American Repertory Ballet is set to begin its 2014-2015 season in September with events in Princeton and Lawrenceville.
ARB is scheduled to kick-off its monthly On Pointe series with its annual Meet the Company event September 12. Then the company is set to return to Rider University’s Bart Luedeke Center for its Fall Kick-Off Performance Sept. 20.
Through guest speakers, lecture demonstrations, performance previews, and panel discussions, ARB’s On Pointe series gives the public an inside look at the world of dance. Meet the Company gives community members a chance to meet ARB’s 14 professional dancers, who have come to Princeton from around the world, and artistic director Douglas Martin. Martin plans to speak about the company’s upcoming season and the dancers will perform excerpts of select repertory.
Meet the Company is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. Sept 12 in the company’s Princeton studio located above McCaffery’s, 301 North Harrison St., Princeton.
ARB’s Fall Kick-Off Performance features a variety of movement styles, narrative voices, and musical genres.
The program includes ballets Philip Jerry’s Our Town, a ballet in one act based on Thornton Wilder’s timeless play and set to music by Aaron Copland; ARB resident choreographer Mary Barton’s Fantasy Baroque, set to music by Bach; and Trinette Singleton’s Dreams Interrupted, set to an original score by Pierre Bohemond.
Confetti, a virtuosic ballet choreographed by Joffrey Ballet co-founder Gerald Arpino Gioachino Rossini’s Semiramide Overture, will also be on the program.
Our Town has a rich history in the Princeton area. Wilder’s play premiered at McCarter Theatre in Princeton in 1938, and ARB premiered Jerry’s ballet in 1994. Like Wilder’s play, Jerry’s ballet chronicles the lives of neighbors Emily Webb and George Gibbs as they grow up together in a small New England town, fall in love, and eventually marry. It is set to a score by Aaron Copland, featuring his infamous Fanfare for the Common Man.
Barton’s Fantasy Baroque celebrates this distinct artistic era through its use of Bach’s Concerto for Flute and Harpsichord, period costumes, mime, and hints of traditional baroque dance steps woven through dynamic movement phrases.
American Repertory Ballet premiered Singleton’s Dreams Interrupted in spring 2014. When creating this new work, she was inspired by Pierre Bohemond’s piece of music Dreams Interrupted and by the psychological place between dreaming and experiencing reality.
Confetti is a ballet for three couples created in the fast-paced, exuberant spirit of a tarantella.
The Fall Kick-Off performance is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Sept. 19 and 20 at Rider University’s Bart Luedeke Center, 2083 Lawrenceville Road, Lawrenceville.
Tickets are $20 for regular admission and $10 for seniors and students. They are available through the Bart Luedeke Center’s box office beginning Sept. 2
ARB’s Princeton Ballet School is set to begin classes Sept. 5.
On Sept. 6, advanced students in the American Repertory Ballet Workshop performance groups plan to present their annual Cranbury Day performances 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. at the school’s location at 29 Main St. in Cranbury.
ARB is set to participate in Kids’ Day at the Park, the last day of the Hub City Sounds arts festival in New Brunswick, 3 p.m. Sept. 27. The company will present a performance of Grumpy Bird, which will include opportunities for participation and a question and answer session with the dancers.
More information is online at americanrepertoryballet.org.
American Repertory Ballet dancers perform a scene from Philip Jerry’s “Our Town.”,
