One of the striking aspects of Norbert De La Cruz III’s choreography is his ability to transform chaotic scenes into organized formations seemingly in an instant, the viewer unable to discern how he got the dancers from there to here. Add his gift for telling poignant human stories and you can see why his work is in such demand.
So much so that two Dallas companies are premiering works by the New York-based De La Cruz within a week of one another. The commissions from Bruce Wood Dance and Dallas Black Dance Theatre follow a duet he created last year for presenter TITAS’ annual gala, starring one performer from each troupe. By the time the year ends, De La Cruz will have made eight new pieces in 2023.
He has been on the radar of the artistic directors of both companies for a while.
“I like creating an ecosystem where we’re observing a world develop and I’m not feeding you who the protagonist is, who should be leading the scene,” De La Cruz says in an interview at the Bruce Wood Dance studios following a run through of the new work.
Premiering Nov. 17 at Moody Performance Hall, Arrival is inspired by a wordless illustrated book De La Cruz received as a gift. The book, by Shaun Tan, tells the story of a man who must leave his impoverished homeland for another country, where he has to navigate a new language and culture and figure out how to feed and shelter himself.
De La Cruz, 35, related to it because of his own experiences. Born in the Philippines, he immigrated with family to the United States when he was 3.
In Arrival, the protagonist is an immigrant seen clinging to a ragdoll and a framed picture he carries in a suitcase. He is surrounded by other panicky travelers and people who don’t understand what the immigrants are going through.
“The book has a big-city vibe like New York, people arriving on trains and ships, the historical processing of immigrants, the bureaucratic systems of being checked and approved, the confusion of being labeled, and the nature of what it means to gain citizenship and access to a place,” De La Cruz says. “I think that’s really powerful for me because my family had to go through this process of being assigned a role in society and proving one’s worth … I understand what it means, the moral obligation for this generation to pay homage to the shoulders we stand on.”
Critical Mass, the piece for Dallas Black Dance Theatre premiering Nov. 10 at the Wyly Theatre, isn’t as narrative, but also features a protagonist under duress.
“It’s a cycle of him experiencing different interactions, but it’s more of a meditation on reclaiming one’s peace of mind,” De La Cruz says. “After dealing with so much pain and trauma and feeling broken, he reaches this critical mass of needing to involve other bodies. My protagonist cannot thrive until he has created a group, until he has created a community … It’s more physical. It has a fierce quality to it.”
Growing up in Los Angeles in the 1990s, De La Cruz discovered dance as a potential profession through MTV music videos. “That was a fantasy that I created in my early life,” he says, “that this is a form of expression, this is a beautiful life, to dance on stage and share joy. Pop culture inspired me.”
After accompanying a friend to a hip-hop class at age 11 or 12, he was eventually drawn into the world of ballet, which always has a shortage of talented boys interested in dancing.
He first received a scholarship for a program aimed at inner-city kids called Everybody Dance LA. He wound up studying with Vera Ninkovic, who had trained at the Royal Ballet School in London, and Marat Daukayev, who had been a principal dancer at the Kirov Ballet and founded a ballet school in Los Angeles.
After attending Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, the West Coast equivalent of the New York school featured in the film Fame, he went to The Juilliard School, where his career was launched. His first starring role was in a piece called Busk that postmodern master Aszure Barton created for Juilliard students. The year after graduating, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet commissioned his first choreography. He went on to tour Europe with Barton’s company and to dance with Ballet Torino and Complexions Contemporary Ballet.
“It started as just a hobby, but as I got more validation from teachers and friends that, ‘You’re actually good at this,’ there was an arrival of, ‘You are meant to dance.’ I felt the improvement in every single class, so to find some sense of completion made it more like I had a responsibility to be a part of it. I felt like I was part of a community, something I never felt in sports. So I deviated from my parents’ plan and became an artist, which is a big fear for an immigrant family.”
Early on, teachers told his parents “your son is very good at this,” De La Cruz remembers. “They were worried that I was improving, too, but they had to believe and trust my teachers when they would go out of their way to go to my house to tell them, ‘We’re going to encourage your son to apply for Juilliard.’ A lot of teachers can just sweep you under the rug. You’re just another dancer that comes through the academy.”
Dancing for Barton, he realized the power of dance to move him and audiences, what it made him and them feel.
“The design, the intricacy of counts and gestures, the unconventional pathways of form and technique, the conventional ideas that were rearranged made you learn on the spot,” he says. “All the time, you’re challenged. You never knew if you were right or wrong, but you knew that you were meant to be there because your body served the story. At the end of the day, all the madness that you dealt with as a dancer, you see the piece and you’re proud that you’re a part of a beautiful thing.”
Now retired from dancing to focus on choreography, De La Cruz understands that while he tells his family’s story through his work, he also must think about the future. He travels constantly, making new dances, and has an eye toward becoming a university professor and finding the security of tenure.
“I do this to let the De La Cruz name be known,” he says, “that we were here in the 21st century.”
Details
Dallas Black Dance Theatre’s “Directors Choice” also includes the premiere of Nejla Yatkin’s The Return and performances of Francesca Harper’s Instinct 11/1 and Alvin Ailey’s Reflections in D. Nov. 11-12 at 7:30 p.m. at Wyly Theatre, 2400 Flora St. $35-$65. attpac.org. dbdt.com.
Bruce Wood Dance’s “Soar” also includes performances of Wood’s Home and artistic director Joy Bollinger’s In My Your Head. Nov. 17-18 at 8 p.m. and Nov. 19 at 2 p.m. at Moody Performance Hall, 2520 Flora St. $25-$100. attpac.org. brucewooddance.org.
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