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Princeton Dance & Theater Studio
June 2, 2010
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Dear PDT Families and Staff;
As PDT completes its seventh
year, I felt it was important for you to know of up-coming changes for the
2010-11 schedule. The most important change is that PDT Co-Director, Susan
Jaffe has been invited to go back to work for American Ballet Theater, where
she was a principal ballerina for 22 years. She will be returning as Ballet
Mistress.
Susan and I, childhood friends,
and former classmates at Maryland Youth Ballet, opened PDT in September of
2003, only a little more than one year after her retirement as principal
ballerina with American Ballet Theater. It was an unbelievable gift to the
community and to me to have her indelible mark on ballet training in the area.
Melding our aesthetic and dance principals, we hired a wonderful staff and
provided the community with an unmatched level of training
Susan's name recognition, talent
and endorsement helped to grow PDT's ballet program into a nationally
recognized training ground.
I can assure you that, even as I
and all of you will miss Susan's weekly presence, her mark on PDT will not be
lost and PDT will continue to provide the region's finest dance training.
Susan, who will be PDT's Principal Guest Instructor, will be back frequently
(as her schedule allows) to impart her masterly knowledge on PDT ballet
students.
In recent years, PDT's approach
to ballet training has become more aligned to American Ballet Theater's
National Training Curriculum, which provides authentic, unaffected, and
physiologically correct training. For the 2010/11 season, in ballet
instruction, I will be joined by Nora Cotter, ABT Certified and former PDT
guest instructor (B5, B6/7, CP); Christina Johnson, Former Alvin Ailey
principal and current PDT instructor (B6/7, CP); Pam Mingle, Former
professional dancer and longtime PDT instructor (B5, B6/7, CP); Maura Ryan,
SUNY Purchase Conservatory graduate and current PDT instructor and alumna (B2,
B3, B4, B5); Henri Velandia (PDT instructor for boys ballet, ballroom, and
salsa); and Ximena Ojeda, a former PDT employee who returns after having a
child and employment as a Montessori educator (Storybook-B2). Additionally,
Evelyn Ebo (formerly of Philadanco and Broadway productions) will be the modern
instructor for all levels teaching technique based on Graham, Horton, and Limon
principles. PDT's other wonderful instructors, Tom McKie, Matt Williams, and
Karen Callaway Williams, will continue to teach Hip Hop, Jazz, and Tap
respectively.
Please join me in wishing Susan
all of the very best in her return to ABT. We can all look forward to her
periodic returns to PDT when she can impart her great legacy on our dancers.
With all good wishes,
Risa Kaplowitz
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