Benoit-Swan Pouffer joined Cedar Lake as Artistic Director in 2005 following an extensive career as a dancer, teacher, and choreographer. Born and raised in Paris, his career began with study at the prestigious Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de Danse where he performed works by such renowned French choreographers as Claude Brumachon, Daniel Larrieu and Angelin Preljocaj. In April 1993, Pouffer took first place in the Benetton European Dance Competition. Pouffer’s distinguished career as a professional dancer includes a 7-year tenure with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, seasons with Philadanco, Donald Byrd/The Group and Complexions, as well as offering outreach programs in South Africa and master classes throughout Europe.

Pouffer is credited with an astute and discerning eye for talented dancers, a vision toward artistic excellence and the viewpoint that performers with skilled technique united in works mingling various forms of dance can breathe new life into the art form. Through an informed network of colleagues and friends in the international ballet community, Pouffer eagerly searches out innovative choreographers around the world to invite to Cedar Lake. The New York Times recently stated, “Luckily Benoit-Swan Pouffer, the French-born artistic director of Cedar Lake, seems to have taken it on himself to introduce audiences to a new generation of European choreographers.” His role as curator of one of the most ambitious world-class repertoires in America today furthers Cedar Lake’s mission to provide choreographers a comprehensive environment for creation and presentation.

In 2005 Pouffer introduced and choreographed the first of his series of installation performances. Critically acclaimed and representing a new, less formalized approach to dance performance, Pouffer merges the audience with the dancer to become a collaborator in the performance. His original works for Cedar Lake include “Seed,” “Between Here and Now,” “Hammer,” “Vastav” and “Glassy Essence.”

A native of France, Damiani studied ballet at the Geneva Dance Center with David Allen before moving to Paris, where she trained with Attilio Labis from the Paris Opera School. While focusing on her ballet training, she played a supporting role in the French TV sitcom Pizzannexe. After winning the International Competition of Marseilles in 1995, Damiani was invited to dance with the stars of the Paris Opera Ballet in Budapest and was awarded a scholarship to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, prompting her to move to New York.

She has been a soloist with Donald Byrd/The Group and a member of Complexions. She has also performed with the New York Theatre Ballet, the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, and the German dance company Unterwegs Theater, among others. She assisted Lynne Taylor Corbett in her creation for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

In 2003 she had the opportunity to join Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, where she performed featured roles in works by Crystal Pite, Mia Michaels, Shaun Hansell, Trey McIntyre and Grupo Corpo’s Artistic Director Rodrigo Perdeneiras. While in Canada she also had the opportunity to work with Victor Quijada from Rubberbandance Group. Alexandra has taught master classes in Europe and the United States. She has also served on the advisory board of New York Theatre Ballet since 2008.

began his training at age eight with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School. He performed in various productions with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre throughout middle school and entered its pre-professional Schenley Program in high school. After three years of high school, Battisti attended the Juilliard School, where he earned a BFA with scholastic distinction in May 2004.

of Southern California began his training at age 10 with Center Stage Dance Academy. In 2004 Bond spent eight weeks as a Winner Circle Finalist on Star Search on CBS. That same year, he served as an ambassador of dance representing the United States at the annual Australian Dance Championship, where he won International First Place Soloist in the Battle of the Stars. His work as a performer also includes the WNBA Sparks’ Sparkids, Fiona Apple’s “Paperbag” video, Featured Soloist at Los Angeles’ Kodak Theater and Guest Artist for the Civic Ballet of San Luis Obispo. Prior to joining Cedar Lake he was a member of Dance Theatre of Harlem’s DTB Ensemble. As a choreographer, he was invited to perform his work at the Seventh Annual Dance Under the Stars Choreography Festival in Palm Desert, CA where he won the Jean Ann Hirschl First Place Solo Award. Bond has also choreographed numerous award-winning competition pieces throughout the nation.

comes to Cedar Lake from Seoul, Korea where she graduated from the Seoul Arts High School in 2003 and the Korea National University of Arts School of Dance in 2007. After her 1st prize performance at the 2007 Seoul International Dance Competition, she was offered a fellowship at the Alvin Ailey School, and moved to New York in January 2008. Choi has toured internationally in pieces with the Korea National University of Arts Dance Company, as well as with the JEON Mi Sook Dance Company. Additionally, she has won several awards both for dancing and for choreography at KNUA and festivals in Korea and North America.

comes from New York, where he received his early training at Broadway Dance and the New Ballet School in New York City. At age 13, he began his professional career by performing in a Broadway production of “Cinderella.” He went on to be featured in the 1993 film “Avenue X” and George C. Wolfe’s 1996 Off-Broadway production of “On the Town.” Concepcion then joined Ballet Tech, where he performed for seven years.

began her dance training with the Pittsburgh Youth Ballet at the age of 13. She continued her studies at the Ballet Met Dance Academy in Columbus, OH. In 1998 Jones moved to New York where she studied at The Ailey School as a fellowship student for 2 years. She danced with Ailey II from 2000-2002. Jones was an original member of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet from 2003-2004 and returned in 2009. Jones was a member of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from 2004-2009. Jones has also danced with Earl Mosley Diversity of Dance, Fred Benjamin Dance Company and performed with Aretha Franklin with choreography by George Faison.

comes from Stillwater, Minnesota, where she trained for eleven years in ballet, jazz and tap. After moving to Los Angeles, she appeared in videos, live stage performances and fashion shows. Keller has traveled around the world, working with such artists as Limp Bizkit, Myo Dance Company, Dee Caspary IV and the singers Cher, Paula Abdul, Kaci, and Clay Aiken. She has performed works by Lori Stallings, Adam Hougland and Alonzo King. Keller was an original member of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet departing in 2008 and returning in 2009. Keller is also a fashion designer, creating clothing and costumes under her own label, PureLanguage.

comes from Rochester, New York, where he began performing at age three at the Draper School of Dance. He continued his dance education at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he graduated with a BFA in dance performance. Kittelberger has performed with the Rochester Ballet and Hubbard Street II. Thanks to D. Noble.

was born in Bucharest, Romania. At the age of 11, she was discovered by the National Ballet School of Canada, where she completed her dance education. She joined Canada’s National Ballet and went on to dance with the Royal Danish Ballet, Germany’s Augsburg Ballet and Lisbon’s Contemporary Portuguese Dance Company. Lucaciu has performed works by Jiri Kylian, Nacho Duato, John Neumeier, Lar Lubovitch, Tim Rushton, Alexei Ratmansky, Maurice Bejart, Ohad Naharin, Crystal Pite, Didy Veldman, Jacopo Godani and many others.

of Cidra, Puerto Rico began his professional career as a dancer with Ballet Concierto, where he was named 2003 Ballet Dancer of the Year. In 2003, he moved to New York where he trained as a fellowship student at The Ailey School. In 2004, he relocated to Chicago where he was a member of Hubbard Street until 2007.

hails from Las Vegas, Nevada, where he studied at the Dance Zone under the direction of Jami Artiga and Kaydee Francis. Rich graduated from the Las Vegas Academy of International Studies, Performing and Visual Arts, during which time he was the recipient of several regional and national competition titles, as well as convention and workshop scholarships. Choreographers Rich has worked with include Ohad Naharin, Lauri Stallings, Jacopo Godani, Adam Houghland, Crystal Pite and Stijn Celis. He also works extensively with dance schools across the country giving master classes and workshops as well as choreographing solos and ensemble pieces for competition.

was born in Santa Barbara, California. She trained in Canada at Vancouver’s Arts Umbrella. She then joined Ballet British Columbia’s Mentor Program, where she trained for a year before joining the company. Dancing seven seasons with Ballet British Columbia, Schachte performed the works of such choreographers as John Alleyne, Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe, Twyla Tharp, Jean Grand-Maitre, Serge Bennathan, James Kudelka, Dominique Dumais, Nicolo Fonte and Paul Taylor. She appeared in the CBC film “The Fairie Queen,” and has choreographed for Ballet British Columbia’s Mentor Program.

of Osaka, Japan, received her BFA from The Juilliard School under the direction of Lawrence Rhodes. At Juilliard, she performed works by William Forsythe, Paul Taylor, and others. Terayama has worked with Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, Pier Group, Nilas Martin Dance Company, Sidra Bell Dance NY, Gallim Dance, and Lar Lubovitch Dance Company. As a choreographer she worked with CityDance Ensemble in Washington DC, and her work was presented at Strathmore Music Center and Joyce SoHo in New York City.

studied at The Conservatoire National Supérieur de Danse de Paris and went on to work with contemporary French choreographers such as Claude Brumachon, Corinne Lanselle, Karine Saporta and Bernardo Montet. With the modern-jazz choreographer Redha, Vignoulle performed for television, video, fashion, opera and musicals. He has also worked as a choreographer’s assistant for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Het Nationale Ballet and South African State Theater Dance Company. Most recently, Vignoulle was a member at Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève where he performed works by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Adonis Foniadakis, Cisco Aznar, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Carolyn Carlson, Benjamin Millepied, John Neumeier, Isira Makuloluwe and Malou Airaudo among others. He also appeared as a guest artist for La La La Human Steps, Het Nationale Ballet and South African State Theater Dance Company. Vignoulle has also created and performed his own work at the Geneva festival.

comes from Boston, Massachusetts, where she trained with the Boston Ballet from age eight through high school. She also attended the Roxbury Center for the Performing Arts. She is a May 2005 graduate of the Boston Conservatory with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Williams has performed works by such choreographers as Donald Byrd and Luis Fuente. Being a versatile dancer has given her the opportunity to also work in the commercial wold with artists such as Rihanna, Fergie, Ciara (Love, Sex, Magic, featuring Justin Timberlake) and Beyonce. As one of the dancers in the 2009 MTV video of the year Single Ladies, Williams also performed with Beyonce on her promo tour, the American Music Awards, the Today Show and Saturday Night Live.

began his dance training in Amsterdam at age 10 at the National Ballet Academy. He received a scholarship for intensive training at the Royal Institute for Ballet in Antwerp, and won third prize representing the Netherlands on the Eurovision Young Dancer’s Competition 2001. Yosef danced in Barcelona with IT Dansa where he received several scholarships. He has danced with Scapino Ballet Rotterdam (the Netherlands), Ramon Oller (Barcelona), Ballet des Jeunes d’Europe (France) and Ballet National de Marseille. In 2007 he won First Prize for his choreography “Impulses” at the International Solo Dance Theatre Festival in Stuttgart. He plays in the Disney Channel movie “Cheetah Girls 2” and in the Spanish movie “No me pidas que te bese porque te besaré,” for which he also choreographed (premiered October, 2008).