On Pointe: ARB's Free Monthly Community Enrichment Series

@ the Princeton Ballet School

2010-2011 Season:

May 13th, 2011

Behind the Music: Jelly Roll Morton and the music of Eight Jelly Rolls.  Musician Jonathan Benjamin discusses the process of bringing the music of Jelly Roll Morton to life with a live jazz band for the upcoming ARB performance, "American Classics" which will feature Jonathan Benjamin and Vince Giordano's Nighthawks playing live.

April 29th, 2011

From Page to Stage: Diving deep into Our Town.  College of New Jersey professor Michael Robertson discusses Thornton Wilder's play.  He will be joined by Douglas Martin and Mary Barton, who were in the original cast of Philip Jerry's ballet, Our Town to discuss how the play was adapted to a ballet.

Michael Robertson is a professor of English at The College of New Jersey.  After graduating from college, he was a New York-based dance critic, whose work was regularly featured in Dance Magazine, the Village Voice, and the New York Times.  He is the recipient of two National  Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships, and author of two award-winning books:  Worshipping Walt:  The Whitman Disciples (Princeton University Press, 2008) and Stephen Crane, Journalism, and the Making of Modern American Literature (Columbia University Press, 1997).  He has been following the work of American Repertory Ballet for many years through the involvement of his wife Mary Pat and daughter Miranda.

March 25th, 2011

Dancing your way into College: a dancer's guide to college admissions and financial aid. Panelists will include Robin Moscato, Director of Financial Aid at Princeton University, Tova Meyer, Assistant Director of Admissions at Princeton University, and Molly Dunne, Associate Director of College Counseling at the Lawrenceville School.  The free panel will help students and their parents learn how schools consider dance training and other talents in the application process; understand different avenues and options for dancing in college; and navigate the financial aid process.

February 25th, 2011

Behind the Creative Process.  Douglas Martin previewed and discussed his process in creating his new piece "Ephemeral Possessions".  Matthew Keefe, Ballet Master, discussed Patrick Corbin's new work "Follia"

January 28, 2011

Behind the Choreography: Explaining Tharp's Eight Jelly Rolls.  After an exciting preview of Twyla Tharp's Eight Jelly Rolls, former Twyla Tharp dancer, Katie Glasner, discussed the process of restaging the piece for ARB.  Read Christine Chen's blog post on the event. And read more about the process from Audra Johnson's blog post.

November 5, 2010

Behind the Curtain: Inside the sets and costumes for The Nutcracker.  After a brief preview of Nutcracker excerpts, Production Manger Matthew Keefe and Costume staff, Gina Ricca and Sweta Vakani, shared the secrets of the production's sets and costumes.

October 1, 2010

Meet the company: What it takes to be a dancer.  After a brief preview of Our Town, Douglas Martin introduced the company members and discussed the upcoming season. Learn more about Our Town here.