Personal Information

Title

Company Director

Bio

Douglas Martin started his ballet training with Dimitri Romanoff at the San Jose Ballet School and was one of six dancers selected by Mikhail Baryshnikov to study in the newly formed American Ballet Theatre School. He performed with the Joffrey II dancers in 1982/83 and 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 for its 1991/92 season, 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 ARB Workshop 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.  Mr.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, Philip Jerry's Our Town,  and Septime Webre’s Fluctuating Hemlines. Additionally, Mr. Martin has choreographed and directed several PBS productions, including  Sleeping Beauty, Coppélia, Don Quixote, and Swan Lake.  In 2010, Mr. Martin became Director of American Repertory Ballet.  Since then, he has premiered a new production of Nutcracker (2010), and world premieres of several new repertory works:  Ephemeral Possessions, the Balcony pas de deux and Ballroom scene from Romeo and Juliet, and Pathways, commissioned by the Career Transition for Dancers Gala.

 

History

Member for

2 years 12 weeks