A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, she received her early training with June Runyon and danced with Tulsa Ballet Theatre. After graduation from Stanford University, Ms. Robertson performed and taught in New York, where she studied with Merce Cunningham, Douglas Wassell, and David Howard. She has taught ballet at Princeton University, New York University, and Mason Gross School of the Arts.

Ms. Robertson was a founding director of Teamwork Dance, and has received a Choreographic Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Choreographic projects include Carmina Burana for Princeton Pro Musica and Laud to the Nativity for VOICES. Over the past several years Robertson has choreographed numerous operas for Opera Festival of New Jersey including The Merry Widow, The Magic Flute, La Traviata, Vanessa, The Marriage of Figaro, Postcard from Morocco, and Orfeo ed Euridice. She has also been a consultant for the New York State Council on the Arts and NJPAC's Outreach Program. Ms. Robertson has been teaching at Princeton Ballet School since 1980, and became Director of the School in 1986. During these years she developed the syllabus with faculty input, inaugurated the Professional Training Program and PLUS programs, and oversaw the moves into the new Princeton and Cranbury facilities.

MARIA YOUSKEVITCH (ARB Workshop Ballet Mistress, Ballet) – is the daughter of legendary ballet star Igor Youskevitch, and 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 25 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 Gardee, and her father’s one-act Romeo and Juliet. She has also staged Michel Fokine’s Le Spectre de la Rose and the children’s roles in Kirk Peterson’s Nutcracker.

DOUGLAS MARTIN (ARB Workshop Ballet Master, Music Director, Ballet) – started his ballet training with Dimitri Romanoff at the San Jose Ballet School and continued as a scholarship student at American Ballet Theatre School under Pat Wilde, Ivan Nagy, John Prinz and Mme. Pereyaslavic. He joined the Joffrey II Dancers in 1982 and was promoted to the Joffrey Ballet in 1984. As a principal dancer in the Joffrey, Mr. Martin performed many of the company's renowned works and was involved in the creation of many new works. He has performed a diverse array of roles in ballets by Ashton, Arpino, Cranko, Balanchine, Joffrey, Taylor, Pendleton, Kudelka and many other great 20th century choreographers. He joined the Cleveland Ballet for the 1991-92 season, performing the Minister in Agnes DeMille's Fall River Legend and other major roles. In 1993, Mr. Martin joined the American Repertory Ballet. As a leading dancer and Ballet Master for ARB, Mr. Martin helped create many new ballets and collaborated with Septime Webre on several major pas de deux and full length ballets. He was Oberon in Graham Lustig's A Midsummer Night's Dream. He continued to be a principal performer in the company until his retirement from performing in 2002. He has been an inte-gral part of the teaching staff at ARB’s Princeton Ballet School since 1994. Mr. Martin also teaches ballet for Westminster Choir College.

CAROL BELLIS (Principal, Cranbury Studio, Ballet) received her training on scholarship at the School of American Ballet, official school of the New York City Ballet. She danced with the Garden State Ballet and has taught for Garden State Ballet School, Gloria Govrin’s New Hope Ballet Academy, and the School of Performing Arts at Somerset Vo-Tech. She has been teaching here for 18 years, and is the principal of the Cranbury studio and the Coordinator of ARB’s Princeton Ballet School summer programs.

LAURIE ABRAMSON (Ballet, Pilates) received her training at the Joffrey Ballet School and holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from New York University. She has also studied with Alfredo Corvino, David Howard and at The New Dance Group. In addition to her work at ARB’s Princeton Ballet School, Ms. Abramson teaches in the Program in Theatre and Dance at Princeton University and at Montclair State University. Additional teaching credits include Stuart Country Day School, Mason Gross School of the Arts (Rutgers University), Southern NJ Academy of the Performing Arts, Acrodanse Theatre Company and master classes at The American College Dance Festival. She has served as a dance evaluator for the NJ State Council on the Arts and helped construct and implement the exit exams for the performing arts schools throughout the state for the NJ Dept. of Education, Visual and Performing Arts. Choreographic projects include works for PB II (now known as ARB Workshop), Acrodanse Theatre Company and musical theatre work. She has been the recipient of an arts-in-education grant from the NJ State Council on the Arts. She has been teaching here since 1981.

SHERRY ALBAN (Ballet) has taught at ARB’s Princeton Ballet School since 1973. She has choreographed several ballets for PBII (now known as ARB Workshop), and served for many years as Rehearsal Director for Act I of The Nutcracker. In 2004, Ms. Alban staged Audrée Estey’s Act 1 children’s dances for Nutcracker for Washington Ballet. Ms. Alban has been a recipient of a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Choreography Fellowship and has directed and choreographed numerous musicals for Plays in the Park of Edison, NJ; Rutgers Opera; and NJPAC. She also teaches ballet at Mason Gross School of the Arts, at Rutgers University. Ms. Alban’s ebullient choreography for children has been a part of nearly every school show produced in the past 25 years.

MARY BARTON (Ballet) received her training at the Washington School of Ballet and participated in summer courses at SAB and Joffrey Ballet School. Her professional experience began at Washington Ballet, dancing soloist and principal roles with the company while still a student. At age 18, she joined the Oldenburg Staat Ballet as Principal Guest Artist. In 1981, she joined the Dayton Ballet where she performed many of the company’s leading roles. In 1986, Ms. Barton joined the Joffrey Ballet where she performed a variety of roles including the role of Clara in Robert Joffrey’s Nutcracker, a role he created on her. In 1993, Ms. Barton joined American Repertory Ballet. She has been a featured principal dancer performing leading roles in Balanchine’s Serenade and Rubies, and Emily in Philip Jerry’s Our Town. She has been featured in many works by Septime Webre, most notably Odette/Odile in Swan Lake and Juliet in his Romeo and Juliet. She has also helped stage Mr. Webre’s Romeo and Juliet on companies around the country. Ms. Barton continues to perform as a freelance guest artist. She has been a member of the faculty for 12 years, and has also taught master classes and summer intensive courses around the country. She is listed in the “Who’s Who of American Teachers.” Ms. Barton is the Resident Choreographer for Rider Dances. Her recent choreography has been met with great praise, and has been presented by Rider, The Outlet, Teamwork Dance, as well as the annual school productions of ARB’s Princeton Ballet School.

JANELL BYRNE (Ballet) a native of California, studied with Stanley Holden and Margaret Hills in Los Angeles. A graduate of the Juilliard School, where she studied with Alfredo Corvino, Ms. Byrne has taught at Mercer County Community College, Princeton University, The College of New Jersey, and the Lawrenceville School. She has performed with DanceWorks and Teamwork Dance and is Director of Mercer Dance Ensemble, and has been teaching here for over 20 years.

KATE CASTRANOVA (Ballet) trained at ARB’s Princeton Ballet School through high school, participating in the Professional Training Program and the ARB Workshop. She was a trainee with Pittsburgh Ballet Theater for the 2003-04 season, dancing in Swan Lake, Giselle, and Serenade, among other works. Kate is now studying early childhood education at The College of New Jersey. This is her third season as a teacher for ARB’s Princeton Ballet School.

ALMA CONCEPCION (Spanish dance, Ballet) is a former soloist with the San Juan Ballet and Antonio's Ballet of Spain. After receiving her early training in Puerto Rico, she came to study in New York at the School of American Ballet and at American Ballet Theatre. Ms. Concepcion is the founder of Taller de Danza, a children’s movement and dance grassroots organization based in Trenton. She has been teachng here for over 20 years and has also taught at Ballet Hispanico in New York for many years.

PAMELA DAY (Ballet) completed her early training with Ruth Petrinovic’ at the Academy of Performing Arts in Ft. Lauderdale on full scholarship. During her professional career, she performed soloist roles with the Israel Ballet, the Connecticut Ballet, and Dancers (New York City). During her years as a professional dancer, she trained in New York City with Finis Jhung, David Howard, and Robert Denvers; in New Haven with Robert Vickrey, Rochelle Zide- Booth, and Bruce Wells; and in Paris with Yves Casati. Ms Day holds a BA from Albertus Magnus College, and an MA from George Washington University. Ms. Day has taught at the Academy for Performing Arts, The Connecticut Ballet, and at ARB’s Princeton Ballet School since 1997.

GEOFFREY DOIG-MARX (Jazz/Theater Dance) is the Artistic Director and Founder of “The Mantis Project” Dance Company, and Creator/Artistic Director of “The Elan Awards” an annual showcase that presents the work of 14 choreographers and honors a choreographer who has paved the way. Past honorees of The Elan Awards include Graciella Daniele, Jerry Mitchell, Ann Reinking, Rob Marshall, Lar Lubovitch and Susan Stroman. Recently, he received a Certificate of Excellence in Cultural Achievement from C. Virginia Fields, Manhattan Borough President, office of the Mayor of New York City, for his work with The Elan Awards. He is currently a part of the dance faculty at Marymount Manhattan College, Dance Emotion, The Lawrenceville School and The Pulse. National and Regional credits include: Pippin, A Chorus Line, West Side Story, Jesus Christ Superstar, La Cage aux Folles and many others. Dance Spirit Magazine named him “one of ‘nine dancemakers making history” … 2001 cover story. www.themantisproject.org.

LANEY ENGELHARD (Ballet) grew up in Washington state, and attended the Washington Academy of Performing Arts, with summer school experience at Pacific Northwest Ballet School and at the Rock School in Philadelphia. She danced with Oregon Ballet Theatre after high school, and then moved to Chicago, where she was a scholarship student at Lou Conte’s Dance Studio, home of Hubbard Street Dance Company. She has taught jazz and ballet at Lou Conte’s. She moved to NJ in the fall of ’03 to join American Repertory Ballet and to teach at ARB’s Princeton Ballet School.

ANNE WOODSIDE GRIBBINS (Ballet) was trained at Princeton Ballet School and performed with The Princeton Ballet Company (now American Repertory Ballet) for six seasons. She appeared in The Nutcracker in many roles including Snow Queen and Dew Drop and as Desdemona in The Moor’s Pavane. She performed in works by Dermot Burke, Gerald Arpino, and Antony Tudor. Ms. Gribbins has been on the faculty of ARB’s Princeton Ballet School since 1991, and has choreographed for the Summer Intensive and for many school shows including Coppélia, Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake. Her dance Simple Gifts, created for Princeton Ballet School students, was performed at Princeton Ballet’s 50th Anniversary celebration in May, 2004. Ms. Gribbins was inducted into Princeton Ballet’s Wall of Fame in May, 2006.

PEGGY PETTEWAY MAHONEY (Ballet) was born in Orlando, Florida. She began her training at the School of Performing Arts and continued through the apprentice program of Southern Ballet Theatre under the direction of Barbara Riggins. She is a magna cum laude graduate of Florida State University. Ms. Petteway has danced with Bay Ballet Theatre, Southern Ballet Theatre, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Chautauqua Dance Company, and Pennsylvania Ballet. She has danced principal roles in a wide range of classical and contemporary ballets. At American Repertory Ballet Ms. Petteway has appeared in Graham Lustig’s The Nutcracker, Paramour, Silkscreens, VISTA, Uncertain Steps, Borderlines, as a Stepsister in Graham Lustig’s Cinderella, Bianca in Lustig’s The Shrew, and Beauty in Beauty and the Beast. She has also danced in Monopoly, The Eyes That Gently Touch, Opposites Distract, Fandango Furiouso, Lambarena, and - a part between parts -. In 2001, Ms. Petteway married fellow ARB dancer Sean Patrick Mahoney. This is Ms. Petteway’s eighth season with American Repertory Ballet and her seventh season teaching at ARB’s Princeton Ballet School.

NORA ORPHANIDES (Ballet) trained at the American Ballet Center, official school of the Joffrey Ballet in New York. She has also studied modern dance at the Erick Hawkins Studio. She received a B.A. from Hunter College. After moving to Princeton, Ms. Orphanides studied with Virginia Griffee at the Princeton Ballet School. She choreographed numerous spring musicals for Stuart Country Day School of the Sacred Heart. She is a biographee in “Who’s Who in American Women,” “Who’s Who in American Education” and “Who’s Who in Entertainment.”

MARY PAT ROBERTSON (Ballet) - See above.

KATHLEEN SMITH (Beginning Dance, Ballet) is a graduate of ARB’s Princeton Ballet School Professional Training Program, has also studied dance at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City. Performance high points include the evil Carabosse in the school’s production of Sleeping Beauty in her graduation year, 2003, plus numerous performances with Susan Tenney and Dancers, a modern dance company. Ms. Smith has been teaching clogging for the past ten years with her group, The Century Cloggers. She also teaches DANCE POWER, an outreach program of American Repertory Ballet in collaboration with the New Brunswick Public School system.

KIMBERLY TAM (Jazz, Hip-Hop) received a degree from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Douglass College, with a concentration in modern dance and ballet. She has also studied jazz, hip-hop, and funk-fusion at Steps on Broadway, American School for the Performing Arts, and Soho Dance Affinity. Kimberly works as an Assistant Editor in the New York offices of Dance Magazine.

SUSAN TENNEY (Modern Dance, Ballet) has been produced off- Broadway, at the Limelight, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Jacob’s Pillow Touring Ensemble, Edinburgh International Theatre Festival, and Tanglewood. She was resident choreographer and movement coach at Williamstown Theater Festival for four years and has restaged the choreography for McCarter Theatre’s A Christmas Carol. She has performed as a soloist with Jean Erdman, Andrew deGroat and Dancers, Novantiqua, Muna Tseng, and Nat Horne Musical Theater. She is Artistic Director of Susan Tenney and Company. Ms. Tenney holds a B.F.A. from SUNY Purchase. She has taught here for over 20 years.

DR. KIM CHANDLER VACCARO (Beginning Dance, Ballet, Modern Dance, World Dance Forms, Pilates) earned a B.A. in Choreography and Performance from University of California at Santa Barbara, an M.A. in Dance Education from UCLA, and a doctoral degree from Temple University. She wrote Jazz Dance Today, with Lorraine Kreigel, and was a contributing editor to the award-winning book Core Collections in Dance. Dr. Vaccaro is the director of the Rider University/Princeton Ballet School Dance Program and works extensively with the NJ Dept. of Education on curriculum projects related to dance and technology. Dr. Vaccaro’s lively dances for children have been a part of nearly all of the school shows in her many years of teaching for ARB’s Princeton Ballet School. She creates new dance works each year for Rider Dances.

CHERYL WHITNEY-MARCUARD (Ballet) received an M.S. in ballet from Indiana University after her B.A. in English literature and music from St. Lawrence University. She performed professionally in the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore metropolitan areas. She is a ballet instructor at Princeton University as well as a teacher and Associate Teacher Trainer for Music Together LLC in Princeton. Guest teaching credits include Brandywine Ballet, Peabody Conservatory, Ballet Royale Academy, and NJ Governor’s School. Her ballet/dance teaching in academic settings includes Howard University, Indiana University, Lawrenceville School, Foxcroft School (where she instituted a program in dance) and the Latin School of Chicago. As Artistic Director of Reverence Dance Company she has choreographed and participated in liturgies in churches and cathedrals in NJ, Pennsylvania, Maryland and NYC, and is frequently invited to present workshops at Westminster Choir College. She has collaborated with Princeton Pro Musica in several performances, the most recent being Carmina Burana. Ms. Whitney-Marcuard has received grants from the NY and NJ State Councils on the Arts and has taught at ARB’s Princeton Ballet School since 1990.

NOTE: Many of the faculty members of ARB's Princeton Ballet School maintain active professional dance careers in addition to their teaching commitments. The school supports this professional involvement and is very proud of its teachers. When it is necessary for a teacher to miss class because of performance or illness, every effort is made to replace this teacher with another teacher from our staff or from our substitute roster.