The New Jersey Ballet is a ballet company based in Livingston, New Jersey in the United States, founded in 1958 by native New Jerseyan Carolyn Clark and her fellow dancer, George Tomal.

History

Carolyn Clark's mother established New Jersey School of Ballet in Orange, New Jersey in 1953 with her mother's friends who were dancers. Clark has involved in her mother's dance school operation since its beginning. She has later become a professional dancer herself. After touring around the world with

American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant, it is recognized as one of the world's leading classical ballet companies. Through 2019, it had an annual ei ...

and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, she had conceived an idea to create a ballet company in New Jersey with national significance. The company was finally founded in 1958 with the first performance on December 27, 1958 at the Arts High School in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaiko ...

'' in 1971 at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey with world-renowned dancer, Edward Villella, in the role of the Cavalier. The company has run ''Nutcracker'' production at Paper Mill Playhouse with Paper Mill Orchestra for many consecutive years since its debut. It also travels to bergenPAC in

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which at the 2020 United States census had a population of 29,308. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from por ...

, Stafford Township Arts Center in

Manahawkin, New Jersey Manahawkin is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Stafford Township, in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States.

and Middle Township PAC in

Cape May Court House Cape May Court House is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Middle Township in Cape May County, New Jersey, United States.

. The company started gaining wider recognition when it started the tours to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, the Soviet Union,

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

and Italy during the 1990s. In 2004, the company staged full-length production of '' Esmeralda'' at

New Jersey Performing Arts Center The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), in downtown Newark, New Jersey, United States, is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. Home to the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO), more than nine million visitors (i ...

. It was the first company in the United States to perform full-length version of ''Esmeralda'' and it had gained national recognition. The company also visited India's newly opened National Centre for the Performing Arts in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

in 2006 with its ''Nutcracker'' production. It was the first full-length classical ballet in India. In 2008, it traveled to Russia on a seven-city tour of mixed repertory that included ''Saturday Night'', ''For Ella'', ''Let's Go South'' and ''Belong''. Today, the annual season consists of many performances in many venues throughout New Jersey. It also includes New Jersey Ballet Matinee for Kids and Families, which is a collections of children's ballets of classic tales such as Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty,

Tom Sawyer Thomas Sawyer () is the titular character of the Mark Twain novel ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), ''Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894), and ''Tom Sawyer, Dete ...

Hansel & Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; german: Hänsel und Gretel ) is a German fairy tale collected by the German Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). It is also known as Little Step Brother and Little Step Sister. Hanse ...

and more.

New Jersey School of Ballet

At the present time, the school offers many courses and instructions ranging from age 4 to professional. The classes include Ballet, Academic Ballet, Pointe, Jazz and Tap. The school offers intensive program for Ballet, Variations, Partnering, Character, Jazz, and Special Workshops by audition only. The classes are held in three locations; Livingston, New Jersey;

Somerville, New Jersey Somerville is a borough and the county seat of Somerset County, New Jersey, United States.New Je ...

; and

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a town and the county seat of Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. ...

. Each year, more than one hundred students who pass auditions have a chance to perform in New Jersey Ballet's Nutcracker professional production. Advanced students are included in New Jersey Ballet Matinee for Kids and Families productions. New Jersey Ballet's Junior Company is the school's pre-professional program for students with carrier track in dance. Students have opportunities to work with professional dancers, for example, being cast members when the Bolshoi performed at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

. Many alumni have performed with or are current dancers of

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company' ...

San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Franc ...

, The Joffrey, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and other major companies.

Artistic leadership

The artistic leadership of New Jersey Ballet, as of April 2010:

Founder and Director

* Carolyn Clark

Assistant Artistic Director

* Paul McRae

Production Director

* Brian Coakley

Artistic Advisors

The artistic advisors are three of the most famous dancers of the 20th century: * Eleanor D'Antuono, former

principal dancer A principal dancer (often shortened to principal) is a dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company. A principal may be male or female. The position is similar to that of '' soloist''; however, p ...

* Leonid Kozlov, former principal dancer of the Bolshoi and

* Edward Villella, former principal dancer of

Ballet Mistresses

* Luba Gulyaeva

Repertory Coaches

* Peter DiBonaventura * Gabriella Noa * Rosemary Sabovick-Bleich

Performers

New Jersey Ballet has gained international recognition and has attracted performers from other countries around the world including

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, Bulgaria,

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, Japan,

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

, Russia, Tatarstan, and

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

Dancers

The dancers of the New Jersey Ballet according to the company website, as of January 2019. * Rachel Carina * Kaitlyn Dal Bon * Justin Estelle * Leonid Flegmatov * Albina Ghazaryan * Esnel Ramos Hernandez * Ilse Kapteyn * Kotoe Kojima-Noa * Se Hyun Jin * Emmanuel Martirosyan * Narek Martirosyan * Risa Mochizuki * Nahoko Nakomoto * Gabriella Noa * Eunice Suba * Mari Sugawa * Andre Luis Teixeira * Catherine Whiting * Yuuki Yamamoto

Apprentices

The apprentices of the New Jersey Ballet, as of August 2011.

References

External links

www.newjerseyballet.org

www.njschoolofballet.com
{{authority control Performing groups established in 1958 Ballet companies in the United States New Jersey culture Livingston, New Jersey 1958 establishments in New Jersey Dance in New Jersey