photo by Francois Rousseau, courtesy of Cedar Lake

Jacob’s Pillow has announced that Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet will perform the world premiere of Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Orbo Novo (“New World”) in July 2009 at the 77^th Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.  The evening-length work will include an original score by Polish composer Szymon Brzóska, which will be performed live for the performances.

Here’s an excerpt from the Pillow’s press release:

“Here we have a perfect confluence: a world premiere by one of the most important choreographers working anywhere today, performed by the especially brilliant dancers of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, with a new original score by a young composer, performed live at the Pillow. It just doesn’t get any better than that,” comments Ella Baff, Executive Director of Jacob’s Pillow. 

Commenting on his forthcoming collaboration with Cedar Lake, Cherkaoui asserts, “There is the excitement of working with a talented and relatively young American company pluckily exploring different styles of dance, which will be a novel experience after my years of working with Europe’s more established companies. It will be, for me, as much about learning as about creating – learning from the resolve of this company, from the spirit of this great city and also from the contradictions that drive it.”

Tickets will go on sale in April 2009.  These performances will replace Cedar Lake’s spring season at their home in Chelsea, but their winter season (which I got a sneak preview of last month) is just a few weeks away.  Don’t forget to order tickets!