Princeton Ballet School Honors Graduating Seniors, Awards Scholarships

Princeton, NJ — Princeton Ballet School, the official school of American Repertory Ballet,

Honored its graduating seniors at it annual spring production, which was “Swan Lake” this year, the ballet announced Wednesday night.

It also presented scholarship awards during its annual presentation at Patriots Theatre at the War Memorial.

The Audrée Estey Award is named for Princeton Ballet School’s founder and is given to rising seniors of exceptional talent and dedication and who serve as a role models to others. This year’s recipients are Ryan Ricca, of Belle Meade, Zoya Pavlovsky, of Lawrenceville, and Zoe Countess, of Annandale.
The Ruth Pettit Award was established by Pettit’s family in her memory. Pettit was a Princeton Ballet School parent volunteer who worked in ARB’s wardrobe department. Her daughter, Dodie, went on to a career on Broadway. The 2016 recipients of the Ruth Pettit Awards are Annalee Brody, of Princeton, and Nicole Heiser, of Skillman.

The Philip Jerry Award was established by Princeton Ballet School to honor the memory of the former ballet master and faculty member. This year’s Philip Jerry Award recipients are Michael Karnaukh and Elio DiMauro, both of Princeton.
The Nora Orphanides Award goes to an outstanding young pre-professional. The 2016 recipient of this award is Lindsay Jorgensen, of Lawrenceville.

Jorgensen is an American Repertory Ballet Trainee who began her training with Princeton Ballet School several years ago.

As a trainee, she has performed with ARB in several ballets, including Rite of Spring, Firebird and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She will be spending her summer at Alvin Ailey Summer Intensive.
The Molly Clifton Award was established by Lisa and Lionel de Ravel to honor the memory of Clifton, a fellow dancer with de Ravel in American Repertory Ballet. It goes to a younger female dancer of great promise, and this year it went to Emily Potter, of Plainsboro.
The Edwards Scholarship was established by Sally Edwards and her husband Don to be given to a very young dancer who exhibits a great enthusiasm and joy in dance classes. This year, the Edwards Scholarship was awarded to Kahlia Fletcher, of Princeton.
The Maria Youskevitch Scholarship Fund was established in 2013 at the initiative of Ildiko Henni-Jones to honor Maria Youskevitch, the 2014 recipient of the Audrée Estey Award for Excellence in Dance Education. This year, Jordana Rosenberg, of Vineland, received this scholarship to continue her studies in the Trainee Program.
The Marlene Volpe Scholarship was established in 2016. Volpe is a long-time supporter of American Repertory Ballet and Princeton Ballet School and was a founding supporter of ARB's flagship residency program, Dance Power. It is presented to a promising student in need. This year’s recipient is Monika Cunningham, of New Brunswick.

American Repertory Ballet and Princeton Ballet School also salute their 2016 graduating seniors. Most of these seniors will be attending college at top universities next fall, including Bucknell University, Tufts University, Fordham University, The George Washington University, Lehigh University and Rutgers University.

This year, two students are graduating from ARB’s Dance Power Scholars program: Iraida Izaguirre and Sara Garcia.

These students began their dance training in their third grade physical education classes as part of ARB’s flagship Dance Power residency program and were awarded Dance Power scholarships to study at Princeton Ballet School free of charge through high school.

Izaguirre will be attending Rutgers University with the Gregory Hines Scholarship.

This endowment at Rutgers University, initiated by Gregory Hines, earmarks annual funds for a student graduating from ARB’s Dance Power Scholars program to attend the University.

Hines was the honorary national chair of Dance Power before his untimely death.

Garcia will be spending her summer training with Ballet Arizona and plans to continue her dancing next year.

The following are graduating seniors who participated in the American Repertory Ballet Workshop, Princeton Ballet School’s pre-professional performance group:

• Sara Garcia of North Brunswick;
• Hannah Klim of Lambertville;
• Connor Kraft of Princeton Junction;
• Emilia Kraft of Titusville;
• Imogen Lea of Cranbury;
• Faelen Paladino of Montgomery; and
• Ingrid Zimmermann of Hillsborough.

Other Princeton Ballet School graduating seniors are:

• Melody Asadpour of Robbinsville;.
• Marley Cohen of South Brunswick;
• Iraida Izaguirre of New Brunswick; and
• Alexis Peart of Hopewell.

For more information about American Repertory Ballet, visit arballet.org.