Julie Diana Hench – Princeton Ballet Society Executive Director

MARK FREDA: Julie, thanks for being with us today.

JULIE DIANA HENCH: Thank you so much for having me. It’s an honor to be here with you.

MARK FREDA: Oh, it’s our pleasure. So let me start with this question. I think there’s three organizations or groups within the overall umbrella there, but we have the American Repertory Ballet, the Princeton Ballet School, and the Access Enrichment program. Could you help me and our listeners understand how all these are related?

JULIE DIANA HENCH: Yes, thank you. So we are actually one organization, one non-profit organization founded in 1954 as the Princeton Ballet Society. And some people like to look at us as a three-legged stool: one leg being our educational institution, which is Princeton Ballet School; one leg being our professional company, which is American Repertory Ballet; and the other leg being our Access and Enrichment programs, where we are out in the community bringing dance to everyone.

MARK FREDA: Okay, thanks. That helps a lot. The history of each obviously is going to be interesting to hear as we go through this today, but let’s start with the Princeton Ballet School. When and how did that start?

JULIE DIANA HENCH: So, Princeton Ballet School was founded by Audrey Estey. Audrey and Bud Estey were living here in Princeton. Bud Estey was teaching at the Lawrenceville School, teaching English, and Audrey Estey, his wife, was teaching ballet around town. I think she even used Oppenheimer’s garage at one point to teach ballet classes.

And in 1954, they founded Princeton Ballet Society, with the purpose of bringing excellent dance education to the community. Fast forward many years later, around the early ’60s, 1963, Audrey decided to expand the organization to provide professional development opportunities for dancers. So she founded the Princeton Regional Ballet, which is the first professional company associated with our organization.

And over time, that was renamed to American Repertory Ballet, which really reflected more—we are a regional company, but we have the artistic quality that you’d find in a national or international organization. So it really reflected that leap, if you will, of artistic quality.

So, a long history serving generations of people here in the Princeton community. And I always love when I run into someone on the street and either they’ve taken class at Princeton Ballet School, or someone in their family has, or they know someone, a neighbor… we’ve really impacted so many generations and continue to do so here in Princeton.

MARK FREDA: Yeah, and I will mention, I know you and I have talked before, but I did tell you that my daughter was many years at the Princeton Ballet School. And I think it was a great thing for her, and she enjoyed that tremendously. But so what is the mission of the Princeton Ballet School?

JULIE DIANA HENCH: The mission of the whole organization is to nurture a lifelong love of dance, and to lift the collective spirit through excellent, relevant, and accessible artistic and educational programs, with a focus on classical ballet, of course.

We have expanded to include different types of dance, especially heading into next year’s curriculum. We have some hip-hop for young ones, some tap, some lyrical, contemporary dance for young ones and adults. So, we have expanded to include more styles, but really the focus is on classical ballet technique.

MARK FREDA: So, just thinking about what the mission of the Princeton Ballet School is, I would imagine—and I’m just making an assumption—but early on, was it just more towards classical ballet and then as you said, you’ve added different programs? Is that how it’s changed, or has it changed other ways?

JULIE DIANA HENCH: I think early on, Bud and Audrey Estey were also doing a lot of folk dancing as well. So I think it’s evolved over the years based on community need, right? Responding to what the community is interested in and what we can provide, and also in terms of leadership within the organization as well.

Right now, our artistic director is the fantastic Samantha Dunster. She is overseeing all artistic aspects of both the school and the company—it’s a very unified vision. And we have just a really star artistic leadership team with Ethan Stiefel, who is our artist in residence, and Gillian Murphy, our artistic associate. You really can’t get two bigger names in the ballet world than Ethan and Gillian. We’re tremendously grateful to have them on board, to be working with our professionals and our students at times. So it’s a tremendous team we have in place.

MARK FREDA: That’s very, very impressive. So, what is the size of the company for the American Repertory Ballet?

JULIE DIANA HENCH: We have currently about 22 dancers. And the roster is quite international, actually. You walk down the halls and you might hear some Portuguese, some Japanese, some Italian… it’s really a beautifully diverse mix of dancers and talents.

Of course, we have some local New Jersey dancers participating as well. But about half the company came through our trainee program, which is our highest level in the school. It’s a pre-professional program that bridges the gap between students and professionals. And so we’ve had some movement through the ranks, so to speak, and we’re very proud of that as well.

MARK FREDA: Oh, that’s great. Okay, so this isn’t a literal question, but I’m going to ask it. How could I audition for the company?

JULIE DIANA HENCH: Oh, we’ve been scouting you already! We actually would love—you have a standing invitation to join us on stage at McCarter. We’re there every year—people can find us there every year, Thanksgiving weekend, for our Nutcracker performances. We’ve been doing Nutcracker there since the early ’60s.

And we do invite you to join us for the Party Scene! Our professional wardrobe department can fit you out with a Mayor sash and a top hat, make you feel comfortable coming out on stage.

But in all seriousness, we do have an artistic team that receives video submissions from dancers who might be interested in joining the company. That would really be the first step: they would send their resume, their video, and then if they are invited to take class with the company, that would be the next step.

But to be professional, of course, takes many, many years of dedicated training and being in the right place at the right time, so to speak. It’s a very competitive industry, but I think the dancers in our company are really unique, individual artists. And so every commission, every piece that we do, really utilizes their strengths, and their personalities really shine through their art. And I think the audiences can relate to them so much more in that way. So, it’s a great group that we have.

MARK FREDA: Yeah, well, it sounds it. I know last time I was there, I stopped in and I saw a small part of a rehearsal, and I was just so impressed. It was amazing. But if I or anyone listening wanted to find out about any of the excellent performances held throughout the year, how do we do that? How do we find out?

JULIE DIANA HENCH: arballet.org—that’s a-r-b-a-l-l-e-t.org—is our website for the company, school, and Access and Enrichment programs. Also, following us on social media is one of the greatest ways to stay up to date.

Like I had mentioned earlier, you can always find us at McCarter, Thanksgiving weekend, for Nutcracker. And our collaboration with our good friends at Princeton Symphony Orchestra is becoming an annual event at the Princeton Festival. So we’ll be there June 7th for a performance—I believe it’s at 7:00 PM. Don’t quote me on that, 6:00 or 7:00 PM. I have to look that up.

MARK FREDA: I’ll make sure we’re there at 7:00, yeah.

JULIE DIANA HENCH: Thank you! But that is also becoming an annual Princeton performance for us.

But we, oftentimes, will be at McCarter doing one-off performances. We’ve been here in town—I think we’ve done about 50 community outreach events so far this season already, which is a lot. And that ranges from storytimes at the libraries, to a “Meet Me at the Barre” at one of the breweries. We’ve been to the farms, we’ve partnered with Palmer Square performing in one of the gallery spaces, we partnered with Hamilton Jewelers… so, really leaning into our community partnerships.

And you can find us around town. I think we actually did a flash mob of Wilis over the Halloween holiday. Wilis are spirits in the ballet world, in the second act of Giselle. We’re performing Giselle in October, and we had a flash mob of Wilis in their long romantic tutus and pointe shoes wandering around Palmer Square with their veils. So, we are out and about around town, and I just encourage everyone to keep an eye out for us and reach out if they’re interested in a community partnership. We’re very much a “yes” organization.

MARK FREDA: That’s—that’s very cool. So, what programs does the Repertory Ballet and the Ballet School offer that I might want to take advantage of?

JULIE DIANA HENCH: We have classes at Princeton Ballet School. I think most people are familiar with our youth classes, starting at about two and a half years old, all the way through high school. And as I mentioned earlier, our trainee program, which is post-high school for two years.

But we do have classes for adults, and no experience needed, no prior training needed. You can come in and take a beginner ballet class. We have contemporary, we do offer some body conditioning. There are opportunities to come in and take dance. We’re really for everyone who might be interested.

We also have Dance for Parkinson’s classes, which are free for people with Parkinson’s and their caregivers. And those are offered weekly here in Princeton, and we also offer them on Zoom if people feel more comfortable. I’m jumping ahead a little to our Access and Enrichment, but there are lots of ways to get involved, whether it’s buying a ticket to come see a performance, coming to take a class, volunteering for the organization in many ways… we are a non-profit, we rely on volunteer support, whether it’s helping in production or people with marketing expertise, or if you enjoy helping to put on special events and want to collaborate with community programs, there are all kinds of ways to get involved.

MARK FREDA: Yeah, so you touched on it, you started to get into it a little bit, but could you talk a little bit more about the Access and Enrichment program?

JULIE DIANA HENCH: I would love to. Our Access and Enrichment programs, as I had mentioned, Dance for Parkinson’s is one.

We also have a class called Audrey’s Class, which is a nod to our founder, Audrey Estey. And again, was built from community need. One of our students, Audrey, is now an adult with differing abilities and needing a class that was not as mainstreamed, so we do offer classes for children and adults with differing abilities. Those are just two examples.

But we have, as I had mentioned, many community outreach programs, different kinds of residencies. Our flagship—we’re very proud of this right now, it’s our 40th anniversary of Dance Power—which is the longest continuously running arts community partnership in the state. And we go into every elementary school in New Brunswick for 20 weeks every year and bring dance education to all third graders through their physical education classes, so it’s built into the curriculum in New Brunswick.

And at the end of the 20-week residency, they have a culminating performance, and then we offer 45 full-tuition scholarships for students to continue their dance education at Princeton Ballet School, tuition-free, from fourth grade through their senior year in high school. And that’s about $35,000 per student.

And then it doesn’t end there, because Rutgers has an endowed scholarship created by Gregory Hines, who was the national honorary chair of the program for many years. So if a student is then accepted to Rutgers, they’re eligible for this scholarship award.

And it’s really a remarkable, groundbreaking residency program that’s, again, been in partnership with the New Brunswick Board of Education for 40 years now. And we just celebrated this milestone. Governor Phil Murphy sent a letter of recognition for the program, and it’s just really been a wonderful moment in time to celebrate our commitment to arts education.

That is an example in New Brunswick, but we do have different kinds of residencies as well. We’re also in Trenton, we’re in Asbury Park, we’re in preschools… we actually did an assembly at the French American School last year where we brought one of our professional dancers, Clara Pavell, to speak to the students and talk about her path to professional dancing. So, what we offer really can take different shapes in different schools, and we really tailor it to fit the needs of the community. We’ve done residencies at the New Jersey Institute for Disabilities… so many, so many.

MARK FREDA: That’s an amazing list. That really is. Wow. So, again, jumping back to the fact that you have the three groups: the Repertory Ballet, the Ballet School, and the Access Enrichment program. And you mentioned this, but I just want to make sure—so all three are—all three are non-profits?

JULIE DIANA HENCH: Yes, we are all one non-profit organization.

MARK FREDA: Under the…

JULIE DIANA HENCH: Under the, yes, Princeton Ballet Society umbrella.

MARK FREDA: Okay, and so then you have one board of trustees that oversees all three?

JULIE DIANA HENCH: One very hardworking board of trustees. And one small but dynamic, very hardworking staff, yes. Our trustees—we have about 21 trustees currently, and really a wonderful, supportive, as I had mentioned, hardworking group of advocates on behalf of the organization, some who have been with us for 40 years or more.

Some who are new to the organization, not necessarily Princeton local, we have some geographic diversity there. But, you know, the main commitment is to our mission, right? It’s to dance and to making dance accessible.

Not everyone wants to be a professional dancer, right? Some people just love doing it recreationally, some people just love watching it, some people just love being around the art form. And that’s what we’re really trying to nurture every day, is just that lifelong love in whatever capacity it speaks to you.

MARK FREDA: So, kind of like if I wanted to be a dancer, but if I wanted to work for the Repertory Ballet or for the Ballet School, and you mentioned some of these, but, you know, what other types of positions are available, again, for people to either apply for a job or just to volunteer? And I’ll stress the volunteer thing, because volunteers are always great when it comes to non-profits.

JULIE DIANA HENCH: Absolutely, thank you. Well, we are a business too, right? So, meaning finance positions, administrative support, marketing, fundraising, of course, for our non-profit—yes, those are certainly all areas that are more generic to other for-profit businesses.

But what makes us unique as an arts organization is that we have jobs in production as well, so stage management, wardrobe… we hire professional artists. So, of course, the dancers that we talked about, but we have a world-renowned faculty of educators who are in the studios working with those little ones all the way through the professionals.

We have accompanists, professional musicians who play in all of our classes. And that’s something that sets us apart as well from other organizations, other dance schools in the area, is that commitment to live music. And not many other schools can offer that. And so, in addition to our state-of-the-art studios that we have, the live music in each classroom has been part of our model and will continue to be as we’re committed.

MARK FREDA: I had forgotten about the live music, but once you mentioned it, then I remember! Because obviously when your child is going to the Princeton Ballet School, you go there quite a bit and you can watch through the little windows and everything. But I had forgotten that there was a real person at a real piano playing real music.

JULIE DIANA HENCH: Absolutely, absolutely. And it’s something that is really—it enriches the child’s development, right? We can talk too about the importance of dance education and all the benefits that it provides, if you’ll allow me a second just to expand on that.

We understand everyone has so many choices now, right? I mean, so many ways to spend your time, so many ways to spend your resources. But really investing in a dance education in whatever capacity is so invaluable for you or for your child.

It’s not only reaping the physical benefits, right? You’re off-screen—let’s just start there, you’re off-screen! You’re in a dance studio, you’re being physical. It’s the physical discipline, it’s learning balance, coordination, strength.

It’s community: you’re building lifelong friends, you’re creating this art together in a space with a musician, with a professional instructor. You’re learning all of those transferable skills that will help you succeed in all parts of life through your academic rigors as well. You’re learning time management, problem-solving, spatial awareness, you’re learning how to accept constructive criticism… all of these things are so critically important to our development as humans, right? So, the importance of a dance education specifically, I think, can’t be understated.

MARK FREDA: I think that’s very well said. Very well said, thank you.

So if I wanted to support any or all three of the groups, how do I do that?

JULIE DIANA HENCH: That’s a great question too. Certainly, as a non-profit, financial contributions are tremendously appreciated. Charitable giving, making a gift through our website, arballet.org/donate, is one way. But you can also call us, you can send an email to support@arballet.org. That is just one way.

But buying tickets, really just supporting the organization, coming to take class, volunteering, telling your friends about us, telling your network, bringing a group of people to come see a performance… sharing with your neighbors and family and friends that we here in Princeton have this tremendous resource, this organization that’s right here and have been for over 70 years.

And because of our committed board of trustees that we had talked about earlier and so many supporters here in the community, the state, we’ll hopefully be here for another 70-plus years.

MARK FREDA: So, one detail we didn’t touch upon yet: where are you located?

JULIE DIANA HENCH: Yes! So, we are above McCaffrey’s at the Princeton Shopping Center on the second floor. And we’ve been there, would you believe, now for 30 years.

MARK FREDA: Oh my!

JULIE DIANA HENCH: Yes! Before that, we were on Alexander Road for about 30 years. And as I had mentioned, before that, we were in Oppenheimer’s garage, so we’ve had some transitions.

But Ralph Lerner was the original architect who helped design our space—his child was in our school at the time. And, yeah, we’ve been there for quite a while. We have four beautiful studios, and with all sprung floors, pianos in each studio. It’s really convenient for a lot of families, and also right here in town.

I do want to mention, and I had talked about our Dance Power program, but in the, say, in the mid-to-late ’80s, around 1986, we did expand up into the New Brunswick area. So part of that was through our Dance Power program going into the public schools, but we are also now a resident company of the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, which was just built in 2019 before the pandemic.

So we do performance series up at the NBPAC. We have designated studio space up there as well, to, again, really beautiful state-of-the-art studios right there on Bayard Street. So, we have a lot of options for families and adults who might, you know, be getting off work and want to try some classes at either of these locations.

MARK FREDA: Well, that makes it convenient. Um, let me just ask you, you had said about somebody that can make the leap from a student to a professional dancer, and that’s like a two-year program. So I’m just trying to think, that’s got to be a lot of time. That’s got to be like almost every day, I would imagine.

JULIE DIANA HENCH: It is every day, yes. These dancers are incredibly committed. Most of them are between the ages of 18 and 22, they come from all over the country.

That part of our program is by audition only. Every other part of our program is—no one needs to audition, you have no experience required, you can come and take as many classes as you want and go the pre-professional route or just stay recreational.

But our trainee program is very rigorous, and these dancers are in the studio from about 9:30 AM to about 4:00 PM. And when they’re not rehearsing their own repertoire, they’re also rehearsing with the company for productions such as The Nutcracker or Cinderella or some other performance opportunities that they can have throughout the year.

So it’s—these dancers are incredibly committed, and it is a joy to help nurture them through this process and see where it takes them afterwards, whether they get professional jobs, whether they choose to go to college and pursue dance in higher education, or if they want to go into teaching or choreography. There are so many different avenues that they can pursue, but this really provides them with another step of that foundational training and what it’s like to be a professional dancer, because they’re working often alongside the company as well.

MARK FREDA: Right, yeah. All right, so we know we’re going to put a plug in again for The Nutcracker at McCarter.

JULIE DIANA HENCH: Yes, because you’ll be on stage with us!

MARK FREDA: I’ll be on stage! You heard it here!

JULIE DIANA HENCH: You got it! You got it. We even have a couch for you if you’d rather sit.

MARK FREDA: Okay, good, because dance and Mark Freda are allergic to each other. But what else is coming up that we should be thinking about trying to see or…

JULIE DIANA HENCH: Yes, of course, thank you for asking. Well, of course, the Princeton Festival I’d like to plug. The whole festival is phenomenal, but we’ll be performing June 7th specifically. And in the afternoon that day, we’re part of their community day.

I know that the Symphony has a lot of ways to engage with musicians. We’ll also be having a dancer there with a Swan Lake-themed engagement opportunity to get the little ones active and up with doing swan arms and learning about Tchaikovsky and the music.

So, that is actually closing our season, and we are about to announce next year’s season coming up, which I can’t share those details as of yet. But I will certainly forward you an early version of the press release when we’re able to.

But we always, we typically have performances in the fall, as I had mentioned, Nutcracker is always there, and then throughout the spring. And the students have performance opportunities, again, something that sets our school apart from others, is that they can participate in these performances. Oftentimes, these are professional venues that we’re bringing them to, so the young ones are able to be on stage at McCarter, or they’re working with professional musicians, or they’re learning choreography that is created on them like professionals would have.

And we also have summer camps coming up too. So if people want to find us not in performance, children’s camps that are themed differently if parents are looking for something, an introduction to the school even for their students, and we also have a pre-professional training program over the summer where dancers come from across the country and train for five weeks intensively. And, of course, we have our Dance for Parkinson’s and our adult classes that are going all the time as well.

MARK FREDA: There’s a lot going on.

JULIE DIANA HENCH: It’s busy! It’s busy at our studios. I think from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM, it’s pretty much non-stop.

MARK FREDA: Well, Julie, thank you ever so much. This has been great, I really appreciate it.

JULIE DIANA HENCH: I’m so grateful for the opportunity to sit with you and to talk about this wonderful organization, so thank you so much.

MARK FREDA: Thank you.