LIVE AUDITION INFORMATION

The audition will consist of 3 40-minute sections: Ballet, Contemporary, Hip Hop.

• No pre-prepared solos or videos are required.
• Please bring a headshot or school photo (any size) with your name clearly printed on the reverse. Headshots will not be returned.

Audition Attire:

• Formfitting clothing to allow observation of technique which may include but not limited to: unitard, footless or convertible tights, fitted leggings, tight-fitting top, or leotard
• No skirts, no loose-fitting tee shirts, no leg warmers, and no costumes.
• Hair pulled up, no jewelry
• Ballet slippers for Ballet; bare feet for Contemporary; sneakers for Hip Hop

Live Auditions Dates: 

• March 26, 2022
• April 9, 2022

Register for In-Person Audition

VIDEO AUDITION INFORMATION

Clothing Requirement:

• The dancer must be in formfitting clothing to allow observation of technique which may include but not limited to: unitard, footless or convertible tights, fitted leggings, tight-fitting top, or leotard that clearly enables the viewer to observe the dancer’s technique. No skirts, no loose-fitting tee-shirts, no leg warmers, and no costumes.

Video Requirements:

Your video must be less than 15 minutes in length. The entire dancer should be visible throughout the video (no close-ups) and must include a maximum of 5 minutes in each movement practice following the requirements listed below for each. If a dancer does not have experience in one movement practice, the student may opt out and provide 2 videos in one of the other movement practices (ex. Does not have experience in Ballet, so provides 1 5-minute video in Contemporary and 2 5-minute videos in Hip Hop). All movement demonstrations must be accompanied by music.

• Begin your video by stating your name, age, and date of birth.
• Ballet – Center
  • Adagio to include a pirouette exercise – 4 sets of 8 counts performed on each side
  • Petit Allegro – 2 sets of 8 counts performed on each side
• Contemporary – Improvisation
  • 90 second improvisation exploring the qualities of smooth and sharp
  • 90 second improvisation exploring the concepts of enclosing and expanding
  • 90 second improvisation exploration prompt: How does dance make you feel?
• Hip Hop – Movement Combination
  • Movement combination must not exceed 5 minutes and may be original or from standard repertory. It should demonstrate the dancer’s expressive qualities and flow in the form of Hip Hop.

Video Submission Requirements:

• Save your video as an MP4 file with the title following this template:
  LASTNAME_FIRSTNAME _RSDC22
• Upload your video here.
• If you have trouble uploading your video to the link above, you may also upload your video to a personal YouTube channel and email the video URL to communityarts@mgsa.rutgers.edu.

Register for Video Audition

Cristina Marte – Director

Cristina Marte is an educator, artist, administrator, and advocate for dance and dance education. As a dance educator, Cristina taught at the Ocean County Vocational Technical Schools Performing Arts Academy where she took part in developing the dance curriculum and building the rigorous four-year dance program. She also developed and taught a full time dance program in Jersey City Public Schools for Kindergarten through 8th grade. She was a member of the State Model Curriculum Writing Team for Dance and a member of the Visual and Performing Arts Standards Revision Team for New Jersey. Cristina has been on faculty at Montclair State University Department of Theatre and Dance and Raritan Valley Community College. She also taught multiple dance residencies in New Jersey public schools throughout the state. Cristina’s most recent artist endeavors are choreographing for the productions of the Princeton Festival. She holds a teaching certificate in the state of New Jersey and is a member of the National Dance Education Organization. Starting her journey as a board member in 2005, Cristina was the Managing Director of Dance New Jersey from 2015 through 2019. She became the Executive Director in mid-2019. She received her B.F.A. in Dance from Montclair State University and her M.A. in Dance Education from New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. Cristina is honored to be part of the faculty of Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and grateful for the opportunity to share her experience in the field of dance education with the future dance educators in the EdM Dance Education Program.

• Check-in 8:30am-9:00am
• Master Class #1 9:00am-10:30am
• Master Class #2 10:40am-12:10pm
• Lunch 12:10pm-1:00pm
• Master Class #3 1:00pm-2:30pm
• Master Class #4 2:40pm-4:10pm
• Conservatory Community Building 4:10pm-4:30pm
• Check-out 4:30pm

Registration deadline: June 15, 2022
Health forms deadline: June 15, 2022
Payment deadline: July 3, 2022
Students who have not submitted required health forms to the registration website by the health form deadline will not be allowed to participate in summer programs.

• All registration must be completed online, via the registration link above. No in-person or phone registrations are accepted for summer programs.
• A minimum deposit is required at the time of registration. You may elect to pay your entire balance at the time of registration or to establish a credit-card-based payment plan.
• Please read our summer policies. Your completion of registration indicates your acknowledgment and agreement to abide by these policies.

Erika Mero – Ballet

Erika Mero began her dance training at Princeton Ballet School. As a dancer in the Professional Training Program, she studied with Elisabeth Carroll, Septime Webre, Maria Youskevitch, Mary Pat Robertson and Douglas Martin. Mero was a member of Princeton Ballet II, a pre-professional company of the school, where she performed works by Sherry Alban and other members of the Princeton Ballet School staff. Later, as a dancer in American Repertory Ballet Workshop, she appeared in the premiere of Graham Lustig’s Standstill and as the ballerina role of Swanhilda in Coppélia. She concurrently attended The Juilliard School’s summer program for two years.

In 2006, Mero graduated cum laude with a BFA in Dance Performance from SUNY Purchase. While in attendance at SUNY, she began teaching at American Repertory Ballet’s Princeton Ballet School. Mero is also an instructor with American Repertory Ballet’s DANCE POWER in New Brunswick and was named the program’s Curriculum and Assessment Supervisor. Her performance work includes two seasons with Stuart Loungway’s Terra Firma Dance Theatre, several opera productions with Opera New Jersey and as a featured dancer/choreographer in Capriccio at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.

In May 2010, Mero graduated with an MA in Dance Education with a concentration in ABT Ballet Pedagogy from New York University. She is an ABT-certified teacher who has successfully completed the ABT Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 7 and Partnering of the ABT© National Training Curriculum. Mero was on the faculty for ABT’s Young Dancer Summer Workshop in New York.

In March 2019, Mero was the recipient of the Audrée Estey Award for Excellence in Dance Education. She is an adjunct instructor at The Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, NJ, as well as at Mason Gross and continues to teach at Princeton Ballet School.

Peggy Petteway – Ballet

Peggy Petteway danced principal roles in a wide range of classical and contemporary ballets with Bay Ballet Theatre, Southern Ballet Theatre, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Chautauqua Dance Company, and Pennsylvania Ballet. She joined American Repertory Ballet (ARB) under the artistic direction of Graham Lustig in 1999. From 2010 until her retirement in 2014, she danced for Lustig Dance Theatre, one of 10 professionals. Petteway has taught at Southern Ballet Theatre, Pennsylvania Ballet’s The Rock School, ARB’s Princeton Ballet School, and Lustig Dance Theatre. She served as school principal for Lustig Dance Theatre, and has been hosted by universities and ballet academies throughout the United States. She has served as visiting ballet mistress and repetiteur, trusted by choreographers to instill their vision and stage their work on professional dancers and students.

Kiana Rosa-Fischer – Contemporary & Pilates

Kiana Rosa-Fischer graduated from Mason Gross School of the Arts in 2016 with a BFA in dance. She has danced for Rock Dance Collective and Ocampowang Dance, performing at venues such as Joe’s Pub, SteelStacks, Rutgers Universty, NY City Center, and BAM Fisher, as well as internationally at the Taipei Experimental Theater in Taiwan. Her choreography has been shown at Dixon Place and is selected to be shown at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center for Jersey New Moves. In 2015, Rosa-Fischer became a Nationally Certified Pilates Teacher and graduated from Polestar’s comprehensive Pilates teacher-training program. She enjoys freelancing as a dancer, choreographer, teacher, and writer.

Laura de la Garza Noble – Hip Hop & Bachata

Born and raised in Mexico City, Mexico. Laura de la Garza Noble has studied dance for over 22 years. Currently, Laura de la Garza Noble is the Dance Educator for Bogota High School and Bogota Middle School as well as the coach for the Dance Team and the artistic director for the dance company in said district. Additionally, Laura is an educator for Ballet Hispanico as well as a teaching artist and performer for NJ based dance company, OCA Dance.  In the past two years, Ms. de la Garza has also collaborated with Dance New Jersey, Arts Ed NJ, the Dalton School in NYC and the NYC Department of Education in specific dance education projects.

Laura had the pleasure of working with artists such as Chien-Ying Wang, Paul Ocampo, Randy James, Ani Javian, Jesse Young, Robert Burke, Marielis Garcia, Kiri Avelar, Keith Thompson, Heather Favretto, and John Evans; under whom she trained in Repertory, Graham, Limon, Release Technique, Afro Fusion, Flamenco, Bachata, Cumbia, Samba, Capoeira, Kathak, in addition to a variety of other dance styles. Additionally, Laura was a performer for the Rutgers Opera’s production of Del Monde, and performed the choreography of Lar Lubovitch during a Rutgers in New York performance at the Joyce Theater.

In addition to her studies in the United States, Laura has studied Dance in London, Cuba, and Mexico. Before moving to the United States, Laura was a performer for artist Emilio Catalan, MB Producciones, MoveOn Dance Agency, choreographer Maribel Ochoa, and radio station EXA in her hometown of Mexico City.

• Registration Deadline: 1 week prior to the start of each program.
• Tuition must be paid in full 1 week prior to the start of the program.
• Please read our Policies & Procedures Document for additional information on payment, cancellation, participant conduct, and media waivers. Your completion of registration indicates your acknowledgment and agreement to abide by these policies.
• Covid Precautions:  
  • Students enrolled in summer weekly Dance classes must adhere to all RCA and Rutgers University COVID-19 safety protocols, which are subject to change at any time during the semester. Failure to adhere to safety protocols may result in cancellation of registration, at the discretion of the RCA Director.
  • All students, parents, guests, and staff must wear a face mask over their nose and mouth while on campus and in the classroom.
  • All students, parents, guests, and staff must maintain at least 6 feet of social distancing.
  • Parents and guests are asked to avoid common areas and hallways of the Rutgers facilities while students are in classes & lessons. Parents and guests will not be permitted in classrooms.
  • Students who are exhibiting signs of sickness or fever are asked to not attend.
  • At this time, guests to the RCA office are seen by appointment only. To make an appointment you must contact our office at least 24 hours in advance to be added to the university visitor log.
  • For additional information, please refer to these documents provided by Rutgers University:
    • Guide to Returning to Rutgers
    • Navigating our Classrooms and Student Spaces