Artist Statement:
In order for dance to evolve, we must ask ourselves, how did we get here? And how do our histories reveal themselves on our bodies? My work as a choreographer is a hybrid and ever-changing response to these questions.
My work draws from and brings awareness to the movement of everyday life. I marvel at our innate ability to reach, walk, stand, and gesture and am inspired by the kinesthetic empathy that forms between people who share space. I want to conjure radical awareness about what it means to have a body. And to remind people that dance is a vital part of living, breathing, bleeding, sweating, mourning, and celebrating our time as temporary residents of this planet.
My dances are hybrid creatures, part classical, part improvisational, part personal. I was trained in Western ballet in Los Angeles and New York City. But these canonical movements map differently on my body, a body that has been underrepresented in canon. I make modifications, bend rules and break them, as I search for movement that feels authentic. The territory of this search is fertile choreographic ground. This is a gift that immigrant voices give to the paradigm. We necessarily revamp the rules and interrogate the forms, in order to bring together multiple histories on our bodies.
I strive to make the invisible visible – from the small gesture to marginalized voices. I want to be a representative of the dance world for my communities and to represent my communities in dance, casting my work as an extension of them. I want to be living proof that a little, brown, middle-class, queer, immigrant boy existed and tackled the complexities of navigating a place in Western dance.
- Norbert L. De La Cruz III
My work draws from and brings awareness to the movement of everyday life. I marvel at our innate ability to reach, walk, stand, and gesture and am inspired by the kinesthetic empathy that forms between people who share space. I want to conjure radical awareness about what it means to have a body. And to remind people that dance is a vital part of living, breathing, bleeding, sweating, mourning, and celebrating our time as temporary residents of this planet.
My dances are hybrid creatures, part classical, part improvisational, part personal. I was trained in Western ballet in Los Angeles and New York City. But these canonical movements map differently on my body, a body that has been underrepresented in canon. I make modifications, bend rules and break them, as I search for movement that feels authentic. The territory of this search is fertile choreographic ground. This is a gift that immigrant voices give to the paradigm. We necessarily revamp the rules and interrogate the forms, in order to bring together multiple histories on our bodies.
I strive to make the invisible visible – from the small gesture to marginalized voices. I want to be a representative of the dance world for my communities and to represent my communities in dance, casting my work as an extension of them. I want to be living proof that a little, brown, middle-class, queer, immigrant boy existed and tackled the complexities of navigating a place in Western dance.
- Norbert L. De La Cruz III
Upcoming:
2021
SEPTEMBER 7th - DECEMBER 17th
Fall Semester Teaching Faculty
The Juilliard School
Fall Semester Teaching Faculty
The Juilliard School
2022
JANUARY 3-5th, 2022
LA Contemporary Dance Company
Winter Intensives
LA Contemporary Dance Company
Winter Intensives
JAN - FEB
Commissioned creative process for
"Til The Mermaid Drags You Under"
Olympic Ballet Theatre
Edmonds, WA
Live Premiere date: February 14, 2022
Commissioned creative process for
"Til The Mermaid Drags You Under"
Olympic Ballet Theatre
Edmonds, WA
Live Premiere date: February 14, 2022
JANUARY 28th, 2022
Mid-Pacific HS (Oahu, HI)
Guest Teacher
Mid-Pacific HS (Oahu, HI)
Guest Teacher
World Premiere (TBA)
Guggenheim Works & Process
in collaboration with
Adrian Danchig-Waring, Joseph Gordon,
Virginia Wagner & Kristin Sztyk
Guggenheim Works & Process
in collaboration with
Adrian Danchig-Waring, Joseph Gordon,
Virginia Wagner & Kristin Sztyk
Nov 11-Dec 3rd, 2022
Residency (Aspen, CO)
TBD
Residency (Aspen, CO)
TBD