News: Cedar Lake arrive in London

A New York based company, dancing mostly European work, arrive in London for the first time this week.
Judith Mackrell talks to Director Benoit-Swan Pouffer and Crystal Pite – one of the choreographers whose work Cedar Lake are presenting at Sadler’s Wells.

Performers audition from all over the world. “I see exceptional technical abilities,” says Pouffer, “but that’s not what impresses me. If you look at my company they’re all sizes and colours. They have different stories in their bodies. I like the idea of everyone in the audience having at least one dancer they can identify with on stage.”
Pite agrees. “They are quite phenomenal. A lot have come up through competitions, so they’ve all had to excel at ballet, jazz, tap, everything. And they’re really fearless. They’re willing to wing it, to fall down and fail – even if they rarely do.”
Read more in the Guardian, 10 October

Cedar Lake, Sadler’s Wells, 11 – 13 October
www.sadlerswells.com