iPod callback?!

i got a phone call at the end of the day yesterday from phil, my commercial agent. i got a callback for that iPod commercial! i know. (i know.) it's so hard for me to believe because all my life, just about everyone i've ever met has always worked very hard to make me believe that i can't move. so when i try to dance, i'm really self-conscious unless i forget myself -- and that can only happen if i'm having fun. hanging out with kenny roberson and renee and babygirl and the rosas and all the other dancers i know has been really freeing because they're so inclusive and encouraging. they've always told me that there's nothing wrong with the way i move. i think somewhere in there, i started to believe them. now i've got a callback on an iPod audition that'll have me dancing in silhouette if i actually get it. wow. the dancers were right. and to think -- for the initial audition, i went in there with a pretty little dress on and my hair in a gigantic afro, and i danced around like a spaz.

phil actually thanked me for making him look good.

so i went back in: same time, same hair, same boots, same beat, different dress. it was a silk cowgirl number that's truly psychedelic. very bright, very gram parsons. renee didn't get a callback, so i went in alone. i went in early to change clothes and get it together because it was too cold to show up ready. when i came out, there were several auditions happening at once and so there was this really interesting visual mix in the main holding area where everyone converged. as i touched up my afro, a slim handsome asian man in a business suit struck up a conversation with me while he played with a deck of cards. he looked conservative but he really wasn't. quite the charmer, in fact. he was there for an callback for a new chewing gum. he wasn't supposed to tell me the name of the gum, so he told me anyway. and then we both laughed. i wasn't supposed to tell him the name of the band that was in the iPod commercial but by then i hadn't looked over the nondisclosure agreement closely enough to figure out who it was and why i wasn't supposed to blab. i couldn't audition until i signed that contract, though. oh, well. we wished each other luck and waved to each other slowly as he drifted back to his section, and i got back to my paperwork which really wasn't that complicated: if you want to be seen, you have to sign. period.

there was more information on the print-out this time, and it was hand-written:

Director's note for callbacks: we want energy. It needs to look untrained. Be creative. We want an ever-changing range of ideas and shapes.

immediately i thought, wow. maybe i could actually get this.

according to the girl at the front desk (who loved my hair), they called back about 30 people or so and they certainly need more than one. i saw griffin at the audition and the callback (we did a workshop of stew's travelogues together at the public) and he was like, "whoa -- you said you were going to get this when you came out of that valtrex commercial, remember? you said why am i auditioning for that when i should be seen for this? and now here you are! girl, you're gonna get this..." griffin was there for two callbacks, God bless him -- iPod and The Gum That Can't Be Named. he totally looked like a hippy. he had long dreads down to his elbows and he had let them down with a part in the middle and a band around his head. that was enough right there, as far as i was concerned, to get him the part.

this time, there was a choreographer in the room who emphasized the information on the print-out, which was a little off-putting because he really didn't say anything new or give any real direction. he was perched on a couch near the camera with his legs crossed, looking interested. the blonde was in better spirits and was really nice to me, which was a little off-putting as well. whatever. i said i'd do more of what i did in the first place and then i did it and then it was over. i turned to the camera to slate at the end and realized some snaps came loose and my totally-real-not-fake breasts were exposed. not falling out, mind you -- my lingerie is way too good for that kind of catastrophe -- more like popping out. i was genuinely embarassed. as i left, the choreographer goes, very nice. and i'm thinking is he talking about my cleavage or my movements? or both?

i called phil to let him know how i did. and he reminded me that if i got the commercial, i'd have to go to el-lay from 2/14 to 2/18 -- and i've got two gigs that fall on those dates! everyone will just have to understand when i cancel. i can't say no to a national commercial...