Jon Bond: exquisite and quirky, the Cedar Lake dancer is at home in the spotlight.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Choreographer Ohad Naharin's Decadance had the New York dance scene buzzing in the spring of 2007 when it was performed by Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. But a strange thing happened during intermission: A few minutes after the lights came up, people stopped leaving their seats. A lone dancer remained onstage--the exquisite and quirky Jon Bond. Although at first he stood still, grinning at the bewildered onlookers with a hint of mischief, soon he began gyrating, wiggling, and twisting. As the solo continued, his ultra-flexible back undulated with unencumbered joy until he exploded with grand battements that reached above his head. The improvisation lasted the entire 15-minute break, but his energy and effort never waned. Company members were not surprised. "While others relax during break, Jon is probably doing seven pirouettes," says rehearsal director Alexandra Damiani. "He's always ready to dance."

Bond's combination of what artistic director Benoit-Swan Pouffer calls a "ballet bottom with a modern top" may owe something to his first love, karate. Growing up in Orange County, California, his mother always wanted him to be involved with the arts. But it was a sitcom, The Steve Harvey Show, that sparked his love of movement at age 10. "During the opening credits for the show, this guy was doing the jive with full body rolls in a red silk shirt," says Bond. "I wanted to learn how to do that!"

Although he hoped to find a studio with hip hop classes, he started jazz and tap at the Center Stage Dance Academy in Long Beach. Soon teacher Leslie Clifford encouraged him to take ballet, which he did off and on during his years there. He entered many competitions, performing both ensemble and solo contemporary pieces. After attending the Orange County High School of the Arts with a focus in commercial dance, a future in the L.A. music-video world seemed the next obvious step.

But Maurice Curry, then the director of the Joffrey Ballet School, had seen a DVD of Bond performing. He recommended the young dancer to Arthur Mitchell at Dance Theatre of Harlem, and Bond soon joined Dancing Through Barriers Ensemble, the company's second troupe. With that move, Bond's commitment to ballet solidified.

"When I first joined DTH I was still iffy about ballet," he says. "I had this whole idea that it was boring, repetitive, and feminine. But the way DTH approached it got me excited--the training, the teachers and how they worked. Once we performed at the Kennedy Center and then got to take class with The Royal Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, the Kirov, and even the Paris Opera Ballet School; that's when I fell in love with ballet. The kids from those schools were so good it was disgusting. I wanted to be like them!"

A year and a half at Dancing Through Barriers made Bond realize that while he liked mastering the rigors of classicism, his heart lay elsewhere. "I missed really moving. I couldn't decide what I wanted or who I wanted to audition for," he says. After extensive research and the prompting of a friend, Bond attended a packed Cedar Lake open audition. When he made it through all of the cuts, he was dumbfounded. "I felt like I was doing really badly," he says. "The style and movement were so different. I loved them but it felt weird on me because I had been doing straight ballet; that's not even close to what we're doing here."

Pouffer recognized Bond's passion and high-caliber technique: "He's technically superb and there is maturity in his work," Pouffer says. "Because of his competition days he has the craft of showmanship and knows what to give to the audience. But he also brings a sense of humanity and fragility."

Alexandra Damiani, the rehearsal director, initially was concerned that Bond was too commercial, but she also was soon won over. "He has this openness and hunger for new styles," she says. In little more than a year at the company, he has already danced plum roles, including the Decadance solo.

Bond looks forward to dancing at Cedar Lake for many years. "I'm learning how concert dance and a company work," he says. While he has always dreamed of dancing in Europe, as Cedar Lake has drawn a steady flow of international choreographers (including Crystal Pite and Jacopo Godani, two of Bond's favorites), that option has become less pressing.

During a recent rehearsal day, he approached company class like a performance--with the breathless enthusiasm and natural ability found more often in an eager child than a busy New Yorker. His back aligned regally and his fingertips tracing a graceful port de bras, he had a constant smile despite his intense focus. Though he has his trademark twinkle in his eye, it's no joke when he says, "Like Martha Graham or Sylvie Guillem, I want to make the books."

Lauren Kay is a New York writer and dancer and the assistant editor of Dance Retailer News.