The passion, beauty, stunning costumes and magic of using music and dance to tell a story; it’s the dream of many children who take up ballet classes. But how does that childhood fantasy become a reality, what is involved in turning dance classes into a career and what happens when injury threatens to shatter the only dream you’ve ever had?
NOVA Entertainment and The Australian Ballet have partnered to create Meet Me at the Barre, a compelling podcast series that steps into the world of ballet, unveiling the stories behind one of Australia’s most respected creative companies.
In this six-part podcast series Amber Petty meets some inspiring and imaginative people from The Australian Ballet. Meet Me at the Barre is set to unveil the stories, human spirit and creative talent behind the scenes of The Australian Ballet, and ballet as an art form.
Penny Rowland, Director of Marketing, Commercial & Audience Development of The Australian Ballet said, “We are always searching for ways to appeal to culturally-curious audiences who may not have experienced ballet as yet. Creating content to tell the human stories of our artists, the company, and the art form has become the norm for our company and the popularity of our social channels reflect this. With so many of our dancers and staff becoming addicted to listening to Podcasts, we felt the time was right to collaborate with Amber Petty and our trusted partners Nova Entertainment who are innovating in this space.
Tanya Simpson, NOVA Entertainment’s Integration & Marketing Director said, “The Australian Ballet is a special partnership for smoothfm and Meet Me at the Barre provided an opportunity to create unique audio on demand content, that gives listeners a more unique and deeper understanding of the passion, imagination and human spirit behind one of the most respected creative companies.”
Meet Me at the Barre reveals the blood, sweat and tears behind the beauty and imagination of dance. The series begins with The Australian Ballet’s Artistic Director David McAllister lifting the curtain on the day to day life of one of the world’s leading ballet companies.
Continuing the magic Principal Artists Ako Kondo and Chengwu Gou share their fairytale love story, paired as love interests on-stage, the newly engaged couple discuss how this led to their own love story. The series continues with Principal Artist Amber Scott who takes us into her magical world and reflects on her career and the woman she is today and the fact she will be dancer even when she’s 90.
Principal Artist Kevin Jackson speaks candidly about working on his physique and how he has already begun to prepare for Lucas Jervis’ new production Spartacus while music powerhouse and Music Director and Chief Conductor Nicolette Fraillon delves into the bond between ballet, music and the human connection between the players and the dancers.
The series concludes with global star David Hallberg who discusses suffering a devastating injury that looked set to end his career. Undertaking rehabilitation with The Australian Ballet company led to an intense period of self-reflection and realisation that sometimes when something you love appears to be over, a far greater gift begins to emerge.
New episodes of Meet Me at the Barre are available weekly on Acast and iTunes.
Visit: australianballet.com.au/meet-me-at-the-barre-podcast