11 Things I Learned from Six Alternate Cherelle Jay's Workshop and Q&A

All My Six Posts!
Over-Analyzing All the Historical References in Six- “Ex Wives,” “No Way,” “Don’t Lose Your Head” “Heart of Stone” “Haus of Holbein” “Get Down”
The Tudor Crown Inspiration in Six’s Logo; The Tudor Fashion Elements of the Costumes in Six (with Painting References)
Six the Musical Wives 1-3: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations; Six the Musical Wives 4-6: Historical and Modern Costume Inspirations
The Ladies in Waiting of Six: Historical Inspirations and Costumes; Details from Six Costumer Gabriella Slade’s Instagram Takeover
The Early Costumes of Six the Musical: From Edinburgh to Cambridge to London
Updated Six the Musical Costumes for Broadway!; The Shoes of Six the Musical
The Alternate Costumes of Six the Musical; How the Six Alternates Change Their Styling for Each Queen
Virtual Dance Workshops and Q&As with Different Six Cast Members!

On Sunday morning, I attended a virtual workshop and q&a with Six alternate Cherelle Jay (often known as CJ), where she taught a really cool dance from “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie” through Theatre Fan Workshops. I didn’t end up actually dancing myself, as I was exhausted and having a lot of chronic pain issues, plus CJ is just like REALLY GOOD, y’all and it was a super hip-hop-y dance that I knew wasn’t even close to something I could handle. It was A BLAST watching her teach everyone and demonstrate different moves. She clearly loves teaching dance and was super encouraging and helpful, giving individual comments to people in the class and such about how to better embody a move or a character.

I actually didn’t know anything about “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie” until I signed up for this workshop. Apparently it’s a musical about a teenager who overcomes high school bullying and prejudice to become a drag queen. The synopsis I read online sounds really amazing and the music and dance section Cherelle taught was really funny. It looks like it’s gone around the UK and Australia but hasn’t gotten to America yet; I’m definitely looking up a lot of videos of it now to learn everything I can about it.

Usual disclaimer, I typed as fast as I could but a lot of this may be paraphrased rather than direct quotations. I’ve tried to make that clear in the text but if you have any questions, let me know!

Jamie audition vs. Six audition -
Everybody’s talking about Jamie - She had the dance auditions for it and made sure to sing songs they liked. She had a good relationship with the casting people before, which didn’t necessarily HELP but made her feel more comfortable.

Six was totally different. “I’ve worked with Carrie [Ann Ingrouille, the choreographer for Six] for years… I didn’t get this job TWICE. I think it’s important to realize that the industry doesn’t just hand you a job. It really isn’t personal though. You’re just not right for THAT cast; it could come down to your height or energy or whatever.
The two times I did audition I didn’t get it - and then the last time i went in, this was bizarre, I’d never been seen for Boleyn (just Cleves and Parr), and the last time I went in and got it, they asked me to do Boleyn. That’s my quirky and silly side and really got to play with that. I didn’t really understand Cleves until I was performing. “
Dance class suggestions [She had some specific teacher and class suggestions but my cats decided to use this exact time to break out in a massive fight that i had to go break up so i missed the exact names, sorry. She did mention Pineapple, which i think is referring to Pineapple Dance Studios!] “You’ve really got to do your research about what you’re going to gain from that person. it’s just not going to a person’s class because they may have credits. try them all and have fun and have a good time.”
Favorite queen in Six: Cleves is probably my favorite. [she had some other commentary but cat fight club broke out again and I missed it, gah.]
Did you audition for anyone specifically? “I really wanted to be Catherine Parr at first. I just really loved her song. When you just strip it back and it was just about the tracks, I just loved ‘I don’t need your love.’ And then I saw it and i saw the joy and fun in a lot of the other tracks more. I loved the quirkiness in Boleyn and i loved how teasing and playful she was.“

Cherelle JayNote: I brightened up the dance photos a bit so you can see her movements better. — *Cherelle Jay*
*Note: I brightened up the dance photos a bit so you can see her movements better.*

5. How she got to musical theatre: “When I went to college, I didn’t like musical theater- I’ve always been open about it. But my teacher told me, ‘you can sing.’ I didn’t believe I could sing. I then moved from a dance course to a musical theatre course and got really into the techniques of acting, like, looking into where that characters’ come from before the song.“

6. Advice for people with more of a dancing/acting background rather than a singing background: “You just have to keep training the same you apply yourself to dance. I was like ‘CJ, you’ve been dancing your whole entire life - 13-14 years- and you might sing in the shower once a month because you’re too scared to use your voice. As scary and nerve-racking as it is, you have to bite the bullet every time [and train].’ I might sound terrible right now but we’re going to work on it. I’m learning to lvoe my voice and celebrate my voice. It takes a lot of courage and as an actor…there are so many people who say what they want without thinking, and that’s such a hard blow. We ARE humans, and you can only take so much, so it’s lovely to have that support from musical theater fans.
I’d say - believe in yourself. Every time I make myself more comfortable in myself. I got the job, I’m getting paid every week, why am I still going on stage second-guessing myself. So i have to constantly drill into my head - ‘I am good, and if it’ not right now, I’ll train and get better.’ I constantly ask myself ‘am i actually putting in that work, am i actually training?’”

7. On Learning to Love her Voice more: [she was specifically responding here to a comment about her instagram video of her singing Heart of Stone] Even if I did get any nasty negativity on that - when you’re in that really uncomfortable stage [of becoming more comfortable with your skills], that can be really hard, like when I was in the industry and got some stick about my weight. If you’re already uncomfortable about that, that’s going to be a real blow. You have to take ownership of that, and I wasn’t necessarily big or whatever the industry wanted of me - I had to be like, ‘okay, that’s your opinion, but equally, i can become more comfortable with my skills.’ There’s a beauty in really loving what you’ve got and me really loving my voice.

8. Getting the most out of a dance class: When you go into a class ask, ‘what do i want from this? Is this the confidence? Is it the industry advice?’ Ask - what am i Learning? If you approach life trying to soak everything in and in general, it’s hard - i think it’s really clever to take specific things away. Understand - ‘if i go to drama school, what do i want as the outcome? Why am I doing this? Yes I like this and it’s my hobby, but if it’s to go into MT [musical theatre], what do i need? who do i need?’ You need to be really specific about your goals to get the most out of them.”

9. How she works as a swing: “I’ve never had a swing bible in my life. I just don’t learn that way. For me it’s a visual thing, so with six, and i’ve got to go on for someone - i really quickly pull up a folder in my phone and as i put on my makeup, i go through the track.
Don’t try to swing the whole show, see it as a track. I’m following a track. Then you see how A gets to B and B gets to C, etc….. If you see it as a continuation, then you know your journey throughout the show, so even if in the middle of the show, you have to pick up at F - you’re ready. Just be very precise about the journey you take from the beginnign of the show to the end. That’s probably my best way to swing.
Also - having something in your body like a character to differentiate your people. Cleves and Boleyn, they’re both playful, but for Cleves - it’s the jacket, she’s got the swagger. Boleyn’s got a more upright [demonstrates flirty shoulder move].

10. Advice/tips for getting into a more commercial dance career from more classical ballet background: For me, commercial as a word is a style now, but if you take that back, it comes from jazz, funk, it comes from hip hop. Jamie, for example, is a lot of like, house grooves. You need to study those kinds of styles, and you don’t have to be a master, you just have to have enough knowledge that you can use it when you’re in an audition room. That’s generally how I’ve booked those jobs. I knew, if we’re going for Jamie and Six, and this is a hip hop choreographer, vs the hundreds of girls that have a MT background, I stand out. And that goes both ways - if it’s something more legit [i think she was referring to more traditional dancing styles like tap or jazz], I’m way down here [motions with her hands low to her waist].
For auditions, play to your strengths….Versatility is great, try to be open, but also try to play to your strengths, and show off the things that you’ve trained in to stand out. Knowing how to bring your qualities and other strengths…show your panel what else you can bring to the table, why you might be different from the next person.

11. Funniest Show mishap: For Jamie, I was going on for the role of Levi [she went on for both men and women in this show]. I can’t say all his lines, obviously, but at the end, I had one line that was like “I tweeted his picture, and got 12 likes, I got a giffo.” I was SO BAD at picking up a Sheffield accent. I’ve got the most cockney, London accent. I would sit on the stairs before a show and run all my lines, because i was playing so many characters, I was afraid that I’d say the accent wrong. Because I hadn’t done six months of practicing Levi’s lines, I didn’t think through what his pronunciation would be. It was the MOST TEXAS ACCENT EVER. I couldn’t adjust that in my throat at the time and everyone was looking at me like ‘get off now.’ I’ve never laughed so much.
In Jamie, because we were kids, we just about got away with how much time we were in absolute hysterics, because kids are really like that show gave me anxiety because how many things I’ve done wrong but it also gave me so much joy.