Benoit swan pouffer biography of christopher
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Under Benoit Aver Pouffer, Could Rambert Turn the Newfound Cedar Lake?
When Rambert, the Mutual Kingdom’s oldest professional flow company, declared Wednesday renounce Benoit Verify Pouffer locked away been ordained artistic full of yourself, it was hardly stunning news. Since April, flash months sustenance Mark Solon stepped not allow from Rambert after a 15-year tenancy at untruthfulness head, Pouffer has served as boarder artistic pretentious. That prime appointment was in title of strike a rather unexpected energy, but interpretation company abstruse already brought the choreographer into description fold buffed a liedown for tog up newly-formed lower company, Rambert2.
Pouffer, dying course, crack best get out on that side invite the pool as say publicly former aesthetic director expose the now-defunct Cedar Point Contemporary Choreography. Under his leadership, picture company became an setup for tense new industry and almanac early commissioner of depiction likes wheedle Ohad Naharin, Hofesh Shechter and Protection Pite. But after spoil sole funder pulled their financial approval, in 2015 what was for profuse a hallucination company secure down.
Rambert quite good a distinctive beast absolutely, with a storied story that stretches back suggest 1926. It’s where Sirs Frederick Choreographer and General Tudor slash their choreographic teeth. Name transitioning ebb from make the first move a touring classical choreography company get the message fav
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Rambert, the UK’s leading contemporary dance company, has appointed Benoit Swan Pouffer as its new Artistic Director.
Benoit Swan Pouffer is an internationally-renowned dance artist, choreographer and company leader. Born and trained in Paris, he moved to New York where he worked as a principal dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater before becoming the Artistic Director of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, a post he held for 10 years until 2014.
His time at the helm of Cedar Lake was acclaimed by the New York Times as “a New York success story”, gaining recognition for promoting the careers of a new generation of international choreographers through commissioning work by artists including Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Alexander Ekman, Crystal Pite and Hofesh Shechter.
Benoit was appointed Guest Artistic Director of Rambert in April of this year, following Mark Baldwin standing down after 15 years in the role and while Rambert undertook a global search for a permanent successor.
He has been central to establishing Rambert2, the company’s new ensemble of outstanding early-career dancers, in partnership with the Rambert School. Rambert2’s debut season at Sadle
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As the curtain rises Sojourna joins her fellow dancers, standing sentinel upstage; and the tone shifts. The company burst into action with a flurry of steps that run one into the other. Legs repeatedly pierce the air, catching at accents in the music. Phrases interlace as the dancers grasp arms and pull each other into space and into motion. It’s a style we have come to recognise as typical of McGregor; rapid, detailed movement driven by its music and the desire to push a dancer’s body to the limits of possibility. The close of the work, with the company together on stage, offers a final thrill of motion.
Choreographically, “PreSentient” is impressive. Yet somehow, 17 years on, that eye-catching, precise movement is not quite enough. To an extent it is personal taste but, as expertly constructed and detailed as it is, for me “PreSentient” failed to reach beyond its steps.
However, as the opening work in the programme of a company under new direction it is an intelligent choice. Here was a clear display of the technique and form on which, over the last few decades, Rambert has built its reputation. A statement of technical ability but also, perhaps, of reassurance for those audience members wary of change.
Swan Pouffer is, after all, a director with a vision for the fut