BY BRIAN MCCORMICK
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s “Orbo Novo,” danced by Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, had its world premiere at Jacob’s Pillow in Lee, Massachusetts in July. This was the first commission from an American company for the Belgian-based artist who was named 2008’s Choreographer of the Year by Ballet-Tanz, Europe’s leading dance magazine. Regardless of outcome, Cedar Lake deserves great credit for giving this opportunity to an important artist, and not waiting years to do it. For the first time, the troupe is leaving its 170-seat Chelsea home theater for the more ample and very dance-friendly Joyce Theater, which is co-presenting the New York premiere.
This is the first time that Cherkaoui has debuted a work in the US. His precise, articulate, and fluid choreography has been performed rarely in the states, and only twice before in New York. The first time was in 2007, when Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genéve performed the group work “Loin” at the Joyce. Last year, he appeared with choreographer Akram Kahn in the collaborative duet “Zero Degrees” at New York’s City Center — one of the highlights of the season.
The 33-year-old dancer-choreographer was born in Antwerp in 1976, the son of a Flemish mother and a Moroccan father. “Most people perceive that they grew up in a normal environment,” the choreographer said in an interview with Gay City News. “In Morocco, in Belgium, in Antwerp, at school, I never quite felt that I belonged in any one of those places. When I was a kid, I wanted to be 30, and I spent my whole youth aiming for that age. But we are quickly shown our limitations. I’m an Arabic kid who is also white. So I made peace with a lot of stuff when I was 16 or 17.”
“Everyone has that complexity,” offered Cherkaoui, “that double background, even if their parents come from the same culture. Everything comes from the mix, the collision that produces this third thing. I don’t believe in one pure lineage. You can’t just be a copy of what was there before.”
This trans-cultural humanist perspective informs and enriches the choreographer’s work, which builds a bridge between different worlds and traditions. Last year, for Sadler’s Wells, London’s dance house, Cherkaoui created “Sutra’ in collaboration with Shaolin monks from Henan, China.
The title “Orbo Novo” is an old word for the New World used to describe Columbus’ journey to the Americas. “I am describing this voyage I made from being in China to New York,” Cherkaoui said. “The title of the piece had to do with the fact of the positive and wonderful regime change that was happening here. When we started to work, the distance between Europe and America was larger than it had ever been. Clearly new bridges were being made. It was the right time.”
But the voyage in Cherkaoui’s dance is also one of psychological recovery and physical achievement. “Orbo Novo” draws inspiration from Jill Bolte Taylor’s “Stroke of Insight,” a memoir about the author regaining her faculties following a stroke. Dancers recite sections of the text, and a duet characterizes the internal dichotomy within the brain. A 12-foot grid of moveable walls designed by Alexander Dodge enclose and also trap the dancers, as well as serving as a reminder of the smallness of man.
“Orbo Novo” features costumes designed by Isabelle Lhoas and an original score by Polish composer Szymon Brzoska, which will be performed live at each show.
