This weekend, the company will kick off its sixth season with Artistic Director Douglas Martin at the helm.
"Ephemeral Possessions" is the tile of one of three ballets that will be performed by American Repertory Ballet as part of their "Season Premiere" this weekend at Rider University.
But it also aptly describes the moment that the New Jersey dance company currently finds itself.
Over the past five years, Artistic Director Douglas Martin has built a group of dancers and repertory than ARB can call its own. These are the company's possessions. But as Martin insists, only by performing these ephemeral dances regularly, "do we keep them alive."
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This season is the start of Martin's sixth with ARB, and the company's two performances this weekend, at Luedeke Center, are the culmination of a week of events looking back on Martin's five years of leadership.
"Every year for me has the new and the old," Martin says, in a telephone interview earlier this week.
"Ephemeral Possessions," which is choreographed by Martin himself (and set to Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings") kicks off the "Season Premiere" program, followed by Kirk Peterson's "Glazunov Variations," and Mary Barton's "Straight Up With A Twist." Barton created this dance for ARB in 2011. (In addition to being ARB's Resident Choreographer, she is also Martin's wife of 26 years.)
In choosing this program, Martin says that variety is key: "I want to show the company's range." Peterson's "Glazunov Variations," set to Alexander Glazunov's music from the ballet "Raymonda," is in the classical ballet style.
"It's the type of work that the dancers do everyday," Martin describes, whereas his and Barton's works are more contemporary.
Besides his desire for variety, Martin programmed these pieces to kick off his sixth season for practical reasons. "In ballet, the 'who' always comes first," Martin explains, "you have to have the right lead couples."
For "Ephemeral Possessions," the lead couple is Karen Leslie Moscato and Mattia Pallozzi. The dance's success, Martin says, "hinges on whether the dancers understand the movement and can bring a maturity to it."
Martin adds, "Karen Leslie was working on it with me when it was created and has a great understanding of what its about and Mattia Pallozzi, he has been with us over the last four years."
ARB's season premiere will also feature five new dancers with the company: Kiril Filipov, Mario Gonzalez, Michael Landez, Lily Saito and Mizuki Sato.
Martin is excited about this program and the new season. "You need the right chemistry in the company," he says. And one of the things he is most proud of is how the unique landscape of New Jersey gives the ARB its particular dynamic.
"The wonderful thing about New Jersey," he says, "is that we perform all over the state... We have "Nutcracker" for a full week at Christmas and a spring or fall season in New Brunswick, but rest of the time we're performing at other venues -- we're a true repertoire company."
The benefit to this, Martin says, is that both the dancers -- and the dances -- grow with each performance in different venues. "If you're a company with only one house to perform in, you can't repeat your ballets," he says, "but because of our season, the dancers are developing and the pieces develop -- it's not just a one-shot thing."
Because of this evolving nature of ARB, Martin is proud of how the dancers and the pieces commissioned for the company are connected to the New Jersey community. "
What's more, he adds, the three dances on display as part of the "Season Premiere" this weekend haven't been performed in a few years. "In choosing these works," Martin says, "it's been five years for 'Glazunov,' three-and-a-half for 'Ephemeral Possessions, and two years since 'Twist.' Bringing back ballets is the natural course of what we do. With these pieces, it was the right timing."
American Repertory Ballet's "Season Premiere" will be performed September 25 and 26 at 7:30pm at Rider University's Bart Luedeke Center in Lawrenceville, NJ. Tickets: $20.
James C. Taylor can be reached at jct80101@aol.com. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook.
