LEAPING INTO A NEW SEASON: American Repertory Ballet dancer Mattia Pallozzi is among those to be introduced to the public at the company’s first “On Pointe” event of the fall at Rider University on September 23. The series is designed to familiarize the community with the company, it’s dancers, and repertory. (Photo by Richard Termine)

When Douglas Martin took over as artistic director of the American Repertory Ballet five years ago, he knew he wanted to forge relationships inside and outside the studio. Having a continuing dialogue with the public was as important as training his dancers. So Mr. Martin, who was a principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet and later with ARB before becoming its director, began to focus on a monthly series called “On Pointe.”

Free to the public, these lecture demonstrations are designed to build audiences and strengthen the 15-member dance company’s ties to the local area. “The arts are a community affair,” Mr. Martin said this week. “The arts belong to the community they live in and they represent that community in a lot of ways. I wanted to give people more direct access to the dancers, and to me.”

The first of this season’s monthly events is on Wednesday, September 23 at Rider University’s Bart Luedeke Center, starting at 5:15 p.m. Other “On Pointe” events usually take place at the company’s studios in Princeton Shopping Center (ARB’s other location is in New Brunswick). “Meet the Company” introduces the dancers and provides a preview of the upcoming repertory this season. It is recommended for those aged five and up.

“We rotate the programs,” Mr. Martin said. “We start each year with this introductory session, and then in the second one we might get the choreographers in to talk about the work they’re doing. Then we go from there.”

What started off as an annual pre-Nutcracker lecture morphed into something more complex a few years ago when Mr. Martin got Simon Morrison, a noted music scholar and professor at Princeton University, to come and talk about Tchaikovsky’s score. “That started what has become a landmark music series that has done very well,” Mr. Martin said. “Simon Morrison is this famous authority, the president of the Prokofiev Foundation, and he is right here in Princeton. Later, when we did Romeo and Juliet, he came and talked about Prokofiev’s score. To have him come here is a gift.”

In January, Michael Pratt, who teaches at the University and conducts the Princeton University Orchestra, will discuss Beethoven at an “On Pointe” event, in preparation for ARB’s production of a work to the composer’s Symphony Number 7 in the spring. Other sessions focus on history and process. “We really give people access to how a ballet is put together, and we make it interesting not only for our own student body, but for others as well,” Mr. Martin said. “My point is to try to get people from the community in, and get them interested and involved.”

Future topics this season include Storytelling Through Dance, Understanding a Dancer’s Body, and Dancing Into College. “On Pointe” has gotten a positive reception and has grown in popularity over the years. “We’ve had a really great reception,” Mr. Martin said. “The music and ballet lectures on topics like Romeo and Juliet have attracted over 100 people, which is a full house for us. With the ‘Storytelling’ talk you have to try a bit harder, but honestly, we average between 60 and 100 people per lecture.”

The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation has asked ARB to stream some of the “On Pointe” talks to their site, according to Mr. Martin. “It hasn’t happened yet, but just the fact that they want it is an excellent endorsement,” he said.