Up-and-coming choreographer Emery LeCrone has been New Chamber Ballet's choreographer-in-residence since 2010.
In the 2010- 2011 season alone, she created works for Colorado Ballet (as part of The Vail International Dance Festival,) Oregon Ballet Theatre, North Carolina Dance Theater, Minnesota Dance Theater, The Columbia Ballet Collaborative, Hartt University of Dance, and Greensboro Ballet. In addition, she was commissioned by the Guggenheim Museum’s Works & Process series and participated in the New York Choreographic Institute. She is also the proud recipient of a 2011-2012 New York City Center Choreographic Fellowship, and the subject of a recent profile in the Wall Street Journal.
In a recent review, The New York Times’ Alastair Macaulay wrote: “Emery LeCrone’s Chamber Dances (new in April 2010), to John Adams’s Road Movies for piano and violin, generated real excitement from its engagement with its score, its propulsive energy and its structural complexity, even though it was danced by three women alone. Ms. LeCrone, often responding to both pulse and melody in the music at the same time, creates spatially multidimensional works that make her dancers look galvanized both above and below the waist. She has a sense of gesture and a feeling for footwork.”
In 2010 Emery founded The Young Choreographers Showcase, a performance series that gives talented young choreographers the opportunity to present their work in New York City free of charge.
Emery joined New Chamber Ballet in 2008 as a dancer. Since being named its choreographer-in-residence she has created Chamber Dances, Virtuosa and Caprice for the company, which also performs her Five Songs for Piano. She resides in New York City and continues to teach, perform, and choreograph.
Photo by: Matt Murphy
Read the Wall Street Journal's profile: Stepping Into The Future With Emery LeCrone (November 2010)
INTERVIEW:
Emery LeCrone in conversation about dancing and choreographing. (February 2010)
When did you first start ballet?
My mom started my sisters and I in ballet so she could have some free time for herself. She wanted us to gain discipline, and I'm sure the physical activity was a plus as well. I was around 4 or 5 years old. I started with creative movement classes, where we jumped over various stuffed animals for an hour. What four-year-old child wouldn't like that?
Where did you train?
I trained at the Greensboro Ballet, the University of The North Carolina School of the Arts, the School of American Ballet, and the North Carolina Dance Theatre
How did you join New Chamber Ballet?
In 2007, I moved to New York from North Carolina. I was taking class at Steps on Broadway, and Miro approached me and asked me if I would be interested in performing with his company. I was looking for more performance opportunities and gladly accepted.
What do you like about NCB?
I like the size of NCB. We all get to dance a lot and everyone really gets to know each other. It is a very close knit community.
What do you love most about being a dancer?
Performing and learning. Pushing my body to physical extremes.
... and what do you love least?
Auditioning and taking class. Since I have begun choreographing it has become even more important to make the effort to stay in the classroom. It is important to remain a student while becoming a teacher.
When did you get into choreographing?
I created my first work for North Carolina Dance Theater II in 2006. I was a member of the company at the time and was choreographing on myself and my peers.
What do you love about choreographing?
I like being able to create something and then have the opportunity to sit back and observe it. I also like the freedom to make changes within a step or within a new work. As a dancer I try to absorb someone else's movement and aesthetic, while as a choreographer I create my own.
Earlier this year [2010] you created your first work for New Chamber Ballet. How does this compare to your experiences making ballets for other companies?
I know the dancers here very well. I know their strengths and their weaknesses, and they know mine. We are also good friends, so there is a lot of trust and comfort in the room.
What is the hardest part about choreographing?
Editing yourself and your work, and listening to the energy in the room. The place and the dancers your are working with can inform your work in a very positive way, as long as you stay open to all realms of possibility. You must balance daily the ability to take risks and move forward and the chance to go back and re-do something.
What would you like your contribution to the dance world to be?
Every dancer and choreographer is currently making a huge contribution to the art form just by staying involved and keeping it alive through their performances and creations. That is what I hope most for my work. That it provides more jobs and opportunities in the dance world. That it inspires new fans, supporters, and whole generations of new artists.