Growing a Dance Company in Buffalo - Buffalo Spree
23/09/09 21:40 Filed in: LehrerDance Reviews
Growing a dance company in Buffalo
By Nancy Galeota-Wozny
Buffalo has had its share of big dance moments. Kathleen Crofton, also known as Pavlova’s baby, ran a school and a company that toured with Rudolf Nureyev in the 1970s. Many were thrilled when native son Neil Haskell made it to the final three in the second season of the Fox TV hit So You Think You Can Dance. Now that two big-time players, Jon Lehrer of LehrerDance and Joe Cipolla of Configurations Dance Company, have made Buffalo their home base, the city may be heading for a whole lot more big dance moments.
Cipolla, forty-nine, not only returned to his hometown but also his home studio, the American Academy of Ballet, while Lehrer, thirty-nine, returned to his college town. Convinced that hockey-loving Buffalonians will fall for his daredevil highly athletic aesthetic, Lehrer works out of several local studios and the University at Buffalo, where his troupe is ensconced as the resident company.
Cipolla and Lehrer share another trait, as well: they are media darlings in the national dance press. Cipolla has stacked up a slew of rave reviews in the New York Times and a big spread in the Buffalo News, while Lehrer’s boyish mug graced the November 2007 cover of Dance Teacher, and he was featured in the October 2008 “Vital Signs” interview in Dance Magazine. His lead dancer, Marideth Wanat, made the coveted 2009 “25 to watch” list in the publication.
Lehrer, a Queens native, took his first dance class on a dare from his girlfriend while majoring in “undeclared” at UB. It was love at first plié, and he went on to dance with UB’s top student company, Zodiaque. Lehrer eventually left Buffalo for greener dance pastures with the Eric Hawkins Dance Company and Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, where he rose to the ranks of assistant artistic director. After a decade there, he was ready to launch his own troupe, and settled on Buffalo as the ideal place to do it. “It’s biz 101,” he says. “I didn’t want to set up shop where there were already tons of dance companies. It just didn’t make sense. I needed something a little less than Queens, and that is Buffalo.” Lehrer even talked his dancers into moving here. The UB affiliation also proved a big lure. “It’s an amazing department, and the entire faculty has been tremendously supportive of me,” says Lehrer. Jeanne Fornarola, director of dance at UB’s department of theater and dance, reports it’s been a great move for the visibility of the department. “LehrerDance provides the dance program with an array of artistic extras. In turn, Jon gets a built-in audience of dancers and a summer home to create new works for the company,” says Fornarola.
The LehrerDance strategy is two-fold—to spend a good amount of time touring, and present a home season at UB. Thus far, the plan seems to be working; the September concerts were sold out. So far, he’s traveled to Chicago, St. Louis, and Palm Springs, where he snagged first prize at the 11th Annual Dance Under the Stars Choreography Festival.
Joe Cipolla’s artistic street cred is equally impressive, with stints at Dance Theater of Harlem (DTH) and Birmingham Royal Ballet. He wandered into his first dance class at one of Maris Battalgia’s studios above Casey’s Nickelodeon bar during the summer after graduating from St. Joseph’s Collegiate. He was headed for SUNY Brockport for a degree in musical theater. “I have some natural facility,” says Cipolla, “I had great feet, legs, and turnout. Maris jumped on that.” Battaglia offered him a full scholarship, which included an opportunity to work with the famed DTH teacher and codirector, Karl Shook. Both Battaglia and Shook recognized his potential right away and, by the end of the summer, New York, not college, was his next destination. Cipolla joined DTH in 1979 and was promoted to principal the next year. Touring with DTH from 1978 to 1986 led him to London and Birmingham Ballet, where he stayed until 2001.
Cipolla spent a few years traveling back and forth from England and gathering the seeds of what would become Configuration Dance Company. In 2004, he turned down an offer to be Birmingham’s assistant director and heard the hometown call. “There’s a unique culture here, and you only realize it when you come back,” Cipolla insists.
Now working as assistant director of the American Academy of Ballet alongside Battaglia, Cipolla’s life has come full circle. For Battaglia, having her prodigy return with a dance resume that includes two major companies is a big coup for the studio. “He was so big in the dance world. He went as far as you can go, and yet he remains the same kind Joe that I knew when he was my student,” says Battaglia. “He could have taught or choreographed anywhere in the United States or Europe, but he came home.”
His next big project is Arthur of Wales: A Quest for the American Dream, a new ballet by Configuration’s resident choreographer, Michael Shannon. The piece draws from a retelling of the Arthurian myth set in the corporate world.
Lehrer has his own big project in mind, a modern dance rock opera loosely based on Herman Hesse’s classic novel Siddhartha that will premiere later this year. Both Leher and Cipolla like to think big, and they hope to be part of an effort to make Buffalo a destination city where professional dancers live and work. “Buffalo’s highly trained dancers always had to leave to work,” says Lehrer. “We want to tap into this homegrown talent so we can have a steady flow of potential company members.”
Cipolla found a kindred spirit in Lehrer. “He’s generous, confident, and not into this territorial thing,” says Cipolla. “We have this feeling of brotherhood. We have been out there, we have done it, and now we want to share it and keep it going. I know we have a long way to go, but we want Buffalo to be recognized for its dance scene. That’s what we want to do.”
By Nancy Galeota-Wozny
Buffalo has had its share of big dance moments. Kathleen Crofton, also known as Pavlova’s baby, ran a school and a company that toured with Rudolf Nureyev in the 1970s. Many were thrilled when native son Neil Haskell made it to the final three in the second season of the Fox TV hit So You Think You Can Dance. Now that two big-time players, Jon Lehrer of LehrerDance and Joe Cipolla of Configurations Dance Company, have made Buffalo their home base, the city may be heading for a whole lot more big dance moments.
Cipolla, forty-nine, not only returned to his hometown but also his home studio, the American Academy of Ballet, while Lehrer, thirty-nine, returned to his college town. Convinced that hockey-loving Buffalonians will fall for his daredevil highly athletic aesthetic, Lehrer works out of several local studios and the University at Buffalo, where his troupe is ensconced as the resident company.
Cipolla and Lehrer share another trait, as well: they are media darlings in the national dance press. Cipolla has stacked up a slew of rave reviews in the New York Times and a big spread in the Buffalo News, while Lehrer’s boyish mug graced the November 2007 cover of Dance Teacher, and he was featured in the October 2008 “Vital Signs” interview in Dance Magazine. His lead dancer, Marideth Wanat, made the coveted 2009 “25 to watch” list in the publication.
Lehrer, a Queens native, took his first dance class on a dare from his girlfriend while majoring in “undeclared” at UB. It was love at first plié, and he went on to dance with UB’s top student company, Zodiaque. Lehrer eventually left Buffalo for greener dance pastures with the Eric Hawkins Dance Company and Giordano Jazz Dance Chicago, where he rose to the ranks of assistant artistic director. After a decade there, he was ready to launch his own troupe, and settled on Buffalo as the ideal place to do it. “It’s biz 101,” he says. “I didn’t want to set up shop where there were already tons of dance companies. It just didn’t make sense. I needed something a little less than Queens, and that is Buffalo.” Lehrer even talked his dancers into moving here. The UB affiliation also proved a big lure. “It’s an amazing department, and the entire faculty has been tremendously supportive of me,” says Lehrer. Jeanne Fornarola, director of dance at UB’s department of theater and dance, reports it’s been a great move for the visibility of the department. “LehrerDance provides the dance program with an array of artistic extras. In turn, Jon gets a built-in audience of dancers and a summer home to create new works for the company,” says Fornarola.
The LehrerDance strategy is two-fold—to spend a good amount of time touring, and present a home season at UB. Thus far, the plan seems to be working; the September concerts were sold out. So far, he’s traveled to Chicago, St. Louis, and Palm Springs, where he snagged first prize at the 11th Annual Dance Under the Stars Choreography Festival.
Joe Cipolla’s artistic street cred is equally impressive, with stints at Dance Theater of Harlem (DTH) and Birmingham Royal Ballet. He wandered into his first dance class at one of Maris Battalgia’s studios above Casey’s Nickelodeon bar during the summer after graduating from St. Joseph’s Collegiate. He was headed for SUNY Brockport for a degree in musical theater. “I have some natural facility,” says Cipolla, “I had great feet, legs, and turnout. Maris jumped on that.” Battaglia offered him a full scholarship, which included an opportunity to work with the famed DTH teacher and codirector, Karl Shook. Both Battaglia and Shook recognized his potential right away and, by the end of the summer, New York, not college, was his next destination. Cipolla joined DTH in 1979 and was promoted to principal the next year. Touring with DTH from 1978 to 1986 led him to London and Birmingham Ballet, where he stayed until 2001.
Cipolla spent a few years traveling back and forth from England and gathering the seeds of what would become Configuration Dance Company. In 2004, he turned down an offer to be Birmingham’s assistant director and heard the hometown call. “There’s a unique culture here, and you only realize it when you come back,” Cipolla insists.
Now working as assistant director of the American Academy of Ballet alongside Battaglia, Cipolla’s life has come full circle. For Battaglia, having her prodigy return with a dance resume that includes two major companies is a big coup for the studio. “He was so big in the dance world. He went as far as you can go, and yet he remains the same kind Joe that I knew when he was my student,” says Battaglia. “He could have taught or choreographed anywhere in the United States or Europe, but he came home.”
His next big project is Arthur of Wales: A Quest for the American Dream, a new ballet by Configuration’s resident choreographer, Michael Shannon. The piece draws from a retelling of the Arthurian myth set in the corporate world.
Lehrer has his own big project in mind, a modern dance rock opera loosely based on Herman Hesse’s classic novel Siddhartha that will premiere later this year. Both Leher and Cipolla like to think big, and they hope to be part of an effort to make Buffalo a destination city where professional dancers live and work. “Buffalo’s highly trained dancers always had to leave to work,” says Lehrer. “We want to tap into this homegrown talent so we can have a steady flow of potential company members.”
Cipolla found a kindred spirit in Lehrer. “He’s generous, confident, and not into this territorial thing,” says Cipolla. “We have this feeling of brotherhood. We have been out there, we have done it, and now we want to share it and keep it going. I know we have a long way to go, but we want Buffalo to be recognized for its dance scene. That’s what we want to do.”
BUFFALO SPREE MAGAZINE - March 2009