Rider receives prestigious Excellence in Dance Education Award from American Repertory Ballet

On Saturday, March 21, Rider University was profoundly honored to receive the 2015 Audree Estey Award for Excellence in Dance Education from the American Repertory Ballet (ARB). The award was presented at the ARB’s annual Gala performance and reception, The Dream, held in downtown New Brunswick, N.J. 

Rider’s partnership with the Princeton Ballet School, ARB’s official school, dates back more than two decades when Princeton Ballet School director Mary Pat Robertson and then chair of Rider’s Fine Arts Department Dr. Patrick Chmel negotiated a collaboration agreement. The collaboration has since thrived under the leadership of Dr. Kim Chandler Vaccaro, associate professor of Dance/director of the Rider University Dance program. 

Robertson said, “Princeton Ballet School’s partnership with Rider University has proved incredibly fruitful. The collaboration has come to include a fall residency with American Repertory Ballet, an annual Choreographic Competition, and hundreds of happy alums who have taken class at Princeton Ballet School as part of the dance studies at Rider. It has allowed both organizations to extend the reach and scope of their programs, and of our mutual appreciation of the place that the arts have in education.” 

DonnaJean Fredeen, vice president of Academic Affairs and Provost of Rider University, accepted the award on behalf of Rider’s Westminster College of the Arts. She said, “At Rider, we are proud of our mission of being a student-centered institution. This unique relationship between us and the ARB speaks to the very heart of that mission. From the early days of its conception to the successful program it has become today, our relationship is truly all about the students.”

She added, “Whether students are completing their academic requirements on our campus, taking rigorous ballet courses at the Princeton Ballet School, immersing themselves in the professional world of American Repertory Ballet, or finding an internship in the field of dance or arts administration, our students receive the best of both worlds. As Rider looks to the future with confidence, we are thankful for this prestigious award, and for the positive relationship we continue to share with the ARB and Princeton Ballet.”