro­jec­tion, musi­cian­ship & rhythm.

Tips for Non-Dancers
If you learn more slow­ly, stand toward the front, play close atten­tion and ask ques­tions. Have per­son­al­i­ty! Even if you don’t feel com­fort­able, lowok like you are hav­ing a great time! Sell it! If you mess up a dance step, don’t wor­ry about it. Choreographers know they can even­tu­al­ly teach you the steps. We’d much rather have some­one who has loads of per­son­al­i­ty than an expres­sion­less per­son exe­cut­ing steps perfectly.

Tips for Non-Singers
Sing out! Try to fill the room with your voice, even if you make a mis­take. Sell the song! Singing is about sto­ry­telling. Even if you’re not the best singer you can still use your voice to tell us a sto­ry. Act like you’re hav­ing fun and enjoy­ing your­self even if you’re scared to death. Remember: We all want you to suc­ceed. We are not judg­ing you. It is per­fect­ly fine if you make a mis­take. (Don’t wor­ry, we’ve all been in your shoes before.)

Senior Camp

Campers will audi­tion in front of the staff and oth­er campers. Each camper has no more than five min­utes to present his/​her audi­tion. Those who are attend­ing Tap Advanced, fol­low the Advanced Camp audi­tion requirements.

What to Prepare

  • Acting
     2 con­trast­ing 1 – 2 minute monologues
  • Musical Theatre
     2 con­trast­ing 16 bar cuts from musi­cal the­atre reper­toire, 1 mono­logue (1−2 min­utes) from a play, and a less-than 1 minute dance in the style of your choos­ing (option­al)
  • Filmmaking
     Present a selec­tion of pre­vi­ous work, or intend­ed work (May be a link or on a hard drive.)

Requirements and Tips

Monologues
The mono­logues must be from a pub­lished play. We are look­ing for nat­ur­al and hon­est performances.

Choosing a mono­logue: Find a mono­logue from a play, not writ­ten for a mono­logue book. Check your local library, book­store or the inter­net. It is always best to read the entire play before you begin work on a mono­logue. Make sure that you select mate­r­i­al that has an age range you can play convincingly.

Preparing a mono­logue: Based on the play and the char­ac­ter, answer the fol­low­ing ques­tions: 1) Who are you and what is your per­son­al­i­ty like? 2)Where are you? 3) When is it? What cen­tu­ry, year? 4)What time of year? What time of day? 5) Who are you talk­ing to? 6) What do you want from them – or want to pre­vent them from doing? 7) What stands in your way? 8) Why must this be said now and now yes­ter­day or tomorrow?

Songs
Your songs should be 16 bars long and less than two min­utes total. Songs must be per­formed with our piano accom­pa­nist. Bring the sheet music in the cor­rect key.

Consider these basic tips:

1) Know your music/​song.

2) Know your tem­po (how fast or slow you per­form the song).

3) Know exact­ly where you will begin and where you will end.

4) Know the accom­pa­ni­ment: how it sounds in rela­tion to the musi­cal line you are singing.

5) Use good posture.

6) Find a focus point. Don’t let your eyes roll around. Pick a spot and visu­al­ize the per­son you are singing to.

7) Know what you want from the char­ac­ter your singing to.

8) Make spe­cif­ic choic­es about how you’re going to get what you want.

9) Focus on the con­nec­tion between you and the imag­i­nary per­son you are singing to. Create a scene.

Dances
The solo dance pre­sen­ta­tion may be chore­o­graphed by the audi­tion­er, a fel­low dancer, a dance instruc­tor or it may be tak­en from an orig­i­nal pro­fes­sion­al source. Musical accom­pa­ni­ment, if any, must be pro­vid­ed by the camper on com­pact disc.

Filmmaking
Campers are encour­aged to be as cre­ative as nec­es­sary in show­ing the direc­tors and oth­er campers their back­ground and expe­ri­ence. We will screen any pre­vi­ous work you have done (short film, class project, youtube chan­nel videos, any­thing you may have done). If you are brand new to film­mak­ing then don’t fret, just be pre­pared to tell the staff and your fel­low campers about your favorite films and what you hope to gain from your expe­ri­ence at TAP camp. The ‘audi­tion’ is just for the fac­ul­ty to gauge where your skill sets are in order to ensure every camper grows from their expe­ri­ence at TAP.

What the audi­tors will be watch­ing for
How much ener­gy and effort you put into your per­for­mance and how well you relay the mean­ing of the song to the audi­ence. Are you con­fi­dent with the mate­r­i­al? Are you on pitch, in rhythm and prop­er­ly pro­ject­ing? Expression and inter­pre­ta­tion. Showmanship/​Expression: put the style of the piece in your body and face. Confidence: show the chore­o­g­ra­ph­er that you are com­fort- able and con­fi­dent with the com­bi­na­tion. Dance tech­nique: show prop­er tech­nique includ­ing body align­ment, spa­tial aware­ness, rhythm, clar­i­ty of steps, etc.