Leadership

Leadership

Christine Chen

Managing Director

Christine Chen joined American Repertory Ballet after a career in the dance world as a performer, choreographer, journalist, educator and manager. She received her early dance training at the Princeton Ballet School, and was a member of the school’s pre-professional division. As an undergraduate at Princeton University, Christine turned her focus to contemporary dance while earning a degree in Sociology. She earned an MFA in dance at the Ohio State University, then began her professional career in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she danced with AXIS Dance Company, Flyaway Productions, Dandelion Dance Theater, Paufve Dance and other independent choreographers.

Christine joined New York-based STREB, an "extreme action" company in 2003. With STREB, Christine toured nationally and internationally, performed on Late Night with David Letterman, was featured in Cirque du Soleil's production of Midnight Sun, and appeared in an international ad campaign for Puma. While performing, Christine honed her arts management skills as Programs Manager at STREB and Development and Communications Manager at Flyaway Productions.

After retiring from performing, Christine decided to direct her full energies towards arts management. She earned her MBA at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management while working in Marketing at the Napa Valley Opera House and consulting at other arts and advocacy organizations.

Douglas Martin

Company Director

Douglas Martin started his ballet training with Dimitri Romanoff at the San Jose Ballet School and was one of six dancers selected to study in the newly formed American Ballet Theatre School formed by Mikhail Baryshnikov. He was invited to join the Joffrey Ballet in 1984 where, as a principal dancer, he performed roles in ballets by Ashton, Arpino, Cranko, Balanchine, Joffrey, Taylor, Pendleton, Kudelka and many other great 20th century choreographers. Mr. Martin was featured in performances of Dance in America on PBS and was an original cast member of the historic recreation of Nijinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps. He was among the last dancers of the Joffrey Ballet to spend the majority of his career in the company working under founder Robert Joffrey. Martin joined the Cleveland Ballet in 1991, and danced an array of principle roles including the Minister in Agnes deMille's Fall River Legend.

In 1993, Mr. Martin was invited to join the American Repertory Ballet. As leading dancer and Ballet Master for ARB, Mr. Martin collaborated with directors in creating ballets, including productions as the original cast lead in Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, The Dream and The Nutcracker. Mr. Martin continued to be a principal dancer in the company as well as Ballet Master for ARB and ARBW and Principal Faculty for the PBS Summer Intensive until his retirement from performing in 2002.

After retiring from ARB as a performer, Mr. Martin expanded his teaching, production and choreographic work. Martin has been an integral part of the teaching staff at the Princeton Ballet School, Rutgers University and Westminster Choir College, and has also served as the School's Music Director and ARBW Ballet Master. He has staged full length and repertory ballets for several companies, including Romeo and Juliet and Philip Jerry's Our Town. Additionally, Mr. Martin has choreographed for several PBS productions, including Sleeping Beauty and Coppélia. This year saw the premiere of ARB’s new Nutcracker, staged and choreographed by Mr. Martin, as well as the world premiere ofhis new work, Ephemeral Possessions, for his inaugural season.

Mary Pat Robertson

School Director

A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mary Pat Robertson received her early training with June Runyon and danced with Tulsa Ballet Theatre. After graduation from Stanford University, Ms. Robertson performed and taught in New York, where she studied with Merce Cunningham, Douglas Wassell, and David Howard. She has taught ballet at Princeton University, New York University, and Mason Gross School of the Arts.

Ms. Robertson was a founding director of Teamwork Dance, and has received a Choreographic Fellowship from NJSCA. Robertson choreographed numerous operas for Opera Festival of New Jersey includingThe Merry Widow, The Magic Flute, La Traviata, The Marriage of Figaro, Postcard from Morocco, and Orfeo ed Euridice. For Opera New Jersey, she choreographed Roméo et Juliette, La Traviata, The Merry Widow and Die Fledermaus. She has also been a consultant for the New York State Council on the Arts and NJPAC’s Outreach Program.

Ms. Robertson has been teaching at Princeton Ballet School since 1980, and became Director of the School in 1986. During these years she developed the syllabus with faculty input, inaugurated the PLUS programs, Professional Training and Trainee Programs, and oversaw the moves into the new Princeton and Cranbury studios. In March, 2007, the United States Congress cited Ms. Robertson for her twenty plus years of leadership of Princeton Ballet School, and for its evolution into “one of the most acclaimed (dance schools) in the country.”