GUEST CHOREOGRAPHER BIOGRAPHIES
IHSAN RUSTEM was born in
London and studied from
1998–2000 at the
Rambert School of Ballet
and Contemporary Dance,
during in which time he
was a member of the
National Youth Dance Company. His
professional performance career began
in the UK with Matthew Bourne’s
Adventures in Motion Pictures; in
Germany at Ballet Theater Munich
(Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz);
Introdans in the Netherlands; and in
Switzerland as a founding member of
both the Stadt Theater Bern Ballett
(Cathy Marston) and the Tanz Luzerner
Theater. Ihsan has worked with many of
today’s leading choreographers including
Mats Ek, Jirí Kylián, Hans van Manen and
Paul Lightfoot and Sol León; has
originated roles in works by Matthew
Bourne, Alexander Ekman, Wayne
McGregor, Hofesh Shechter, Stijn Celis,
Guilherme Bothello, Cayetano Soto; and
has performed further works by William
Forsythe & Twyla Tharp, amongst others.
He works extensively with and regularly
assists choreographer Patrick Delcroix.
Ihsan won the Silver Medal at the
Fewster Cecchetti Scholarship and
subsequently went on to represent the
UK in 2000 at the International Ballet
Competition in Melbourne, Australia,
where he was the recipient of the
Capezio Prize.
In 2010, Sarah Slipper invited Ihsan to
Portland to create his first commission
for a company. The resulting work,
State of Matter, went on to receive
international success, winning both the
Sadler’s Wells Global Dance Contest in
2011 and the Audience Choice Award
at the 25th International Competition
for Choreographers in Hannover,
Germany. Rustem has since gone on to
choreograph for Hubbard Street Dance
Chicago 2, Istanbul State Ballet MDT,
Lucerne Dance Theater Switzerland,
BYU Contemporary Dance Theater &
Theater Ballet Utah USA, Würzburg Ballet
Germany, DSC Company Italy, Akbank
Sanat Istanbul, Interdans Festival
Belgium, Palucca Schule Dresden and
Holland’s ArtEz Dansacademie. He has
choreographed three original for works
for Northwest Dance Project to date, his
first work State of Matter in 2010, and in
2012 he returned to Portland to create
Mother Tongue.
Ihsan regularly teaches for companies
and universities internationally and
was the 2014 recipient of Hubbard
Street Dance Chicago’s International
Commissioning Project.
LUCAS CRANDALL began
training in dance at the age
of 14. In 1980 he obtained
his first professional
contract with the Ballet du
Grand Theatre de Geneve.
In 1985, he joined
Nederlands Dans Theater where he first
worked with HSDC’s Artistic Director, Jim
Vincent. After performing with the
Nederlands Dans Theater for two years,
Crandall returned to the Ballet du Grand
Theatre, working with choreographers
including Ohad Naharin, Jirí Kylián, Mats
Ek and Christopher Bruce. In 1996 he
became the company’s Rehearsal
Director. Lucas then went to Hubbard
Street Dance Chicago in 2000 to serve
as the renowned company’s Artistic
Associate. Lucas Crandall has also
served on faculty with the Lou Conte
Dance Studio, as well as ballet and
repertory instructor for master classes
throughout the country. Creating works
since 1982, his pieces have been
performed in the US and abroad. Lucas
has led master classes and workshops
for the Northwest Dance Project and
created Triptych for the company in 2006
and Blue in 2008. In 2010, Lucas
returned to Nederlands Dans Theater 1
where he served as Repetitor through
2012. Since then, Lucas has served as a
guest teacher for the Ballet du Grand
Théâtre de Geneve, guest Ballet Master
for Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal and
Rehearsal Director for Northwest Dance
Project. Lucas returned to Hubbard
Street Dance Chicago in April 2013 to
serve as the company’s Ballet Master.
Lucas will return to Portland in June
2015 to premiere his third original work
for Northwest Dance Project, at the
Summer Splendors shows in
collaboration with Chamber Music
Northwest.
DANCER BIOGRAPHIES
SAMANTHA CAMPBELL
Samantha Campbell
is from Salt Lake City,
Utah. She attended the
University of Utah as a
Ballet major and graduated
with a B.F.A. in May 2007.
She was a member of Utah Ballet for
three years while at the University,
danced with Alabama Ballet and danced
on scholarship at the Lou Conte Dance
Studio (Hubbard Street Dance Chicago).
Samantha has danced original roles in
Northwest Dance Project works by Didy
Veldman, Lucas Crandall, Sarah Slipper,
Donald McKayle, James Canfield, Patrick
Delcroix, Wen Wei Wang, Andrea Miller,
Pedro Dias, Loni Landon, Benoit-Swan
Pouffer, Noam Gagnon, Edgar Zendejas,
Maurice Causey, Lauren Edson, Carla
Mann and Minh Tran.
ELIJAH LABAY
Elijah Labay, born in
Victoria, British Columbia,
Canada, started training
at Ballet Arts Academy
in Spokane, Washington.
In 2004, Elijah joined
Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet
Professional Division and then attended
the Fellowship Program at The Ailey
School on full scholarship. He received
a Professional Advancement Award
at Jacob’s Pillow to work with Aszure
Barton, Helen Pickett, and Tero Saarinen.
In 2009, Elijah joined Florida Dance
Theatre directed by Carol Erkes and had
the oppor