Sustained Achievement

Sustained Achievement
For outstanding contributions spanning ten or more years in any field of Bay Area dance, including teaching, choreography, performance, writing, photography, visual design, music, support services, administration, etc.

From 1984 to 1986 there were separate Outstanding Leadership and Hall of Fame categories, and from 1986 to 1991 there was a separate Posthumous Tributes category.

2008 (2006-2007 season)

  • Miguel Santos - retired in 2007 after 20 years as Artistic Director of San Francisco’s Theatre Flamenco
  • Pam Hagen - co-founder of Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet in 1982
  • Pick School of Ballroom Dancing - teaching ballroom dancing to San Francisco since 1961

2007 (2005-2006 season)

  • Dance Program, City College of San Francisco - 70 years of dance instruction & performances
  • Remy Charlip - 20 years as choreographer, teacher and mentor
  • Helgi Tomasson - 20 years as Artistic Director, San Francisco Ballet

2006 (2004-2005 season)

  • Gamelan Sekar Jaya
  • Albirda Rose

2005 (2003-2004 season)

  • Svetlana Afanasieva
  • Mary Ann Kinkead
  • Terry Sendgraff
  • Koichi and Hiroko Tamano

2004 (2002-2003 season)

  • MALONGA CASQUELOURD was born in Douala, Cameroon in 1947. As a principal dancer of the National Congolese Dance Company and as a resident choreographer and performer with Le Ballet Diaboua, a Congolese repertory company based in Paris, he attracted an international following.
    Malonga leaves an impressive legacy of institution-building as the founder of Fua Dia Congo, a nonprofit performing arts company formed in East Palo Alto (1977) and currently based in Oakland; Congolese Dance & Drum Camp, the first and longest running Aftican dance, drum and percussion workshop (1979); and Ballet Kizingu, the youth division of Fua Dia Congo (1994). He co-founded Tanawa, the first professional Congolese Dance Company in New York City (1972), and Diata Diata, an all women’s Congolese drum ensemble (1990). He was instrumental in establishing Everybody’s Creative Arts Center, known today as Citicentre Dance Theatre in downtown Oakland, and the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival. He served on the faculty at many institutions, including New York University, Stanford University, and San Francisco State University, where he taught for 26 years.
    A pioneer, cultural ambassador and visionary leader, Malonga welcomed artists from every continent, challenging all to engage in dialogue and build bridges for cultural exchange. He encouraged the elimination of barriers between continental Africans and African Americans.
    Malonga died on June 15, 2003. His last projects included Kusum Africa, a dance-theater performance showcasing the collaborative works of African director/choreographers; Malaki Matanga 2003: Congo of Yesterday & Today; and Wa Dia Fua Yiko Dio, a project exploring themes of cultural inheritance and exchange between urban/hip hop culture and traditional Congolese culture, to be completed in the Summer of 2005.
  • LOU HARRISON, one of North America’s most original and influential composers, was best known for his luscious, prolific music for symphony, gamelan and percussion orchestras, chamber ensembles, choral groups and operas. He also composed scores for dancers and played live at dance performances. What is less known was that he danced himself, and would sometimes get up from playing the piano or hitting a gong or drum and get on stage to join the fray.
    He also worked as an accompanist, improvising for dance classes. He later said that learning how to improvise helped him with composing.
    He started his stage career at the age of two and a half and stole the show as ‘Buster’ in Daddy Long Legs. On the West Coast he appeared as a dancer and/or as an accompanist and composer for/with Bella Lewitsky, Marian Van Tuyl, Tina Flade, Carol Beals, Lenore Peters Job, Bernice van Gelder, Bodil Genkel, Louise Kloepper, Bonnie Bird, Lorie Kranzer, Tandy Beal, and Eva Soltes. In New York, he wrote music for Katherine Litz, Jean Erdman, Erick Hawkins, Merce Cunningham, Mark Morris, and Remy Charlip.
    Lou Harrison was also a skilled painter, calligrapher, type designer, essayist, critic, poet, teacher, instrument builder, and political activist. He championed causes ranging through gay rights, pacifism, environmental and ecological, the use of Esperanto, and the sign language of deaf people. He taught a course entitled ‘Music of the World’s People’ furthering the study of multi-cultural sources, which has changed what and how we hear today beyond Euro-centric music. In his early years he loved to go to the Chinese Opera. His piece for Michael Tilson Thomas’s debut with the San Francisco Symphony, A Parade for MTT, was influenced by Harrison’s love for San Francisco’s Chinese New Year’s Day Parade. He enlivened the range of musical instruments by his playful use of found objects. He learned Labanotation so he could help choreographers remember what they did from rehearsal to rehearsal. He said, ‘If you work with dancers, you must learn to dance.’

2003 (2001-2002 season)

  • Over its eight seasons, the San Francisco Butoh Festival transfixed, entertained, confounded, and shocked audiences. Conceived and founded in 1995 by Brechin Flournoy and launched in partnership with Takami Craddock, the festival pushed to shatter myths about the very definition of the Japanese dance form it celebrated. Since its groundbreaking debut, the Festival was lauded as the largest and most influential Butoh Festival in the United States, and took the lead in popularizing the art form in this country. More than 100 artists from Japan, Europe, Canada, Latin America, Asia, and the U.S. either made their Bay Area debuts at the San Francisco Butoh Festival, or premiered new works at the Festival. The San Francisco Butoh Festival established the only ongoing training center for Butoh dance in the U.S. and served as a model for similar festivals in Vancouver, Seattle, San Diego, Olympia, and New York. The festival’s most enduring legacy has been to establish an international network among artists, independent presenters, and students of Butoh dance and to advance the development of Butoh in this country.
  • The San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival is one of the country’s oldest and largest multi-cultural celebrations. What began as a series of community center concerts in 1978 has grown to present nine to twelve performances to more than 10,000 audience members annually. In the early years the Festival’s presence at the Civic Center’s Herbst Theater sent a radical message that world dance and music could hold its own alongside the ballet, opera, and symphony. Bay Area legends like Rosa Montoya, Lily Cai, Neva, the Kunirahmins, Dimensions, Cruz Luna, Suhaila Salimpour, Gamelan Sekar Jaya, Chitresh Das, Red Thistle, Khadra and Harambee drew overflow crowds. Today the Festival is a launching pad for world dance artists, be they ‘migr’s or American-born students. The Festival’s winter auditions have become a highly anticipated free public showcase, while the Festival’s arts education program, People Like Me, now introduces children ages 6-12 to world music and dance in a theatrical format.
  • Marina Hotchkiss is a founding member of LINES Ballet and as one of its principal dancers created many roles for choreographer Alonzo King. She performed for Pacific Ballet and Berlin Opera Ballet before joining LINES in the early eighties. She danced with LINES for 20 years and also performed extensively with the San Francisco Opera Ballet and as a guest artist for Smuin Ballets/SF. Throughout her career, Marina has been one of the primary dancers shaping the Bay Area’s contemporary ballet scene. She has also served as a dancer’s union representative for the SF Opera Ballet, continues to perform with dance collective The Foundry, and teaches the next generation of dancers at the San Francisco Dance Center.
  • Sally Streets, director emerita of Berkeley Ballet Theater, renowned for her teaching, has been part of Berkeley Ballet Theater since 1981. Ms. Streets grew up in Berkeley where she went to Anna Head School; she studied with Dorothy Pring in Berkeley, and later at the Russian Center. She has had several professional careers, as a performer with Mia Slavenska’s Ballet Variante and with the New York City Ballet before retiring to have children. Her most famous student, her daughter Kyra Nichols, is principal dancer with the New York City Ballet. Ms Streets made a comeback to become principal dancer with both Pacific Ballet and the Oakland Ballet. She was also ballet mistress for both those institutions; she has taught for the San Francisco Ballet, for the Royal Ballet in London, and for the New York City Ballet. She continues to teach for BBT, where, incidentally, many modern dancers take her classes. She has been resident choreographer for the Diablo Ballet, and is their Artistic Advisor

2002 (2000-2001 season)

  • Angene Feves has been a leading specialist and advocate for the preservation and appreciation of baroque dances for more than three decades. A charter member of the Oakland Ballet in the 1960s, Feves studied early Renaissance dance manuals and early music at San Francisco State University, and has since taught the history and technique of early classical dance at the University of Nevada, the San Francisco Early Music Society, San Rafael’s Dominican College, and the Civic Arts of Walnut Creek (a city-sponsored arts program she founded), as well as at innumerable other institutions and international conferences. She contributed entries on historic dance reconstruction to the International Dance Encyclopedia, and her presentations of reconstructed dances with the Consortium Antiquum’s Court Revels, where she has served as artistic director since 1970, enhance the understanding of dance and its evolution for today’s Bay Area dancers of all forms and styles.
  • Elvia Marta just marked her 20th year teaching dance at the San Francisco School of the Arts, where she is now director of the dance department. Her inspiring modern/jazz/blues classes at the School, and at Rhythm and Motion where she has taught for nearly two decades, have spurred many of her students to become award-winning choreographers and members of such companies as ODC/San Francisco and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Marta is a native of Panama who moved to the Bay Area 30 years ago and received her B.A. in dance from San Francisco State University. She was a member of the San Francisco Opera Ballet for two seasons in 1979-80 and has danced for such companies and choreographers as Roberta Flack Live, Dance Company Impulse, and Enrico Labayen.

2001 (1999-2000 season)

  • Nontsizi Cayou — During her career Ms. Cayou has contributed greatly to the field of dance education. Recently retired from her tenured position at San Francisco State University, she was primarily responsible for the campaign which led to the formation of its Department of Dance in 1986, and also became Head of the Department. This was the one of the first degree programs in the United States offering concentrations in both performance/choreography and dance ethnology. Ms. Cayou is also founder of the Wajumbe Cultural Institute, located in the heart of San Francisco’s Western Addition neighborhood at the African and African-American Center for Art and Culture.
  • Judy Job began her dance career at the age of 3 with her mother Lenore Peters Job, who with Anita Peters founded the Peters Wright Creative Dance studio in 1912, San Francisco’s oldest dance studio in continuous operation. Judy performed with the San Francisco Dance League, at UC Berkeley, at the Hungry I with Gloria Unti, and at the annual Afternoon of Dance at the Legion of Honor given by Peters Wright. She has taught and choreographed works for children and adults for over 50 years. Invited by Ruth Beckford to join the Oakland Recreation Departments, with Gwen Lewis she initiated the African Dance program, children’s classes, and classes in steel drum and Tai Chi Chuan. Recently, she has performed in “The Horse’s Mouth” and with the White Oak Project.
  • Jocelyn Vollmar has been associated with San Francisco Ballet since 1939, rising to principal dancer status in the early company and during her eight years of dancing with the early New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, le Grand Ballet du Marquis de Cuevas and the Borovansky Ballet in Australia. She again performed with San Francisco Ballet from 1956 to 1973. For almost three decades Jocelyn has shared her training from the Christensens and the wealth of her performing experience with the students at the San Francisco Ballet School .

2000 (1998-1999 season)

  • Ronn Guidi, for his dedication to bringing to contemporary audiences the beauty and excitement of early 20th century ballets of the Diaghilev repertory through revivals and restagings of the works of Nijinska and Massine for the Oakland Ballet
  • Wayne Hazzard, for his vision and dedication to the future of the Bay Area dance community through his leadership of Dancers Group Studio and development of supporting programs and services for new choreographers and performers.

1998 (1996-1997 season)

  • Rita Felciano, Dance Writer and Critic

1997 (1995-1996 season)

  • Val Caniparoli, Choreographer/Performer, San Francisco Ballet
  • Denis De Coteau, Music Director, San Francisco Ballet
  • Marcia Singman, Teacher, Berkeley High School
  • Carol T’ten, Artistic Director, Dance Through Time

1996 (1994-1995 season)

  • Marty Sohl, for accomplishments in the field of photography, spanning 10 or more years

1995 (1993-1994 season)

  • Tomm Ruud, in memoriam
  • Los Lupe’os de San Jose
  • Dimensions Dance Theater

1994 (1992-1993 season)

  • Patty Ann Farrell, lighting designer
  • Ruth Zaporah, choreographer, performer, and teacher

1993 (1991-1992 season)

  • Chang’s International Folk Dancers, for more than 54 years of teaching and producing folk dance
  • Merriem Lanova, for more than 40 years of devoted teaching and directing young dancers
  • Leigh Lightfoot and Shantee Baker, for creating and presenting 12 years of Dance On Air for KPFA

1992 (1990-1991 season)

  • Bay Area Dance Series, Jose Maria Francos, Producer, for bringing together and heightening visibility for a wide spectrum of the Bay Area dance community through seven seasons
  • William (Bill) Huck, for enlightening audiences through his intelligent and engaging program notes for the San Francisco Ballet
  • San Jose Dance Theater, Paul E. Curtis, Jr., Artistic Director, and Shawn Stewart, Associate Artistic Director, for 25 years of excellence in training and providing performance experience for young dancers

1991 (1989-1990 season)

  • Performing Arts Workshop, Gloria Unti, Artistic Director, for 25 years of service in the field of dance education
  • Jim Sohm, Principal Dancer with the San Francisco Ballet, for 15 years of performance with the company

1990 (1988-1989 season)

  • Nontsizi Cayou, Chair, Department of Dance at San Francisco State University, for establishing a dance program in the School of Creative Arts and an undergraduate degree program in Dance Ethnology at San Francisco State University
  • Performance Alliance, Diane McKallip, Director, for 10 years of presenting emerging choreographers
  • Frank Shawl And Victor Anderson, for establishing and maintaining a center for modern dance during the past 30 years

1989 (1987-1988 season)

  • Sandra Woodall, for contributions to the field of costume design for dance
  • CAL Performances, for contributions to the field of dance as a presenter during the past 20 years
  • Stanley Kahn, for a lifetime of contributions to the field of tap dance
  • Malonga Casquelord, Artistic Director, Fua Dia Congo, for teaching and contributions to the field of African dance

1988 (1986-1987 season)

  • Lucas Hoving, for his life’s work in teaching, choreography, and performance

OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP

1987 (1985-1986 season)

  • For Service: Bruce Davis, Executive Director of City Celebration, an innovative organization that presents the annual Ethnic Dance Festival
  • Patron: Zellerbach Family Fund for its commitment to supporting ininovation in dance, theater, music, film, video, and writing

1986 (1984-1985 season)

  • For Service: Michaela Cassidy, previous Chairman and President of the Board, San Francisco Bay Area Dance Coalition, and current member of the San Francisco Ballet Association Board of Trustees
  • Patron: San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, for its leadership in funding to the dance and arts community

HALL OF FAME

1987 (1985-1986 season)

  • Welland Lathrop, dancer, choreographer, designer, and painter, and founder of the Welland Lathrop School and Dance Company
  • Ed Mock
  • Raoul Paus’, founder of the Ballet Player’s Guild of Oakland, precursor of the Oakland Ballet
  • Gloria Unti, founder of the 22-year-old Performing Arts Workshop, a place where dance and drama is taught to all members of society
  • Marian van Tuyl, dancer, choreographer, teacher and founder of the Mills College Dance Department

1986 (1984-1985 season)

  • Ruth Beckford, creator of the Dance Division of The Oakland Department of Parks and Recreation
  • The Christensen Brothers, Lew, Harold, and Willam, who for decades as dancers, choreographers, and teachers shaped the San Francisco Ballet and School
  • Isadora Duncan, San Francisco-born modern dance pioneer
  • Anna Halprin, performer and choreographer, and founder and Artistic Director of San Francisco’s Dancers Workshop
  • Russell Hartley, founder of the Archives for the Performing Arts

POSTHUMOUS TRIBUTES

1992 (1990-1991 season)

  • Akili Denianke, Artistic Director, Harambee Dance Ensemble
  • Stephen Cobbett Steinberg, writer, administrator, producer and filmmaker

1989 (1987-1988 season)

  • Joah Lowe
  • Sean O’Neil
  • Marian van Tuyl Campbell

1988 (1986-1987 season)

  • Arthur Conrad, character dancer with the Oakland Ballet, as well as choreographer, ballet and opera stage director
  • Eleanor Lauer, dancer and dance educator
  • Lenore Peters Job, teacher, administrator, and founder of Peters Wright Creative Dance School