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Get Ready for
Magic, Mischief, Mayhem
...and Love
with Graham Lustig's fantastical interpretation of
A Midsummer Night's Dream
...and more this spring from ARB and ARB's PBS
Photo: Eduardo Patino
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| Greetings! |
The American Repertory Ballet and ARB's Princeton Ballet School is gearing up for a busy spring season. The Company is preparing Graham Lustig's fantastical interpretation of A Midsummer Night's Dream and several works by Twyla Tharp. And PBS students are beginning to gear up for this year's school show of The Sleeping Beauty. Below, I profile two of this year's Gala honorees. Find out how an injury helped Jennifer Cavanaugh grow as a performer, and read about Bat Abbit's early days in musical theater. Next month we'll go behind-the-scenes with the other two honorees Peggy Petteway and Kristin Scott. Click HERE to purchase tickets for Dance with the Dancers, ARB's 25th Annual Performance and Gala - ACT NOW for an exclusive early bird special available only to our Newsletter subscribers. Dust off your bowling shoes and pull out a costume for ARB's 1st Annual Bowl-a-thon on April 30, 2010! Click HERE for all the details, to register or make a pledge. Auditions for PBS's acclaimed Summer Intensive are wrapping up this month with stops in Rome and Paris as Artistic Director Graham Lustig and School Director Mary Pat Robertson continue their search for talented dancers to join the exciting summer training program.
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2010 ARB Events Calendar -- Save the Dates!
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 March 19, 2010 - 11:00amDance Alive - Ballet Rocks! an Educational Matinee for children K - 5th Grade Raritan Valley Community College Tickets: $7 and $10, Call: 908.725.3420
ARB's Education and Outreach Program. Photo by Eduardo Patino
March 20, 2010 - 8:00pmGraham Lustig's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Kirk Peterson's Roses and CloverRaritan Valley Community College Tickets: $25 and $30, Call: 908.725.3420 or visit: www.rvccarts.orgMarch 27, 2010 - 7:00pmDance with the Dancers: ARB's 25th Annual Gala & Performance featuring highlights from the company's repertory and appearances by ARB's Princeton Ballet School and DANCE POWER students Patriot's Theater at the War Memorial, Trenton, NJ Get your tickets now! April 10, 2010 - 4:00pmGraham Lustig's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twyla Tharp's Baker's DozenSouth Orange Performing Arts Center, South Orange, NJ Tickets: $25 and $30, Call: 973.313.ARTS, or visit www.sopacnow.org
Tharp's Baker's Dozen. Photo by Erin BaianoApril 26, 2010Waiting-in-the-Wings: DANCE POWER's Culminating Performance New Brunswick High School, New Brunswick, NJ April 30, 2010 - 6:00pmBowl-a-Thon: A Fundraising Event for ARB Brunswick Zone, North Brunswick, NJ, Register now!May 8, 2010 - 2:00pm and 7:00pmARB's Princeton Ballet School presents The Sleeping Beauty Patriots Theater at the War Memorial, Trenton, NJ Tickets: Available through ARB's Princeton Ballet School in March May 14, 15, 2010  Twyla Tharp's Octet plus New Works by Laney Engelhard and Bat Abbit The New Theatre, Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts, New Brunswick, NJ
Tharp's Octet. Photo by Eduardo Patino
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From the Archives
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Can you name the people in this picture?
Post your answers on our Facebook Wall. Bonus points for naming the piece being rehearsed.
Answers in next month's newsletter.
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Company Auditions for the 2010-2011 Season
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Bat Abbit and Jennifer Cavanaugh: A Closer Look
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Bat Abbit and Jennifer Cavanaugh are two
of this year's honorees at ARB's 25th Annual Performance and Gala on March 27th.
They both took some time to sit down and talk with me about their paths to ARB,
their memories from the last ten years with the company, and the secret
preparation rituals they engage in before a show. They also shared their thoughts on what life
after performing might bring.
 Bat Abbit found his way into ballet via
musical theater, performing in high school productions, community theater and dabbling in college jazz classes while studying engineering at the
University of Missouri. After his second
year there, he grew hungry for more dance training and decided to transfer to
Western Kentucky University, where he joined the theater department and
immersed himself in technique classes. In
that program, he had "tons of performance opportunities" where he was able to
gain valuable experience interpreting work and experimenting with various
styles. After earning his BFA, Abbit
began his professional career with Nashville Ballet, followed by the North
Carolina Dance Theatre where, as a soloist he performed leading roles in works
by Alonso King, Paul Taylor, David Parsons, Salvatore Aiello, George
Balanchine, and ARB's own Graham Lustig.
Photo: Valerie Ford
Dancing for Lustig is, in fact, what
motivated him to leave the temperate climate of North Carolina for the more
rugged environment of Central Jersey. "I was very impressed with
Graham's integrity as an artist and with the way he created and coached the
dancers in the studio. His work brings
out qualities you never knew you had."
After
joining ARB in 2000, he performed the role of Puck in Graham Lustig's A Midsummer Night's Dream - a piece the company will be restaging
this spring at Raritan Valley Community College and South Orange Performing
Arts Center - and he originated the roles of Fritz and the Nutcracker in Graham
Lustig's The Nutcracker. He
also performed in Cadenza, Borderlines, Paramour, Urban Tangos,
and Autumn in Cinderella.
Bat's transition from being a
professional dancer to joining ARB's Artistic Staff was a smooth and seemingly
inevitable one. During his first year with ARB, Abbit was asked to serve as a Rehearsal Director for Dancing through the Ceiling artist Susan
Hadley on her piece Corps - an experience he greatly enjoyed. So when, three years later, the Ballet
Master role at ARB opened up, he jumped at the chance. "I thought about maybe continuing to dance,
but the role was a good match and I didn't think that same opportunity would be
there if I waited."
Does he miss dancing? "Well, I miss
being in really really good shape. You just can't replicate the kind of workout
you get by being in the studio, rehearsing all day." But, while he may miss the lack of a fully
physical lifestyle, he is passionate about what he does for ARB now. "I love putting ballets back together again,
finding the details and teaching them to the dancers. I also really like organizing and arranging
the schedules." And Abbit is doing his
part to create a lasting legacy of the ARB repertoire. When he restages a ballet for the company, he
makes copious and detailed notes, so he and others may refer to them in the
future. His talent and penchant for
these kinds of things is not surprising considering that, as a dancer, he
always enjoyed organizing a calm, deliberate day for himself before a
performance. "I don't believe in
superstitions, but I did like to walk (if possible) to the theater before the
show early enough to relax and leisurely stretch...and maybe take a shot of ginseng
with Jennifer (Cavanaugh)."
Is there a role he would come out of
retirement for? "I've always loved work that is simultaneously sensual and
physical." He rattled off choreographers like Jiri Kylian, Johann Inger, Mats
Ek, Nacho Duarte and William Forsythe as his virtual "dream team" of people
he'd love to work with. But he also
notes a role that is closer to home.
"When Graham (Lustig) choreographed VISTA,
I kind of wished I could be in it."
Abbit has been pulled out of retirement in the past to fill in for
injured company members, so maybe someday he'll get his wish and we'll get to
see him grace the stage again.
In the meantime, we'll have to
appreciate his behind the scenes handiwork.
As Ballet Master, he works with Artistic Director Graham Lustig to ensure
that the company members are in tip top form and are realizing the choreography
the way it is intended.
"I am most proud of the work we
do with the dancers. I look at the dancers who have been
with us for a while and feel so proud at how they have grown during their time
with us."
And, we can enjoy
his choreography. He has choreographed Vertical Time, a site-specific work performed at the Grounds for Sculpture in
Hamilton, New Jersey as well as two ballets for young audiences: Jump, Frog, Jump! and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Look for his upcoming new ARB company work this spring at The New
Theatre, May 14th and 15th on the Rutgers Campus. There will be a preview of the piece at the
Gala on March 27th.
 Jennifer Cavanaugh, the petite
powerhouse of a dancer known for her tour-de-force physicality and dramatic interpretations
of varying roles over the years, also came to ARB via North Carolina. But, unlike Abbit, her path to a dance career
was very directed from an early age.
Jennifer remembers when she first saw a dance performance at the age of
5. "I said to my mom, that's what I want
to do." But she didn't start taking
classes right away. When she did begin a
few years later, she began with the commitment and maturity of an old
soul. Her first teacher distinctly
remembers Jennifer, not because she was an immediate prodigy (though that is
possible too), but because of the little voice that spoke on the other end of
the phone when she picked it up one day.
"Hello," said the 9 year old child, "I'd like to inquire about enrolling
in ballet classes." Photo: Valerie Ford
The rest, as they say, is history. Following her early training in Portland,
Maine at the Portland School of Ballet, Jennifer was admitted into the
prestigious North Carolina School of the Arts as a teenager. "I am grateful that my parents were so
supportive and allowed me to move away at 16 to go to school there."
Following graduation, Cavanaugh joined
North Carolina Dance Theatre where she danced as a soloist for nine
years, overlapping with fellow ARB Gala honorees Bat Abbit and Peggy Petteway. She has performed as
a Guest Artist with Tampa Ballet and Ballet Met, and been a member of the
Chautauqua Ballet Company.
Like Abbit, Cavanaugh came to
ARB specifically to work with Graham Lustig.
"I followed Graham because I believed in his vision, his leadership, and
his absolutely self assured presence at the front of the room. I also love his challenging movement style -
it pushes the boundaries of ballet."
Since joining American
Repertory Ballet in 1999 Ms. Cavanaugh has danced many principal roles in
Lustig's ballets including Uncertain
Steps, Cadenza,
Borderlines, Titania in A
Midsummer Night's Dream, Beauty in Beauty and the Beast,
and the title role in Cinderella.
And while Lustig created the role of
Marie in Graham Lustig's The Nutcracker for
her, she has really enjoyed the challenge of being the Sugar Plum Fairy since
she is a self described, "scrappy strong contemporary type."
She counts among her favorite
roles, "The Chosen One" in Salvatore Aiello's Rite
of Spring,
Kate in Lustig's The
Shrew and Harrison
McEldowney's Ménage a Cinque. Not surprising, because she loves
roles that are highly theatrical and physical (and we love to watch her in
them).
Cavanaugh has been blessed
with a sturdy body, reinforced by her training in Pilates®, which she teaches
for ARB's Princeton Ballet School. But
she was sidelined nine years ago with a bone spur in her foot that has made her
appreciate every day she has danced since.
The injury also helped her develop a maturity as a performer. "I learned to dance with less power and
develop a sense of trust in myself as a performer. I always danced from a place of strength, but
when I began to let that go sometimes, it made my performance much
richer." She still, by the way, dances
with ample strength. It is just now
accented with subtleties she didn't have as a young dancer.
Jennifer keeps a full
schedule. In addition to dancing with
ARB and teaching Pilates, she spends ten weeks of her summer break rehearsing
and performing with Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance in her old stomping grounds of
North Carolina. Terpsicorps is under the
artistic direction of Cavanaugh's old friend and mentor Heather Maloy.
And, with an eye to the
future, Jennifer has gone back to school to fulfill the prerequisites she needs
to apply to Nursing School. While she
still loves her current career and has no specific plans to retire, she is
cognizant of the fact that she's been very lucky over the years and has had a
nice long run of it. Sensing a hint of
anxiety, I ask if she has any regrets about starting her dance career straight
out of high school. "No. Thinking about transitions is always a little
scary, but I'm confident in my ability to make it all work out." If her success in the dance world is any
indication of what she can achieve, then so are we.
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Visit our website and our studios. Fan us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our YouTube Channel. Keep up-to-date on all the exciting things happening with American Repertory Ballet and ARB's Princeton Ballet School.
Sincerely,
Christine Chen Marketing Director and Newsletter Editor |
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