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We strive to present original and impactful dance productions that educate, entertain, and inspire, portraying unifying narratives that are often historical and timeless. Through each meticulously composed work, we aim to reflect on our past, examine our present, and manifest a more equal, just, and inclusive future for all beings. It is our mission to provide fulfilling experiences for our professional dancers and community members, and move forward with tangible action.
OUR STORY
Mélange Dance Company was founded in 2014 by Founding Artistic Director, Monica Ordoñez and Executive Director, Alexa Erck Lambert. Mélange was born drawing inspiration from the beauty and strength in diversity of our dancers’ various cultures, backgrounds, identities, abilities, and techniques. The artistic vision is guided by Ordoñez's aesthetic as a choreographer, which is rooted in a harmonious connection between movement, music, and cohesive narrative. As the company's development has progressed, we have realized our mission of communicating relevant societal themes through dance, telling a variety of engaging and important stories which remind us of our shared humanity, often pulling the little known, feminist stories into the limelight.
We are a New Orleans-based nonprofit presenting unique productions that are rich, diverse, and thought provoking. The content of our shows is original and meticulously constructed to reflect the research and thought that goes into the creation of our work. Our unique productions have become known to be all encompassing in our portrayal of poignant themes. The narratives evolve with thoughtful shifts in tone and emotion for an overall engaging experience and are often supported by film, set design, and time period costuming to make the whole vision seamlessly come to life. It is our mission to present meaningful, and accessible contemporary dance productions that can transcend barriers and inspire us all to act for a better world.
Since our inception, we are honored to have been able to produce eight ambitious evening length productions, receiving a Gambit Classical Arts Award for Outstanding Choreography, Evening Length, along with several nominations. During the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic, we postponed our next major premiere addressing our climate crisis, RISE for Mother Earth. We are grateful to have creatively kept dance alive when the world needs it the most, via a residency at Longue Vue House and Gardens, multimedia projects, and collaborations with like minded, local organizations to address and communicate intersectional issues of climate change through dance. We have also taken this time to reflect and deepen the impact of our work by inspecting our processes of being and creating, while strategizing our commitment to anti-racism, liberation, inclusion, and diversity, to ensure that we are truly serving the communities that we strive to represent. We look forward to continuing our passion of presenting unique, meaningful dance and hope to welcome you back to the theater soon! Thank you for your support!
OUR TEAM
Jennifer is excited to costume design for Mélange again. Jennifer is originally from Wisconsin and received a BFA in costume design from The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee in their professional theatre training program. Jennifer is the costume shop supervisor at The New Orleans Opera. She has designed costumes for Expressions in America at The World War II Museum. She has designed costumes for The Nutcracker at The Mahalia Jackson Theatre. Jennifer is also designing for the upcoming production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at Le Petit.
OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Alix Tarnowsky
Erica Salm Rench
Jarina Carvalho
Justice Hues
Kristina Ganssle
Laura Rochon
Michael Tebeleff
Nicole Buckels
OUR NAME
Mélange is inspired by the diversity of our dancers’ cultures, backgrounds and styles. We believe in the strength and beauty of representing and highlighting this diversity while maintaining a cohesive and unique style, creating what NOLA Dance Reader described as “a wealth of well-trained, well-rehearsed dancers with confidence and great physical facility”. Creating something beautiful out of a varied and diverse mix of unique ingredients is a NOLA tradition of which we are proud to be a part!
OUR DONORS AND SPONSORS
Thank you to our donors and sponsors. As a non-profit contemporary dance company, we rely on the support and donations of our community to continue to offer free dance classes twice a week, create and present innovative, poignant, and socially conscientious productions, and support local artists and staff by paying them for their expertise to help make our productions professional.
