ARB Position: Staff

Hailing from West Windsor, NJ, Devon Nicole Austin graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts with a BFA in Stage Management and Costume Design. She has worked with companies such as José Limón Dance Company (NYC), Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDs (NYC), The Public Theater (NYC), Ars Nova (NYC), Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (NYC), New York Stage and Film (NY), 59E59 Theaters (NYC), Walt Disney World (FL), Crossroads Theatre Company (NJ), and Princeton Symphony Orchestra (NJ).

Rylee Berger is a recent graduate of Rider University where she earned a B.A. in Theatre Design and Production and Arts and Entertainment Industries Management. Rylee has previously worked with the American Repertory Ballet as a production management intern, stage manager, and technical director, and is thrilled to step into this role. Additionally, Rylee has worked with Berkshire Theatre Group, McCarter Theater, Passage Theatre Company, and the Hangar Theater. 

Grant Jacoby joined American Repertory Ballet | Princeton Ballet School in 2024. He previously held Marketing roles at Morven Museum & Garden, DANCE NOW, Ballet Tech, and the Sarah Lawrence College Dance Program. He was a company member of Quicksilver Dance and Lorraine Chapman The Company, and has performed in works by Merce Cunningham, Trisha Brown, David Parker & The Bang Group, Mark Dendy, and Annie Kloppenberg, among others. He has presented his choreography nationally and abroad in venues such as La MaMa ETC, Triskelion Arts, Green Space, Movement Research, The Dance Complex, Green Street Studios, AS220, Les Champs Melisey, and The International Festival of Arts & Ideas. He has been on faculty at Boston Ballet, The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, and The National Theater Institute. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Dance and Theater from Connecticut College and his Master of Fine Arts in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College.

Cheryl Whitney (Ballet, PBW Ballet Master and Coordinator) received an M.S. in Ballet from Indiana University and a B.A. in English Literature and Music from St. Lawrence University.  She was trained and performed professionally in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area. For more than 30 years, she has been involved with Princeton Ballet School and American Repertory Ballet, serving as a faculty member, rehearsal director for both the ARB productions of The Nutcracker and the Princeton Ballet School shows, and Coordinator for Princeton Ballet Workshop. Ms. Whitney is the 2008 recipient of the Audrée Estey Award for Excellence in Dance Education. She is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the dance programs at Rider University. 

Guest teaching credits include Brandywine Ballet, Peabody Conservatory and NJ Governor’s School. Her teaching in academic settings includes Princeton University, Howard University, Indiana University, The Lawrenceville School, Foxcroft School and Latin School of Chicago. and has received grants from the New York and New Jersey State Councils on the Arts. She is Artistic Director of Reverence Dance Company.

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.

Pasqualina DeBoer specializes in experiential and digital marketing and community development for the arts and entertainment field. Previous to joining American Repertory Ballet, Pasqualina was the Director of Marketing for the legendary Asbury Park Boardwalk, including world-renowned concert and entertainment venues (The Stone Pony, Convention Hall, Paramount Theatre), retail, restaurants, and the arts, hosting over 3.5 million guests per year. Pasqualina also assisted in launching internationally known arts and music initiatives. She is a founding and current board member of The Wooden Walls Project public arts initiative. Pasqualina has worked extensively as a government and business community liaison. Her digital initiatives have earned several high-profile awards, including an Addy and Webby.

Rachel Abrams joined ARB’s staff in 2019. She earned her Master’s degree in Dance Education from New York University in 2013, following her magna cum laude graduation from Barnard College in 2008 as a dance major. She joined ARB from Nimbus Dance in Jersey City, where she served as Grant Writer and Assistant Director of Development. She also worked as an administrator for the Dance to Learn residency program at Dance New Jersey/Young Audiences Arts for Learning. Rachel previously worked at the New Jersey State Council on the Arts as the Interim AIE Coordinator, as the Director of Education at Lustig Dance Theatre in New Brunswick, as a research assistant to dance historian Jennifer Homans, and as an intern in the Education Department at New York City Ballet. She began training in ballet at the age of 5 and also explored modern, tap, musical theater, and gymnastics. Rachel is dedicated to sharing with others her passion for dance and the impact of the performing arts through advocacy and writing.