Who: Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet
Presented by: White Bird
When: Wednesday May 5, 2010 at 7:30pm
Where: Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, Portland
“White Bird Words” Pre-Show Talk:  Barry Johnson, Arts Writer, 6:45 -7:05 pm Schnitzer Lower Lobby, free to all ticket-holders
Sponsor: The Oregonian
Tickets: $20-$50.  PCPA Box Office and Ticketmaster outlets, 1-800-745-3000 or www.ticketmaster.com.  
Visit www.whitebird.org for the latest information.

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

“Fierce, athletic, and compulsively sensual.”
 The Village Voice

White Bird will conclude its 2009/10 season with the Portland debut of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet on May 5 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.  Cedar Lake, founded in 2003 by Nancy Laurie and based in New York City, has distinguished itself through both its exceptionally talented company of fifteen dancers and its emphasis on acquiring and commissioning new works by the world’s most sought-after choreographers. Under the inspired leadership of Artistic Director Benoit-Swan Pouffer, Cedar Lake has already made a name for itself by combining a foundation in ballet with edgy physicality and impressive athleticism, leading Dance Magazine to name it one of its “25 to Watch.”

The final “White Bird Words” pre-show talk of the season will be given by Barry Johnson, Arts Writer and former Oregonian arts editor and columnist. It will take place in the Schnitzer Lower Lobby, 6:45-7:05 pm and is free to all ticket-holders.

Cedar Lake will bring to Portland a compelling program focusing on the work of Norway’s Jo Strømgren, Canada’s Crystal Pite, and Holland’s Didy Veldman. The evening will open with Sunday, Again (2008) by the versatile choreographer, playwright and screenwriter Jo Strømgren.  This uplifting work for the full company, set to a complex Bach score, playfully uses a game of badminton on a Sunday to show how couples are constantly testing each other. The whimsicality of Sunday, Again contrasts with the powerful Ten Duets on the Theme of Rescue (2008) by Canadian Choreographer Crystal Pite, whose own company Kidd Pivot inaugurated White Bird Uncaged in Fall 2008.   Describing her piece for five dancers as an “act of excavation,” Pite created the choreography first before searching within it for images that evoked rescue.   As the White Bird Uncaged audience saw in Pite’s Lost Action last season, Ten Duets demonstrates Pite’s unique movement language and showcases the versatility of Cedar Lake’s gifted dancers.  

Concluding the program is frame of view (2009) by Dutch choreographer Didy Veldman, who began her choreography career in 1987 while still dancing professionally throughout Europe. frame of view  recalls the great surrealist painter René Magritte in its dreamlike use of set pieces that evoke interior and exterior spaces. The work for nine dancers cleverly points out the connection between emotion and physical movement—how movement manifests itself in our body, how long that physicality may last, and what is the energy that it creates. Accompanying this wildly imaginative work is a widely varied musical landscape, spanning Offenbach, Jacques Brel and even Portland’s world-famous Pink Martini!

Artistic Director Benoit-Swan Pouffer joined Cedar Lake in 2005 following an extensive career as a dancer, teacher, and choreographer.  Born and raised in Paris, he studied at the prestigious Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de Danse and, in April 1993, took first place in the Benetton European Dance Competition.  Pouffer’s distinguished career as a professional dancer includes a 7-year tenure with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, seasons with Philadanco, Donald Byrd/The Group and Complexions. He has offered outreach programs in South Africa and taught master classes throughout Europe.  

Pouffer has eagerly sought out innovative choreographers from around the world, and The New York Times recently commented that, “Luckily Benoit-Swan Pouffer, the French-born artistic director of Cedar Lake, seems to have taken it on himself to introduce audiences to a new generation of European choreographers.”  In 2005 Pouffer introduced and choreographed the first of his series of installation performances. Critically acclaimed and representing a new, less formalized approach to dance, Pouffer merged the audience with the dancer to become a collaborator in the performance. His original works for Cedar Lake include Seed, BetweenHere and Now, Hammer, Vastav, Glassy Essence and on this planet.


White Bird’s 12th season (2009-10) is supported by the Regional Arts & Culture Council and Work for Art, M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, Meyer Memorial Trust, James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation,  Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, The Collins Foundation, Oregon Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, Oregon Cultural Trust, The Kinsman Foundation, The Jaffe Foundation, The Autzen Foundation, Bank of America Foundation, Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF), Enterprise Holdings Foundation, U.S. Bancorp Foundation and Schnitzer CARE Foundation.