Princeton Ballet School Announces Students Achievements at Performance of SLEEPING BEAUTY

On Saturday, May 18, 2014, 350 Princeton Ballet School students performed in the school's annual spring production 2014,The Sleeping Beauty, at Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton. The production featured dancers ranging in age from 5 years to adult, with the lead roles performed by members of American Repertory Ballet Workshop (ARBW), the pre-professional performance wing of Princeton Ballet School. Merit award recipients for the 2014-2015 academic year were announced, and graduating seniors were honored.

Princeton Ballet School, the official school of NJ's preeminent ballet company, American Repertory Ballet, has a national reputation for its excellence in dance training. The 2014-2015 academic year marks the school's 60th year. The following merit awards were given to promising young dancers who will continue their studies at Princeton Ballet School:

The Audrée Estey Award is named for Princeton Ballet School's founder. This year's recipient of this award is Lindsay Jorgensen of Lawrenceville - a rising senior of outstanding promise. Jorgensen was originally cast to perform the role of the "Princess Florine" in the "Bluebird Pas de Deux" in The Sleeping Beauty. She was understudy for the main role of "Aurora." Only one week before the performance, Jorgensen was asked to step into this principal role and delivered an outstanding performance.

The Ruth Pettit Award was established by Ms. Pettit's family in her memory. This year's recipients are Caroline DiSimoni, Marian Farrell, and Morgan Heiser, all of Princeton, NJ.

The Philip Jerry Award was established by Princeton Ballet School to honor the memory of the former ballet master and faculty member. Kyryk Pavlovsky of Ewing is this year's Philip Jerry Award recipient.

The Molly Clifton Award was established by Lisa and Lionel de Ravel to honor the memory of Ms. Clifton, a fellow dancer with Ms. de Ravel in American Repertory Ballet. This year's recipient is Annika Kuo, a middle school student from Belle Mead.

The Edwards Award was established by Sally Edwards, who taught at Princeton Ballet School for over 25 years, and her husband Don. The Edwards Award recipient for the 2014-2015 academic year is Hannah-Yael Apedo of Mercerville.

The Nora Orphanides Award was established in honor of Nora Orphanides, a long-time faculty member at Princeton Ballet School, former board member, and donor. This year's Nora Orphanides Award recipients are both members of the American Repertory Ballet/Princeton Ballet School Trainee Program: Mizuki Sato, who is from Tokyo, Japan and Melissa Kropf, who is from Macungie, Pennsylvania. Both Sato and Kropf have appeared with American Repertory Ballet in company performances this past year.

The Maria Youskevitch Scholarship Fund was established in 2013 to honor Maria Youskevitch, daughter of ballet legend Igor Youskevitch and a master teacher at Princeton Ballet School. This year's recipient is another Trainee, Abigail Parker of Bedminster, NJ, who has also appeared in company performances this past year.

Allison Piccone of Blackwood, NJ and Jacopo Jannelli of Tor Vaianica, Italy have completed the Trainee Program and have been accepted into the company for the 2014-2015 season - Piccone as an apprentice and Jannelli as a full company member. Piccone, of Blackwood, NJ, has appeared dancing alongside the company in Douglas Martin's Rite of Spring and Romeo and Juliet, in ARB Resident Choreographer Mary Barton's Faerie Tyme, and in ARB's Nutcracker. Jannelli has performed with the company many times and has performed featured roles in Nutcracker, Kirk Peterson'sAfternoon of a Faun, and Trinette Singleton's Dreams Interrupted.

This summer, many of Princeton Ballet School's students will be spread across the country training at prestigious summer dance intensive programs, including: the American Ballet Theatre New York program, the School of American Ballet in New York City, Joffrey Ballet in New York City, Washington Ballet in Washington DC, Kaatsbaan Extreme Ballet, Houston Ballet, Boston Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Orlando Ballet, Carolina Ballet, Ellison Ballet in New York City, and their "home" Princeton Ballet School. Some international Trainee students will be speding their summers studying at home. Robert Jones will be studying at Pro Arta Academy, at home in Pretoria, South Africa. Mizuki Sato will be studying and performing back at home in Japan, at Misako Komiya Ballet Studio in Tokyo.

At a ceremony before the performances of The Sleeping Beauty, Princeton Ballet School took time to salute its accomplished graduating high school seniors: Nora Bradley, Sarah Cheng, Elizabeth Curran-Groome, Ellen Lou, Tejasvi Naganathan, Anjali Prior, Chelsea PeBenito,and Brittany Zaintz. Nora Bradley is graduating from Montgomery High School and is going on to attend Princeton University. Sarah Cheng will be attending Rowan University. Ellen Lou graduated Hillsborough High School and was accepted as part of the highly-selective business track program at Northeastern University in Boston. Tejasvi Naganathan, also graduating from Hillsborough High School, will join the freshman class at UC San Diego. Chelsea PeBenito, a graduating senior from East Brunswick High School, will be attending Northeastern University, as a pre-med student.

On June 13, 2014 from 12:00pm until 3:00pm at the Cherry Valley Country Club in Skillman, NJ, Princeton Ballet School will host its first annual fashion show: "Turn Out for Fashion." All proceeds of this event will support the Princeton Ballet School Scholarship Fund, including these annual merit-based awards.

American Repertory Ballet's mission is to bring the joy, beauty, artistry and discipline of classical and contemporary dance to New Jersey and nationwide audiences and to dance students through artistic and educational programs. The organization comprises: American Repertory Ballet professional company, the preeminent classical and contemporary ballet company in the state; Princeton Ballet School, one of the largest and most respected non-profit dance schools in the nation; and ARB's Access & Enrichment initiatives, including the long-running and acclaimed DANCE POWER program. The performing company is a classical and contemporary ballet company committed to presenting ballets from the 19th and 20th centuries alongside new and existing works by choreographers from today. Founded in 1963, the company is currently under the artistic leadership of Douglas Martin, former principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet. Its rich history of repertory includes established masterpieces by distinguished American choreographers such as George Balanchine, Gerald Arpino, Alvin Ailey, Paul Taylor and Twyla Tharp; cutting edge works by choreographers such as Val Caniparoli, Kirk Peterson, Dominique Dumais, Harrison McEldowney, Amy Seiwert, Susan Shields, Melissa Barak, Patrick Corbin, Trinette Singleton, and ARB Resident Choreographer Mary Barton; and former Artistic Directors Dermot Burke, Marjorie Mussman, Septime Webre and Graham Lustig. ARB has been designated a "Major Arts Institution" by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts consistently for the past two decades, and has repeatedly been awarded a Citation of Excellence by the Council. ARB was voted the Jersey Arts People's Choice for "Favorite Dance Company" in 2008, 2011 and 2012.

Princeton Ballet School has gained a national reputation for its excellent dance training since its founding in 1954 by Audrée Estey. Under the direction of Mary Pat Robertson, Princeton Ballet School currently serves approximately 1,200 students, starting at age three, and includes a large open enrollment division for adults. Princeton Ballet School has studios in Cranbury, New Brunswick, and Princeton and offers classes in ballet, modern dance, jazz, hip-hop, cardioballet and Pilates. Students from the school have gone on to dance in professional ballet and contemporary dance companies in the US and abroad. Graduates have danced with such diverse organizations as New York City Ballet, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Miami City Ballet, Complexions, Mark Morris Dance Company, Twyla Tharp, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Ballet West and on Broadway.

The Access & Enrichment wing of American Repertory Ballet reaches out to the community not only through its DANCE POWER program and signature On Pointe series, but also with free programming, master classes, residencies, lecture demonstrations and School Time Matinees throughout the state. In 1984, American Repertory Ballet partnered with the New Brunswick Board of Education to create DANCE POWER. Today, it's the longest-running uninterrupted arts/community partnership in New Jersey. The legendary Gregory Hines was DANCE POWER's Honorary Chair for 18 years before his untimely passing in 2003. In 2001, Mr. Hines endowed a scholarship at Rutgers University that earmarks annual funds for a DANCE POWER student to attend the university.