New Jersey Ballet

Last updated
New Jersey Ballet
Industry Education, Performance
Founded1958
Headquarters Florham Park, New Jersey, U.S.
Area served
New Jersey
Website www.njballet.org

The New Jersey Ballet is a ballet company based in Livingston, New Jersey in the United States, founded in 1958 by native New Jerseyan Carolyn Clark and her fellow dancer, George Tomal.

Contents

History

Carolyn Clark's mother established New Jersey School of Ballet in Orange, New Jersey in 1953 with her mother's friends who were dancers. Clark has involved in her mother's dance school operation since its beginning. She has later become a professional dancer herself. After touring around the world with American Ballet Theatre and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, she had conceived an idea to create a ballet company in New Jersey with national significance. The company was finally founded in 1958 with the first performance on December 27, 1958 at the Arts High School in Newark, New Jersey with George Tomal as the founding director. [1] [2]

After thirteen years from the first season that consisted of two performances for a few hundred people, New Jersey Ballet started a production of The Nutcracker in 1971 at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey with world-renowned dancer, Edward Villella, in the role of the Cavalier. The company has run Nutcracker production at Paper Mill Playhouse with Paper Mill Orchestra for many consecutive years since its debut. It also travels to bergenPAC in Englewood, New Jersey, Stafford Township Arts Center in Manahawkin, New Jersey and Middle Township PAC in Cape May Court House. [3]

The company started gaining wider recognition when it started the tours to Taiwan, the Soviet Union, Bermuda and Italy during the 1990s. In 2004, the company staged full-length production of Esmeralda at New Jersey Performing Arts Center. It was the first company in the United States to perform full-length version of Esmeralda [4] and it had gained national recognition. The company also visited India's newly opened National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai in 2006 with its Nutcracker production. It was the first full-length classical ballet in India. [5] In 2008, it traveled to Russia on a seven-city tour of mixed repertory that included Saturday Night, For Ella, Let's Go South and Belong. [6]

Today, the annual season consists of many performances in many venues throughout New Jersey. It also includes New Jersey Ballet Matinee for Kids and Families, which is a collections of children's ballets of classic tales such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Tom Sawyer, Hansel & Gretel and more. [7]

New Jersey School of Ballet

At the present time, the school offers many courses and instructions ranging from age 4 to professional. The classes include Ballet, Academic Ballet, Pointe, Jazz and Tap. The school offers intensive program for Ballet, Variations, Partnering, Character, Jazz, and Special Workshops by audition only. The classes are held in three locations; Livingston, New Jersey; Somerville, New Jersey; and Morristown, New Jersey. Each year, more than one hundred students who pass auditions have a chance to perform in New Jersey Ballet's Nutcracker professional production. Advanced students are included in New Jersey Ballet Matinee for Kids and Families productions. [8]

New Jersey Ballet's Junior Company is the school's pre-professional program for students with carrier track in dance. Students have opportunities to work with professional dancers, for example, being cast members when the Bolshoi performed at the Metropolitan Opera. [9] Many alumni have performed with or are current dancers of American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, The Joffrey, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and other major companies. [10]

Artistic leadership

The artistic leadership of New Jersey Ballet, as of October 1 2023: [11]

Founder

Artistic Director

Executive Director

Assistant Artistic Director

Artistic Coordinator

Production Manager

Artistic Advisor

Repertory Coaches

Performers

New Jersey Ballet has a diverse company with artists from around the world including the United States, Argentina, Japan, Korea, Philippines, and Brazil to name a few.

Dancers

The dancers of the New Jersey Ballet according to the company website, as of October 2023. [12]

  • Emily Barrows
  • Louis DeFelice
  • Vinicius Freire
  • Yuiko Honda
  • Akira Iida
  • Se Hyun Jin
  • Ilse Kapteyn
  • Raleigh Ledford
  • David Lopena
  • Jonatan Lujan
  • Risa Mochizuki
  • Denise Parungao
  • Jonathan Philbert
  • Abigail Robison
  • Brian Sevilla
  • Eunice Suba
  • Felipe Valentini
  • Joshuan Vazquez
  • Catherine Whiting
  • Alexandra Limeburgs (Apprentice)
  • Lilli Etheredge (Apprentice)

Related Research Articles

The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the age of six, with professional vocational ballet training for students aged 11–18. Graduates of the school achieve employment with leading ballet companies worldwide, and in the United States with New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet and Houston Ballet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston Ballet</span> Boston-based ballet company

The Boston Ballet is an American professional classical ballet company based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1963 by E. Virginia Williams and Sydney Leonard, and was the first professional repertory ballet company in New England. It has been led by Violette Verdy (1980–1984), Bruce Marks (1985–1997), and Anna-Marie Holmes (1997–2000). Mikko Nissinen was appointed artistic director in September 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mason Gross School of the Arts</span> School of performing and fine arts at Rutgers University (New Brunswick)

Mason Gross School of the Arts is the arts conservatory at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Mason Gross offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in art, design, dance, filmmaking, music, and theater. Mason Gross is highly selective in terms of admissions, with a low admission rate. It is named for Mason W. Gross, the sixteenth president of Rutgers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Francisco Ballet</span> U.S. ballet company

San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, and effective December 2022 under the direction of Tamara Rojo. It is among the world's leading dance companies, presenting more than 100 performances annually, with a repertoire that spans both classical and contemporary ballet. Along with American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet has been described as part of the "triumvirate of great classical companies defining the American style on the world stage today."

Alberta Ballet was founded by Muriel Taylor and Dr. Ruth Carse in 1958 and became a professional company in 1966. The company is a resident company of both the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton, Alberta and the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Calgary, Alberta and performs its full season in both venues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paper Mill Playhouse</span> Regional theater located in Millburn, New Jersey

Paper Mill Playhouse is a regional theater containing approximately 1,200 seats located in Millburn, within Essex County, New Jersey, United States, on the banks of the Rahway River. Due to its relative proximity to Manhattan, the theater draws from the pool of actors who live in New York City. Paper Mill was officially designated as the "State Theater of New Jersey". From 1971 to 2008, Paper Mill held the New Jersey Ballet as its resident ballet company, with the annual production of Nutcracker until the premiere 25th Anniversary tour of Les Misérables took up the ballet's performance slot. Mark S. Hoebee serves as the producing artistic director, and is often credited as saving the Paper Mill during the financial crisis in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre</span> Ballet company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

The Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre (PBT) is an American professional ballet company based in the Strip District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Villella</span> American ballet dancer and choreographer (born 1936)

Edward Villella is an American ballet dancer and choreographer. He is frequently cited as America's most celebrated male dancer of ballet at the time. He has won numerous awards, including the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Special, the Kennedy Center Honors, and the National Medal of Arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnesota Dance Theatre</span>

The Minnesota Dance Theatre (MDT) dance company and school in Minneapolis, Minnesota was founded by Loyce Houlton in 1962 as the Contemporary Dance Playhouse. It was renamed the Minnesota Dance Theatre in 1969. Lise Houlton succeeded her mother as artistic director in 1995. Each holiday season MDT presents the ballet Loyce Houlton's Nutcracker Fantasy based on Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. Ballet Arts Minnesota and the company's school joined in 2006 to become The Dance Institute. The organization is based in the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miami City Ballet</span> Non-profit organization in the USA

Miami City Ballet is an American ballet company based in Miami Beach, Florida, led by artistic director Lourdes Lopez.

Tener Brown is an American ballet coach of New Jersey Ballet. She is a former ballet dancer of American Ballet Theatre and actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colorado Ballet</span> American ballet company and academy

Colorado Ballet encompasses a 31-member professional performing ballet company, a studio company for advanced dance students, an academy, and an education and outreach department. Based in downtown Denver, Colorado, Colorado Ballet serves more than 125,000 patrons each year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oklahoma City Ballet</span> Arts organization based in Oklahoma

The Oklahoma City Ballet is a professional dance company and school located in Oklahoma City. The company began under the artistic direction of Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo dancers Yvonne Chouteau and Miguel Terekhov in the Science and Arts Foundation building on the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds,

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregori Lukas</span> American singer-songwriter

Gregory Lucas Malek-Jones known professionally as Gregori Lukas is an American recording artist, singer, dancer and actor. Gregori released his debut single "Stay", in March 2013, to rave reviews. He has appeared with the New York City Ballet in numerous productions and is best known for playing the title role in George Balanchine's Nutcracker at the New York State Theater in Lincoln Center.

Choreographer George Balanchine's production of Tchaikovsky's 1892 ballet The Nutcracker has become the most famous stage production of the ballet performed in the U.S. It uses the plot of the Alexandre Dumas, père, version of E.T.A. Hoffmann's tale, "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" (1816). Its premiere took place on February 2, 1954, at City Center, New York, with costumes by Karinska and sets by Horace Armistead. It has been staged in New York every year since 1954, and many other productions throughout the United States either imitate it, or directly use the Balanchine staging. However, although it is often cited as being the production that made the ballet famous in the U.S., it was Willam Christensen's 1944 production for the San Francisco Ballet which first introduced the complete work to the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas City Ballet</span>

The Kansas City Ballet (KCB) is a professional ballet company based in Kansas City, Missouri. The company was founded in 1957 by Russian expatriate Tatiana Dokoudovska. The KCB presents five major performances each season to include an annual production of The Nutcracker. The KCB, its school, and its staff are all housed in, operate from, and rehearse at the Todd Bolender Center for Dance and Creativity, a renovated, seven-studio, office, and rehearsal facility in Kansas City, Missouri, that opened in August 2011. The company performs at and is the resident ballet company at the nearby Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, a performance venue in downtown Kansas City that opened in September 2011.

Ballet Memphis is a regionally and nationally recognized professional ballet company, founded in 1986 by Dorothy Gunther Pugh, and based in Memphis, Tennessee. Ballet Memphis regularly performs at their midtown home in an intimate performance space, at Playhouse on the Square, Germantown Performing Arts Center, Crosstown Theater and the Orpheum Theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greensboro Ballet</span> American ballet company

Greensboro Ballet is a professional ballet company in North Carolina. It is the only ballet company in the Piedmont Triad. It is one of the few non-profit ballet companies in North Carolina. Greensboro Ballet has presented works by George Balanchine. The company also has performed a number of works made especially for the Greensboro Ballet by Rick McCullough, Jill Eathorne Bahr, Leslie Jane Pessemier, Elissa Minet Fuchs, and Emery LeCrone. Maryhelen Mayfield, who served as artistic and executive director of Greensboro Ballet from 1980 to 2019, choreographed over twenty-five works for the company.

Cleveland Ballet was founded in Cleveland in 2014 by Gladisa Guadalupe and Michael Krasnyansky. It is the third incarnation of a Cleveland Ballet, having been preceded by establishments of the same name founded in 1935 and 1972. Guadalupe, an alumna of the School of American Ballet and a former principal dancer, serves as artistic director, and Krasnyansky, a Ukrainian American businessman, serves as president & CEO.

The Nutcracker (<i>Playhouse 90</i>) 12th episode of the 3rd season of Playhouse 90

"The Nutcracker" was a special Christmas presentation of the CBS television series, Playhouse 90, featuring Tchaikovsky's ballet performed by the New York City Ballet, choreographed by George Balanchine, and conducted by Robert Irving. It was broadcast live and in color on December 25, 1958.

References

  1. New Jersey Countryside magazine, November/December 2008
  2. Pompilio, Natalie (29 January 2019). "N.J. Ballet is still on its toes after six decades". NJ Advance Media. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  3. "New Jersey Ballet History". Archived from the original on 2009-02-01. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
  4. DANCE REVIEW; A Teeming Action Ballet With a Classical Sheen, New York Times, April 24, 2004 - accessed January 12, 2011
  5. New Jersey Ballet presents Tchaikovsky program. New Jersey Herald. - accessed on March 28, 2009
  6. "New Jersey Ballet dances off to Russia". 15 April 2008.
  7. "New Jersey Ballet Season Info". www.njballet.org. Archived from the original on 2006-06-20.
  8. "Home". njschoolofballet.com.
  9. Nash, Margo. Jersey Footlights: Learning Lessons From Leaps and Bounds. The New York Times, August 7, 2005
  10. "ABOUT".
  11. "Artistic Leadership". New Jersey Ballet. Archived from the original on 4 May 2010. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  12. "Company Dancers". NJBallet.