All In A Day's Work – Day 2 at NHSMTA 2013

Posted on June 28th, 2013

Good morning DSM Fans!

Yesterday was Day 2 in NYC for Cameron and Dakota. What a long, tiring, but amazing day they both had! Check out below what they had to say about their day! (These comments were from 11:30pm last night.)

DAKOTA: Hello again! After a quick review of the opening and closing number music, we jumped right into staging the opening. We staged the beginning then broke off into our solo coaching groups. Cam and I have the fabulous Schele Williams who is a professor here at NYU and has several Broadway credits.

Cameron and Dakota take a break from rehearsal to snap a quick pic with their pianist, Travis Horton.

We rehearsed with her and then had the first chance to look at our medleys. Right after rehearsal we got dressed, got on a bus, and headed over to Sardi’s to eat before we saw “Annie” at the Palace Theatre.

The show was great and we had the pleasure to meet with the orphans and Annie herself. They were the most down to Earth (not to mention wildly talented) group of kids I’ve ever met. Day 2 was pretty hectic but always exciting, can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow!

CAMERON: I can’t believe all of what I’m about to describe happened in only a day… And keep in mind we have an even longer day tomorrow. After breakfast, we went straight into choreography, learned a bit of the opening number, then were split up into groups for vocal training. Dakota’s in my group! Our vocal teacher is none other than Schele Williams, associate director of Motown and former star of Aida. What an amazing woman… She brought two of the nominees in our group to tears through her ability to bring out such raw emotion (one of those people being myself).

Vocal Coach Schele Williams stops to take a pic with Dakota and Cameron in between rehearsals

After coaching, we worked on the medley numbers, and then went to Sardi’s for a delicious dinner, followed by seeing Annie at The Palace Theatre. We also got to have a little talkback session with members of the cast (these 8-year old girls went through something like 11 callbacks to be where they are today). Might I say that I was pleasantly surprised at how fantastic the show was, and Jane Lynch did an outstanding job. Now I’m calling it a day, and I’ll be up in 7 hours 😉

Cameron and Dakota went to see Annie on Broadway!

Day 3 at the National HSMTA is happening right now for Dakota and Cameron, and it’s a long (but exciting) day ahead of them. Their day is full of rehearsals and coaching – I can’t imagine a better way to spend my day though! 🙂 I’m so excited to hear about their day today, and I hope you are too. Check back here tomorrow for our next update!

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Have a great Friday!

-DSM Amanda