MISSION STATEMENT
Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance’s (CLD) mission is to create movement that engages an audience by aligning the rigor of ballet with the humanistic performance values of contemporary dance. This unconventional use of ballet distinctively conveys moods and relationships, without the decorum that is integral to classical repertory, and without subduing the individuality of each of the dancers.
The work is generated by issues of social injustice and the concern for the human condition, fueling profoundly sensitive and compassionate work with the intent to heal and call attention to the issues faced by women, people of color, and other marginalized groups.
This body of work could not be appropriately created or conveyed without a diverse group of dancers, composers, musicians, and other artistic collaborators. CLD has a long-standing commitment to educational outreach, as well as to the partnership of dance and live music.
“Eloquence must be something Lavagnino asks of her dancers. You often feel the movement as it courses through their bodies gently or fiercely. The distortions don’t look like examples of the new virtuosity, and at their best, they seem to proceed from emotional states. The dancers gaze intently at one another and the space, while the choreography bends the ballet choreography to suit whatever possesses them, or invades them from the music.”
COMPANY HISTORY
Cherylyn Lavagnino has created over forty works in the past fifteen years, and since 2000 the platform for her choreography has been Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance (CLD). Twelve exceptional artists make up CLD stemming from distinguished backgrounds and professional work experiences such as Twyla Tharp, Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Company, Jose Limon Dance Foundation, Lucinda Childs, Shen Wei Dance Arts, and John Jaspers. The company supports a Live Music and Dance incentive by collaborating with composers Scott Killian and Martin Bresnick on new works, as well as performing alongside world-renowned musical artists such as Lisa Moore, Elly Toyoda, Ashley Bathgate, and New York City Ballet Orchestra members Derek Ratzenboeck and Cameron Grant. CLD has been presented in New York City and abroad: The New Festival in Beijing, Bryant Park, Danspace Project, The 92nd Street Y, Dance Theater Workshop, Symphony Space, DanceNow/NYC, Jacob’s Pillow, The Yard, Kaatsban International Dance Center, Indianapolis City Ballet, Intermezzo Dance, The Joyce Theatre’s “Evening Stars” series, and the Off the Grid Festival. The company also has a long history of performing in museum and gallery spaces such as Chelsea Art Museum, OK Harris Works of Art, and the James Cohan Gallery. CLD serves annual residencies in Vermont and upstate New York (organized by the Catskill Mountain Foundation) which offer the communities educational outreach enrichment and live performances. The company has been supported by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Harkness Foundation, the American Music Center’s Live Music for Dance grant, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Fund, the NYU Global Research Institute grant, and receives matching corporate funding.
Photo by: Charles Roussel
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR/CHOREOGRAPHER
Photo by: Travis Magee
Cherylyn Lavagnino earned an MFA in Dance under the mentorship of Lawrence Rhodes from New York University’s (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts, as well as a BA in Philosophy from the University of Southern California. Lavagnino’s professional dance career spanned worldwide as a soloist with the Pennsylvania Ballet, a principal dancer with Arizona Ballet Theatre, and a principal dancer with Ballet del Espacio in Mexico City under the direction of Michel Descombey. She has performed a range of classical repertoire and contemporary work by choreographers including George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, José Limón, John Butler, Hans Van Manen, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Margo Sappington, and Tere O’Connor. The diversity of these experiences has informed the dialogue between classical and contemporary in her work with Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance.
Ms. Lavagnino is an Alpert Award nominee for choreography as well as a recipient of a space grant residency from the Baryshnikov Arts Center. She has had successful commissions at Princeton University, Intermezzo Dance, Indianapolis City Ballet, Southern Methodist University, University of Utah, North Carolina School of the Arts, and Repertory Dance Theatre.
Lavagnino served as Chair of the Dance Department at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts from 2006–2014 and as a full-time faculty member from 1987–2022. In recognition of her superior work, she won NYU’s prestigious David Payne Carter Award for Excellence in Teaching (2003) and was selected for a Global Research Institute grant for travel and research in Prague (2018). Lavagnino served as Visiting Professor of Dance at the University of Utah for the 2021–2022 academic year. She teaches professional ballet in NYC and internationally; she is honored to teach company class for A.I.M by Kyle Abraham. She has traveled frequently to conduct workshops in Tokyo, Seoul, Prague, and for the Beijing Dance Academy.
Lavagnino continues her Feldenkrais practice with Scott Fraser.