So... today was America's Got Talent auditions.
Directly after church my mom and I went down to the venue (the place where auditions were held). We waited until the whole group (the oldest dance class-- they did the ribbon dance) got there. Then we went in and did the paperwork that we had missed.
What really annoyed me was that I could help them with their form, but they thought they were being all smart trying to figure it all out together. And one of the dancer's moms brought their entire family, and was complaining about how inconvenient is was that she had to fill out forms for every person. Umm, it's not inconvenient, it that YOU brought your ENTIRE family.
It took an hour to get registered, because we were a huge group. Finally, I went upstairs with the dancers and their parents while my mom stayed downstairs to help the little class (Rattle Drum Dance) get registered.
On the way up, I saw this little girl, probably about seven years old, in an... ummm, intricate costume. It was basically a flashy, sparkly underwear type of deal. Way too old for her. She might as well have just had a two-piece bathing suit on.
We got upstairs to the waiting room. There were huge America's Got Talent banners on practice dance floors.
The girls started putting on make-up and doing the finishing touches on their hair.
Finally, the little class came up. They had THREE cameras on them! Apparently as soon as they walked in, a camera began following them and taking videos of everything they did.
As they were doing something for the camera, we heard a loud BOOM! and saw a chair fall over.
A guy was trying to catch it, and he looked up and said to them, "You little girls are so cute! I mean, the costumes are just GREAT! So adorable! I mean, ya'll are just SO ADORABLE you should get in just on CUTENESS!! I vote YES! I probably just broke my toe on a chair, but... Ya'll are just... so CUTE! ...yeah, I'm okay..."
Then the cameraman wanted some footage of them rehearsing in front of one of the banners on a practice dance floor, where three other kids were trying to rehearse. I was watching the kids rehearse, and, I'm sorry, but they have zero chance.
They got off the floor when the cameraman told them to, but their mom was making a big deal out of it. She was on the phone saying, "They told me they'd be on for two minutes... yeah, they on for an hour! I was like, 'Are ya'll done?'"
Ummm, excuse me, lady, but I didn't see a cameraman following YOUR kids. You want our kids off the floor? Tell the cameraman TO HIS FACE.
And guess what? Even after our kids were off the floor, her kids didn't even get back on.
There was another dance group who were... really good. They had a whole black gazebo for a prop, and they were all dressed as black swans. Their age range was probably from five to fifteen. Their dance was pretty crazy. I think there was too much going on (swinging around in the gazebo, and the such) but it was really impressive. There were kids getting onto the the gazebo and falling down, sometimes in twists and turns, and falling into the arms of girl under them, who would catch them and bring them around the gazebo. It was really good. I'm glad we're not going against them... yet. The first auditions are just to see who's talented enough. They're already notifying people who've finished auditions earlier in the school year.
Anyways, after about forty-five minutes of last preparation, we were called down the hall, into a room.
I really wasn't allowed in, according to the paperwork, but I saw one dancer's two brothers go in with no problem, so I just went in, too. No one said anything about it.
The ribbon dancers went first. It was really good-- perfect, except for some of them getting their ribbons kind of twisted.
Then the little dancers went next. They were good, too. They definately charmed the judges. There was only one part where they weren't together...
While we were going out, the judges (who I think were Irish, because of their accent and looks) told us to just wait outside "in case there was missing paperwork".
So we waited for a couple of minutes, then they called my mom back inside.
She came out, bringing the news that they wanted to see the ribbon dancers again!
We were led down another hall, where I saw Robert, our Chinese Yo-Yo teacher, headed our way. I was really excited and attacked him with a hug (not a great idea when you're holding a boom box) and asked how he did. He had a callback, like us, and he didn't mess up! He's so going to make it.
He said he had to go to an interview, so he left.
In the room we were showed to, there was a man dressed in black, with a bright blue jacket. I thought he was working there, but he had a number on, which he pointed out to me later.
Anyway, one of the little dancers said something to him, and asked what her name was. She said, "Emma..." really cautiously, and he asked, "When's your birthday?" She said, "Ummm... July 17th?" He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, and held it in front of her, saying, "Would it be completely crazy if the number written on here was 717? Open it." She took it and opened it-- and it had 717 written by hand.
That's why I thought he worked there-- I thought he'd already seen our paperwork and just picked hers and wrote the number down, then looked carefully to see who called her "Emma."
The dancers were then called into the room next door to audition, and only my mom was allowed to go in with them.
We waited in the room with the blue jacket man.
I asked him what he was doing, and he said, "I'm not working here, I was just playing with you guys. I auditioned--see my number?--so I don't know why I'm still here."
"No, but what's your act?"
"I'm kind of like between a magician and physic. Ever heard of physic? I'm not that, because they make their shows all scary, you know, and talking to dead relatives and all. What I do for a job is I'm a 'mentalist'. I do shows and everything in front of crowds of people. I'm just someone who plays with people's minds. I can make you think what I want you to think."
"Well... what'd you do for the judges?"
"I did some tricks. They just sat there gawking at me."
"No, but, like, what exactly did you do? Can you show me?"
"Well... okay. Here's one."
He took a dice from his shoe and rotated it in front of my eyes.
"Choose a number in your head. Don't tell me. Now what I want you to do when I walk away is to take this dice, put the number face up, and cover it with you hand."
He handed it to me. I chose the number 4, put the side with four dots up, and covered it with my hand.
"I'm done," I said.
He looked over at me and said, "No, that was too fast. But okay. You chose 4."
I was amazed.
I told him to do it again.
He rotated it in front of my eyes, like he did before, and said, "Same thing. I already know what you're going to choose, but I can't tell you, because if I do, you'll change your mind."
I chose 6, and did the same thing with it.
He said, "I don't even need to turn around to guess what you chose. I already know what you chose. You chose 6."
Just then, the dancers came back into the room. I got the mentalist's autograph, and we left.
The dancer's ribbons got a lot more tangled, and one girl even stopped to untangle herself. She was on the side, though, so I hope that the camera didn't get her. They should use the video from the first audition instead of the second.
It's amazing that we got callbacks, though. Most people just get a "Good job. Thank you." from the judges, but not us!
Pray for us! :D :D
