Rider Univ. Teams Up With American Repertory Ballet

Editor's Note: The following is a news release issued by .

Rider University will present Rider Dances with American Repertory Ballet on Friday, March 30, at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 31, at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. in the Yvonne Theater on the campus of Rider University in Lawrence Township.

Additionally, Rider University faculty member Kim Chandler Vaccaro will speak about the history of the ballet Romeo and Juliet on Wednesday, March 21, at 5 p.m., also in the Yvonne Theater. Admission is free.

The performance will feature Rider University students and the full American Repertory Ballet Company (ARB). They will perform works by choreographers affiliated with Rider University and American Repertory Ballet in a creative program featuring various dance techniques, including contemporary, ballet, hip-hop and tap.

ARB will perform works by Matthew Keefe and Mary Barton, as well as excerpts from Artistic Director Douglas Martin’s new production of Romeo and Juliet, set to the 1934 Prokofiev score. Rider students will perform works by renowned local choreographer Laney Engelhard; Rider alumnae Jennifer Gladney, Danielle Nolen and Cherilyn Barbone; Princeton Ballet School’s Angela Cusamano and Rider faculty member Kim Chandler Vaccaro. Rider senior Marissa DeSantis is staging divertissements from Sleeping Beauty coached by the ballet mistress at Princeton Ballet School (PBS).

The program will also include new work set on Rider students by Christine Chen, formerly of Streb Dance and Axis Dance companies, who is managing director of PBS/ARB. Adding a multi-disciplinary dimension will be the work of student Jeanette Rudnicki, who has interviewed the choreographers and cast, creating film segments that will weave the performance together.

In an effort to “go green,” Rider Dances with American Repertory Ballet is attempting to be a paperless concert. The program will be produced in electronic form. It posted on the Rider Web site in a pdf format so that audience members can download it to their mobile devices. The program will be played on screens in the lobby and theater.

Kim Chandler Vaccaro is assistant professor of Dance at Rider University. She became a professional dancer and teacher while earning a Bachelor of Arts in Choreography and Performance from the University of California at Santa Barbara, a Master of Dance Education from the University of California at Los Angeles and a doctorate of Education from Temple University. In addition to lecturing nationwide on dance education, she often leads workshops for dance and public schoolteachers, both for ARB and around the state.

Former principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet, Douglas Martin has also performed with the Cleveland Ballet and with the American Repertory Ballet, and he holds film credits that include two productions for Dance in America.

Rider University and Princeton Ballet School have a partnership that allows Rider University dance majors and minors to complete their studio course requirements at the Princeton Ballet School while earning an undergraduate degree in Fine and Performing Arts with a concentration in dance. Students also have the opportunity to double major, combining dance with Elementary Education, Theater, Communications or Business.

Tickets for each performance will be available only at the door. General admission is $20. Admission for Rider University faculty and staff, as well as students and families participating in Admitted Students Day, is $10. Admission for Rider University students is $5. Rider University is located at 2083 Lawrence Rd. (Route 206) in Lawrence Township. For further information go to www.rider.edu/arts or email kcvaccaro@rider.edu.