The Nutcracker - Indiana University

Elaine Sinclair (Snow Queen, 11/30 & 12/2) is a senior Ballet major
pursuing an outside field in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. A
Richmond, Virginia native, she studied at the Richmond Ballet for 11
years, her final year as a trainee. She attended summer programs at the
Richmond Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, San Francisco Ballet,
American Ballet Theatre (NYC), and the Harid Conservatory. Sinclair, a
former high school valedictorian, continues to distinguish herself
academically and is a member of the Hutton Honors College and Phi Eta Sigma National
Honors Society. Her featured IUBT performances include Soloist in Cathedral (Fall Ballet
2006), Arabian and Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, and the Fairy of Summer in Cinderella
(Spring Ballet 2007). She has also been seen on stage in Glassworks, Winds from the South,
The Final Pointe, Napoli Divertissements, Paquita, and Brandenburg IV.
Ashley Thursby (Sugar Plum Fairy, 11/30 & 12/2; Flower pas de
deux, 12/1 eve.) is from Richmond, MO, and trained at the Kansas City
Ballet, where she was placed on full scholarship after her first summer of
training and continued in that capacity until joining the company as a
student apprentice. With the Kansas City Ballet, she performed in A
Midsummer Night’s Dream as a fairy, in Giselle as a wili, and numerous roles,
including Chinese, in The Nutcracker. Thursby also performed with Ballet
West’s touring production of Sleeping Beauty. During the summers, she has trained at Jillana,
San Francisco Ballet School (scholarship three years), School of American Ballet, and Alonzo
King’s Lines Pre-Professional Program in San Francisco (on scholarship). Thursby is a third-