Getting In
What it's Like to Audition for Interlochen
Interlochen Center for the Arts is like Hogwarts for artsy kids. It’s a place where they can go to be themselves and explore creative pursuits with the guidance of teachers and mentors at the top of their fields. The main performance venue, Kresge Auditorium, is an outdoor amphitheater overlooking, in summer anyway, the tranquil waters of Green Lake. Arched windows line the back of the stage, and over those is painted the phrase “Dedicated to the promotion of world friendship through the universal language of the arts.” It’s a stage where giants like Bernadette Peters, Van Cliburn, Rosemary Clooney, and Steve Martin have performed.
At its most beneficial, Interlochen fosters creative opportunities for young artists. However, because it’s one of the top arts institutions in the country, attending isn’t an easily achievable opportunity. Each year, kids from around the world send in videos or portfolios, attend regional auditions, or audition to get in. Approximately 2,500 — from third through 12th grade — are admitted as summertime campers;about 500 — ninth through twelfth grades only — are accepted into Interlochen Arts Academy, which runs through the school year. In late January, when the academy hosted on-site auditions for students of classical music, dance, and musical theater, Northern Expresssat to watch the one-of-a-kind experience — or as much as allowed; the actual auditions are closed to everyone but the talent and the judges.
First up: classical music. Parents and teachers stand stiffly in the long hallway of practice rooms where the auditions take place. Kids practicing scales and études reverberate through the walls. Isabella Saldana Haworth is a sixteen-year-old horn player from Minneapolis, Minnesota. auditioning with Mozart’s third horn concerto. She has to talk over a trilling flute to be heard as she explains why art is so important: “We’ve evolved always having art even though it really gives us no advantage for our survival, so it doesn’t make sense, yet every single culture has it.” The legacy and history of art in culture is something several of the auditioning students mention. They all seem to innately feel the gravity of their craft.
At the musical theater auditions, Adrien Lee-Rossing, 13, and Oliver Boomer, 15, are each hoping for entrance into Interlochen Arts Camp. Both have completed their individual auditions of monologues and songs, and are now waiting for the group dance audition in a studio at Harvey Theatre. Boomer is from Traverse City and one of the only true locals encountered over the course of the day. Lee-Rossing made the drive up from Grand Rapids, and he’s quick to discuss his older brother, who is already a student at the academy. Like many camps, the arts and Interlochen often runs in the family.
“The arts have always been a really prominent thing in our world, and we need to make sure to maintain it,” says Boomer. When he performs, he wants to inspire people to pursue their passions too. “Having a place like Interlochen so close to where I live is awesome,” he says. But, for kids who don’t have an Interlochen in their backyards, he suggests that you do whatever you can to practice your craft. Join a choir. Take piano lessons. Start tap dancing. Do what you can until you’re able to travel farther. And, don’t worry about the nerves of performing advises Lee-Rossing: “You should be somewhat nervous. If you’re not nervous, then you don’t care.”
The dance auditions are a more subdued affair. Everyone auditions together at once in a dance class. They take place in an open studio with a small raised seating space for an audience. Parents and guardians sit there watching the audition. The studio is beautiful. One wall is paneled in floor to ceiling mirrors and opposite it is a wall of windows overlooking Green Lake. Academy students are mixed in with the auditioning students, who have numbers pinned to their leotards, in an effort to show them the way and put them at ease. Director of Dance, Joseph Morrissey, calls out steps from his spot in front of the mirror. They work on combinations going across the floor and then some of the girls change their shoes to do work en pointe.
After the audition, they scurry to remove their numbers and change. Sarah Jaskowski, 13 is auditioning for camp. She’s only been dancing for three years, so she’s very excited to be auditioning—and by the fact that she could keep up with dancers who have been ballerinas for much longer. She was able to see Interlochen’s production of Swan Lake, “It was just beautiful,” she says, and was inspired to apply. “It’s what I love,” she says.
Professional rejection is something everyone struggles with, and artistic rejection is even more personal and requires a deep vulnerability. Interlochen hopes to provide a safe place to express these passions and vulnerabilities for everyone and especially young people. These kids each demonstrate poise, courage, and passion as they seek to become a part of an artistic legacy and share something they love with the world.