Newest Dollies discuss audition process

Feb. 19, 2014, 1:19 a.m.
The Stanford Dollies
Photo by Al Ponce

 

The Stanford Daily (TSD): What kind of dances do Dollies do and how did you learn them?

Jordan Huelskamp ’17: The past three-ish weeks, the current Dollies have taught us three different dances: one traditional dance choreographed in the ’70s—a traditional dance that all the Dollies know; one more contemporary dance choreographed by the current Dollies, which is a little more difficult; and a solo choreographed by yourself.

 

TSD: What’s it like to audition for the Dollies?

Erika Nguyen ’17: Starting in January, we began having workshops to begin learning the routines. This past Thursday [Feb. 13], our first audition was held at Roble in front of past Dollies, current Dollies and management.

After we performed, we were e-mailed who would be going on to the next round. That was held at the Band Shak Saturday morning, and we were asked to perform each of the pieces and a solo we choreographed ourselves. This was in front of the whole band. The last round was interviews with past and current Dollies, all of the different band sections and band management.

Martha Collins ’17: The auditions got increasingly more fun and performing in front of the band at the end—the energy they gave—really helped the audition process.

Huelskamp: The most nerve-racking thing was probably the interview process. You just never really know what they [a group of past and current Dollies, Trees and band management] are looking for.

 

TSD: What was it like to get rolled out as a Dollie?

Aubriana Menendez ’17: I didn’t actually expect to be rolled out yet because we had just done our interviews the night before, at 8 pm, and [it] went all the way to midnight. I was sleeping and there was this crazy banging at the door…it kind of took a little bit of time for me to realize what was happening. I was in shock, but it was still probably one of the happiest moments I’ve had at Stanford.

 

TSD: Why did you want to be a Dollie?

Collins: Well I’ve been dancing for a really long time and dance has been a really big part of my life, but the thing that has always kept me going back to dance has been the performance aspect of it and as a Dollie that’s the biggest part—performing in front of an audience. When I was at the football games and watched the Dollies, I could put myself in their position.

Both of my parents went to Stanford and they talked about how they thought Dollies were so fun. My motivation to audition came from combining the fact that I liked to perform and my previous knowledge of the band and the Dollies.

 

TSD: What does being a Dollie mean to you?

Huelskamp: I’m most looking forward to doing something that puts a smile on peoples’ faces. I think it’s really important to remember this is such an honor—to celebrate Stanford, have a really good time and make people happy.

 

Contact Edward Ngai at edngai ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu and Alex Zivkovic at aleksa ‘at’ stanford ‘dot’ edu.

Edward Ngai is a senior staff writer at The Stanford Daily. Previously, he has worked as a news desk editor, staff development editor and columnist. He was president and editor-in-chief of The Daily for Vol. 244 (2013-2014). Edward is a junior from Vancouver, Canada studying political science. This summer, he is the Daniel Pearl Memorial Intern at the Wall Street Journal.

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