Once Upon a Time- Pandoras Box Part 1

Once upon a time…or that’s how all fairy tales start or should start. 

Unfortunately, this isn’t a Fairy Tale but a true tale that takes place in a Magical World… or should have take place in a magical world, at least that’s what the ads promised.

I promise that by once we get to the middle of the tale, you will understand completely what I am hinting at.

So, lets start again. Once upon a time … I needed a job. I am a dancer. That’s what I tell everyone. I try to work steady as a dancer but sometimes I have to work as a waiter, or front desk clerk or an un-knowing coke dealer but that’s another story.

I am a dancer.  I spent the youth of my life vigorously taking class, starving, living in strange places, but dreaming of some day being on Broadway.  Ah Broadway, Isn’t that the end all? Sadly, it is what validates us in the eyes of the world as being a true dancer. Strangers would sit through me spouting my list of credits, only to ask “Ever been on Broadway?”

I had work as a dancer in ballet companies, modern and Jazz Companies and once danced dressed as a lobster on a seafood bar… You have to pay the bills.

Lately I was having a steady stream of good luck but I am quickly coming up to the end of that. I had several dance jobs in a row. I could be found in exotic cities and strange little towns. Step, Kick, Kick, Leap, Kick, Touch, Again. Or you could find me dressed as a Transvestite trying to avoid returning to outer space.

I was having a blast. I was Learning to speak German, French, Dutch and Swedish. That way I could converse and order off the menu. I was working in the European cities that Mozart had travelled through. I was busy seeing all of These United States. I spent three years of my life just traveling on a bus, that doesn’t count performing on various tours, just taking the bus.

Life on the road can be lonely and boring, but that’s the way it is. Sadly, I was very lonely, as I would often find myself alone at the end of the day.

Being out of town so much I had to have relationships that were all long distance.  In the beginning, sleeping with other cast members in the show is fun but it usually ends up causing more problems than it’s worth. If you brake up you find that you have to ignore each other on the bus.

That’s why, one day while I was touring through Germany, I made a vow to myself that I would settle down in one place for at least a year.

It was clear, my path and technique were secure, I wanted to get a Broadway Show! So my plan to get to Broadway was to work and build an extensive resume.  

I would go every audition that I could find in Backstage. Who knows? My philosophy is that “It is better to have to turn down a job, than to never be offered a job.” 

My current job is about to end and I have nothing on the horizon to look forward to. I am close to spending all the money that I had saved from all my previous work, but as I have said, I am a dancer and I live in New York City.

To be continued………

Geoffrey Doig-Marx holds all written and electronic rights to his writting "Not Only Magic Floats". It can not be reprinted in part or whole without his written consent.