С����Ƶ

American Repertory Ballet will return to the Bart Luedeke Center Theatre with its “Rep at Rider: Fall Kick-Off Performance” on Friday, Sept. 19, and Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014 at 7:30 p.m.

The program will feature a variety of movement styles, narrative voices, and musical genres. The program features ballets choreographed by former dancers of the acclaimed Joffrey Ballet: Philip Jerry’s poignant Our Town, a ballet in one act based on Thornton Wilder’s timeless play and set to music by Aaron Copland; ARB Resident Choreographer Mary Barton’s playful Fantasy Baroque, set to music by Bach; and Trinette Singleton’s dark psychological pas de trois Dreams Interrupted, set to an original score by Pierre Bohemond.  Confetti, a virtuosic ballet choreographed by Joffrey Ballet co-founder Gerald Arpino to Gioachino Rossini's Semiramide Overture, will also be on the program. Gerald Arpino produced over 100 works for the Joffrey Ballet and is widely considered one of the 20th century’s leading choreographers.

Our Town has a rich history in the Princeton area. Wilder’s play premiered at McCarter Theatre in Princeton in 1938, and ARB premiered Philip Jerry’s ballet in 1994. Like Wilder’s play, Jerry’s ballet chronicles the lives of neighbors Emily Webb and George Gibbs as they grow up together in a small New England town, fall in love, and eventually marry. It is set to a score by Aaron Copland, featuring his famous Fanfare for the Common Man. In his review of ARB’s spring 2014 performance of the ballet, Jerry Hochman wrote in CriticalDance that the company’s performance “prompted both tingles and tears” and that the work “is abuzz with energy, moving with a steady pulse and vitality.”

Mary Barton’s Fantasy Baroque celebrates this distinct artistic era through its use of Bach’s Concerto for Flute and Harpsichord, period costumes, mime, and hints of traditional baroque dance steps woven through dynamic movement phrases. Broadway World dance critic Marina Kennedy characterized the piece as “whimsical, light and lovely,” and Hochman called it “frothy and frisky” and “pleasantly varied.”

American Repertory Ballet premiered Trinette Singleton’s Dreams Interrupted in spring 2014. When creating this new work, she was inspired by Pierre Bohemond’s  music titled Dreams Interrupted and by the psychological place between dreaming and experiencing reality. Jerry Hochman wrote in CriticalDance, “The accompanying music...is rapturous, eerie, and compelling, and Ms. Singleton’s choreography brings out the best in it. It’s a very fine little piece, superbly performed by all three dancers.”

Confetti is a ballet for three couples created in the fast-paced, exuberant spirit of a tarantella. Robert Johnson, dance critic for The Star-Ledger, praised ARB’s 2012 company premiere of Confetti, writing, “Trying to resist ‘Confetti’s’ charms ultimately proves futile. The dancers’ courage is exhilarating, and [Gerald] Arpino, its under-appreciated choreographer, wins a belated round of applause.”

 “I am looking forward to beginning our season close to home - in and around Princeton - before embarking on the rest of our ambitious performance season, which will take us all around New Jersey and to Pennsylvania,” says Artistic Director Douglas Martin. “Our ongoing performances at С����Ƶ give us a chance to interact with the student community while presenting a powerful and diverse program for the public.”

Tickets are $20 regular admission, $10 for seniors and students with a valid school identification card.  Purchase by phone at 609-896-7775 or