Faculty

Pamela Levy holds a BFA in Dance from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, and an MA in Dance Education/ABT Ballet Pedagogy from New York University. Her great love of dance began as a child when she enrolled at the Princeton Ballet School (known then as the Princeton Ballet Society), where she studied with Audrée Estey, Dermot Burke, Sherry Alban, Jane Miller Gifford, Judith Leviton, Alexei Yudenich, Mary Pat Robertson, Virginia Griffee, Christine Sarry and Karen Russo. She continued her studies at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, earning her BFA in Dance. Upon graduation, Ms. Levy took classes at The Paul Taylor School and concurrently began studies at the Nikolais/Louis Dance Lab as a scholarship student, studying with Alwin Nikolais, Murray Louis, Beverly Blossom and Alberto Del Saz. She was soon thereafter invited to join the Murray Louis and Nikolais Dance Company, with whom she danced for 10 years in Principal roles throughout the United States and Europe. With the company, Ms. Levy performed at ADF Seoul, South Korea, Montpelier Dance Festival, Kalamata Dance Festival, Vignale Dance Festival, The Britt Festival in Oregon and numerous seasons at the Joyce Theater in New York City, among other venues. Ms. Levy also danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Don Redlich Dance Company and Claudia Gitelman Dance Theatre. Upon retirement from performing, Ms. Levy became the Artistic Director of the newly formed Washington Rock Youth Ballet and her passion for teaching was ignited. Ms. Levy grew the company from eight students to 60, created and implemented a ballet curriculum and launched a full-length Nutcracker production within two years. Ms. Levy continued as Artistic Director of WRYB for 10 years. Ms. Levy was a member of the inaugural graduating cohort of the New York University, Steinhardt School Master of Arts degree program in Dance Education/American Ballet Theatre Ballet Pedagogy. There, Raymond Lukens and Franco DeVita mentored her. At NYU/ABT, Ms. Levy was recognized by Mr. Lukens and Mr. DeVita for her teaching and leadership abilities and was immediately hired to teach at American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. During that time, Ms. Levy furthered her ballet studies as a student of Mark Morris, Marjorie Mussman, Tina Fehlandt and Lauren Grant at the Mark Morris School in Brooklyn and was the Director of the Mark Morris Student Company II. Since then, Ms. Levy has served on the faculty of American Ballet Theatre –Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School Children’s Division, ABT Young Dancer Summer Workshop, ABT Summer Intensives, as a Children’s Ballet Master for Alexei Ratmansky’s Nutcracker at ABT, Mark Morris Dance Center, Rider University, Mason Gross School of the Arts and Princeton University. Ms. Levy is an ABT Affiliate Teacher and serves on the ABT National Training Curriculum Board of Examiners. She has also taught for American Ballet Theatre's Make a Ballet Program, Teachers College – Columbia University, Marymount Manhattan College, Berkeley Ballet Theater, Brooklyn Ballet, Barbara Thompson School of Dance, the Lewis School of Princeton, Princeton Ballet School and was the Founding Director of the ABT Certified School at Mason Gross Extension Division. She has choreographed more than 100 original dance pieces on students of all ages and has re-staged numerous classical ballet pieces for student performances. Email: plevy@arballet.org   |   Phone: 609.921.7758, ext. 12

Douglas Martin (Artistic Director) started his ballet training with Dimitri Romanoff at the San Jose Ballet School and was one of six dancers selected by Mikhail Baryshnikov to study in the newly-formed American Ballet Theatre School. He was invited to join the Joffrey Ballet in 1984 where, as a principal dancer, he performed roles in ballets by Ashton, Arpino, Cranko, Balanchine, Joffrey, Taylor, Pendleton, Kudelka and many other great 20th century choreographers.  Martin was featured in performances of Dance in America on PBS and was an original cast member of the historic recreation of Nijinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps. He was among the last dancers of the Joffrey Ballet to spend the majority of his career in the company working under founder Robert Joffrey. Martin joined the Cleveland Ballet in 1991 and danced an array of principal roles including the Minister in Agnes deMille’s Fall River Legend. In 1993, Martin was invited to join the American Repertory Ballet.  As leading dancer and Ballet Master for ARB, Martin collaborated with directors in creating ballets, including productions as the original cast lead in Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, The Dream and The Nutcracker. Martin continued to be a principal dancer in the company as well as Ballet Master for ARB and PBW and Principal Faculty for the Summer Intensive until his retirement from performing in 2002. After retiring from ARB as a performer, Martin expanded his teaching, production and choreographic work. Martin has been an integral part of the teaching staff at the Princeton Ballet School, Rutgers University and Westminster Choir College, and has also served as the School’s Music Director and PBW Ballet Master. He has staged full-length and repertory ballets for several companies, including Romeo and Juliet and Philip Jerry’s Our Town. Additionally, Martin has choreographed for several Princeton Ballet School productions, including Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Don Quixote and Coppélia. In 2010, Mr. Martin became Artistic Director of American Repertory Ballet. Since then, he has premiered a new production of Nutcracker, choreographed several new works including Ephemeral Possessions, Pathways, Rite of Spring, Firebird and a full-length Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Pride and Prejudice, and has commissioned 29 company premieres, including 19 world premieres.

Mary Barton (Ballet Master & Resident Choreographer) received her dance training at The Washington School of Ballet under the direction of Mary Day and participated in summer courses at the School of American Ballet and Joffrey Ballet School. Her professional experience began when she performed with The Washington Ballet as a soloist in Balanchine’s Scotch Symphony and in the principal role in Tom Paczik’s Tzigane. Early professional credits include the Oldenburg Staat Ballet in Germany and several seasons with Dayton Ballet. In 1986, Ms. Barton joined the Joffrey Ballet/NY where she performed a variety of roles in the great ballets of the 20th century. Robert Joffrey created the role of Clara for her in the world premiere of his new Nutcracker. Ms. Barton was featured along with Gerald Arpino in an interview with Charlie Rose for the world premiere of Robert Joffrey’s Nutcracker. Ms. Barton TV credits include performances in Dance in America on PBS and she was an original cast member of the historic recreation of Nijinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps. From 1993–2004, Ms. Barton was a principal dancer with American Repertory Ballet where notable roles include Sugar Plum Fairy, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, Titania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Emily in Our Town and leads in Balanchine’s Four Temperaments, Rubies, Concerto Barocco and Serenade. Ms. Barton has been on the faculty of the Princeton Ballet School since 1994 and is one of the primary teachers and choreographers for the Summer Intensive. She is a former ballet faculty member at Princeton University and current faculty at Rider University’s Music Theater Department. As Resident Choreographer and Ballet Master of ARB, Ms. Barton’s works include Straight Up with a Twist, Five Men and a Concerto, Faerie Tyme, Fantasy Baroque, Shades of Time, A Shepherd Singing (And I Still Heard Nothing) and her newest work Scarlet Sonata. She has also choreographed over two dozen works for Princeton Ballet School’s spring full-length ballets and Summer Intensive.

Kathleen Moore  trained with Dame Sonia Arova and Thor Sutowski at the Alabama School of Fine Arts (ASFA) and attended summer intensives at the School of American Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) School.  She graduated from ASFA as a Presidential Scholar in the Arts and moved to NY to join ABT II in 1980. Invited by Mikhail Baryshnikov to become a member of the corps of ABT in 1982, Ms. Moore was appointed soloist in 1988 and Principal dancer in 1991. Her work included roles across the classical, dramatic, modern and contemporary repertory. Agnes de Mille, Twyla Tharp, Mark Morris and other respected choreographers created roles for her and she was a member of the premiere tour of the White Oak Dance Project under the direction of Mikhail Baryshnikov and Mark Morris in 1990. Ms. Moore has appeared in several dance documentaries, the Herbert Ross movie  Dancers, and was interviewed on The Charlie Rose Show. Ms. Moore began teaching for Princeton Ballet School in 1993 as a guest teacher and has worked with ARB since 2006. She is also a member of the ballet faculty at the Lewis Center of the Arts at Princeton University.  Ms. Moore is certified to teach all levels of ballet through the ABT® National Training Curriculum.

Cheryl Whitney (PBW Juniors Ballet Master, PBW Administrator) received an M.S. in Ballet from Indiana University and a B.A. in English Literature and Music from St. Lawrence University.  She was trained and performed professionally in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area. For more than 25 years, she has taught in Princeton Ballet School’s Student Division also serving as rehearsal director for the ARB productions of The Nutcracker. Guest teaching credits include Brandywine Ballet, Peabody Conservatory and NJ Governor’s School. Her teaching in academic settings includes Princeton University, Howard University, Indiana University, The Lawrenceville School, Foxcroft School and Latin School of Chicago. She is an associate professor in the dance program at Rider University. Ms. Whitney has received grants from the New York and New Jersey State Councils on the Arts, and is the 2008 recipient of the Audrée Estey Award for Excellence in Dance Education.  She is Artistic Director of Reverence Dance Company.

Maria Youskevitch (ARB Workshop Ballet Mistress, Ballet), the daughter of legendary ballet star Igor Youskevitch, was a soloist with American Ballet Theatre and Maryland Ballet, and ballerina with Youskevitch’s concert group, Ballet Romantique. She was company teacher, rehearsal assistant and senior faculty member at Hartford Ballet under the Artistic Direction of Kirk Peterson. She has been ballet mistress for BalletMet, Nevada Dance Theatre and coach for the New York International Ballet Competition. In addition, Ms. Youskevitch has taught at such prestigious schools as the David Howard Dance Center, Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Virginia School of the Arts under the direction Petrus Bosman, The Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy and The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre. A celebrated teacher and coach for over 40 years, she was featured in the June 2002 issue of Dance Teacher magazine. Well versed in the classical ballet repertoire, she has mounted versions of Giselle, Coppélia, La Fille Mal Gardée and her father’s one-act Romeo and Juliet. She has also staged Michel Fokine’s Spectre de la Rose and Les Sylphides, and the children’s roles in Kirk Peterson’s Nutcracker. Ms. Youskevitch was also on faculty for ABT’s Young Dancer Summer Workshop in Manhattan for eight years, and is an ABT Certified Teacher, having completed the ABT National Training Curriculum.

KATHLEEN A. SMITH began her training here at Princeton Ballet School in 1988. She is a graduate of Princeton Ballet School’s Professional Training Program and was also a member of PBII, now known as PBW. She has also studied at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City. Ms. Smith has been a teacher here at Princeton Ballet School since 2003, DANCE POWER Teaching Artist since 2005 and became the DANCE POWER Coordinator in 2010. Ms.Smith has performed various roles in ARB’s The Nutcracker under the direction of both Septime Webre and Graham Lustig. Ms.Smith also has performed numerous pieces with Susan Tenney Dance. She was the main choreographer for George Street Playhouse’s Summer Theater Academy in 2010. Ms. Smith is also one of the coordinators for Princeton Ballet School’s New Brunswick Summer Dance Camp and the first ever DANCE POWER Summer Dance Camp. Email: ksmith@arballet.org   |   Phone: 732.249.1254, ext. 10

Audrey Yeager began her formal dance training at the New Jersey School of Ballet under the direction of Ms. Carolyn Clark. Audrey went on to join the New Jersey Ballet Company’s Junior Company, performing in the corps of ballets including Giselle, Swan Lake, and The Sleeping Beauty, and danced featured roles in The Nutcracker (Clara, Mirlitons). She spent summers training with Roberto Muñoz, Melinda Roy, and members of the New York City Ballet. Audrey was named a New Jersey Governor’s School Dance Scholar in 2008. She was accepted to Rider University’s dance program under the direction of Dr. Kim Chandler Vaccaro. During this time, Audrey studied in the Professional Training Program at Princeton Ballet School and was named a Mildred C. Hawkins Dance Scholar and an Andrew J. Rider Scholar. She graduated summa cum laude in 2013. Audrey loves working as a dance educator and arts administrator in central Jersey.

Mr. Lin completed the first ground-breaking Master of Arts degree in the United States in Teaching Dance in Higher Education and the Professions with a concentration in American Ballet Theatre (ABT) Ballet Pedagogy in Steinhardt School at New York University (NYU). Mr. Lin is certified with American Ballet Theatre® (ABT®) National Training Curriculum (Primary to Level 7). He also successfully presented students at the affiliate exams up to level 4B, and achieved the Affiliate Teacher status with ABT® National Training Curriculum. He also holds an M.A. degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) from Steinhardt School at NYU. Mr. Lin started his dance training in both ballet and traditional dance in Taipei, Taiwan. He was a participant in Kitakyuuyshuu Dance Competition for ballet and traditional dance divisions in Japan. He was a first prize winner for Traditional Dance in Senior division, and received the best technique award in the national traditional dance competition in Classical traditional dance category in Taiwan. Mr. Lin has performed in Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan and New York City. Mr. Lin has served as ballet program director at Dance Vision in Johnston Iowa, from August 2010 to August 2017, where he oversaw the ballet program for 130 students. Before coming to New York for his master degrees, Mr. Lin has taught and staged works for students aged from 10 to 16 years old for performances and competitions in both ballet and Traditional dance form. He has been invited as a guest teacher in schools in Chicago, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Maine, and Florida.

Jenny Daino began her dance training very young, studying throughout Central NJ. She has performed as a member of Bordentown Ballet Theatre and as a Senior Apprentice with Suburban Dance Force. Teaching has always been her passion.  Mrs. Daino is certified by examination in the Dance Educators of America Teacher Training and Certification Program levels I and II. She has studied with Master Teachers in the area of Dance Education: Raymond Lukens, Eileen Juric, David Scala, Steve Sirico, Angela D’Valda Sirico, Rhee Gold, and the Legendary Teacher of Teachers, Charles Kelley. Recently, Mrs. Daino was chosen to participate in the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet’s Teacher Workshop with Marcia Dale Weary, Darla Hoover, Melinda Howe, Bruce Thornton, Alan Hineline, and Simon Ball. For the past 12 years Mrs. Daino has designed and planned curricula for all levels of students at a growing studio in South Jersey, where she has trained students in Classical Ballet, Pointe, Jazz, Tap, Lyrical, and Musical Theatre techniques. In her time there, she also worked with their youth dance company as a Choreographer, Rehearsal Assistant, and Company Director. Mrs. Daino assisted in creating the school’s Student Teacher Program, of which she was the Director, and worked closely with students, as a mentor, in the Student Choreography Program. Her students have been awarded scholarships to prestigious summer intensive programs and workshops from New York City to Las Vegas, and several are pursuing careers in dance, attending some of the best college dance programs in the country. Mrs. Daino has been sharing her love of dance with students for over 14 years. She lives in Lower Bucks County, PA with her husband and two children.

Brianna Colwell, of Point Pleasant NJ, graduated from Rider University in May 2015 with a B.A. in Dance Performance and a minor in Arts Administration. She started dancing when she was three years old at Dance For Joy in Brielle, NJ. She was trained in many different dance genres including ballet, tap, contemporary, lyrical, jazz, and hip-hop. She continued her dance studies at Rider University in the Fall of 2011 taking classes at the Princeton Ballet School. While studying at Rider, Brianna was signed to the Trenton Freedom Xtreme Dance Team in January 2014 where she danced on the team for two years. Brianna also performed in Rider’s annual show Rider Dances for four years. After graduating from Rider, Brianna taught for one year at New York City Performing Arts Center. Brianna also taught at Shore Dance Center in Pt. Pleasant NJ and Manasquan Music and Dance from 2015 to present.

A California native, Tony Lee is currently a second company member with American Repertory Ballet. He started his dance training at 18 at Anaheim Ballet and later trained with Runqiao Du and Susan Mann at Towson University. Aside from performances with ARB, he has performed with VT Dance, Goucher College, SLAM Hip Hop Dance Group, and Centenary Stage Company. Tony graduated from Johns Hopkins University with degrees in computer science and film and media studies and currently serves as the bookkeeper for ARB.

Faith Woodyard, American Repertory Ballet Trainee and Zumba Instructor, was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. She graduated from George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology in the dance prime. She received her early dance training at Carroll County Dance Center and Ballet Conservatory under the instruction of Megan Logee, Paul Wegner, and Jessica Huebner. She trained in many styles of dance such as ballet, modern, tap, jazz, and contemporary. Faith attended summer programs, many on scholarship such as American Ballet Theatre, Carolina Ballet, Richmond Ballet, and American Repertory Ballet. She was a Trainee with the Richmond Ballet from 2016-17. This season she is a trainee with American Repertory Ballet. She has also received her Zumba teaching certification and is happy to be teaching Zumba at Princeton Ballet school.

A California native, Erikka Reenstierna-Cates received her training under Leslie Ann Larson and Rene Daveluy. She started dancing professionally with Central West Ballet in 2009, and in 2015 joined Oklahoma City Ballet. Erikka will also be dancing with Ballet Ireland in the fall and winter of 2016. Ms. Reenstierna-Cates has been featured in a variety of roles including: Indian Maiden in Paul Vasterling’s Peter Pan; Harem Dancer in Dennis Spaight’s Scheherazade; Soloist Spanish Chocolate in Robert Mills’ The Nutcracker; both a soloist and principal in George Balanchine’s Who Cares?, Valse Fantaisie and Serenade; a soloist in Ronn Guidi’s Trois Gymnopedies; Myrtha in Giselle; performed as a soloist in Val Caniparoli’s Songs and Violin; the Sugarplum Fairy, Snow Queen, Flower Queen and Arabian Coffee in Rene Daveluy’s The Nutcracker; Pas de Trois in Swan Lake; the Fairy Godmother in Daveluy’s Cinderella; the Enchanted Garden Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty; and highlighted in Daveluy’s Romeo and Juliet and Peter Pan. Erikka has also performed in many original ballets created by Ms. Reenstierna-Cates, and worked closely with both renowned and emerging contemporary choreographers. Additionally, Erikka is also an up-and-coming choreographer, having created pieces for bills alongside names such as Balanchine and Caniparoli. With ARB: 2016 Hometown: Modesto, California

Shaye Firer was born in Cape Town, South Africa, and raised in Vancouver, Canada. She received her early training at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and attended various intensive programs such as The National Ballet of Canada, Alberta Ballet, Kaatsbaan International Dance Centre, Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy, and Ellison Ballet. Shaye joined the inaugural class of ARB/Princeton Ballet School’s Trainee program. As a Trainee, she performed company roles in Nutcracker, Our Town, and Glazunov Variations, as well as the lead role of Swanhilda in Princeton Ballet School’s production of Coppélia. Shaye has received choreographic awards from the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School and was chosen as one of five choreographers in Houston Ballet  Academy’s collaboration with the American Festival for the Arts. Since she joined ARB, she has performed as The Chosen One in Douglas Martin’s Rite of Spring, Titania in Martin’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, featured roles in works by Patrick Corbin, Kirk Peterson, and Trinette Singleton. With ARB: 2011 Hometown: Vancouver, British Columbia

Mattia Pallozzi was born and raised in Italy where he received his training at the School of Teatro Dell’Opera and then at the Accademia Nazionale Di Danza. During this time, he performed as a soloist in Ugo dell’Ara’s Ballo Excelsior, Vaionone’s The Nutcracker, Ismael Ivo’s Ballo Sports and in the closing ceremony of the 2009 World Swimming Championships choreographed by Wayne McGregor. In 2011 he joined ARB/Princeton Ballet School’s Trainee Program, where he performed the lead role of Basilo in Princeton Ballet School’s production of Don Quixote and danced alongside the company in works by Gerald Arpino, Mary Barton, Ann Marie DeAngelo and Patrick Corbin. He joined ARB in 2012 as an Apprentice-Trainee and in 2013 he was promoted to a full company member. Throughout his time with ARB, he danced the lead roles of Romeo in the world premiere of Douglas Martin’s Romeo and Juliet, the Faun in ARB’s company premiere of Kirk Peterson’s Afternoon of a Faun, the Cavalier in ARB'sNutcracker, the Firebird in Martin'Firebird and Oberon in Douglas Martin’s A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Emily Parker, from Forbes, New South Wales, Australia, started dancing at Lia’s School of Dance at age five. At age 12 she moved to Sydney to attend The McDonald College Performing Arts School training under Josephine Jason and Jane Kesby, completing all RAD levels with distinctions. She performed in a youth ballet company from ages 13-18 with her most prestigious roles being the Sugar Plum Fairy and Black Swan. Emily attended many summer programs, including Sydney Dance Company and Boston Ballet, and performed as a guest artist with The Australian Ballet. Emily joined the ARB trainee program (she won the Audrée Estey scholarship after her first year as an ARB trainee) appearing as the White Swan with ARB Workshop in the spring, 2016. She performed alongside the company in their productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Rite of Spring and Romeo and Juliet.

Anna Porter Wilkes- Davis was born in Lynchburg, Virginia. She received her early training at Virginia School of the Arts under the direction of Petrus Bosman and later completed her pre- professional training with the Washington School of Ballet, Miami City Ballet School and the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater. In 2010, Anna joined the Columbia City Ballet where she was promoted to soloist. Her roles with the company included Red and Purple Vampire Maiden in Dracula, The Snow Queen, Arabian Princess and Neapolitan Ice Cream in Nutcracker, the Summer Fairy in Cinderella, the Fairy of Grace and the White Cat of Puss in Boots in The Sleeping Beauty, Moyne in Giselle, and the Snake in the Little Prince. In 2014, she became the Artist in Residence with Ann Brodie’s Carolina Ballet, as well as a guest artist with Greensboro Ballet, Lincoln Midwest Ballet, Coastal Ballet USA, Montgomery Ballet and Hilton Head Dance Theatre where she has performed pas de deuxs from Giselle, Esmeralda, The Sleeping Beauty, Raymonda, Spartacus, Spring Waters, Swan Lake and Nutcracker. Anna also co-directed, choreographed, and danced in the H.E.R.O. Dance Benefit, a gala which brought professional dancers together for an evening of dance to support the Gary Sinise Foundation. This is her first year as a member of the company at American Repertory Ballet.