SPOTLIGHT ON JEN!

This is the week of spotlights!  Today I would like to spotlight an incredible woman named Jen!  She has a supernatural talent for finding the ridiculous in every situation - including DANCE CALLS!  She is the consummate non-dancer, but boy is she funny with fabulous singing chops!  No one has more fun than her in dance calls - which she will explain after I finish rambling about how amazing she is.

I first met Jen doing FIDDLER ON THE ROOF with The Village Light Opera where she played the greatest Grandma Tzeitel the world has ever seen.  One day we were both waiting for an audition together.  Since we had a few hours to wait, we left to eat dumplings (one of my many obsessions) and she told me about HER blog! http://www.jen365.blogspot.com/     HER blog is so awesome it was featured on CNN and in Cosmo Magazine!   The purpose of this blog is to try something new everyday - and her new things were usually crazy such as brushing her teeth in an elevator, wearing a mustache for a day, adopting a blue-footed boobie, and castrating a calf!  Check out her blog!  It's inspiring!  She has changed it this year to "trying things she is bad at" - and this week it's all about DANCE!  Keep checking it for updates on her progress!

I have learned so much from Jen about comedy and living life to its fullest!   I have also learned about patience and how to truly see the good in every single person and in every single situation.  A kinder heart has never existed.  She decided to channel this kindness towards helping me with my own blog.

So without further ado - let me introduce JEN!

M4M: What is your pursued career?  

Jen: Writer of books who auditions for low-pressure shows.

M4M: What are favorite forms of exercise and why?  

Jen: Free dance. The kind where there's no choreography, no instructor, no elitists, no judgments. Just loud music and legwarmers. 

M4M: What are your favorite classes (in any form of fitness) in the city and what do you love about them? 

Jen: Dance Dance Party Party, which is all of the above and more. You wear whatever you want, dance however you feel and participate as much as you feel comfortable. Last time I went I wore a tutu and hot-pink Chucks.

***M4M note - you can see a video of Jen dancing at Dance Dance Party Party here on her blog!  

M4M: What do you do at home or on the road to stay in shape when you can't get to a class or the gym? 

Jen: Rejoice in having such a lovely excuse! But I do travel a lot, and since I fear DVT almost as much as I fear dance auditions, I try to walk and stretch my legs in the galley during long flights. This usually means that a coffee pot gets knocked over, or a flight attendant has to clear her throat kinda loudly, but I have yet to accidentally open the emergency hatch with my foot. 

M4M: How do you approach a dance/movement audition? 


Jen: With abject fear and a deep desire to run.  I usually avoid auditions with a dance call. In the rare case I actually go through with it, the only option left is to just sell the hell out of it. If I can't show that I can dance, I can show them how funny I am. I've had to learn how to commit to the gist of the choreography, since I'm too clunky to make the technical parts look good. What I lack in grace I make up for in enthusiasm. This has yielded desired results only once ever. 

M4M: What advice would you have for non-dancers in a dance audition?  (or what has been the most helpful bit of advice you've received regarding dance and movement auditions.) 

Jen: SELL IT! If you know you're going for a non-dancing role, do the dance audition in character. It's better to have them notice your exuberance than your terrible extension. 

Jen backstage FIDDLER ON THE ROOF