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.
ARB Position: Staff
Danielle MacMath
Dan Bauer
Dan Bauer has been working in marketing and public relations for over 20 years. His recent credits include Aladdin Ullah’s Dishwasher Dreams at Castillo Theatre, Yehuda Hyman’s The Mar Vista at The Pershing Square Signature Theatre, Mac Wellman’s A Chronicle of the Madness of Small Worlds, and The Jewish King Lear at Metropolitan Playhouse. For many years, Dan was director of public relations at McCarter Theatre Center and served as producer for Smart Talk Connected Conversations working with a long list of distinguished speakers including Julie Andrews, Debbie Reynolds, Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno and Phylicia Rashad. Dan is a Board member of the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion.
Phone: 732.249.1254 ext. 23
Email: [email protected]
Tony Lee
Tony Lee graduated from Johns Hopkins University, where he received the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts, the Arts Innovation Grant, and the inaugural Studio North Grant & Mentorship. While studying at Hopkins, Tony trained in dance at Towson University with Runqiao Du and Susan Mann. He continued his training with American Repertory Ballet first through the summer intensive and later as a trainee. Since then, Tony has gone on to dance with Olympic Ballet Theatre, Connecticut Ballet, and Uptown Dance Company and has performed original works choreographed by Kyle Davis, Connor Walsh, Karina Gonzalez, Chet Walker, and Andre Silva. In addition to his performance career, Tony has worked in ARB’s finance office since 2016.
Julie Diana Hench
Julie Diana Hench (Executive Director) has been a performing arts professional for nearly 30 years. Originally from New Jersey, Ms. Hench studied at the School of American Ballet where she was nominated for the Princess Grace Award. At age 16, she joined San Francisco Ballet as corps member. She became a principal dancer with San Francisco Ballet and Pennsylvania Ballet (now Philadelphia Ballet), performing and originating role in classical and contemporary repertoire. She appeared as a guest artist with New York City Ballet and several international touring groups, and participated in a dancer exchange with The Royal Ballet in London.
Ms. Hench was a private coach and guest teacher for renowned ballet schools across the country, and was appointed to the artistic leadership team at Pennsylvania Ballet. She received Isadora Duncan Awards for her dancing at San Francisco Ballet, and an Association Alumnae Award for her studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She served as Executive Director of Juneau Dance Theatre (JDT), a non-profit arts organization in Juneau, Alaska, where she facilitated collaborations with local artists and arts groups to enrich the dancers’ experience, grow audiences, and broaden the organization’s impact. At JDT, Ms. Hench helped the organization partner with the Kennedy Center’s “Any Given Child” initiative to expand arts education in Juneau public schools. She launched Juneau’s first-ever summer intensive ballet program and was honored to stage works for the George Balanchine Trust, enabling JDT to present Balanchine’s work onstage.
Ms. Hench has written for various publications such as Playbill, Dance, Dance Spirit, and Pointe, and was a Contributing Editor at Dance Teacher magazine where she wrote the monthly “Theory and Practice” column.
She earned a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, graduating summa cum laude, and served as President of the University of Pennsylvania’s Association of Alumnae. She also completed the Executive Program in Arts and Culture Strategy, a partnership between the University of Pennsylvania and National Arts Strategies. Ms. Hench has been the Executive Director of American Repertory Ballet and Princeton Ballet School since 2017.
Lindsay Cahill
Lindsay Cahill began her career at American Repertory Ballet in 2009 as a Dance Power Teaching Artist. Now in her new role as Access and Enrichment Coordinator she is excited to combine her love of the arts with her students, families and entire New Brunswick community. As a dance and gymnastics instructor for over 17 years, her passion of the arts shine through in her strong, patient and encouraging teaching style. Her past community partnership experience working in the City of New Brunswick’s Mayor’s Office and with New Brunswick City Market, her new role offers the ability to strengthen and improve the great City of New Brunswick she also calls home.
Email: [email protected] | Phone: 732.249.1254, ext. 19
Janessa Cornell Urwin
Janessa’s costume designs have been a creative part of over 45 classical ballets and contemporary dance pieces for American Repertory Ballet, Traverse City Dance Project, Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers, Nacre Dance Company, The Nutmeg Ballet, MODArts Dance Collective, Axelrod Contemporary Ballet Theater and the Dance Department at Rutgers University and Stockton University. She has collaborated with esteemed choreographers Ethan Stiefel, Amy Seiwert, Arthur Mitchell, Stephanie Martinez, Ja’ Malik, Claire Davidson, Da’Von Doane, Meredith Rainey, Caili Quan, Ryoko Tanaka, and Kirk Peterson, bringing their vision to the stage. Over her decade-long tenure with American Repertory Ballet, Janessa has designed several critically acclaimed full-length works including Stiefel’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Peterson’s Beauty and the Beast. Other design credits include: Athena Theatre, H (film short), The Lost Princess of Oz, and The Polar Express. Janessa began her career as a ballet dancer, studied Costume Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC, and has guest lectured at NYU/ABT and Mason Gross School of the Arts.
Photo by Thomas Robert Clarke
Carol Bellis
Carol Bellis received her training on scholarship at the School of American Ballet, official school of the New York City Ballet. She danced with the Garden State Ballet and has taught for Garden State Ballet School, Gloria Govrin’s New Hope Ballet Academy, the School of Performing Arts at Somerset Vo-Tech, and NJ Governor’s School. Ms Bellis has been a member of the Princeton Ballet faculty for over 30 years, and is the principal of the Cranbury studio and the Coordinator of Princeton Ballet School’s summer programs. She is a two time recipient of the Audrée Estey Award for Excellence in Dance Education. Ms. Bellis is also an Adjunct Professor of Ballet at Rider University.
Email: [email protected] | Phone: 609.921.7758, ext. 30