I began working with Spotlight Academy during the spring of my Junior year of high school. Immediately, Kristy Solomon felt like my best friend and biggest advocate while starting my college audition process. She guided me through everything I needed to know about the complicated process step by step, and was there through it all. At the beginning, she helped me choose a unique repertoire that would stand out in the audition room and that would highlight all of my strengths as a singer and actress. Kristy motivated me to stay on top of all of my applications, essays, and vocal training. She was very invested in my process as an individual, and she paid attention to the smallest details of my auditions that made the difference when it came to getting into tough programs. She was there every step of the way, from filming amazing prescreen materials to deciding which school was right for me. We constantly worked my audition material until it was the best that it could be, and she helped me build confidence in the audition room. She gave me a pre-audition warm up and encouragement ritual that I still use. Having worked for several performance-based programs, she knows what programs look for in the audition room, and will help you achieve an amazing performance quality. She also taught me how to be myself in the audition room, and how to let my personality shine through. She was so supportive, and constantly checked in for updates. She helped me to make the best decision possible for me, and understand that I was meant to end up exactly where I was! I was also involved in several shows while working with Spotlight and Kristy, and she challenged me to explore the characters and do my best work when it came to being on stage. When I first started vocal lessons with Kristy, I was not a very technical singer. I had a very nasal-pop sound, which didn’t work for what I wanted to do with my career. She explained exactly what was going on in my voice, and how to fix the nit-picky problems that I was having. She took the time to explain the techniques and why they worked, which I had not had before. After just a few lessons, I had already seen lots of improvement and understanding why. By the time auditions rolled around, I was no longer struggling to get out of my nose when singing. I had also never explored classical styles, which are very important for a life in Musical Theatre. Kristy introduced the correct way to sing Golden Age music and Art Songs, which made up about half of my college audition song material. She challenged me to work my upper register, and my range expanded greatly because of her. Without her help with classical and golden age styles, I would definitely not have ended up where I am. Spotlight also offers dance classes and multiple masterclasses which allowed me to improve my dance technique before starting an intense BFA training. The whole Spotlight team has been incredibly encouraging, and I would definitely not have had such a successful experience without their help.
