Dear Quint,
Vegas has been amazing. This postcard
is of the Luxor resort, which is where I did
something really dibble, really fresh, and
possibly really stupid all at once. I think I
feel good about it now, but I'm still not
sure. Confused? I'll fill you in next time
we talk on the phone.
Yours til the
banana splits,
Jessi
On the last day of our Vegas trip, I did it.
I auditioned for Cirque du Soleil. But this time, it was for real.
I had spent that week in the hotel gym, stretching and working out and doing whatever else I could think of. I even bought a new leotard for the occassion. When I'm in Mme. Noelle's class, we have a strict dress code: black leotard and pink tights. But when I'm dancing on my own, I love having colors to choose from. My new leotard was hot pink, and I got polka dotted tights to go with it. Claudia complimented me on my outfit which showed me immediately that I made a great choice.
The auditions were at 10 in the morning, so we had planned to go en masse to them after breakfast. All of my friends were supporting me. However, not all of them were going. Stacey wanted to stay behind because it was her last day to see Taylor. I totally understood that and wasn't upset with her at all.
I could barely eat a thing that morning. Dawn kept telling me about how much it would help me to eat something, and I agreed with her, but I was still too nervous to eat.
So after breakfast (I finally finished a slice of cantelope and drank some grapefruit juice), I ran back up to our hotel room with Mary Anne and Mallory and changed into my leotard. Mallory pulled out her tote bag and put her notebook in it. I just sighed. At least she was going to go with me.
When we stepped off the elevator in the lobby, where everyone else was waiting for us, Claudia led everyone in a round of applause.
"You guys! You're gonna make me nervous!" I exclaimed.
I hugged them all and then we headed outside and made our way down the Las Vegas strip. The auditions were being held in a ballroom (doesn't that sound glamorous?) at the Luxor. Mary Anne filled us all in on the Luxor as we walked towards it.
"It's the biggest hotel in Las Vegas, and it's shaped like a pyramid," she explained. "The walls in the rooms in the main building are actually slanted."
"That sounds so cool!" Kristy exclaimed.
"Too bad we couldn't have stayed there, that would have been so dibble," Mallory added.
"I stayed there once when my parents brought me and Jeff here. It's nothing that special," Dawn informed us. It was really great having someone in our group who could give us an insiders perspective on the city, even though she didn't always seem to like Vegas all that much.
"The elevators, which are actually called inclinators, also travel at the angle. We can go explore the place and ride them if we can't go in with Jessi," Mary Anne said.
I would have loved to check out the place, it sounded really neat. The whole hotel, Mary Anne told us, had an Egyptian theme. Being African-American, I thought it would be fun to check out one based on my heritage. But, of course, the auditions were the most important thing right now.
We all oohed and ahhed over the lobby when we walked in. It really looks like you're in a pyramid, and the lobby is open, so if you look up, you see all the halls where the rooms are. Very chic.
"Excuse me, miss?" a woman asked Claudia.
"Yes?" she answered.
"How do I get to the gift shops?" the woman asked.
"Uh… I'm not really sure. I've never even been here before," Claudia responded. The woman looked confused and walked away.
"What was her problem?" Claudia asked.
"I think she thinks you work here, Claud," Kristy explained. I could see how someone could make that mistake. In honor of going to the Luxor, Claudia was wearing an outfit made entirely of this fabric that had hieroglyphics on them. Hieroglyphics, by the way, are the way the ancient Egyptians would write and communicate, they would draw pictures instead of writing things out. Claudia had on a dress made of this tan fabric that had a hieroglyphic print all over it. She also had her hair in pigtails that were tied with scrunchies made of the same fabric. Her shoes were just plain white ballet flats that she painted hieroglyphics on, and her earrings were even little Egyptian people like you'd see in the hieroglyphics. I don't know how she pulls off all these great looks. I'd look crazy in something like that, but she looks incredibly sophisticated.
"Here it is!" Abby exclaimed. "Ballroom A!"
There was a sign posted on the door that announced the Cirque auditions being held inside. Another sign said NO VISITORS.
"Sorry, Jessi," Mary Anne said, "I wish we could go in with you."
I gulped. I was really starting to feel nervous. I had counted on having some support while I was in the auditions, but now it looked like I'd be all by myself.
The girls all wrapped me in a big group hug and then waved, shouted "break a leg!" and walked away.
Shakily, I opened the door and revealed a huge empty room that looked nothing like a ballroom. It was just a big room. No crystal chandeliers or anything like that. All over the floor was men, women, and lots of teenagers and even some kids younger than me all stretching and warming up.
"Are you audizeeoneeng?" a French voice asked me. I turned to the side and saw a table where a young woman was sitting with a sign-in sheet.
"Uh… yeah. I mean, yes!" I said, trying to sound grown-up.
"All right zhen, jost sign in here," she told me, "and zhen take zees number and peen it on your leotard. Zhey'll call you shortly." (In case you're wondering, what she said was "then take this number and pin it on your leotard and that they will call me shortly. She had a very thick French accent, just like Mme. Noelle)
I pinned a piece of paper with the number 1622 on it to my leotard, then tracked down an empty spot and started some stretching. While I was doing this, I also checked out my competition. These people were amazingly talented! There were kids there who looked about Becca's age who were stretching so flexibly as though they had no bones in their body. And these were the people I was competing with?
After what seemed like ages, my number was called. I took a few deep breaths and walked over to the other side of the room to a small curtained-off area. There was a small wooden dance floor set up, and then there was a table where two men and a woman were both sitting with clipboards in their hands.
"Jesseeca Romsey?" one of the men said.
"That's me!" I replied, a little over-excited. I giggled. They all giggled right along with me.
"Jost reelax," the woman told me (she was really saying "just relax"). "When you are ready, we would like to see you perform a few moves, then we will play some music for you to do an impromptu routine to."
They called out about ten different moves to me, all some basic stretches that showed off my strength and flexibility. Then they played a cd of the main theme to their show (which I knew from my copy of the soundtrack) and I winged it and came up with what I felt was a great routine.
"Very nice, Miss Ramsey," one of the men (he was American and didn't have an accent) told me, "We'd like to see you for callbacks. Just go wait back in the ballroom and we should call you in again soon once we've finished with the last few initial auditions."
"Wow, thank you!" I exclaimed.
"Excellent job," the French woman told me.
I walked back out into the ballroom in a giddy daze. Callbacks for Cirque du Soleil. I couldn't believe it.
Then it hit me. What if I actually got in Cirque du Soleil? I would live here in Las Vegas and everything. I overheard some of the kids and teenagers saying that they have housing for the minors who are in the production, almost like you would see at a boarding school.
Could I really live in Las Vegas? Sure, it was great here. The city was really exciting, and being in Cirque would be the chance of a lifetime. Who knew if I would ever have this opportunity again?
On the other hand, I have a great life already, back in Stoneybrook. I love my family, I have the best friends anyone could ask for, and I've got my baby-sitting. Maybe I could baby-sit for some of the kids in Cirque.
But I knew that wouldn't be the same thing. The kids there seemed great, but no one can compare to Matt and Haley Braddock, the Arnold twins, Jamie and Lucy Newton, the Pike kids, and all those other great kids I sit for. How could I leave that all behind?
I spent the hour going over a list of pros and cons in my head of being in Cirque du Soleil and by the time my name was called, I had made my decision.
"All right, Miss Ramsey," the American man started, "We're going to play a different selection this time and-"
"Wait. Before you go any further, I have to say something," I told him.
"Um… all right…" he said, seeming caught off-guard.
"I love dancing. I love it more than anything and I know I want to dance professionally someday. But I don't think that day is today. I have a great life back in Connecticut and I don't think I'm ready to leave that behind. Maybe someday I'll become a member of the Cirque du Soleil cast, but for now, I'd rather stick with being a member of the Baby-Sitters Club." I told them, reciting the speech I had written in my head just before coming back here.
They all smiled at me. I thanked them, and headed out as they all kept smiling and looking at each other. They seemed proud of me for speaking my mind.
Of course, my friends all understood, and told me how they'd have missed me too much if I got in and stayed in Vegas. Kristy told me that there was no way the club could continue without me. We all went out for a celebratory lunch at a café at the Luxor, then rode the inclinators up and down a few times, and I felt incredibly great about the decision I had made.
That night, when I climbed into bed, I found a piece of paper under my pillow. I pulled it out and saw that it was ripped from Mallory's notebook. It was a drawing of a mouse wearing a tutu and a ribbon in her hair. The mouse was dancing in the Cirque du Soleil tent to a packed house. Just below it, she had written: Congratulations! You're always a star! Love, Mallory
See what a great life I was saying I had? I could never give up any of it.