Alumni Success Stories

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Ballet Electrified By Susan Yung

Published in the October/November 2010 issue.

Two dancers rehearse under the skylight in Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet’s lofty studios as Alexander Ekman looks on. The Swedish choreographer is creating a duet. As he watches, Harumi Terayama, a Juilliard graduate, and Nickemil Concepcion, who previously danced with Ballet Tech, embellish a phrase or two with each pass at the choreography, moving with the pliancy, muscularity and daring that typifies Cedar Lake. It’s dancers like these who have lured some of today’s most sought-after choreographers to work with the company.

When Cedar Lake launched in 2003, few could have predicted how quickly its influence would be felt. Founded by Nancy Walton Laurie—niece of Sam Walton of Walmart fame—some initially saw Cedar Lake as a vanity project. Laurie had been a patron of dance in her hometown of St. Louis, but her newness to New York’s dance scene, combined with Cedar Lake’s sleek state-of-the-art headquarters near the city’s newly restored High Line, made critics doubt its artistic integ­rity. “I think we had to pay our dues,” says 36-year-old artistic director Benoit-Swan Pouffer, who joined in 2005.

The company has steadily gained credibility. Pouffer’s artistic direction has evolved, and the dancers have proved major assets. “They’re very strong technically, very physical,” notes Ekman. He is not alone in his admiration. “Cedar Lake has a very fresh, talented group of dancers,” says English choreographer Hofesh Shechter. “The company also allows a good period of time to create the work.” Dancers too have come to look at Cedar Lake as a smart option. The company’s annual 48-week contract is far longer than those of many traditional ballet companies. “We recently had an audition with almost 250 women,” says Pouffer. The company currently numbers 15, with seven women and eight men.

What makes a dancer potential Cedar Lake material? “Have a healthy relationship with ballet,” says ballet mistress Alexandra Damiani. “It’s our foundation. We also look at a dancer’s personality, creativity, their hunger to dance and create.” Cedar Lake’s dancers have a rich range of ballet training that includes Canada’s National Ballet School and The Boston Conservatory. Some are choreographers themselves. The company’s rigorous daily technique class, led by Damiani, helps pull the dancers together stylistically.

Many observers mark the 2007 staging of Ohan Narharin’s Decadance as the company’s turning point. The choreographer also taught classes in his signature Gaga technique, which requires that dancers work with the studio mirrors covered, an experience many describe as liberating. While the Cedar Lake repertoire varies greatly, one common thread is a full-out visceral style. Last year, the company commissioned Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui to create Orbo Novo, a full-length work, for the company’s Joyce Theater debut. Performing diverging styles can be daunting, but also tremendously appealing. “It’s really a personal exploration for the dancers,” says Damiani.

Cedar Lake has two New York seasons a year, plus one or more additional pieces by Pouffer. The company has expanded its touring schedule, which this season includes at least 15 dates in the U.S. and Europe. It has also established an annual residency program at UCLA in California. This fall’s Joyce Theater run includes new works by Ekman, Jacopo Godani and Shechter, plus pieces now in the repertoire by Jo Strømgren and Didy Veldman.

Creating an evening’s program comes with certain risks. “I know that you can fail,” says Pouffer, himself a former dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Complexions, among other companies. “I didn’t want Cedar Lake to become another Ailey, but I liked working with different choreographers there because it made me a more complex dancer.”

Pouffer has choreographed four dances for Cedar Lake. These casual, site-specific performances can incorporate elements from another genre, say fashion or photography. The dancers improvise between set cues and mix with the audience, which is encouraged to move about.

Pouffer also created dances for the upcoming Universal film The Adjustment Bureau, starring Matt Damon, due to be released this coming spring. Co-star Emily Blunt worked with Pouffer to portray a Cedar Lake dancer. It is a measure of how much Cedar Lake has arrived that the director, George Nolfi, felt that the company had the requisite edginess, chic and cool to give the heroine credentials in the screen version of the New York dance world. The company’s studio served as one location. Perhaps not so coincidentally, it sits between pristine galleries and old car repair shops—between the polished and the gritty. Like Cedar Lake itself.

Susan Yung is a New York dance writer and critic.

Jon Bond is one of many success stories from CSDA. Along with other alumni, Jon's success as a professional dancer is a great example of the foundational training we provide at our academy. This training, coupled with individual work  and commitment, is emphasized at every level of instruction with each student in our academy.