Louisville Ballet

The Big Break: The Grand Finale

Erin Keane — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:00:00 +0000

The first season of our audio diary series “The Big Break,” comes to a close this week. Since last fall, understudies and apprentices take us behind the curtain at the Kentucky Opera, Actors Theatre of Louisville and the Louisville Ballet.

We'll launch the next season of The Big Break with a new class of up-and-coming artists in the early fall.

Back to Their Roots: Louisville Ballet's Next Season Goes Back to Classics

Erin Keane — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:38:49 +0000

The Louisville Ballet returns to its classical ballet foundation for its 2013-14 season. Val Caniparoli’s “The Brown-Forman Nutcracker” reprises its role as season anchor on December 3, bookended by full productions of “Swan Lake” and the Romantic classic “La Sylphide.”

The Big Break: The Next Steps

Erin Keane — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:00:00 +0000

On our audio diary series “The Big Break,” understudies and apprentices take us behind the curtain at the Kentucky Opera, Actors Theatre of Louisville and the Louisville Ballet. The season is almost over for the actors and dancers. Her time in Louisville is almost up, so Actors Theater apprentice Samantha Beach has to decide where she wants to build the next phase of her career. Louisville Ballet trainee Claire Horrocks makes plans for her summer that will help her prepare for a possibility every dancer fears -- the day she can't dance anymore.

The Big Break: High Notes and Early Calls

Erin Keane — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 11:00:00 +0000

This week on The Big Break, Actors Theatre of Louisville apprentice Samantha Beach reflects on tech week for "Sleep Rock Thy Brain," the apprentice play that opened last weekend in the Humana Festival of New American Plays. (The music in this week's episode is from "Sleep Rock Thy Brain," composed and performed by Scott Anthony, the show's composer and sound designer.)

Over at the Louisville Ballet, trainee Claire Horrocks, who also teaches at the ballet school, describes the joyful madness that is a spring showcase, a true community effort at the Louisville Ballet School.

The Big Break: On Your Toes

Erin Keane — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:00:00 +0000

This week on The Big Break, the Louisville Ballet rehearses for its upcoming mixed repertory program, Breaking Ground while trainee Claire Horrocks gets called up to the stage for a surprise bonus role. Over at Actors Theatre of Louisville, acting apprentice Samantha Beach finishes up rehearsals for "Sleep Rock Thy Brain," the apprentice anthology play that opens this weekend, and she reflects on the new play rehearsal process.

The Big Break: Reaching and Teaching

Erin Keane — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 11:00:00 +0000

This week on The Big Break, our audio diarists talk about being on both sides of the showcase process. Actors Theatre of Louisville apprentice Samantha Beach is rehearsing for her short scene showcase, which will be seen by casting directors and other influential industry members during Humana Festival. That's one way the apprentice program helps young actors like Samantha set up their post-Actors career. Over at the Louisville Ballet School, where ballet trainee Claire Horrocks teaches, her young students are preparing for their annual recital.

The Big Break: Demos and Drafts

Erin Keane — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:00:00 +0000

This week on The Big Break, our audio diarists take us inside the rehearsal process for a brand-new play and out into the schools for ballet demonstrations. Actors Theatre of Louisville apprentice Samantha Beach works with playwright Lucas Hnath on "Night, Night," his act of "Sleep Rock Thy Brain," the high-flying apprentice showcase opening in the Humana Festival of New American Plays this month. The ballet company takes the week off, but not the trainees, so Claire Horrocks takes us into the schools with the trainee demonstration program.

Helen Starr: Ballet Gives You a Body Language

Erin Keane — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 20:40:03 +0000

As a soloist with the Royal Ballet and a principal dancer with the London Ballet Festival, Helen Starr danced many of the lead roles in classical ballets. But she didn’t dance the role of Juliet to Sergei Prokofiev’s score until 1985 when her husband Alun Jones, then artistic director, choreographed his version of the ballet in Louisville.

Now retired from the company, Jones and Starr return every five or six years to stage the version of Shakespeare’s tragic love story that they created together. They open another production this weekend in the Kentucky Center's Whitney Hall.

The Big Break: Sitting In and Saying Goodbye

Erin Keane — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 12:00:00 +0000

On our audio diary series The Big Break, two of our emerging performers take us inside rehearsals for upcoming productions while a third says farewell to Louisville. Over at the Louisville Ballet, trainee Claire Horrocks discusses the gravity of the understudy role in rehearsal, while at Actors Theatre of Louisville, apprentice Samantha Beach sits in on rehearsals for the five productions opening soon in the Humana Festival of New American Plays.

A Script in Their Heads: Dancing Romeo and Juliet

Erin Keane — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:49:49 +0000

The Louisville Ballet opens Shakespeare's timeless tragedy of star-crossed lovers this week. Alun Jones and Helen Starr return to the company to stage Jones' version of "Romeo and Juliet," which opens Friday in the Kentucky Center's Whitney Hall.