Lawrence P. Cassella (1976-2015)

Member of Ivy Baldwin Dance 2003-2014

“For the purposes of a neat and tidy website, we will keep this biography short and on point, focusing on the more pertinent details of Lawrence’s later years. Life for our hero truly began when he put on his first dance belt, discovering the duality of a snug fit and sense of freedom. He had found the path that would lead him to eternal happiness. He has danced for such luminaries as Kraig Patterson, Daniel Charon, Faye Driscoll, Doug Varone, Jeremy Nelson, Netta Yerushalmy, Melissa Briggs, Katie Workum, and Karinne Keithley, and at last, Ivy Baldwin. With her hearty Floridian constitution, and keen sense of otherworldly talent, she has been able to withstand ten years of dancemaking with Lawrence: ten years of incessant tomfoolery, endless quoting of movies, TV shows, and songs, of his undying devotion to Tori Amos, updates on her new albums and tour dates, constant stories of dog shenanigans, the viewing of pictures of said dogs as well as of his eleven nieces and nephews. She even accepts his unconventional biographies. She has laughed with him, cried with him, sweated with him, hugged and kissed him, and pushed him to explore the oddities of human experience. She has kept him around for ten long years. And for this, he is grateful.”

Lawrence received a 2015 Bessie Award for “the ability to be smooth, strong, fast, fearless, dangerously sexy, and bizarrely hilarious. For more than a decade of creation in a richly intertwined collaboration with choreographer Ivy Baldwin.”

Read TimeOut New York’s profile of Lawrence