Cedar Lake 360°

Wednesday July 27, 2011 – As the culmination of a unique Summer Intensive, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet are presenting an installation entitled Cedar Lake 360°at their home theater (547 West 26th Street). The work premiered on July 27th and there are additional performances on the 28th and 29th, with two showings each evening (7:30 PM and 9:00 PM). Ticket information here.

Cedar Lake artistic director Benoit-Swan Pouffer’s newly created installation is performed by the dancers of the Cedar Lake Company along with students from the Summer Intensive program. In all, nearly fifty students are participating, split into two casts.

Since I was unable to attend any of the performances, I was invited to watch the back-to-back dress rehearsals on the afternooon of the premiere. It it always exciting to be in the Cedar Lake performing space, and the Cedar Lake dancers – among my top favorites on the Gotham scene – appear in the installation to inspire both the viewer and the students with their peerless energy and their utterly unique personalities.

The installation, which occupies the entire wide open theatre-space of the Cedar Lake venue, features a dynamic composed-and-compiled score by Mikael Karlsson and superb lighting by Amith Chandrashaker. Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Cedar Lake dancers Harumi Terayama And Manuel Vignoulle were involved in the choreographic design.

Among the many highlights of this installation is a dramatic solo performed by Cedar Lake’s inimitable Jon Bond behind a gold-lighted panel of fabric thru which the dancer’s shadow and the images of his face and body pressing againt the shroud produce a nightmarish effect from which he eventually breaks free. 

Installation-viewing presents a challenge in that there is so much going on simultaneously – you always feel while watching one segment you are missing something else in another part of the space. Even seeing the piece in twice, I felt there was a lot more to be discovered. 

I enjoyed seeing again three dancers among the student participants who I’ve seen before: Greg Lau (above), Angelica Stiskin and Austin Diaz. Among the double student cast there were a large number of very impressive and exciting individuals; I’m sure I’ll be encountering several of them again in the coming months.

The afternoon also served to show my total inadequacy as a dance photographer. I simply don’t have the knack for it yet, but I will keep trying.