We've been asked a lot of questions about our auditions so here goes.
Frequently Asked Questions about our auditions:
1. What kinds of shoes do I wear? I don't have dance shoes! Help!
Most of our Showgirls practice in tennis shoes, or their character heels that we perform in. If you already have character shoes, please wear them. If you don't, please do NOT buy them. We have a very specific brand, color, and style that we wear, and you'll only have to buy them again if you're accepted onto the team and they aren't right so don't waste that money. You can wear any type of dance shoes, ballet or jazz, bare feet, socks, leggings, leg warmers, or tennis shoes. You may NOT wear high heels with regular heels, cleats, or anything else that may scratch up the professional floor of the dance studio.
2. What should I wear?
We wear corset, booty shorts, & obviously our tailfeathers & headpiece feathers to perform. For practice we usually dress in our showgirl colors of gold, black, white, and cream. Dance wear, yoga wear, gym wear is all fine and totally appropriate. You can wear a costume if you feel like you want to show us your costuming skills. You may wear whatever you want, we just suggest that you dress the part. Come hair & makeup ready. Dress like you would be dressed if we had visitors at our rehearsal or if we were showing up for a performance.
3. I don't have a headshot & resume. What do I do?
We strongly suggest you make one, ASAP. You can print out a headshot for $2 at Walmart or Walmart.com with their 1 hour printing. You can also make a resume in just a few minutes. Lots of our girls book paying gigs throughout the year so this will at some point be a necessity if you'd like those jobs as well. If you can't, don't stress, we'll have a resume workshop at some point within the year & every Showgirl receives headshots as part of her first year package.
4. What are dues? When do I have to pay them?
New member dues are $600, returning member dues are $150 per year. $150 per year covers things that come up every year like insurance, transportation to and from parades, snacks, waters & gatorade chews for practice, t-shirts for volunteers, dance studio fees, porta-potty, etc, etc, etc. The $600 initial fee is mainly to cover your costume, which is elaborate with lots of sequins & appliques & ostrich feathers, which are not cheap. The costume is yours to keep after you pay your $600 & are a member in good standing. For each new Showgirl, we pay $200 out of pocket, we only ask that you cover the $600 portion. It's due in 3 $200 installments throughout the year, that are due in September, October, and November, or October, November, and December, spending on when you audition.
5. Are there other incidental expenses throughout the year?
There are several parties we go to throughout the year with different costumes. If you wanted to go to, say, the 610 Stompers Ball with us, you'd be required to pay for your own ticket to the event & your own costume, at a huge discount. The costumes this year were provided to our members for $15 each and it's a $150 costume. You'll also have to pay for your character shoes and tights, which run about $60. Some members choose to buy additional feathers, body suits, heel pads, toe pads, body warmers, etc for their costume and that's all at your own expense. You'll also have options to buy showgirl t-shirts, jewelry, accessories & additional costumes throughout the year.
6. That sounds expensive! Is it worth it?
Yes! In addition to becoming a Showgirl, you're picking up a ton of new friends, a Showgirl sisterhood, and tons of #ShowFamily like our Biggest & Littlest Fans who come to our events. We also had the opportunity, as Showgirls, to make $2400 last year each with lots of paid gigs! So it's totally worth it!
7. Why are you auditioning in March when your season runs September-September?
We had such a high demand after our Mardi Gras debut this year that we decided to open it up halfway through the year for this year only. So for one year, $600 dues will cover a year and a half of membership for a few lucky girls. You'll still be able to participate in the Easter parade, our ball, and a ton of community service events, so there's lots of things coming up that you'll still be able to do.
8. What kinds of events do you do?
Last year we appeared in the Krewe of Boo, Okeanos, and Carrollton parades. We'll be in the Chris Owens Easter Parade in March as well. We particpated in the Tom Cruise Movie, Jack Reacher 2 as featured dancers for several nights. We've participated in commericals for Toyota & TurboTax, and also appeared in the Halloween episode of NCIS New Orleans Season 1.
We are committed to our community with charity events. We've appeared at the NO Aids Benefit & have recently done fundraisers for both the American Cancer Society Belles & Beaus, and the New Orleans Lympho-Maniacs. We have a community service event coming up where we will make Easter headpieces with ill children from Angel's Place at their annual Spring Picnic. We also have upcoming events with Team Gleason, and other charities around the New Orleans area.
Finally, we love each other and have a ton of fun with socials. We have BBQs and picnics, costume making events, and take dance classes, painting classes, & all sorts of other events with each other. We love spending time with each other and have very little drama or conflicts (there ARE 20 women, I'm not going to say it's perfect!) Overall though, if you are all about being a diva, this is not the group for you!
If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask! You can Facebook us, or e-mail us at NOLAShowgirls@gmail.com
xoxo,
NOLA Showgirls
