(PRINCETON, NJ) -- Princeton Ballet School, the official school of American Repertory Ballet, invites dancers ages 13 and up to jump-start the new year with a comprehensive virtual Winter Intensive, January 4-8. The Winter Intensive faculty features Riccardo De Nigris, Christina Johnson, Sarah Lane, Caridad Martinez, Jorge Navarro, Yulia Rakova, Nadia Thompson, and Tania Vergara.
“Dancers will have the opportunity to study different techniques and styles with master teachers from across the country and Europe,” says School Director Aydmara Cabrera. “The virtual format enables us to bring these incredible guest artists and educators to our School safely, which would have been impossible otherwise due to travel, space, and schedule restrictions.”
Classes include classical ballet technique, pointe, character, variations, contemporary, and flamenco, and meets Monday-Thursday from 4:00pm - 7:30pm, and Friday from 4:00pm-6:00pm. To register for Princeton Ballet School’s 2021 Winter Intensive, please visit arballet.org. For additional information or questions, please contact Aydmara Cabrera at [email protected] or call (609) 921-7758 ext. 12
Guest Faculty Bios
Born in Trani, South Italy, Riccardo De Nigris trained with La Scala Di Milano, where he performed with the company in his graduate year. He continued his professional career with Dominic Walsh Dance Theatre in Houston, the Czech National Theatre Brno, and as a soloist with Germany’s Augsburg Ballet. De Nigris is the recipient of the Augsburg Allgemeine award for outstanding artists, and the audience prize for choreography at the Genesis International Choreographic Competition for the Milwaukee Ballet. In 2019, American Repertory Ballet commissioned De Nigris to create Beyond the Normal, for the company’s opening performances at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center.
Christina Johnson trained at Boston School of Ballet, School of American Ballet and Dance Theatre of Harlem. She began her professional career at the age of seventeen with Boston Ballet, before Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH), where she became a principal dancer within four years. In her thirteen-year tenure with DTH, she worked with masters such as Jerome Robbins, Frederic Franklin, Suzanne Farrell, Allegra Kent, Geoffrey Holder, Glen Tetley, Ulysses Dove, and Sir Anthony Dowell, among others. Johnson was also a member of Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève and Ballett Basel as well as a founding member of Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and a featured guest artist with various companies worldwide, including the Royal Ballet of London. After her performance career, Johnson has been sought after as a teacher, coach and ballet master and has worked with companies such as Pacific Northwest Ballet, Washington Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Pennsylvania Ballet among others. She is currently on faculty at Marin Ballet in San Rafael, CA, and is Adjunct Faculty at Dominican University in LINES/Dominican BFA in Dance Program.
Born in San Francisco, California, Sarah Lane began her dance training in Memphis, Tennessee under the direction of Pat Gillespie at the Memphis Classical Ballet. When her family moved to Rochester, New York, she continued instruction with Timothy Draper and Jamey Leverett at the Draper Center for Dance Education. When Lane was sixteen, she received a full scholarship to the Boston Ballet’s Summer Program. In 2000 and 2001, she was awarded first place and the Capezio Class Excellence Award at the North American Ballet Festival. In 2002, Lane was a Young Arts Winner in Dance/Ballet, and through Young Arts became a 2002 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts. Lane joined American Ballet Theatre as an apprentice in August 2003, became a member of the Company’s corps de ballet in April 2004 and was appointed a Soloist in August 2007. She was promoted to Principal Dancer in September 2017. Lane was a recipient of the Princess Grace Award in 2007 and a 2008 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Arts. She was the dancing double for Natalie Portman in Fox Searchlight Pictures’ feature film Black Swan.
Caridad Martinez graduated from the Escuela Nacional de Arte in Havana, Cuba. She studied with Fernando and Alicia Alonso, Joaquin Banegas, Azary Plisetski, Ramona de Saa, Karemia Moreno, and Jose Pares. After leaving the National Ballet of Cuba, where she was a principal dancer. Martinez founded The Havana Ballet Theater that transformed the performing arts in Cuba during the 1980s. She went on to choreograph for the Hispanic Heritage Awards, and for Julian Schnabel’s film Before Night Falls. In New York, Martinez has shared her expertise as Director of the Brooklyn Ballet School and Conservatory, Director of the Ballet & Curriculum Training Program at Ballet Hispanico, and faculty and Summer Program Director at the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center. Martinez serves as faculty member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Ailey/Fordham and Certificate programs, coach of Classical works for Dance Theater of Harlem, serves on the board of Ballet Beyond Borders and is working on an oral history project about her life and career under the auspices of the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU.
Jorge Navarro began flamenco dance instruction at the age of twelve in his homeland of Andalucia, Spain. He became a full-time dance company member six years later and performed throughout Europe and the Americas. In the 1980’s, Mr. Navarro founded his own dance company, which performed throughout North, South, and Central America. While they danced in many large theaters, they also performed in school auditoriums as well. Mr. Navarro felt a special pride in reaching young audiences and providing them with the experience of live music and dance. Mr. Navarro’s dedication to arts education culminated in 2004 in his forming a not-for-profit corporation, Arts Flamenco, taking the flamenco form to new heights. In 2015 Arts Flamenco opened its own dance creative cultural center in New York City.
Yuliya Rakova was born in Russia and began her ballet training at the age of ten at the Perm State Choreographic College in Russia. Upon graduation in 1995, she was invited to join the Perm Tchaikovsky Opera and Ballet Theater. Ms. Rakova danced with the company for five years before moving to Moscow, where she joined the Moscow Dance Theater of Alexei Fadeechev as a soloist. In 2001 she joined the Russian National Ballet and danced with the company until she moved to the United States. Rakova has worked with notable choreographers such as Trey McIntyre, Ben Stevenson and Alexei Ratmansky. She has taught for professional ballet schools such as Kirov Academy of Ballet, Ellison Ballet, Joffrey Ballet School, and Pennsylvania Ballet.
Ballet master, teacher, and choreographer, Nadia Thompson, has held faculty positions at prominent ballet companies all over the world. She is the former ballet mistress at Royal New Zealand Ballet and Milwaukee Ballet; and she is a repetiteur for, and stages ballets for numerous choreographers, including Riccardo De Nigris, Michael Pink, and Timothy O’Donnell. Thompson trained at the Royal Ballet School in London, and at the Frances Davis Thompson School of Ballet in Brisbane, Australia. As a leading artist throughout Europe and the USA with Boston Ballet, Northern Ballet Theatre and London City Ballet, Thompson performed all major roles in the classical repertoire and created many modern and contemporary works working with Twyla Tharp, Merce Cunningham, Mark Morris and Lila York, among others. She obtained the prestigious Royal Academy of Dance Solo Seal and was awarded the Adeline Genée Bronze medal by Dame Margot Fonteyn.
Tania Vergara trained in Cuba and taught at the prestigious National Ballet School from 1986-2013. During that time, she founded, directed and was the choreographer of Endedans, a Cuban contemporary dance company. After coming to the United States in 2014, she joined the faculty of the School of Ballet Arts in Lake Worth, Florida, and she became a popular guest choreographer for dance companies across the U.S. Her work has won many awards, including the Ibero-American Choreography Award, the Anacaona "Golden Flower" Distinction granted by the Dominican Republic’s Igneri Foundation, and the National Union of Writers and Artist of Cuba Choreography Award (UNEAC). She is on the faculty at The Sarasota Cuban Ballet School in Sarasota, Florida.
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. Founded as the Princeton Ballet Society in 1954, the organization now comprises: the preeminent professional 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. In November 2020, Ethan Stiefel was named Artistic Director Designate.
