2008-04-30 23:57:20 -

New York, N.Y., April 15, 2008 - Artistic Director Benoit-Swan Pouffer has announced that the 16-member Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet will present important works by a trio of today's busiest choreographers during its Manhattan spring season, which runs from Monday, June 2 through Sunday, June 15, 2008.

Jo Strømgren will offer the U.S. premiere of 'Sunday, Again' set to the

music of Johann-Sebastian Bach. Cedar Lake performed the work's World Premiere in February at the grand opening of Oslo's Dansens Hus, Norway's new theater devoted to contemporary dance. French master choreographer Angelin Preljocaj will offer a new staging of his renowned duet, 'L'Annonciation.' And to complete the triple-bill, Pouffer's Chelsea-based company will reprise 'Lasting Imprint' by Nicolo Fonte, a work first seen at Cedar Lake in 2006.

‘Sunday, Again' a U.S. Premiere By Norway's Jo Strømgren

'Leisure time is not good for certain types of relationships,' says Jo Strømgren, creator of 'Sunday, Again' a work for eight couples receiving its U.S. premiere. 'There is always the irritating and inevitable Sunday, which forces couples to test their ability to coexist.' With badminton as metaphor, the couples dash, dart, come together and disintegrate in a lively battle of the sexes, set to Bach's 'Jesu, Meine Freude.'

" In ‘Sunday, Again' I tried first of all to reflect the diversity in Bach's music,' Strømgren says. 'I wove abstract movement patterns together in fugal ways, not unlike the Baroque way of assembling melodic phrases and ornamentations. Secondly, I take as a theme today's domestic jungle -- luxury overload and gender frictions.'

Born in 1970, Strømgren spent his early years skiing and playing football until the age of 20, when he began studies at the National College of Ballet and Dance. Four years later, Carte Blanca Dance Company in Bergen, Norway, engaged him to choreograph and dance a varied repertory. Artistic recognition came suddenly with the self-financed 'Schizoid Stories," a 75-minute, one-man show that combined distinctive body language with absurd humor and dark psychology.

Strømgren's choreographic commissions have included works for Ballet de l'Opéra National du Rhin, the Royal Danish Ballet, New Danish Dance Theatre, Ballett Nürnberg, Iceland Dance Company, Norwegian National Ballet, Oslo Dance Ensemble, Repertory Dance Theatre Utah, Cloud Gate (Taiwan), IT Dansa Barcelona, Helsinki Dance Company, Stadttheater Bern Ballett, Austria's ABCDancecompany and Vienna State Opera Ballet, and Sweden's Norrdans Dance Company and Skånes Danseteater. Besides choreography and theatre direction, Strømgren is involved in music composition, set design, costume design and lighting design. In 2003 he made his debut as a feature film director with colleague Runar Hodne.

A New Staging by France's Angelin Preljocaj of ‘L'Annonciation'

In his celebrated duet 'L'Annonciation,' Angelin Preljocaj attempts to answer the questions, How does the Annunciation, that key moment which underpins a whole religion, resonate in us? What does it awaken?

'Mary is often shown in an enclosed or walled garden, symbolizing her virginity,' the choreographer explains. 'When the Angel breaks into this private world, the workings of her body are about to be dramatically altered. This explains why it is that, although in the Bible the Virgin displays a serene acceptance of the forthcoming event, many painters have chosen to make her the prey of doubt, anxiety, even rebelliousness. So it comes as something of a surprise that a subject in which so many issues about the body are so manifestly implicated should have remained almost entirely absent from choreographic art.'

Born in France of Albanian parents who had immigrated to Paris, Angelin Preljocaj has created more than 20 works for his own company, Ballet Preljocaj. When the company performed 'L'Annonciation' at the Joyce Theater in 1996, it received a New York Dance and Performance or "Bessie" Award. Set to a score by Stéphane Roy ('Crystal Music') and Antonio Vivaldi ('Magnificat'), the work has entered the repertoires of the Ballet de l'Opéra de Paris and Teatro alla Scala, Milan. Preljocaj was named Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur in 1998.

Cedar Lake Artistic Director Benoit-Swan Pouffer, a longtime admirer of 'L'Annonciation,' comments that 'Angelin Preljocaj was a major influence in my dance training, and I consider him among the greatest living dance makers. Cedar Lake is now extremely fortunate to have this seminal and defining duet in our repertory.'

In 2006 Preljocaj created the choreography for 'Grendel,' an opera by Elliot Goldenthal, staged by Julie Taymor for the Los Angeles Opera and New York City Opera. Audiences here have also seen his 'Le Parc,' awarded the Prix Benois; 'La Stravaganza,' created for the New York City Ballet's Diamond Project; and 'Le Spectre de la Rose' and 'Noces.'


Nicolo Fonte's ‘Lasting Imprint' (Cedar Lake Premiere 2006)

Nicolo Fonte's 'Lasting Imprint,' a work for nine dancers, is set to Steve Reich's 'Triple Quartet.' In 2006 Pouffer invited Fonte to create on a theme of the 'dream landscape' as an escape from reality. When 'Lasting Imprint' premiered at Cedar Lake as the curtain raiser for the company's "Dream Collaborations' program, dance critic Robert Johnson called it 'a work of taut construction and marvelous dynamic range.' Critic and commentator Lori Ortiz remarked, 'The complex patterns of movement and superb dancing are the stuff of dreams."

Ortiz went on, "[These] are not rest-in-peace interpretations of the nocturnal theme. In ‘Lasting Imprint's' unifying narrative, Jason Kittelberger covers himself with white paint and then maps his touch on Jessica Coleman Scott's body. Mixed with sweat, it's erotic in a ghostly sort of way. The sweat is a revelation, its presence in the spectacle an affirmation of dance. [In] Nickemil Concepcion's breathtaking dancing in duets with Heather Hamilton, a strange kind of poetry is achieved.'

The Brooklyn-born recipient of the prestigious Choo San Goh Award, Fonte has performed and choreographed for The Royal Ballet of Flanders, The Dutch National Ballet, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Nacho Duato's Compañia Nacional de Danza in Madrid, and Sweden's Göteborg Ballet.

Performances in the Heart of the Chelsea Gallery District

Performances of Cedar Lake's spring season will take place from Monday, June 2, through Sunday, June 15, 2008. Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet performs in its own state-of-the-art theater at 547 West 26th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues, in the heart of the thriving Chelsea Gallery District. Evenings, including Sunday, at 8 p.m. Matinees Saturday at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $30 ($20 for students/seniors). A portion of the proceeds from each ticket will benefit Career Transition for Dancers (www.careertransition.org), To order tickets, visit www.SmartTix.com or call 212-868-4444. For more information, visit www.cedarlakedance.com.

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