LUSTIG HIRED AT ARB.

British choreographer Graham Lustig became artistic director of the Princeton Ballet Society--which includes the American Repertory Ballet, a company of 23 dancers, and its official school, the Princeton Ballet School--on July 1. Lustig replaces Septime Webre, ARB's artistic director since 1993, who was named artistic director of the Washington Ballet last summer.

Lustig is noted for a scholarly, thoughtful approach to his art and his ability to clearly articulate his vision. To prepare for Medrano--a ballet inspired by an early Picasso painting, which he choreographed for the American Ballet Theatre Studio Company last season--he scanned Picasso's circus painting of the period into his computer to immerse himself in the images.

After early training at the Royal Ballet School, Lustig joined the Dutch National Ballet, where he became a principal dancer. In 1980 he joined the Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet (later renamed the Birmingham Royal Ballet), where he choreographed Inscape in 1990, for which he received a Laurence Olivier Award nomination. Since 1991 he has concentrated on his international career as choreographer and teacher.

American Repertory Ballet was known as the Princeton Ballet when it began in 1963 as an outgrowth of the Princeton Ballet School. In 1991 it changed to its current name. Lustig is its first non-American artistic director. "Graham represents to us the best, reflecting our desire to be a world-class organization," said Jane Factor, chair of the board of trustees of Princeton Ballet Society. "He emphasizes the importance of classical training, yet he wants ballet to be a living, growing art form."

ARB is the resident dance company of the New Brunswick Cultural Center, Princeton's McCarter Theatre, and Newark's New Jersey Performing Arts Center.