On Saturday afternoon, The New Yorker Festival presented a discussion between dance critic Joan Acocella and Russian choreographer Alexei Ratmansky at Cedar Lake’s theater in Chelsea. Ratmansky is currently the Bolshoi Ballet’s artistic director, and he’s created works for several companies around the world, including his recent Concerto DSCH for New York City Ballet. [...]

Last week, I wrote at length about the excerpt from Hofesh Shechter’s Uprising that I saw during the Fall for Dance festival. Of the fifteen pieces (over three programs) I viewed throughout FFD, Uprising was certainly the most exhilarating and memorable. I don’t usually post such long videos, nor do I think videos [...]

On Saturday evening, I entered a hazy, otherworldly atmosphere as I watched VIA Dance Collaborative’s The Dream Project: Lullaby in Surrealism at the Ailey Citigroup Theater. The evening-length work, a collaboration between choreographer Adrienne Westwood and twelve dancers, investigated the strange, beautiful, and often unsettling nature of dreams. Westwood even incorporated input from [...]

Cedar Lake dancers in Jill Johnson’s The Copier, photo by Evan I’ve been fortunate enough to follow the progress of Jill Johnson’s The Copier for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet over the past two weeks by observing rehearsals, but I still wasn’t sure what to expect at the installation’s premiere. The space felt and looked different [...]

Nickemil Concepcion and Soojin Choi rehearsing Jill Johnson’s The Copier Before yesterday’s tech rehearsal started at Cedar Lake, choreographer Jill Johnson warned me that The Copier will look entirely different when it premieres tomorrow (August 20th) and suggested that I pass this information along to readers. It was my first time seeing the piece from start [...]

Cedar Lake dancers rehearsing Jill Johnson’s The Copier Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet opened its doors yesterday afternoon to allow passers-by to watch the last hour of rehearsal for Jill Johnson’s upcoming installation, The Copier. Some people stopped for just a few moments to peek in to the spacious theater. Others seemed intrigued by the [...]

Cedar Lake dancers rehearsing Jill Johnson’s The Copier Yesterday afternoon I stopped by Cedar Lake’s theater to catch the end of rehearsal for Jill Johnson’s upcoming installation, The Copier.  The dancers were working in the theater, and the stage was now set up in a T shape with plenty of room around the perimeter for the [...]

There’s a discussion going on at The Kinetic Interface of Great Dance about the audience’s role and participation in Cedar Lake’s upcoming installation The Copier, choreographed by Jill Johnson.  Doug states in his post that he would like to be involved in a more physical way, and thinks the installation could be an opportunity for [...]

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet appeared on my radar screen after the company reached out to dance bloggers during their 2008 winter season. I was immediately impressed by the dancers, the diverse repertoire, and the welcoming staff. Since then, I’ve returned to Cedar Lake for several other performances, including the company’s Glassy Essence installation, [...]

“I think, when I really get down to it, when I pare away all the trappings and masks and frills of the form, I think it is about something none of the photos or the videos or the texts that are published here can reveal: changing the energy in the space…Eventually the space is changed. [...]