You’ve picked out your outfit for tomorrow’s big audition, packed your dance shoes, and know your go-to makeup look.  But what about your hair?  A polished audition look includes everything from your head to your toes.  But if you don’t even know where to begin, we’ve come up with a few tried-and-true audition hairstyles to help you stand out from the crowd and dance with confidence.

Ballet:

• Classic bun: Create a slick ponytail at the top of your head, peak of your skull, or nape of your neck. Twist the tail of your hair and wrap it around your hair tie, tucking the end in so it’s hidden.  Use bobby pins to secure the style and you can also cover the bum with a hair net to keep fly-aways at bay.

• French twist: Hold your hair in a ponytail at the nape of your neck. Twist the hair upwards and into itself so it looks like a croissant or a seashell.  Tuck in any extra hair at the top and secure with bobby pins.

Musical Theater:

• Loose curls: Tie your hair into a loose ponytail at the top of your head. Use a curling iron or wand to create 1-inch curls within the ponytail.  Let the curls cool, take down the ponytail, run your fingers through the waves, and add some hairspray.  Keep hair from getting in your face by securing bangs with bobby pins, pulling some hair back into a half-ponytail, or creating a French braid along your hairline.

• High ponytail: Brush your hair into a high ponytail and the peak of your head. Add some pizazz by creating one large single curl with a curling iron, lots of body with many curls, or pin straight with a flat iron.

Commercial:

• Big curls: Wrap your post-showered hair in foam rollers before you go to sleep. In the morning, take out the rollers, shake out your hair, and use hairspray to maintain the voluminous style.

• Pin straight: Get sleek, smooth hair with a flat iron. Part your hair in the center and pin the two front pieces (just ¼ inch) under the rest of your hair so it doesn’t get in your eyes while you’re dancing.

Contemporary:

• Low ponytail: Part your hair on your preferred side and slick it back with gel and a hairbrush into a ponytail at the nape of your neck.  Spray down any fly-aways and you can even wrap a piece of hair around your hair-tie for a more polished look.

• Inside-out braid: Instead of crossing hair strands on top of each other like in a normal French braid, tuck the pieces underneath to create a tighter inside-out braid. If you don’t want the tail of the braid hanging down while you dance, bobby pin it under the braid or wrap it into a bun at the nape of your neck.

Watch YouTube videos for hairstyling tips or get together and practice different styles with your friends.  And remember, “practice your ‘audition hair’ and wear it that way in a dance class before you get to the audition,” says dance hair and makeup expert, Emily Katz (@emkatzbeauty).  “You want to be focused on the audition and not distracted because your French twist is falling out during your triple pirouette!  Practice executing different hairstyles and dancing with them to see what is the most flattering and comfortable style for you.”