COSTA MESA : Dancers Leap for Limelight

Pirouetting across Cirque du Soleil’s rainbow-colored stage, Angela Abraham was in her element. And as she leaped into the air with the men and women dancing beside her, her mind focused tightly on one goal: winning a place in the limelight.

Two grueling, sweat-filled hours later, the 20-year-old Huntington Beach resident was rewarded when she was one of two dancers invited to a call-back audition.

“They asked me to come back tomorrow!” Abraham said, her face aglow with perspiration.

But for the 12 other dancers who spent the morning spinning, jumping and cartwheeling to the beat of Cirque du Soleil choreographer Debra Brown, the end of the audition was bittersweet.

“I’ve been lax,” admitted Abraham’s brother, Scott, 23, who also auditioned Monday. “I try to get by as a dancer, but I’m primarily an actor,” he said, adding that he planned to return Tuesday for the actors’ auditions.

Monday’s event in a tent at South Coast Plaza was the first of two open auditions that Cirque du Soleil will hold in Orange County and the latest stop in a nationwide search to find performers for Cirque du Soleil’s upcoming production based in Las Vegas. The circus is playing an engagement at South Coast Plaza through March 7.

Former Transylvania resident Ildiko Csomor had a harder time than most of the dancers. Csomor, a former ballet dancer with the Hungarian State Opera who moved to Anaheim from Hungary just three weeks ago, speaks no English.

Nevertheless, Csomor, 28, quickly picked up the moves and was soon keeping up with the other dancers.

“I don’t understand what is being said, but once I feel the music, I just know how to move,” she explained with the help of her fiancee, Rudolph Schneider. American-style auditions were also a bit confusing for Csomor, who had to perform in street clothes because she did not bring her dance wear. “I didn’t expect to dance today,” Csomor said. “In Europe, you bring a resume to the first meeting and then make an appointment for an audition.”

Granada Hills resident Mark Lang, 28, a husky man with corn-colored hair, looked as if he would be more at home on a football field but soon dispelled doubts about his agility with a standing back flip.

Lang, 28, who is from Minnesota, said he moved to Southern California to find a job as an entertainer. And although he didn’t receive his big break on Monday, Lang said he was impressed with the experience.

“I think this is a much classier operation than most,” said Lang. “They took the time to go beyond what they were looking for and see what else we could do. If all auditions were like this, I would go to a lot more of them.”

“We’re not looking for commercial dancers,” said choreographer Brown. “The kind of people we are looking for have to be able to act as well as dance.” Brown said she has auditioned more than 300 dancers for the six dancers’ roles in the upcoming Las Vegas show and would audition dancers in New York City and Las Vegas before making her selections in March.

Looking around the inside of the big top one last time before she left, Esther Alise sighed gently. “Imagine working here. . . . This place is so beautiful, so magical.” she said.

Alise, who braved the morning commute from the San Fernando Valley to attend Monday’s audition, was pragmatic about not being chosen.

“You go out there and do the best you can, but you never know what’s going to work,” said Alise. “That’s the joy and the frustration of this business.”