Eileen Nelson joined ARB’s staff as the Development Associate in August of 2021. Prior to joining American Repertory Ballet, Eileen was the Development Associate at NORWESCAP and the Development Operations Associate at Princeton Theological Seminary focusing on gift processing, prospect research, and donor database management. Her work involved streamlining processes, increasing efficiency and accuracy, and generating requested information. After having worked in higher education and nonprofit organizations, Eileen is looking forward to the opportunity to continue to work in development at ARB.
Archives: People
Makenzi Kalsch
Makenzi Kalsch is a graduate of Rider University’s Westminster College of the Arts where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Technical Theatre. While at Rider she received the Maurice Hageman II Memorial Fine Arts Award as well as the Certificate of Merit from the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival for Excellence in a Stage Management team for Bright Star. She joined the American Repertory Ballet as an Assistant Stage Manager in November 2018, and was the Administrative and Production Assistant for the American Repertory Ballet and Princeton Ballet School from September of 2020 to March 2022. Makenzi was named Interim Production Manager for ARB March of 2022. For American Repertory Ballet: Nutcracker, American Made, Coppelia, Mask-erade Gala, Beauty and the Beast, New Heights, Giselle, Digital Spring Season, Emergence and A Midsummer Night’s Dream as well as Princeton Ballet School’s productions of Don Quixote, Nutcracker Suite, Swan Lake and Summer Dance. Other credits include: Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey Tartuffe and La Musica Lirica Rigoletto.
Photo by Emily Keleher Photography
Amanda Donato
Amanda Donato began her career at American Repertory Ballet in 2018 as a Dance Power teaching artist. The following fall she took on an additional position as the assistant children’s stage manager for the company’s annual Nutcracker. During her years of extensive dance, gymnastics and baton twirling training she found a love for all things behind the scenes involving studio management and spent most of her off dance hours learning how to run a successful school. That love will serve her well as she now takes on her role at American Repertory Ballet/Princeton Ballet School as Administrative Assistant and Children’s Coordinator. She is excited for this new chapter in her career while still being able to bring her 25 years of teaching experience into her classes during Dance Power.
Anna McDowell
Born in Juneau Alaska, Anna McDowell received her ballet training at Juneau Dance Theatre under the direction of Julie Diana and Zachary Hench. As a student she danced the roles of Dew Drop Fairy and Snow Queen in The Nutcracker, Myrtha in Giselle, and attended summer programs at Carolina Ballet, Walnut Hill School for the Arts, Atlanta Ballet, Indiana University and Cincinnati Ballet. She joined ARB/PBS as a trainee in 2018 and danced the roles of Snow, Flowers and Spanish corps in Nutcracker with ARB and danced in PBS’s production of Don Quixote in Seguidillas and Dryad corps. She started teaching for Princeton Ballet School in 2020. Anna has choreographed works for Harvard Ballet Company, Princeton Ballet School students and trainees, and has created several pieces for Juneau Dance Theatre including a work titled Blurred Visions created in collaboration with composer and conductor, William Todd Hunt.
Jaclyn Vela
Leighton Chen
Egan Jimenez
Egan is a Visual Design Specialist at Princeton University where he works on different design projects involving photography, graphic design, and video production.
Eduardo Patino
Eduardo Patino is a professional photographer in New York City, serving an international clientele spanning the worlds of the Performing Arts to the Corporate arena.
With a unique background as a high school and college football quarterback, turned theater director and professional dancer, Eduardo brings to his work a passion for Art and an extraordinary understanding of the human figure.
His understanding of the athleticism and artistic sensibilities come from his former career as a dancer. A career-ending injury redirected him to his earliest “mother driven” pursuit – Photography.
Eduardo’s clients depend on him for forward-thinking, style-driven advertising, promotion and publicity shots, posters and magazine covers.
His photography communicates a strong sense of timing, movement, shape and line. His knowledge for how the body moves allows him to capture the exact peak of a movement or a moment, whether in full body or dynamic portrait.
Both in the studio and on location Eduardo’s superbly efficient technical skills and control of light, combined with his easygoing, direct nature, makes the subject of his lens, comfortable and trusting. Qualities that provided exceptional results, for a vast Clientele.
Specialties: Conception, Exploration, Production, Casting, Efficient Execution and Creation; to name a few, relating to the business of Photography.
Rosalie O’Connor
Rosalie O’Connor was born in Vienna, Austria and raised in New Orleans. She moved to New York City at the age of 15, to attend The School of American Ballet. At 17, she became a professional dancer with American Ballet Theatre, where she remained for fifteen years until her retirement in 2002. Rosalie began photographing the company from within. For her last six years she juggled both passions and taught herself on the job. In addition to most dance periodicals, her photographs have also appeared in Vogue, Vanity Fair and The New York Times. Rosalie’s images have been displayed in solo exhibitions at Lincoln Center in New York and The John F. Kennedy Center for The Performing Arts, in Washington, DC. She resides in New York City yet she travels extensively for assignments as a freelance photographer.
Harald Schrader
Harald Schrader, a formally trained photographer and long-time Princeton resident, studied in Berlin and Hannover in Germany. He began his career photographing still life and architecture. He honed his craft in portrait photography, acting as first assistant to Mary Ellen Mark in New York City and Dieter Eikelpoth in Düsseldorf and London. He has been especially fascinated by the challenge of depicting the human form in movement, resulting in his passion for photographing the performing arts, dance in particular. Harald also thrives on discovering new cultures and languages. He has collaborated with performing and visual artists in Italy, Germany, the U.S.A. and Canada.