Princeton Ballet School, the official school of American Repertory Ballet, presents the Spanish-inspired, full-length ballet “Don Quixote” on Saturday, May 5, at 2 and 7 p.m. at Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton, New Jersey. “Behind Don Quixote,” an ARB On Pointe Enrichment series event, will provide a free pre-performance inside look at the production on Friday, April 27, at 5:15 p.m. at Princeton Ballet School, 301 North Harrison Street, Princeton.
The production, directed and staged by ARB artistic director Douglas Martin, features rising stars from the school’s professional training program and trainee program, as well as a wide range of students from Princeton Ballet School.
The 19th-century ballet, based on Miguel Cervantes’ classic novel, was choreographed by Marius Petipa to a score by Leon Minkus. An elderly noble, Don Quixote, feels called to venture out into the world and perform knightly deeds. He appoints his young servant, Sancho Panza, as his squire. He sets forth to seek adventure in the service of Dulcinea, a woman he has seen in a vision.
Although Martin’s ballet is based on Petipa’s original version, there has been additional re-staging and choreography by Mary Barton, Maria Youskevitch, Alma Concepcion, and other members of the Princeton Ballet School’s faculty.
“We are very proud to be able to feature dancers trained in the true dances of Spain, by Alma Concepcion,” says Mary Pat Robertson, director of Princeton Ballet School. “We are very lucky to have had her teaching at Princeton Ballet School for almost 30 years, and to have a core group of dedicated enthusiasts who enjoy practicing these dances under her exacting tutelage.”
The production gives a broad range of Princeton Ballet School students — from beginners to pre-professionals — an opportunity to rehearse and perform a full length ballet. “The students have had rehearsals outside their regularly scheduled classes to put together this performance,” Robertson explains. “This opportunity gives them insight into the preparation required to put on a professional-level production.”
Plainsboro dancers include, Sophia Kandalin, Bhavana Thelakkat, Shambhavi Mishra, Kalani Chen-Hayes, Jady Zhao, Cate Bashore, Naomi Ho, Veepra Mishra, Utku Ozdemir, Emmanuelle Farrell, Marian Farrell, and Kaila Jones.
West Windsor dancers include Emily Potenza, Emily Yeh, Amanda Liao, Isobel Liang, Stephanie Ge, Marilyn Zhang, Katherine Dallas, Maya Kalinowski, Breeshti Khan, Nicole Potenza, Erin Yeh, Jacqueline Zhang, Lily Zhou, Marina Lourenco, Caroline Palmer, and Alexa Wentworth.
Also Jaclyn Owens, Luiza Chevres, Ava Chon, Lily Henry, Reed Henry, Elayne Jia, Lauren Kim, Yiting Qiu, Emmy Sperling, Isabel Sung, Julia Weiss, Kiko Yoshihira, Ella Chon, Olivia Kim, Mia Donatiello, Aneeqah Kamani-Ahmed, Alexis Tamm, Colleen Linko, Nora Weiss, Caroline Galati, Lily Zhu, Kate Yuan, Jacopo Jannelli, Adriana Nevers, Isabella Markey, Brittany Deng, Courtney Kraft, Rachel Karp, and Connor Kraft.
Don Quixote, American Repertory Ballet, Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, Trenton, 609-984-8400. Saturday, May 5, 2 and 7 p.m.
