The Isadora Duncan Dance Awards

22nd ANNUAL ISADORA DUNCAN DANCE AWARDS COMMITTEE

ANNOUNCES 2006-2007 IZZIES AWARD WINNERS AT 2008 BAY AREA DANCE AWARDS

The Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee, celebrating its 22nd anniversary, announced the names of the award winners for the 2006-2007 performance viewing season. The awardees were announced on Monday, April 28, 2008 at The Bay Area Dance Awards (BADA), presented jointly by Dancers' Group, Bay Area National Dance Week, VoiceofDance.com, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and the Izzies committee. This annual gala event highlighted the best of Bay Area dance and drew together various dance communities to celebrate their artistic efforts. Second only to New York in its plethora of dance opportunities, the Bay Area is home to an incredible richness of dance genres. The Izzies seeks to recognize dance artists by honoring their best work.

The evening included heartfelt acceptance speeches by artists often feeling stranded in a cash-poor economic climate for arts funding, performances by local companies Los Lupeños de San José and students of the San Francisco School for the Arts, as well as a sober moment of reflection for those local, national, and international dance artists who passed away during the past year. Various Bay Area luminaries provided introductions for the different categories with C.K. Ladzepko and Farah Yasmeen Shaikh performing context as Masters of Ceremony.

The Izzies awards celebrate the unique richness, diversity, and excellence of Bay Area dance. They were awarded in nine categories for outstanding achievement by dancers, choreographers, their collaborators, composers, and others contributing to the vitality and advancement of the Bay Area's dance community. The list of Izzies finalists for the viewing cycle September 1, 2006 through August 31, 2007 follows:

Music/Text/Sound – two awards given:
Abbos Kosimov "Shodiana", 2007 San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival
Under the Radar team w/ musical direction by Matthias Herrmann, "Under the Radar"

Visual Design: Jo Kreiter, David Fredrickson & Stephen McCaffery/figureplant, Sean Riley, "Live Billboard Project", Flyaway Productions

Individual Performance: Ibrahima Diouf, "JUSAT", Diamano Coura West African Dance Company, 2007 San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival

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", 2007 San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival

Company Performance: Jess Curtis/Gravity, "Under the Radar"

Restaging/Revival/Reconstruction: "Misa Flamenca", Miguel Santos, Theatre Flamenco of San Francisco

Choreography: Under the Radar team with direction by Jess Curtis, Under the Radar

Sustained Achievement: Miguel Santos of Theatre Flamenco of San Francisco

Sustained Achievement: Pam Hagen of SF Dance Center and co-founder of LINES Ballet and San Francisco Dance Center

Sustained Achievement: Pick School of Ballroom Dancing

Special Award: "Diaspora Negra", Gabriela Shiroma, Director of De Rompe y Rajas Afro-Peruvian Cultural Association

Special Award: "Kathak at the Crossroads International Festival & Symposium", Chitresh Das, director

Background on Artists & Performances

Music/Text/Sound – two awards given:

Abbos Kosimov "Shodiana", 2007 San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival Mr.Kosimov is a specialist in the dobra (frame drum). He founded the Abbos Group of National Instruments and received the title of Honored Artist of Uzbekistan. He provided the percussion for dancer Tara Catherine Pandeya, also nominated for her performance in the 2007 San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival

Under the Radar team w/ musical direction by Matthias Herrmann, "Under the Radar" - Directed by Berlin musical artist Matthias Herrmann, the musical/textual/creative Under the Radar Team is comprised of eight artists: Ulrike Bodammer (Berlin), Claire Cunningham (Glasgow), Jess Curtis (SF), Kaz Langely (England), Jörg Müller (France), Maria Francesca Scaroni (Italy), Patrick Simms (SF), and Matthias Herrmann (Berlin). Each contributed and shaped unique, original material in collaborative processes conceived by Jess Curtis.

Visual Design: Jo Kreiter, David Fredrickson & Stephen McCaffery/figureplant, Sean Riley, "Live Billboard Project", Flyaway Productions

"Live Billboard Project" introduced site-specific dance into the commercial theater of large-scale billboard advertising. Two stories above the busy, dirty sidewalk at 24th and Mission Streets in San Francisco, four female aerialists swung through the air, bounding off a 20-by-30-foot billboard that offered no products, only the question: "Does Beauty Ravish You?" Jo Kreiter directed (Flyaway Productions), David Freidrickson/figureplant provided scenic and prop elements, Stephen McCaffery/figureplant provided graphic design, and Sean Riley provided rigging expertise (Gravity Design, Inc.).

Individual Performance: Ibrahima Diouf, "JUSAT", Diamano Coura West African Dance Company, 2007 San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival

Ibrahim began dancing professionally at age 12 with Diamano Coura West African Dance Company led by Naomi and Emmy Award winner Dr. Zakariaya Diouf. His electrifying solo illustrated a youthful enthusiasm that defied gravity. Presented at the 2007 San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, by one of the Bay Area's foremost West African dance companies, the complete original work explored a personal journey and its universal expression in ritual blending traditional West African dance with contemporary American influences, and featured both traditional and pop music from Senegal and Mali.

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", 2007 San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival

This teenage dynamic duo performed the Chinese Lion Dance in the Cantonese style similar to the type preserved by Cantonese opera groups in the late 18th century. They brought to life and gave personality to the traditional costumed character by jumping atop eight poles to drumming accompaniment. Often humorous, their elevated dance symbolized the goals that human beings try to attain during their lifetimes, and the eight posts represent the obstacles and challenges encountered in life to reach those goals.

Company Performance: Jess Curtis/Gravity, "Under the Radar"

Jess Curtis founded Jess Curtis/Gravity in 2000 as a research and development vehicle for live performance engaging body-based art. "Under the Radar" dealt with issues of virtuosity, ability, and disability with an international cast of disabled and non-disabled performers.

Restaging/Revival/Reconstruction: "Misa Flamenca", Miguel Santos, Theatre Flamenco of San Francisco

"Misa Flamenca", performed by Theatre Flamenco de San Francisco at Cowell Theater, was revived from its original 1975 season. Its use of church and marriage ritual set to flamenco forms, nicely lit by Patrick Toebe, enhanced by the Spanish cape which engulfs any male with mystery and panachel was choreographed by Miguel Santos, and incorporated bits of street life, custom and ritual to evoke Spanish life.

Choreography: Under the Radar team with direction by Jess Curtis, Under the Radar

See "Company Performance" above

Sustained Achievement Awards:
These awards are given for outstanding contributions spanning ten or more years in any field of Bay Area dance. Recipients for the 2006-2007 viewing season are Pam Hagen, Miguel Santos, and Pick School of Ballroom Dancing.

Pam Hagen – 25 years
Ms. Hagen founded LINES Ballet in 1982 with Alonzo King and Robert Rosenwasser. Together they grew the company from a start-up to a national and international touring organization. Pam served as Executive Director through 2001 and as a member of the Board of Trustees (1983-2007). She helped to found San Francisco Dance Center in 1989, managing it until 2007. She oversaw the Center's move to its current home at Seventh and Market Streets. She served as a founding member of the steering committee for Bay Area Celebrates National Dance Week, as a panel member for the Art Commission's Cultural Equity Program, and as a member of the mid-Market Project Area Committee.

Miguel Santos – 40 years
Miguel Santos has been with Theatre Flamenco since its inception, serving as principal dancer and choreographer. In 1987, he assumed the role of artistic director from Adela Clara and held that post until 2007. He began his studies in classical ballet with Carmelita Maracci. His Spanish dance training began in Los Angeles in 1954, and soon thereafter he traveled to Spain where he studied with all the major flamenco teachers. Mr. Santos has performed with Teatro la Zarzuela of Madrid and later, José Greco's company, during which time he appeared in the film "Around the World in 80 Days". He also performed in Lola Montes' company. He performed in "La Traviata" for the San Francisco Opera and for the Seattle Opera with Beverly Sills. A three-time NEA Choreography Fellowship recipient, Mr. Santos' major works include "Misa Flamenca", "Concerto No. 2", and "Regionalismos", among many others. Mr. Santos has served as a panelist for the California Arts Council. He currently teaches flamenco at the San Francisco Dance Center and is artist-in-residence at Fair Oaks Elementary School in Redwood City, California.

Pick School of Ballroom Dancing – 45 years
Pick School of Ballroom Dancing was founded by Rhona Pick and her dance partner, Roy Hinton, in 1961. Rhona and Roy were the undefeated United States West Coast professional ten-dance champions. They renamed the school the Hinton Pick School of Ballroom Dancing. The dance team trained and competed throughout the U.S. and Europe representing the U.S. in world championships in Berlin (1966), Zurich (1968), at Blackpool, England and London's Royal Albert Hall many times. In 1968 Roy and Rhona founded San Francisco's International Grand Ball Dance Championship. The celebrated dance team retired from professional competition in 1974.

Special Awards
The Isadora Duncan Dance Awards recognizes outstanding achievement during the previous calendar year by or for a Bay Area individual or organization in any category not listed above. This includes outstanding achievement in such areas as exhibition, festivals, special events, photography, writing, television, radio, etc.

The 2006-2007 viewing season recipients are "Diaspora Negra" and "Kathak at the Crossroads".

Special Awards: "Diaspora Negra", Gabriela Shiroma, Director of De Rompe y Rajas Afro-Peruvian Cultural Association

Peruvian-born Gabriela Shiroma founded De Rompe y Rajas Afro-Peruvian Cultural Association which seeks to create theatrical productions that unite the Bay Area Latin Americans and Hispanics. "Diaspora Negra" brought together local and international dancers and narrator representing Colombia, Uruguay, Venezuela, Cuba, Peru, and Mexico to explore their common link to the African culture as expressed through its dances in the New World. It was performed at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in 2007.

Special Award: "Kathak at the Crossroads International Festival & Symposium", Chitresh Das, director

This three-day event was the largest Indian classical dance festival presented outside of India. As one of the leading masters in the Kathak field, Pandit Chitresh Das created an artist-centered festival that brought together Kathak's greatest masters and emerging artists, known and unknown, highlighting the depth and complexity of the Kathak tradition. The Festival showcased the traditional Kathak solo, a tour-de-force performance of improvised rhythmic exchange, virtuosic footwork and turns, and epic storytelling, all being replaced in India and internationally by Western-influenced choreography. The event included lectures, dance workshops, panel discussions, exhibitions, and dance performances, and filled both the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater and Forum.

THE ISADORA DUNCAN DANCE AWARDS COMMITTEE seeks to honor local dance artists and promote their visibility, primarily by acknowledging outstanding achievements within a twelve-month period of performances, running September 1 through August 31. The "Izzies" awards, formed as part of Dance Bay Area in 1984, are designed to celebrate the unique richness, diversity and excellence of Bay Area dance.

From 1994, the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee operated as a volunteer association under the auspices of the San Francisco Performing Arts Library and Museum.  In 2002, it became a fiscally-sponsored entity of Dancers' Group. Its members are choreographers, dancers, teachers, critics, writers, and arts administrators who serve one- or three-year terms.

BAY AREA NATIONAL DANCE WEEK is an annual week of free dance events in the Bay Area that are open to the public.  National Dance Week showcases the dynamic diversity and critically acclaimed quality of Bay Area dance, to educate audiences about dance that is accessible in their own communities, and to increase the visibility of individual artists, companies, studios, and theaters.

VOICEOFDANCE.COM is the ultimate online resource for dance.  It features exclusive reviews by top critics, a Global Dance Directory and Local Class Finder, auditions, jobs, dance-related news and articles, and an image gallery; as well as services to promote dance organizations of all kinds.  The mission of VoiceofDance.com is to promote the art form of dance through the power of the Internet and to serve as a global dance community builder. With more than 55,000 visitors per month from all over the world, VoiceofDance.com is one of the leading places to find dance information on the Web.