American Repertory Ballet to Perform at McCarter Theatre, 4/8

American Repertory Ballet will present Masters of Dance & Music on Friday, April 8, 2016 at 8 p.m. at McCarter Theatre in downtown Princeton, N.J. The program will feature the world premiere of Mary Barton's A Shepherd Singing (And I Still Heard Nothing), modern dance pioneer José Limón's There is a Time and Kirk Peterson's Glazunov Variations. Music for Mary Barton's world premiere - Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 - will be performed live by the Princeton University Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Michael Pratt.

In A Shepherd Singing (And I Still Heard Nothing), Resident Choreographer Mary Barton explores composer Ludwig van Beethoven's life, work and creative process through movement. The work will explore Beethoven's struggle with his loss of hearing. This is the sixth work Mary Barton has created for American Repertory Ballet and the first of which to be performed to live music.

"I found inspiration in The Heiligenstadt Testament of Ludwig Van Beethoven," Barton explains. "This is an early will that Ludwig van Beethoven wrote to his brothers in the early 1800's from Heilgenstadt, Austria, where he was seeing physicians who were seeking a cure for his deafness. There are a lot of beautiful quotes about virtue and suffering and how art was his saving grace."

There is a Time is an evocative work by José Limón, a true pioneer in modern dance and choreography. The work portrays the cyclical nature of life and the human condition. Sarah Stackhouse, one of José Limón's former lead dancers, staged this 1956 work on American Repertory Ballet this past summer. The company first performed this piece in October 2015 as part of the José Limón International Dance Festival at The Joyce Theatre in New York City. In his review of the performance, Brian Seibert of the NY Times notes, "American Repertory Ballet reestablished that other troupes can do justice to Limón classics."

Kirk Peterson's Glazunov Variations, set to music by Alexander Glazunov from the full-length ballet Raymonda. In his review of ARB's Fall 2015 performance of this work, dance critic Robert Johnson says, "Expert coaching is still required to bring [Glazunov Variations] off; and clearly these dancers have had the best. The 10-member cast displayed admirable cohesion, while their confidence translated into an appetite for movement. The clarity of the dancing underscored the elegance of Peterson's arrangement."

American Repertory Ballet's mission is to bring the joy, beauty, artistry and discipline of classical and contemporary dance to New Jersey and beyond through artistic and educational programs, presented by a financially responsible organization.

Performing at venues across the state of New Jersey, the company, led by Artistic Director Douglas Martin, will once again present the finest ballet available to the residents of New Jersey and beyond. Tickets to all performances are currently available.