American Repertory Ballet Welcomes New Dancers

American Repertory Ballet Artistic Director Douglas Martin is please to announce its 2013-2014 Company Dancers, including the addition of Company Dancer Nanako Yamamoto and the promotion of dancers Andrea D'Annunzio and Mattia Pallozzi from Trainee to full Company Dancer. Yamamoto, D'Annunzio, and Pallozzi will join returning dancers: Cameron Auble-Branigan, Euphrosyne Avery, Stephen Campanella, Alice Cao, Alexander Dutko, Shaye Firer, Monica Giragosian, Samantha Gullace, Joshua Kurtzberg, Karen Leslie Moscato, Marc St-Pierre, Edward Urwin, and Claire van Bever. The 2013-2014 Season will be Auble-Branigan's and Firer's second season with ARB. It will be the third season for Avery, Cao, Giragosian, and van Bever. Campanella, Gullace, Moscato, St-Pierre, and Urwin are entering their fourth season, Dutko his fifth, and Kurtzberg is entering his sixth season with ARB.

Nanako Yamamoto was born and raised in Japan, where she began her training at the Geijutsuza Ballet Studio and at The Royal Ballet School's summer program. She continued her training at the Elmhurst School for Dance in Association with the Birmingham Royal Ballet in the UK where she performed in the Birmingham Royal Ballet's National Tour of Firebird, Fokine's Petrushka, Petipa's Ramonda, and David Bintlye's Beauty and the Beast. Since graduating in 2009, she has performed with New Tampa Dance Theatre, Dance Theatre of Tampa, Ballet Fleming, and in Giselle with Boca Ballet Theatre alongside Julie Kent and Marcelo Gomes.

Andrea D'Annunzio is a graduate of the Jordan College of Fine Arts at Butler University in Indianapolis, with a B.A. in Dance Pedagogy. While at Butler, she received the Freshman Award (most outstanding freshman dancer) and the Performance Award, as well as being on the Dean's List. Originally from Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, D'Annunzio received her early dance training with the Metropolitan Ballet Academy in Jenkintown, PA. She spent summers training at the schools of Richmond Ballet and Paul Taylor Dance Company, and at Princeton Ballet School, the Official School of ARB. She began studying at Princeton Ballet School as an ARB Trainee during the Summer of 2011. As a Trainee, D'Annunzio has danced alongside the company in Mary Barton's Straight Up with a Twist, Trinette Singleton's Capriccios, as the Nurse in Douglas Martin's Romeo and Juliet, and as a Marzipan dancer, Snowflake, and Flower in The Nutcracker. She recently performed the lead role of Odile in Princeton Ballet School's Spring 2013 Production of Swan Lake.

Mattia Pallozzi is from Rome, Italy, where he trained at the Scuola del Teatro dall'Opera di Roma and later at the Accademia Nazionale di Danza in Rome. In 2010, he received the Diploma Accademico di Primero Livello in Classical Dance from the Accademia Nazionale di Danza. Mattia began his studies at Princeton Ballet School with the 2011 Summer Intensive. He danced the lead role of Basilio in Princeton Ballet School's Spring 2012 Production of Don Quixote. This past season, Pallozzi has had many major performance opportunities with ARB, including as Romeo in Douglas Martin's Romeo and Juliet, as Snow King in The Nutcracker, featured roles in Patrick Corbin's Caress and Ann Marie DeAngelo's Blackberry Winter, and more.

American Repertory Ballet opens its Fall 2013 Season with an evening of repertory favorites: "ARB's Fall Kick-Off Performance" at Rider University's Bart Luedeke Center, September 20-21 at 7:30pm. On October 11 at 8:00pm, the company will premiere the full production of Douglas Martin's Romeo and Juliet at the State Theatre in New Brunswick. This fall, ARB will also be returning to Union County PAC's Hamilton Stage for the Performing Arts this year with American Artist Showcase October 18-19, and to The Theatre at Raritan Valley Community College with Premieres Evening on October 26.

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. The organization is comprised of: American Repertory Ballet, the preeminent contemporary ballet company in the state; Princeton Ballet School, one of the largest and most respected non-profit dance schools in the nation; and the Access and Enrichment initiatives, ranging from the long-running and acclaimed DANCE POWER program to the newly launched On Pointe series. The professional company is a classical and contemporary ballet company committed to presenting ballets from the 19th and 20th century alongside new and existing works by choreographers from today. Founded in 1963, the company is currently under the artistic leadership of Douglas Martin, former principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet. The company's rich history of repertory includes established masterpieces by distinguished American choreographers such as George Balanchine, Gerald Arpino, Alvin Ailey, Paul Taylor and Twyla Tharp; cutting edge works by choreographers such as Val Caniparoli, Kirk Peterson, Dominique Dumais, Harrison McEldowney, Amy Seiwert, Susan Shields and Melissa Barak; and former Artistic Directors Dermot Burke, Marjorie Mussman, Septime Webre and Graham Lustig. ARB has been designated a "Major Arts Institution" by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts consistently for the past two decades, and has repeatedly been awarded a Citation of Excellence by the Council. ARB was voted People's Choice for Best Dance Company in 2008, 2011, and 2012.

Princeton Ballet School has gained a national reputation for its excellent dance training since its founding in 1954 by Audrée Estey. Princeton Ballet School currently enrolls approximately 1500 students annually from age three through adult and is directed by Mary Pat Robertson. Princeton Ballet School has studios in Cranbury, New Brunswick, and Princeton which are equipped with shock-absorbent floors, non- slip dance surfaces and pianos for live accompaniment. Many of Princeton Ballet School's faculty members have performed professionally; others have attained graduate degrees in dance education and have won awards for their teaching. Students from the school have gone on to dance in professional ballet and contemporary dance companies in the US and abroad. Graduates have danced with such diverse organizations as the American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Miami City Ballet, STREB, Momix, Complexions, Mark Morris Dance Company, Twyla Tharp Dance, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, New York Theatre Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Ballet Met Columbus, and American Repertory Ballet.

To post a comment, you must register and login.