New Orleans Ballet Association

“Dancing that pulls viewers right out of their seats…” The New York Times

With exceptional dancers and innovative choreography, New York's Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet makes its New Orleans debut on January 30 and 31 at NOCCA’s Freda Lupin Memorial Hall co-presented by the New Orleans Ballet Association and The NOCCA Institute.

Founded in 2003 by Wal-Mart heiress Nancy Laurie and under the artistic direction of former Alvin Ailey dancer Benoit Swan-Pouffer, this 17-member company has become one of the new dynamic forces on the dance scene, engaging audiences with raw athleticism, daring movement and high-energy dancing. Since its founding, the Company has received international praise and awards, including Dance Magazine’s “25 US Companies to Watch,” and invitations to perform around the globe, including Salt Lake City, Miami, Israel, Germany, Austria and Jacob’s Pillow Festival in Massachusetts. “These are superb and versatile performers,” declares The Village Voice. “Pouffer favors pieces that challenge the stupendous dancers to be fierce, athletic, and compulsively sensual.”

Cedar Lake brings a stellar program of works by three of the world’s most sought-after international choreographers, Israeli-born Ohad Naharin, Vancouver-based Crystal Pite and Dutch dance maker Didy Veldman. In Decadance, Naharin masterfully takes 16 excerpts of his own repertoire created from 1985-2006, and seamlessly rearranges them into a high powered brilliant new piece. “Decadance is about reconstruction,” says Naharin. “I like to take pieces or sections of existing works and rework it, reorganize it and create the possibility to look at it from a new angle.” Artsjournal raves, “Cedar Lake dancers meet this master's unusual choreography head on. The boundless imagery and energy astound.” Since 1990, Naharin, a Juilliard graduate and former member of the Martha Graham Dance Company, has been artistic director of Israel’s internationally renowned Batsheva Dance Company.

The beautiful and haunting Ten Duets on the Theme of Rescue by Canada’s rising star Crystal Pite is a series of fast-paced vignettes, each 90 seconds in length, that are intimate portraits exploring the idea of rescue in different forms both physical and emotional. Pite, a former dancer with Ballet British Columbia and Ballet Frankfurt, is the director of the Vancouver-based dance company, Kidd Pivot.

The company’s brand new work, Frame of View, by Dutch choreographer Didy Velman, premieres January 8, 2009, as a part of Cedar Lake’s New York home season and features an eclectic mix of music including Bartok, Nina Simone, Pink Martini, Dean Martin and the Kronos Quartet. Veldman was a former dancer with Amsterdam’s Scapino Ballet, Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneve and London’s Rambert Dance Company.

General admission tickets are $30. Discounts are available for students, NOBA subscribers and NOCCA Institute members. For tickets or information, call the New Orleans Ballet Association Box Office at (504) 522-0996. Tickets may be purchased online through www.nobadance.com or via Ticketmaster at (504) 522-5555 or www.ticketmaster.com.

In addition to the performances, Cedar Lake will also complete a four day residency while in New Orleans, including two classes for NOCCA students, a children’s performance and master classes. The classes for NOCCA students will be held on January 28 from 1:30 to 3pm and on January 29 from 2:45 to 4:15pm. Also on January 29, the company will perform for students at NOCCA at 1:30pm and conduct a class for community dancers that evening from 6:30 to 8pm. The master class for the NORD/NOBA Center For Dance will be on January 31 at 11am. The student performance and community class at NOCCA on January 29 are available by reservation only. For more information about residency opportunities call (504) 522-0996 x. 203 or email shirsch@nobadance.com

Sponsors for the Cedar Lake performances are Capital One, the Heim Foundation and the Surdna Foundation.

The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) is a tuition-free arts conservatory for high school students and an agency of the State of Louisiana. The mission of The NOCCA Institute, a non-profit organization, is to provide support and advocacy for NOCCA. The Institute provides access to excellence in the arts for students, faculty, and the community-at-large. For information about auditions, events, and activities, please visit www.NOCCA.com.

NOBA is the Central Gulf region’s premiere presenting and service organization dedicated solely to the art of dance. NOBA’s dynamic Main Stage season annually features a diverse array of world-class companies and artists. Each year NOBA provides concerts, classes, workshops and lectures to more than 25,000 area dance enthusiasts of all ages. In addition, NOBA’s nationally recognized award-winning education programs provide the youth of our community access to quality arts programs with 2,500 free dance classes and workshops annually at nine sites throughout the Greater New Orleans area.

This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), which believes that a great nation deserves great art; a grant from the Southern Arts Federation in partnership with the NEA and the Louisiana Division of the Arts; a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council as administered by the Arts Council of New Orleans (ACNO); a Community Arts Grant made possible through the City of New Orleans as administered by ACNO; a grant from the Louisiana State Arts Council through the Louisiana Division of the Arts and the NEA.

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