So You Think You Can Dance!
Hey Wingers!!
I’m sorry I haven’t been able to post in such a long time. With a tv show, there are a lot of things we’re not allowed to do, and any sort of interactions on the internet are one of them! But now that I’m off the show, I can somewhat resume to a normal daily life.
Just thought I would update you all on what has happened since I last posted! SO - I auditioned for So You Think You Can Dance again (season 7) and after a long and grueling process, I made it to the top 10! (Top 11 this year). I had such an amazing journey on the show and I learned SO much and I am so grateful for everything. I spent 5 weeks on the show, and during that 5 weeks I had the most life changing experience. I know it sounds crazy that something can really drastically change your life in 5 weeks, but this definitely does! With the crazy schedule, how much we learn and the amazing people that you get to work with AND live with, it just completely betters you as a person.
I’ll update everyone later on my specific experience through the whole process but I just wanted to check in first and let everyone know how I am doing. On my 5th week, I suffered an injury the night before show day during a rehearsal of my Bollywood piece on stage. I completely snapped my right Achilles tendon in half, and that has forced me to withdraw from the competition.
I’m just waiting here in LA for my surgery tomorrow morning (Tuesday, July 13th) and hoping that it all goes well so I can start my long journey to recovery!
I just want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout my journey and that I am so grateful for even being here in the first place.
If you’d like to follow me closely I will be keeping my facebook page and my twitter page constantly updated. You can follow me on twitter here:
http://www.twitter.com/alexdwong
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/alexwongdance
Here is the Sonya Tayeh contemporary piece that I danced with Allison Holker:
And here is the Tabitha & Napoleon Hip Hop piece that I danced with Twitch! :
Enjoy!
Godiva Friday!
All of my good friends know that I have a great LOVE for chocolate, specifically Godiva chocolate! While in college, I started what became a weekly ritual called “Godiva Friday”. During my sophomore year, I often found myself overwhelmed with the amount of work I had to accomplish each week. Balancing rehearsals, auditions and homework along with daily academic and technique classes became very challenging. I have a great ability to multi-task, however, I often found that at the end of the week, I wasn’t taking enough time for myself to ‘be’ and ‘enjoy’ being me.
As a student in the Ailey School/Fordham University, BFA program, I bounced back and forth between the two campuses numerous times throughout the day. The Ailey building was where all of the dance classes and rehearsals were held, while the academic classes were held five blocks up the street at Fordham University. Between the two schools are the Shops at Columbus Circle, where I often went to window-shop in between classes. Conveniently, a Godiva chocolate boutique is located within the shopping center. Somehow, I found myself in the chocolate lovers paradise every Friday, at about the same time each week.
Just prior to my final class or rehearsal of the week, I would stop by the store and purchase a few of my favorite truffles, to enjoy on the subway ride home. My classmates quickly began to notice my habit and eventually the term “Godiva Friday” was coined. I used “Godiva Friday” as a little weekly incentive. With the chocolate, I would celebrate getting through the week. It was the one thing that I did for myself, no matter what, every Friday, just to take some time to sit back and reflect on the fact that I have survived another week, was accomplishing my dream of living in New York City and working hard at becoming a strong professional. Despite everything that happened that past week, including something someone may have said that wasn’t very nice, an audition that I didn’t do well at or received a less than favorable grade on a paper, I continued to take the time to distress and come back to reality that everything is going to be ok and that I survived the week. I used this time to reflect on the week’s challenges and accomplishments and recharge for the week to come.
Years later, even-though I’m on tour, I continue to partake in “Godiva Friday” every week. Monday is our day off at Wicked and our Friday is the equivalent to a ‘normal’ person’s (one who has weekends off) Wednesday “Hump-day”. While on tour with Wicked, we perform eight shows a week and Friday is our midweek hump. Come Friday night we will have completed half of our week’s performances. Never the less, some way, some how, I find some Godiva chocolate and I take that time to prepare and motivate myself for the remainder of the weeks performances.
It’s amazing what a simple piece of succulent chocolate can do for our spirits! When was the last time you had a little Godiva in your life? Go get some and celebrate whom you are and all you’ve done this week! You deserve it!
Happy “Godiva Friday”!
Help save Dance New Amsterdam
a pic from a piece that i rehearsed at DNA before it went onstage
Dancers, lovers of dance and the Arts in general! The downtown New York based dance Studio Dance New Amsterdam is in threat of being possibly evicted. This would affect a lot of the dance world because DNA is such a huge supporter of dancers, choreographers and companies by providing wonderful classes, rehearsal space, residencies and performance oppertunities. Personally i always enjoy working at the DNA studios because there is such a wonderful air about the space and the studios are all beautiful. Please take the time to help out by signing this online petition to keep DNA alive and kicking. click on link.
hope all is well.
b
Counting My Blessings!
During Sunday’s matinee performance, I celebrated my 200th performance in the 1st National Touring Company of Wicked!
My 200th Anniversary Cake! (Red Velvet...my favorite!)
“What if you gave someone a gift, and they neglected to thank you for it - would you be likely to give them another? Life is the same way. In order to attract more of the blessings that life has to offer, you must truly appreciate what you already have.”
-Ralph Marston
People often wonder why I keep count of how many performances of Wicked I’ve completed. The reason why I count is because performing in Wicked was a dream of mine that I never in a million years actually knew if it was going to come true or what that experience would be like. When I was in college, auditioning for Wicked so many times a year, I constantly prayed that I would have the opportunity to even just perform in the show once and even that would be enough memories to last me a lifetime. So when I go into work, some times having to deal with various challenges and obstacles, I continue to count my blessings and each performance that I’ve been given to perform in the show of my dreams. Doing this helps keep me grounded and thankful for each day, each performance, each person I experience in the land of Oz. I realize that the universe didn’t have to give me this opportunity at all… but it has. I’ve been very blessed to have been able to perform the show many times and have a wide range of memories and challenges that I’ve been able to experience. I am, and shall continue to be, forever greatful for this opportunity to be able to share my passion and this amazing story of Oz with audiences across the country.
So, in true Broadway fashion, I celebrated with a cake! I treated myself to a yummy cake and lit candles after the performance to sit back and bask in having completed 200 performances!
McQueen as the Ribbon Dancer in the Emerald City
The Importance of Ballet Training
Jeremy McQueen
Someone recently asked me what I felt was the single most important key to having a successful career as a dancer, especially transitioning back and forth between concert dance and theater. Often young dancers feel pressured to focus on one very specific career path. Whenever I teach on the road, I always stress the importance of ballet training and technique. At a very young age, my dance teachers instilled in me the importance of having a strong ballet foundation. At the time when I started training in both theater and dance, I had no idea which direction I would gravitate towards, as I got older. I actually had my first interaction with the arts training in music before I started dance or theater. Performing in general was always something that I loved. Just being on stage and having an audience to perform for, whether it may be theater, concert dance or music recitals, I was a ‘ham’ and loved being in the limelight.
My dance teachers taught me early on that in order to have a strong foundation in any career, ballet training would help me. Not necessarily because I wanted to be a ballet dancer, but they felt that ballet would give me the discipline, focus and structure I needed in order to take those training experiences and apply them to my day-to-day life as a young adult/professional. From the moment you step at the barre there is a sense of structure and etiquette, which provides the foundation for everything you do. You’re taught at a very young age a sense of professionalism and discipline. You learn that it’s disrespectful to look at the clock to check the time while the teacher is teaching. You also learn that it’s rude to put your elbows on or hang on the barre, as it shows that you are disinterested or have an unwillingness to do what the teacher is teaching. Even the simplest things of how you are never supposed to turn away from the barre when you switch sides, you always turn towards the barre help create a strong sense of discipline. The littlest things about ballet helped me have focus on the task that I was doing and making sure that my brain was connected on what my body should be trying to execute.
Ballet also set the foundation for my strong technical ability. With strong ballet technique, it is easier to transition between all of the dance styles, thus making yourself highly marketable as a performer. In an economy when times are slow and in such a competitive industry it’s better to be in a position to have versatility and a wider range of abilities to find work.
In concert dance you don’t have to sing, but you are still telling a story with your body and your technical ability. Acting training is vital in both fields as well. However, singing comes more into play in theater. I’ve seen many dancers attempt to transition back and forth through theater and concert dance but a lot of times its the lack of vocal training that inhibits their ability to work in theater. In theater you really have to be able to sing, dance and act well if you want to have a career that flourishes. We call this the “triple threat” complex. In dance you only need to be able to do two of the three. And at that, acting for dance is a little different, as you don’t have to speak with your voice. If you are a young dancer that wants to have options I say take lots of ballet and vocal lessons. Eventually supplement your training with acting classes and technique classes in other disciplines like jazz, modern, hip hop, etc and you will see how quickly you can flourish having been in a situation where you have slowly built upon your foundation. Both fields of the arts require a strong interest, perseverance and patience. I encourage all of the students I teach to be fully invested in learning as much as they can about the fields of study that they are interested. Learn the ins and outs of both businesses early and you’ll find ways to be able to fluctuate between both. Have patience and go see all different kinds of performance. Get to know what shows and choreographers work you like. Take master classes, and occasionally in other disciplines to help keep you well rounded and you will find that strong ballet technique and discipline will just help your career flourish.
-Jeremy McQueen
Catching Up!
Hi Wingers!
Yikes - it’s been *how long* since I posted on here? Months? That’s insane…and what an insane time it has been! (I haven’t been blogging much even on my own blog, but I’ve been busy on Twitter at least…)
I figure it’s finally time for an update. I’ve had lots of performances the past few months and there are a few exciting things in the works right now…but here’s a quick rundown of all I’ve been up to!
For starters, I did the Radio City Christmas Spectacular once again, and year 2 was even better than year 1! We had a really fun cast this year…lots of laughs offstage and on.
(my friend and I after opening night)
(the infamous ballerina bears without heads 
)
(being silly in the wings)
(gold cast ensemble at our closing night party)
After 100+ shows I thought things would slow down come January but…I was wrong! Right away I started rehearsals for a showcase at The Ailey Extension that I help direct, and in late January I performed in a benefit for the Haiti earthquake tragedy. I loved dancing for a cause, and I got to perform one of my favorite variations: Kitri Act III from Don Q
(my teacher and I before the benefit performance…sadly I didn’t get many good pictures of this one…camera was dead, haha)
Next up was some work with Rebecca Kelly Ballet, including a fun fashion show and then her spring season performances in April.
(Rebecca Kelly’s piece, “Travelers” photo by Adrian Buckmaster)
Somewhere in between there I branched away from ballet and worked with a small jazz company called Push Factor Dance Company. It was definitely a step out of my comfort zone and a challenge to my aching body, but it was fun! We performed the new piece “Women’s Strength” at the beginning of April.
(Push Factor Dance Company)
I’ve also started working with a little company called Exit 12 Dance Company, and last month we performed excerpts from “La Bayadere” out in Connecticut. This one was nice because it got me out of the city for a bit…I’ve been dying to travel and even though it was just…Connecticut…at least it was something, haha. I also did “Tea with a Ballerina” with two little girls who won a raffle, and it was so sweet! I love talking to mini ballerinas and seeing their excitement. It reminds me so much of myself when I was little…how magical tutus and pointe shoes were…then…haha
This past weekend I danced excerpts of “Swan Lake” and ”Sleeping Beauty” with New American Youth Ballet - and that was an experience mostly because we had live orchestra. Unless you’re at ABT or NYCB, live music at performances nowadays in this city is rare. We had a very limited rehearsal period, but the two days we rehearsed in the studio with the musicians were amazing. To be so close to such gorgeous music…I was almost in tears when they began to play the overture to “Swan Lake.” It’s different even dancing onstage with orchestra than dancing in rehearsal literally feet away from them. How beautiful to watch the strings…you definitely hear more nuance in familiar music by watching…
Anyway that’s the quick rundown…I have a few more projects coming up and in the works…I just found out I’ll be dancing in the Latin Choreographers Festival with Exit 12 in July, and we have another showcase at Ailey coming in August…and more TBA
Hope everyone has a lovely summer!
24: A Year of New Beginnings
Hi readers! Please forgive me for not posting as frequently has I had promised. I have been very busy out here on the road but am determined to do more blogging!
I’ve recently celebrated my birthday! Two weeks ago I turned 24 years ‘mature’, as I like to say. Birthdays and New Years Eve are two very sentimental days for me, filled with lots of reflection, prayer of thanksgiving for life and all of its obstacles, moments to rejoice and blessings while also praying with thanksgiving for the future. I had the wonderful opportunity of being able to celebrate my “Year of New Beginnings” (as I’ve been calling this year as a 24 year old) with close friends in New York City in-between tour stops. Thinking about all of the wonderful and also challenging obstacles I’ve had to overcome in the past year, I can’t help but think of where I was just one year prior. On my 23rd Birthday I was still having issues overcoming an ankle injury I had sustained earlier that year, was unemployed and broke. Emotionally, I was in a rough place, especially because on that very day, only one year prior (my 22nd Birthday), I had just graduated from college and was headed to start my professional life, performing in Susan Stroman’s Contact with North Shore Musical Theater in MA. At the time, it was hard to reflect on how different the two Birthdays had been experienced.
McQueen as a child
Within my first year out of college I had basically jumped from job to job, back to back. I was truly living the life as what we call in theater, a Gypsy! I performed in Contact, took a mini vacation at home in California and went straight into working with a ballet company in Texas as a guest artist. While finishing up my job in Texas, I found out I was offered another job traveling to Germany dancing for Panasonic Electronics, which started literally weeks after the Texas gig. Then, while in rehearsals for the job I was just about to do in Germany, the day before I departed for Germany, I received a phone call informing me that I had been hired to dance on tour with the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Rehearsals began literally weeks after I returned from Germany. It doesn’t end there! Once I was back from the Christmas season on tour, I went to one audition and booked it! In about a month of my returning from being on tour I was back out on the road again performing in a regional production of Disney’s High School Musical. Looking at it on paper, I worked consistently for 10 months with very few breaks. I was thrilled that my hard work and perseverance was paying off but I knew it wouldn’t last always. In any event, I proceeded to “hustle” my way through auditions (as I like to call it) while on short breaks or just before leaving to start the jobs. I was looking everywhere for potential opportunities for work and build my career not only as a performer but also as a choreographer and keep myself busy. I must say, I auditioned like no other to get my face out there, going to as many auditions I could a week, but in the end, I truly felt like things were all falling into place. In a sense, the hard work and lack of rest was paying off. I was “on a roll” so to speak and the more I rolled…the more I kept trying to keep that ball rolling and the harder I pushed and worked, often not getting enough sleep at night.
On my 23rd Birthday I had not been onstage in what felt like forever (which was actually only a couple months) and was itching for something to do. I was having the hardest time getting a job. I would go into tons of auditions and come out feeling great, but none of them resorted in a job offer. I had fully been a part of what I like to call the “Roller Coaster Complex”. This is where you have stints of just doing really well, getting job offers after job offers in a row and always being busy, and then all of the sudden are left anxiously wondering what’s going to happen next and having difficulty even getting a callback. You know that feeling when your stomach drops from beneath you as you are coming down from a roller coaster really fast? The one where you’re left feeling uneasy, apprehensive, scared and vulnerable as if the ride is going to break? This Roller Coaster Complex, which hit me hard on my birthday last year and left me with much anxiety as I felt I was coming down the hill really fast. I knew in my heart that I just needed to remain faithful and focused that my situation wouldn’t be like the way it was, forever. I was off to a bumpy start of my 23rd year of life but I knew that I had to just continue keeping myself disciplined and continue “hustling” at auditions and the right opportunities that were meant for me would at some point appear. For the first three months of my year as a 23 year-old, I had a lot of time to really think and reflect on life and what it meant to me and what I hoped to obtain out of it. Through this unemployment slump, I was able to really reflect on my mission in life and focused a lot of my attention on volunteer work and giving back. In my heart, as much as I didn’t want to accept it at the time, I knew this was a time in my life that I knew I needed to have to a one-on-one conversation with myself about my life and my goals. Not to mention, I really needed the rest and time to rejuvenate my spirit. Through this period of reflection, I was able to discover whom Jeremy McQueen is and how he wants to leave his mark on the world.
McQueen (second from right) as a Flying Monkey in Wicked!
Fast forward to the preset day, only a year later, I cannot believe how much my life has changed. I have had so many wonderful blessings in such a short period of time! I finally got my “Equity” card touring with the 1st National Tour of The Color Purple, performed onstage at Radio City Music Hall, continued to make progress as a choreographer and now I am employed (On my Birthday!), performing in another Broadway national tour in a show that I’ve longed to do for so long, I am forever grateful for all of the challenges and moments of reflection I have had and will continue to have at points in my life. I truly believe that those moments help not only enhance your character but also prepare you for the challenges and blessings that lie ahead.
As I look forward to embracing whatever the universe has in store for me this “Year of New Beginnings” I have promised myself to be more faithful. I’ve devoted myself to really embracing my favorite quote that “Everything happens for a reason”. Even though we may not know how things will transform in our lives, I’ve dedicated myself to be more relaxed this year knowing that what is meant to be for me will be for me, when the timing is right. Until then, I will continue to be diligent in honing my craft and enjoying every little bump, fall, twist, curve, dip and climb that the roller coaster of life has to offer.
The Power of Passion and Perseverance
I auditioned for my current role in Wicked about 9 or 10 times. Honestly, I lost count after about the 8th time. But it was over the course of a few years. I was first introduced to Wicked during my senior year of high school when it first opened on Broadway. I had seen clips on You Tube and heard about the production, but it wasn’t until the end of my sophomore year of college that I decided to audition. I will never forget my first audition. I went into the waiting room and there were about 100 other guys practicing some strange combination.
My program inserts!
In my head I was thinking to myself that there was no way that these guys already knew the combination. To my surprise, they did know it, because the combination that you dance at the audition never changes. So they had all done their homework. I walked into the room and attempted to learn the ballet/modern based choreography but just couldn’t get it. The combination was counted so weirdly with a combination of 5, 6 and 7 counts. It all had my head spinning. I quickly was cut, but I had the best time of my life. The great thing about the Wicked audition is that they have a live drummer in the room. That was my first experience with that type of audition but having a drummer just makes it feel more like a performance and you sort of let your inhibitions go a little more and just really relish in the fact that you’re getting to dance this awesome choreography to some really rocking music.
Well, I got cut and walked out of the audition a little sad but determined to do my homework and go in there and NOT get cut the next time. I went home that night and videotaped myself doing the choreography so I would be able to remember it and reference it before the next required open call for the show in 6 months and I had also seen the show for the first time and became even more hooked and obsessed with working hard to make my dream become a reality. The next audition I went in with greater knowledge about the show and it’s style and gave it my all. This time I managed to get kept around to learn the second combination. I was so ecstatic but I still didn’t have the job in the bag. I was just happy to have made it a little further!
McQueen in costume from the OzDust Ballroom scene from Wicked
Over the course of the next three years the casting directors got to know me better, I grew as a dancer, young adult and artist and they called me in to be seen for the ‘track’ that I play in the show on several different occasions. Although I would often make it down to the final cut, I was not offered the role, but I didn’t get discouraged. I believed and stayed faithful that it just wasn’t my time and continued pressing forward in my pursuits of not only dancing in Wicked, but other shows as well. Eventually, after college, I started working and only went in to audition if it happened that I was not working on another show that conflicted with the audition.
Overall, the audition was a little intense the first few times but after a while you just get the hang of it. You dance about two or three different sections of a long combination and do some partnering with either the female dance captains or sometimes the female auditioners. Then the last thing you do is sing for the artistic team. The last time I went in to be seen for the part was just before Thanksgiving and I declared that if this job was truly for me, then I would be offered the role. If not, I couldn’t let it get me down and just had to keep working on other projects and finding other shows/parts that I am right for.
The Ensemble of the 1st National Tour of Wicked!
I choose to believe that if I am not cast in a particular show, it’s not a reflection on my talent or potential as a dancer, but rather, the casting directors and artistic team didn’t feel I was ready or just didn’t think I was ‘right’ for their show. At the end of the day, being cast in Broadway productions is a waiting game. You just have to keep working hard, be consistent with who you are and represent that fully each time you go into the audition room. It is our jobs as young artists to do out best to just enjoy the experiences of auditioning and not take things personally. After each of those nine auditions, I walked out of the audition room each time with my head held high believing that I had done my best and represented myself to the fullest. At the end of the day, that’s all you can do and that is all that matters.
Tonight, I will celebrate my 150th performance in the national touring company of Wicked! Each performance continues to be a surreal experience.
Dream big! Dreams do come true!
-Jeremy McQueen
Introducing Jeremy McQueen
One warm summer day in San Diego, my Mom took me to the San Diego Civic Theater to see a touring production of the Broadway hit, The Phantom of the Opera. At the young age of 8, I knew nothing about musical theater besides the Disney movie musicals I had seen on television and the few acting classes I had taken with a local children’s theater group. As we entered the grand theater with thousands of plush red seats, I was enthralled with the beauty and festiveness of this new experience. Everyone was dressed eloquently in semi-formal attire, including me in my Sunday suit. My Mom and I made our way to our seats on the last row of the balcony in the 3,000-seat theater, with my binoculars in hand. I had no idea what was in store for me that evening, but was very excited. As the curtain rose revealing a very large candle lit chandelier, with the sounds of blood curdling organ music and elaborate costumes filling the stage, I quickly found myself caught in a trace. Over the course of the next 3 hours, I sat on the edge of my seat, staring through my binoculars, never bli-
Photograph from the Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera.
nking once so not to risk missing a single moment of the action. From that single experience, I decided that I wanted to be a performer. I wanted to be in a production of that caliber and perform on regal stages across the globe. From that moment on, my Mom nurtured my passionate desire as I disciplined and immersed myself in everything related to theater.
The Phantom of the Opera left a lasting impression in my life. Being exposed to the arts at such a young age introduced me to the magnificent world of live theater and helped provide me with focus for the rest of my childhood. The moment the curtain fell at the closing of the performance, I begged my parents to put me in acting, singing and dance classes and I worked my hardest each day to become the strongest ‘triple threat’ I could become. I would often save up my allowance during high school just so that I could afford to buy a ticket to see whatever national touring show was coming to town that month.
16 years later, I’m still out here working hard and achieving my goals, one step at a time. I am currently a featured dancer in the 1st Broadway National Tour of Wicked! Over the next couple of months, I will introduce you to my evolution as an artist, the life of a touring Broadway performer and all that comes with it. Join me every couple of days as I take you on a behind the scenes journey of my life as a performer, choreographer and teacher.
-Jeremy McQueen
More PT
Finally addressing some lingering hip issues with some physical therapy.
I’m about 3/4 through my treatment - right about the time when you’re
not entirely sure if you’re getting worse or better. At least things
are moving!
