Laura Ward/Octavia Cup Dance Theatre

Canadian born, New York City resident, Laura V. Ward founded Octavia Cup Dance Theatre, an expressionistic contemporary ballet company, in 1998. In recent years the company has been performing regularly in New York City and the Northeastern United States, Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Caribbean. The company has been onstage with rock stars in Central Park in a Marc Bolan tribute, danced to Stravinsky with a symphony in Queens, NY, done outreach work with kids in Harlem and the East Village and performed with Jazz musicians in the Caribbean including Barbara Morrison and Lillian Boutte.

Octavia Cup aims to challenge both the dancers and the audience to delve a little deeper into their own shadows and mirrors with a sense of humor and absurdity. The choreography is usually on pointe, but the movement expands well beyond the conventional forms of ballet as so clearly stated by Jack Anderson from the New York Times “instead of having dancers skim with balletic grace, she often had them stagger”. Laura collaborates with other artists from all over the world to create multi-layered spectacles rich with imagery, feelings, and ideas. The current team consists of artists spanning 5 continents and 8 countries. Each piece is presented in a nonlinear kaleidoscopic manner, providing drama and resonance, reaching into the secret soul spaces that thrum beneath the surface of everyday life.

Find out more at www.octaviacup.org

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