Isadora Duncan Dance Awards » The Izzies http://izzies.org Celebrating Bay Area Dance Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:29:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 en hourly 1 Celebrating 20 Years of the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards http://izzies.org/2008/celebrating-20-years-of-the-isadora-duncan-dance-awards/ http://izzies.org/2008/celebrating-20-years-of-the-isadora-duncan-dance-awards/#comments Fri, 22 Aug 2008 23:59:09 +0000 admin http://izzies.org/?p=62 Celebrating 20 Years of the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards
A Brief History written by Christine Eibel

The Bay Area Dance Coalition, our regional dance service organization from the mid-1970’s to the mid-1990’s, established the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards – the Izzies – in 1986. The board at that time was comprised of over twenty representatives from the dance community who brought a range of viewpoints representing large institutions, to smaller dance companies, to independent choreographers.
The awards were created as a way to both celebrate and promote the diversity and vitality of the Bay Area dance community.
While awarding accomplishment in the arts was not a new concept, it was one that was thoroughly debated by this membership-based service organization before the event was launched. Some were concerned that picking award recipients would fuel competition amongst local artists. But in the end the inclusiveness of the nomination process and the celebratory spirit of the awards created a great deal of forward momentum both within and on behalf of local dance.
The first event was held in the auditorium of the old Asian Art Museum in Golden Gate Park, which was attached to the M. H. de Young Museum before it was re-built. The Master of Ceremonies was Stephen Goldstine, a committed dance lover, who was then Chair of the California Arts Council and President of the San Francisco Art Institute.

The turnout exceeded expectations, and the event did indeed bring different strands of the dance community together. A beautiful commemorative program was designed by Cal Anderson, and etched crystal awards were created by an artist at the California College of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts).

By this time the AIDS epidemic was reaching far into the dance community. The first awards ceremony included a tribute to dancer/choreographer Ed Mock, with a moving speech by dancer Elvira Marta and a slide show created by then Executive Director of Footwork (Ed Mock’s home studio), Vernon Fuquay. The dance community lost Vernon to AIDS two years later, along with many other talented artists and arts workers. As a result, The Parachute Fund for dance community members with life-threatening illnesses was formed and still exists today.

The Izzies grew through the years to include live performances and an expanded nomination and review process. Despite the untimely demise of our dance service organization (then re-named Dance Bay Area), the Izzies continued. The event was moved to different venues from the small Brady Street Dance Studio to Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The review committees, over a period of many years, attended hundreds — or perhaps thousands — of performances to be sure their knowledge was current.

To this day, the Izzies remain the singular vehicle for our community’s recognition of artistic accomplishment in dance.
The awards ceremony brings all of Bay Area dance together to celebrate one another and the multi-faceted creative spirit which characterizes our region. Congratulations to all who have made the Izzies such a success this year, and kudos to the bearers of the flame who kept them alive through twenty years of ferment and change.

]]> http://izzies.org/2008/celebrating-20-years-of-the-isadora-duncan-dance-awards/feed/ 0 Celebrating Bay Area Dance http://izzies.org/2008/the-isadora-duncan-dance-awards-committee/ http://izzies.org/2008/the-isadora-duncan-dance-awards-committee/#comments Wed, 28 May 2008 06:44:29 +0000 admin http://izzies.org/?p=3 The Isadora Duncan Dance Awards recently honored Bay Area dance artists at the Bay Area Dance Awards.

The winners were announced at a free, open-to-the-public ceremony at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Forum on Monday, April 28th, 2008.

The winners are shown in BOLDFACE CAPS. The other nominees are also listed, in regular type.

Please see our Gallery for images of the artists and of the reception. Ceremony images coming soon.

COMPANY PERFORMANCE

  • Jess Curtis/Gravity — Under the Radar
  • Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet — The Hierarchical Migration of Birds and Mammals
  • LIKHA-Pilipino Folk Ensemble — Kadayawan
  • Loco Bloco Drum & Dance Ensemble & Fogo Na Roupa Drum & Dance Ensemble — Bateria Bay-Lleza de San Francisco y Grupo los Locos por Samba

ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE

  • Danny Luong, Peter Luong — Lion Leaping Through the Plum Blossom Mountain to Reach the High Green, Leung’s White Crane Lion and Dragon Dance Association
  • Andrea Flores, Brandon Freeman, Anne Zivolich — Scissors/Paper/Rock, Brenda Way/ODC Dance Company
  • Brett Conway, John Michael Schert, Benjamin Wardell, Keelan Whitmore — The Hierarchical Migration of Birds and Mammals, Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet
  • Jennifer Bishop-Orsulak, Kara Davis, Julian DeLeon, Heidi Schweiker, Nol Simonse — 10 Studies on the Vicissitudes of Grief, Janice Garrett & Dancers
  • Kara Davis, Nol Simonse — Exit Wound

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE

  • Ibrahima Diouf — JUSAT, Diamono Coura West African Dance Company
  • Alison Hurley — Full Evening, Savage Jazz Dance Company
  • Amara Tabor Smith — Give Your Hands to Struggle, in Urban Bush Women
  • Hearan Chung — Shin Kal Deh Shin Mu, Hearan Chung
  • Nol Simonse — Full Evening, Janice Garrett & Dancers
  • Tara Catherine Pandeya — Shodiana, Tara Catherine Pandeya

Music/Text/Sound

  • Abbos Kosimov — Shodiana

    • and

  • Under the Radar team with musical direction by Matthias Herrmann — Under the Radar
  • Imani’s Dream — Shout
  • Andrew Wass — Coping Mechanisms
  • Sean Dorsey, Ben Kessler (with Alex Kelly, Jeffrey Alfonsus Mooney) — Bullied

VISUAL DESIGN

  • Jo Kreiter, David Fredrickson & Stephen McCaffery/Figureplant, Sean Riley — Live Billboard Project, Flyaway Productions
  • Zhao Dynasties — Peony Performing Arts
  • Elaine Buckholtz, Lucy H G, paige starling sorvillo — thirty-seven isolated events, blindsight
  • Matthew Antaky, Eimaj Designs — Flood, Liss Fain Dance
  • Michael Bernard Loggins, Kim Epifano, Ron Reisner, Michael Stasiuk — Fears of Your Life, Kim Epifano’s Epiphany Productions & AXIS Dance Company

CHOREOGRAPHY

  • Under the Radar team with direction by Jess Curtis — Under the Radar
  • Janice Garrett — 10 Studies on the Vicissitudes of Grief
  • Margaret Jenkins (with Melanie Elms) — Waypoint
  • paige starling sorvillo — thirty-seven isolated events
  • Scott Wells — Gym Mystics & Wrestling with Affection

RESTAGING/REVIVAL/RECONSTRUCTION nominees

  • Misa Flamenca, Miguel Santos, Theatre Flamenco
  • 3 Epitaphs Patrick Corbin, Company C
  • Aunis, Jean-Claude Ciappara, San Francisco Ballet
  • Blue Suede Shoes, Dennis Nahat, Ballet San Jose
  • Sleeping Beauty, Helgi Tomasson, San Francisco Ballet

SUSTAINED ACHIEVEMENT Honorees

  • 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

SPECIAL AWARDS Honorees

  • Gabriela Shiroma – Diaspora Negra
  • Chitresh Das – Kathak at the Crossroads
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