In The Artist’s Compass, Los Angeles Music Center CEO Rachel Moore shares how to make life as a performer more successful, secure, and sustainable by approaching a career in the arts like an entrepreneur.
The Artist’s Compass
BOOKS
Raising The Barre
Can a woman in her forties dance The Nutcracker? Raising the Barre is more than just one woman’s story; it is a story about shaking things up, taking risks and ignoring good sense, and forgetting how old you are and how you’re “supposed” to act. It’s about testing limits and raising the bar(re) on your own life.
The Real Traviata
The Real Traviata is the rags-to-riches story of a tragic young woman whose life inspired one of the most famous operas of all time, Verdi’s masterpiece La traviata, as well as one of the most scandalous and successful French novels of the nineteenth century, La Dame aux Camelias, by Alexandre Dumas fils.
Moments Of Truth For Actresses
A collection of thirty brutally honest monologues, Moments of Truth delves into the minds of women and delivers the truth. Based upon real stories these monologues are presented workbook style with accompanying questions to assist the actress in developing her character and bringing more of herself to each piece. It’s like having an acting coach sitting right next to you
What Makes An Audition ‘Thumbs Up’ Or ‘Thumbs Down’
Actress Holly Williams, who recently jumped to behind the casting table, shares some tips.
1. Look like your headshot. When all I have to look at and remember you by is your photo, let it look like you. So much of casting is outside your control. Looking like you headshot is not one of them…
2. Make your resumes easy to read. I spent more time trying to hunt for information on your resume than I did watching your audition. Go to Paul Russell’s ACTING: MAKE IT YOUR BUSINESS book, turn to page 86 and follow the industry standard. I probably missed a marvelous part of your audition because I was searching for something that I should be able to find at a glance.
3. Keep your audition material up to date. Make it a goal to keep your audition material polished and ready to go when unexpectedly requested. This is in your control (see the pattern here?).
4. Be yourself. Have fun. Don’t speak unless spoken to. Put your professional game face on. Live in the moment once your audition begins. Politely thank them for their time and leave. If they are interested in more they will ask.
Photograph by Martin Shapiro.
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Understanding Italian Opera
Opera is often regarded as the pinnacle of high art. A “Western” genre with global reach, it is where music and drama come together in unique ways, supported by stellar singers and spectacular scenic effects. Yet it is also patently absurd — why should anyone break into song on the dramatic stage? — and shrouded in mystique.
In this engaging and entertaining guide, Understanding Italian Opera, renowned music scholar Tim Carter unravels its many layers to offer a thorough introduction to Italian opera from the seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries.
The Ballet Lover’s Companion
Published in 2015, The Ballet Lover’s Companion by Zoë Anderson is a brief dance primer on ballet, with each of its eight chapters dedicated to distinct periods throughout ballet’s long history. In fewer than 350 pages, Anderson sifts through 140 ballets, analyzing their context by examining the social and political eras in which they were created. It’s an exciting (context: exciting for dance nerds like me) update to the slew of western dance history books available in that Anderson actually digs into the late 20th and early 21st century, perhaps replacing Susan Au’s 1988 stalwart on many dance majors’ bookshelves.
This is a fragment of The Ballet Lover’s Companion book review written by Lauren Warnecke, a freelance dance writer based in Chicago. Read the complete review here.