Alejandro Cerrudo is a Chicago-based ballet dancer and choreographer. This summer he is bringing yet another composition to the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. “Little Moral Jump” is a ballet that is very much one of Cerrudo’s. It allows dancers to break out of ballet standards, and achieve Cerrudo’s goal of surprising the audience. It’s not the first time he’s worked in Aspen though.
Last year, Cerrudo put together a piece called “Silent Ghost” for the company. He’s spent time working in Aspen for a few years now — in addition to his own work in Chicago.
Cerrudo said he can never focus for too long. He tries to be surprising on stage in the way he directs his dancers to tangle through each other, and hold each other face-to-face. Cerrudo also works with a blank canvas when he brings a pieces to a company.
“I give a hint of what I want, but then we all discover together what the final thing is,” Cerrudo said. “I don’t come with a preconceived idea.”
The final product Cerrudo creates is exactly what led Tom Mossbrucker, one of the founders of the company, to commission him to choreograph a piece.
There’s something about the way the dancers move in a Cerrudo piece, Mossbrucker said. You always have one moment that sticks in your head long after you’ve left the theater.
“I connect to his work. I could look at someone else’s work — maybe it’s beautiful, maybe it’s well-crafted and could be very poetic to you, but it doesn’t connect to me somehow,” Mossbrucker said. “His work always connects to me.”
Cerrudo’s work will be on display this weekend as the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet opens its summer season.
