Forbes magazine’s 400 Richest in Americans list ranks Nancy Walton Laurie – of the Wal-Mart Waltons – at no. 116. And what is she doing with her wealth? Luckily for arts lovers, she’s plowing it into dance.

You can see the tangible effects of her investment on West 26th Street. Deep in the heart of artsy Chelsea, Ms. Laurie has built a new studio and theater. It will house the Cedar Lake Dance Ensemble, a contemporary ballet company she founded three years ago. On October 24, Cedar Lake will inaugurate its new theater with a debut program featuring the work of three up-and-coming choreographers: Jodie Gates, formerly of the Joffrey Ballet and Ballet Frankfurt; Edwaard Liang, a New York City Ballet soloist; and Benoit-Swan Pouffer, Cedar Lake’s artistic director.

The process of setting up shop in New York didn’t happen over night. “I looked for a year and a half to find column-free space. I saw only four places that worked,” Ms. Laurie said. The space she eventually found used to be Annie Leibowitz’s photography studio – and it brings a performing-arts buzz to a visual-arts neighborhood.

What you can’t see immediately is the level of commitment to the dancers and choreographers. The 32 dancers in Cedar Lake were given 52-week contracts, which is rare for such a small, new company. “I’d like our dancers to be here and not have other jobs eight hours a day,” Ms. Laurie said.

Choreographers often face tight restrictions on their time with dancers, which can be a result of union contracts or the cost of studio rentals. But at Cedar Lake, the choreographers who were asked to create work were given an unlimited amount of time in which to work. “I was able to say to the choreographers, ‘How long do you need?’ ” Mr. Pouffer said.

Mr. Pouffer, who used to dance with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and other companies, knows how unusual that is. “At Ailey we’d have 28 days. It’s a lot of stress,” he said.

Though Ms. Laurie originally started the Cedar Lake ensemble in her hometown of Columbia, Mo., she moved it here this year. Mr. Pouffer first became involved with the company when he traveled to teach a master class in Missouri. Ms. Laurie brought him on board first as resident choreographer, then as artistic director.

When he set about the task of finding dancers, he knew he was looking for dancers with strong ballet technique and modern dance exposure but also something more elusive. “They need to have passion first, then technique,” he said.

The upcoming program is designed to give audiences a seamless connection between the dance works and music; during what would be intermission, musicians will perform so that the audience members can have a choice of stretching their legs or enjoying an extra performance. Whether Cedar Lake can produce dance that takes the art form forward remains to be seen. But what is certain is that, as a patron, Ms. Laurie has created ample opportunity for that to happen.

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The Brooklyn campus of Long Island University has opened a shiny new venue – the Kumble Theater. (And don’t whine: It’s very easy to get to.) Next weekend, the Brooklyn Ballet will make its debut in the 320-seat theater. This company, led by choreographer Lynn Parkerson, has presented works outside of New York, and as part of the outdoor Take Ballet to the Streets community program.

For the company’s first evening length engagement, Ms. Parkerson has created an hour-long work titled “Mystery Sonatas,” set to Heinrich Biber’s music of the same name. A violinist and pianist will perform on stage with the dancers. The style of the work is rooted in Ms. Parker’s ballet training, but it retains the influences she gathered while studying the techniques of Martha Graham, Jose Limon, and Isadora Duncan.

“I found that I was still curious about ballet,” she said, when asked why she returned to the classical form.

Though audiences can catch the Brooklyn Ballet on stage for a limited time, public school students throughout the borough can see them almost year round. The company’s community outreach program, Elevate, teaches schoolchildren the fundamentals of movement and ballet.

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If you’ve found yourself dazzled by director Zhang Yimou’s movies – “Hero,” “House of Flying Daggers,” and “Raise the Red Lantern” – you may want to find your way to the Brooklyn Academy of Music this week.

The National Ballet of China takes the stage tonight with the ballet version of “Raise the Red Lantern”- under the direction of Mr. Zhang. This dramatic story of a concubine and the older man who buys her is told with a ballet vocabulary, stunning use of color, and a strong narrative. This kind of crossover – between the popular and the high arts – has enormous potential to build audiences. But given the lack of creativity in Hollywood, filmmakers should be looking to choreographers for a little help.

Cedar Lake Dance Ensemble’s “An Evening of Three Choreographers” will be performed October 24, 25, 27, 28 & 29, and November 3, 4, 5, 10, 11 & 12 (547 W. 26th St. between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues, 212-868-4444.

Brooklyn Ballet’s “Mystery Sonatas” will be performed October 21, 22 & 23 (75 DeKalb Avenue at Flatbush Avenue, 718-488-1601).

“Raise the Red Lantern” will be performed October 11-15 (30 Lafayette Avenue between Ashland Place and St. Felix Street, 718-636-4100).

pcatton@nysun.com