Fans of the ballet will be able to see one of New Jersey’s best-known dance companies this weekend.

The American Repertory Ballet has been rehearsing in anticipation of the reopening. Each step in the rehearsal brings the company closer to seeing its audience once again.

“Theirs is this sense of coming back to life or emerging. Re-emerging,” says artistic director Ethan Stiefel.

The performance is aptly titled “Emergence” and is a collection of ballets performed as one program. It will reunite dancers and an in-person audience inside the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center this weekend.

The performance also marks the company’s first since Stiefel took the helm as artistic director. He first gained fame starring in the film “Center Stage” as the motorcycle-riding rebellious dancer. He has had a long career performing in the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre.

Dancers will be performing Stiefel’s ballet “Wood Work” this weekend in the performance.

Of the four works being performed, three were created during the pandemic. Some of the choreography was even put together over Zoom.

“They all have their own special and unique points of view and characteristics,” Stiefel says. “But also, that it has this kind of flavor of looking to move things forward.”

Performances are Saturday and Sunday at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. The ballet is based in New Brunswick and one of the PAC's member companies.