Innovation Part I

"Kim. What part do you sing in the choir?"

It was a simple question asked in the women's locker room of the gym on a Monday morning. Yet, somehow my intuition could feel an adventure brewing by the tone of Angela's voice when she said my name. A few seconds later, I had agreed to help her with a singing audition on Friday.


Wednesday, Angela, Sheila and I rehearsed for the audition. As we ended the rehearsal with string cheese and fruit as a snack, Sheila and I asked Angela to tell us more about the audition. That's when things took an interesting turn. We weren't just helping Angela with her audition, we were auditioning for a cable network reality show! And we were doing this after forming a trio two days before the audition and with only two hours of rehearsal. As we had no time, we decided to adopt the k.i.s.s. system--keep it simple sweetie. We planned to wear black bottoms and colorful tops on Friday.

When we arrived for the audition on Friday at Smashbox Studios, I held it in my mind that I was there to help Angela with her audition. Any other thought would have lead to "freak out" mode. Angela decided on the name Innovation for our group given the way we came together. As we moved through each stage of the audition, we began to enjoy the fact that none of the production assistants were getting the name right. We laughed as we imagined ourselves as an punk band when one production assistant asked, "so you guys are No Nation, right?"



After waiting, rehearsing, and having photos taken of our group, we were finally called in to see the judges. The judges asked how long we'd been a group. Angela responded by looking at her watch as I chimed in "three days." The judges looked incredulous, but we later found out that there was at least one other group who'd given the same response. Then we were asked if we had any choreography. That would be a no. But we swayed side to side in unison like a well-rehearsed gospel choir dressed in hot pink tops and black stretch pants.

The first song we sang was written by Angela. We got through one verse and one chorus before they stopped us. The we sang our second song, No One by Alicia Keys. The judges asked that we sing individually and since Angela had already sung lead, they wanted to hear Sheila and I sing. Sheila sang the chorus to No One, so I followed up by singing the chorus my way. I noted that the judges' eyes widened. We were told that they wanted us back the next day. We were advised to really go for it at the call back.

We left the audition room all smiles. We'd formed a group in a few days, put in a few hours of rehearsal, and got a call back for a reality show. Stepping out of the box was fun, yet I wondered if I could maintain a carefree attitude at the call back the next day. Would the reality of what I was doing set it? If I got a yes, how would it change my life?