<p>This is my first official post but I am a long time reader of this great forum. I know a couple of my CC friends will be smiling when they see that I have finally taken "the plunge"!</p>
<p>First a little background about my S and his injury. I am the mom of the greatest kid you will ever meet (I know we all say this, but it's true). My S has been in love with musical theatre for as long as he can remember and has always wanted to major in MT in college. He is talented and can hold his own with the best of them his age. His first love has always been dancing, which is what led him into MT years ago. Even with all the struggles he's been through these past months he always starts each day with a smile on his face and a song in his heart. As a parent, you can't ask for much more than that. His Dad and I are incredibly proud of him! In April of this year, he fell while dancing, coming out of a turn and fractured his patella. He was hospitalized and then bedridden for 6 weeks after the accident. In mid June he was given the green light to start heavy duty rehab, which he did diligently. During all of this we made a MAJOR move half way across the country, which I know is a not so nice thing to do to your child when they are a senior, but we felt it was the best thing for us, and still do. He has had ups and downs for the last few months with the pt and is still not 100% recovered. His orthopedic surgeon has assured us that everything has healed perfectly and that his knee is tracking exactly as it should and that the pain he is experiencing while dancing is still just a flexibility issue. He has started him on a new course of therapy with a new therapist this week that he thinks we will see results from very quickly. He has assured my S that he will be 100% again and that this will not affect his dancing in the future. It is just a long process and he has told him not to be discouraged...it will happen!</p>
<p>He has his first audition at PPU next weekend (we re-scheduled his Elon audition because of this issue). Do we tell the auditors about the injury? How much is too much information in this situation? I know that you should never go into an audition making 'excuses' for yourself, but this situation is a little different. Would a letter from the doctor be a good idea? We are firm believers that honesty is always the best policy and have passed that along to our S. Therefore, my heart is telling me to be truthful and up front about this. We just don't want to unnecessarily scare anyone or hurt his chances of admission because of concern for the injury. If there is a dance portion to the audition, he would not be able to do bar work or any leaps/jumps across the floor. Everything else he says he will be fine with...just nothing that puts major pressure on his knee. </p>
<p>I realize that at some of the schools where he will audition, there will not even be a dance audition, or it will be only for placement. His frustration with this is that he is a very good dancer and would like to be able to show that at auditions.</p>
<p>I think PPU will be one of the more difficult dance auditions, from what I have read here. He will also audition at FSU, U of Miami, Otterbein, Elon and OCU.</p>
<p>Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated. I have learned more from this forum than you can possibly imagine and will always be grateful to those of you who give of your time to help others with questions and concerns.</p>
<p>My s's entre into MT was through dance as well. I think if he had been injured during the audition process, I would have encouraged him to seriously consider a gap year.
My d has been cautioned (when going into auditions for summer dance programs) to never display signs of an injury (never wear ankle or knee wraps), the reasoning being that with so few acceptance spots, they'll be less likely to take a chance on someone who's "injury prone." It's possible that in MT an injury would not pull for that kind of negative eval, but I'd worry that it might.
What a difficult time for you and your son. I'm glad his recovery is progressing so well. If he decides to go through with auditions this year, his resume (plus perhaps a supplementary rec. from his dance instructor) will attest to his accustomed skill.</p>
<p>I'm glad something brought you out of "lurkdom"! Welcome! Sounds like your son has a promising future. </p>
<p>You present a tricky situation. Reading through the first 3/4's of your letter, I would have said to say nothing of the injury because you mentioned that he is back dancing and it is not like he has to sit out the dance audition. He may not be dancing to his 100% potential but that would not be so different than someone going into a singing audition with a very bad cold (which they should not mention). The ONLY thing, however, in your post that got me was that you said there were a few things he is prohibited from doing (do I have that right?), namely barre work and leaps/jumps. Most of the auditions my D went to for BFA programs did not have barre work, though I recall UMichigan did. You could find that out. Most taught combinations like in most theater auditions. It seems like your son could participate. The only thing I can think of is if he must sit out jumps and leaps, you could present with the paperwork you bring to the audition, a doctor's note stating that he is still in recovery from orthopedic surgery and in PT and can participate but is not allowed to do jumps/leaps at the present time but should be able to by X date (approx) which shows that the doctor anticipates full recovery that doesn't impact him when he comes to college. I'm not deadset on this because I doubt most places will have barre work and I don't like making illness excuses if he is actually ABLE to participate in the dance audition (which is what you are indicating). But if there is one thing his doctor requires him to sit out of for X number more weeks or months, a doctor's note might be advisable. Or you could ask this question anonymously by a phone call to the college and say that he can participate in the dance audition but is required, due to recovery from an unjury to refrain from barre and leaps/jumps and ask if those are part of the audition and would they like a note or what do they advise? If he must not fully participate in the dance audition, then a note, like Jasmom suggests, from his dance teacher that attests to his regular level of skill and the fact that he is in the recovery stage, should help. I would NOT use doctor notes or dance teacher notes to this effect IF he participates fully....in other words, to explain why he isn't dancing "up to par". I only would use notes if he cannot participate fully in the dance audition. </p>
<p>That said, I wish your son lots of luck in his PT and it will take a while until he feels he is at 100% with his dance as before. He'll get there, though. While not quite the same, my own child (who is now in a soph in a BFA program), had very serious injuries from a car crash that occurred, believe it or not, seven days following her final and 8th BFA MT audition (what timing!). While it was awful to have happened at all, I was so glad her BFA auditions were over because had they not had happened yet, she'd not have been able to do them. As well, her recovery was anticipated to be six months which timed it just in time to start her BFA program. She was opening some acceptances in a hospital bed! Like your son, my D is a lifelong dancer and took many dance classes each week and was in a select dance company at the time of her accident. She was totally out of dance the next six months. Last year, when she got to her BFA program, she was back dancing (kinda a miracle if you knew how severe her injuries were that involved intensive care....plus she had a fractured pelvis and now has five metal screws in her hip!). Besides coming back from such severe injuries, she also hadn't danced for six months. However, all last year, she felt that her dance was not up to her personal standard and she wasn't able to do extensions and other things as well as before, which was a bad feeling. She had been through PT during the recovery. She was dancing well in my eyes but not up to her usual in her eyes. Another year has gone by now and this past summer, while she was cast in a dance role in a professional theater, she also worked out at a gym daily. She said she feels SOOOOOOO much better about her dancing compared to last year when she felt badly about this area. She continues to work out at a gym and she says that she is getting a lot of positive feedback about her dance. I think she really is back to her norm. It takes a while. Thankfully, she is able to dance again. Even Chita Rivera has metal screws in her hip from similar surgery. So, hang in there with your son because over time, he'll be more and more back in shape and as he was before. Good luck.</p>
<p>We thought about waiting a year for the audition process, but decided against it. He was told in July that he should be back to dancing as normal by mid-September, or so. We thought that would give him a couple of months to really get back into it before the auditions started...that didn't happen.</p>
<p>He can participate in the dance audition, but would not be able to do those things I mentioned, if asked to do so. Even though he would not be at 100%, I think that his potential will be seen, and after all, that's what they're looking for, right? He doesn't have any kind of a brace/wrap or anything....wouldn't help with this kind of injury.</p>
<p>I like the idea of calling the school and asking their opinion. We really don't have anything to hide. His doctor has assured us that he will have a 100% recovery.</p>
<p>We have a wonderful letter of recommendation from the owner of the studio where he has danced the last 8 years that attests to his skill level and the types of dancing he does. If needed, S could use that along with a letter from his doctor.</p>
<p>soozievt, I have read the posts about your D's accident and recovery and have been very touched by what she and your family have gone through. I don't know what it is about most MT kids, but boy when they know what they want out of life, they let NOTHING stand in their way or hold them back!</p>
<p>i can't really relate to the situation, but if i had the same predicament... for instance, my entrance into musical theatre was through opera and classical voice... if i hemorrhaged a vocal cord or had nodes and was therefore unable to perform to my fullest potential, i would not inform the auditors of this. my injury would be recoverable, but to be honest, in the world of show business, there are plenty of dancers who audition for shows on top of injuries because they want the job. if your son wants "the job" he should not let his injury stand in his way, just as i would not let a hemorrhaged vocal cord or nodes stand in my way, because many professional performers do the same. </p>
<p>i hope your son has a speedy healing process and wish him luck in all of his college auditions. lord knows we're all going crazy, and hopefully something grand will come of it.</p>
<p>txmtmom, who is no longer in TX - welcome!!! Yes, I'm chuckling! I'm so glad you joined!</p>
<p>You have a most talented son, who my son and I think will do great at college auditions.</p>
<p>Get in touch with my son about Elon. He can ask the dance teacher what you should do. I'll mention it to him when we see him this weekend.</p>
<p>It sounds to me like your son will be able to do the dance at the majority of schools. </p>
<p>We've been thinking of you in his recovery! Sorry we won't see you this weekend at Elon. We will miss you. Your name showed up on my calendar this week!</p>
<p>I think you will get a variety of responses but I can answer you definitively for FSU. If you have questions, please call or PM me and I will go over the dance portion of the audition more thoroughly with you.
First: nothing is worth risking a further injury that might not have as good a prognosis for recovery. I know it is hard to see it from where he is now, but these auditions do not represent the defining moment for his entire future; it just seems like it. There is more than one path to his goal, but he must be physically healthy to follow any of them.</p>
<p>FSU's dance audition is on the difficult side but is it very important to us to give the trained dancers an opportunity to really shine. There is no barre work, but one of the combinations has a couple of small leaps. Each of the combinations are taught to the whole (large) group before the students are asked to perform them in groups of 4 or 5. After they have been through the combination once, if your son feels like it would be best to mark any of it, he should just come up and tell myself or Kate. Please believe me when I say that if he is a very good dancer, that will show even if he marks the steps in a couple of places.
My advice regarding other schools is to call and try to talk to someone about the format of the dance audition. Some you will be able to determine that they won't pose a problem.</p>
<p>Take care and best of luck this year,
Michele</p>