American Repertory Ballet Announces Princeton Ballet School's Spring Production 2013: SWAN LAKE

Princeton Ballet School, the official school of American Repertory Ballet, will present the full-length classical ballet Swan Lake on May 18, 2013 at the Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton, NJ. Performances will be at 2:00pm and 7:00pm.

Any enrolled Princeton Ballet School student is able to participate in the annual spring production, including young students in children's ballet levels and adult students in open enrollment classes. All rehearsals take place outside of regular technique classes, as Princeton Ballet School is committed to providing performance opportunities alongside continued technical training.

"The School has been presenting a professional-quality, full-length classical ballet in the spring for over 60 years now," American Repertory Ballet Artistic Director Douglas Martin explains. Martin has also served as a faculty member at Princeton Ballet School, and, before becoming ARB's Artistic Director, was the Ballet Master for the student performing group, ARB Workshop. "It's a great opportunity for students to work together outside of their technique classes, as professional company members do, and to learn the kind of work that goes into presenting such a large-scale production."
"We enjoy continuing this long tradition of adapted full-length ballets in lieu of recitals for the dancers," says Princeton Ballet School Director Mary Pat Robertson. "It's a wonderful opportunity to immerse oneself, even at a young age, into the fully created world of a great work of art, and make that work part of your mental landscape."

This year's production of Swan Lake features original choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, with additional choreography and staging by ARB Workshop Ballet Master Mary Barton, Douglas Martin, ARB Workshop Ballet Master Maria Youskevitch, Mary Pat Robertson, and faculty members Laurie Abramson, Anne Gribbins, Erika Mero, Katie Scibienski, and Cheryl Whitney-Marcuard.

The most advanced ARB Workshop dancers - ARB/Princeton Ballet School Trainees and students of Princeton Ballet School's Professional Training Program (PTP) - have been working intensively with Maria Youskevitch, daughter of 20thCentury premier danseur Igor Youskevitch and 2013 recipient of ARB's Audrée Estey Award for Excellence in Dance Education. Ms. Youskevitch has staged and coached the advanced variations and ensemble dances with careful reverence for the original choreography. After her own professional dance career with American Ballet Theatre, Maryland Ballet, and her father's concert group, Ballet Romantique, Ms. Youskevitch set and coached classical ballets such as Swan Lakefor professional companies throughout the United States and abroad, including at the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow.

The story of Swan Lake centers around Odette, a princess who has been turned into a white swan by the evil sorcerer Rothbart's spell, Siegfried, the Prince who falls in love with her, and Odile, Rothbart's daughter who he disguises as a swan to deceive Siegfried and tragically doom Odette.

Odette will be portrayed by Elisabeth Heckman and Ellen Lou. Hekman is from Alto, Michigan, began her early training with the Ada Dance Academy in Ada, Michigan, and also performed with the West Michigan Youth Ballet, enjoying summer programs with Grand Rapids Ballet, Colorado Ballet, and the Joffrey. Post high school, she moved to Chicago to be a part of the Joffrey Chicago Academy program. This is Elisabeth's first year as a Trainee with ARB, and she has performed in Nutcracker, and Romeo and Juliet. Lou came to Princeton Ballet School in seventh grade, and has moved up through the ranks of the PLUS program into the Professional Training Program. She is currently a junior at Hillsboro High School. Last summer she studied at Miami City Ballet School's program, and this coming summer she will be studying here at Princeton Ballet School. In Princeton Ballet School's 2012 Spring Production, Don Quixote, Ellen had the featured role of the Queen of the Dryads. She has also appeared this year with ARB in Nutcracker as a Snowflake and a Flower.

Odile, the BLACK SWAN, will be danced by Andrea D'Annunzio and Asuka Kososhi. From Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, D'Annunzio holds a B.A. in Ballet Pedagogy from Jordan College of the Fine Arts at Butler University, where she was given multiple achievement awards. During her time as a Trainee, she has appeared with ARB in Rite of Spring, as the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet, and as a Snowflake and Flower in Nutcracker. Last spring she danced the featured role of Dream Kitri in Don Quixote. D'Annunzio will be an RA for the Princeton Ballet School Summer Intensive this summer. Kososhi began her training at the Grand Ballet Academy in her hometown of Iruma, Japan. Before coming to Princeton Ballet School, she also trained in the Etoile class at the NBA School in Shintokorozawa, and at the Hungarian Ballet Academy in Budapest. Her featured roles as a Trainee have included Amor in last year's Don Quixote, Clara, Snowflake, and Flower in Nutcracker, and Emily in Our Town.

The role of Siegfried will be danced by Tullio Catà and Jacopo Janelli, also two dancers from the Trainee program. Catà studied in Rome with the Accademia Nazionale di Danza, as well as at Balleto di Toscana in Florence. His featured roles have included Basilio in Don Quixote, George in Our Town, and several roles in ARB's Romeo and Juliet, including Lord Capulet. Janelli is from Tor Vaianica, Italy and studied in Rome with Fabula Saltis and at the Accademia Nazionale di Danza. He spent three summers at the Royal Ballet School in England, and another three here at Princeton Ballet School. Janelli's featured roles have included the toreador, Espada, in Don Quixote, Prince inNutcracker, and most recently, Tybalt in ARB's Romeo and Juliet. He has also appeared as a guest artist in Philadelphia, as the Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty.

Princeton Ballet School presents Swan Lake
Patriots Theater at the War Memorial
1 Memorial Drive, Trenton, NJ
Tickets:
Tickets can be purchased during box office hours at the Princeton studio or at the theater on the day of the performance. If you purchase online at http://patriotstheater.ticketleap.com/swanlake/, there is a fee of $3.50 per ticket assessed by Ticketleap. Box Office Hours: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9 am to 2 pm, Saturday, April 27 from 12 pm to 4 pm

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