2001

(1999-2000 Season)

The awardees in the following categories were announced at the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Ceremony on April 23, 2001. 

The awardees are shown in boldface type. The other nominees are also listed, in regular type.

SOUND/MUSIC/TEXT

  • Krissy Keefer for text, Research/Phase I/Monk at the Met — a Community Performance Extravaganza (by Sara Shelton Mann, Krissy Keefer, et al.)

  • Marcus Shelby and the Marcus Shelby Sextet for music, entire 1999-2000 seasons of Savage Jazz Dance Company and RHJ 2000 (Robert Henry Johnson)

  • Peter Balakian for text, Earth, Blood, and Sky, (by Carole Kueffer)

  • Members of the Joe Goode Performance Group for text and music, Undertaking Harry, Part II (by Joe Goode), for the Joe Goode Performance Group

  • Albert Matthias with Live Human for music, Blue 2000 (by Kathleen Hermesdorf), for Sister Hermes Dance Machine

VISUAL DESIGN (Sets, Costumes, or Lighting)

  • Kelly Hanson for sets and Heather Basarab for lights, Drowsy (by Joe Goode), for the Joe Goode Performance Group

  • Thyra Hartshorn for scenic and costume design and Kevin Connaughton for lights, Magrittomania (by Yuri Possokhov), for San Francisco Ballet

  • Matthew Antaky and La Tania for visual design, and Judith Deim for paintings, Passage of the Muse (by La Tania)

  • Richard Jue for sets, Rice Women (by Sue Li-Jue), for Facing East

  • Willa Kim for costumes, Les Noces (by Michael Smuin), for Smuin Ballets/SF

  • Alexander V. Nichols for lights, Tom Bonauro, for visual design, and David F. Draper and Joan Raymond for costumes, Breathe Normally (by Margaret Jenkins), for the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company

  • Lea Wolf for sets and costumes, Nine Valentines (by Lea Wolf), at Summerfest

INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE

  • Liz Burritt for her entire season with the Joe Goode Performance Group

  • Uli Schmitz for the entire program with Axis Dance Company at the Cowell Theater

  • Joanna Berman in A Moment (by June Watanabe), with June Watanabe Dance Company

  • Julie Diana in Romeo and Juliet (by Helgi Tommason), with San Francisco Ballet

  • Xavier Ferla in Hovering Slightly (by Alonso King), with Oakland Ballet

  • Robert Henry Johnson in Dance Untitled (by Robert Henry Johnson), at Theater Artaud

ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE

  • Jadson Caldeira and Sonya Delwaide in Départ (by Sonya Delwaide), at Summerfest 3

  • Julia Diana, Rachel Rufer, Peter Brandenhoff, and Damian Smith in The Invitation (by Kenneth Macmillan), with San Francisco Ballet

  • Vivian Dai, Aileen Kim, Diana Yoon, and Lily Wang in Pai Gow Potluck (by Sue LiJue), with Facing East

  • Gianina Martinez and Manuel Niquen in Marinera, with Centro Cultural Baila un Perú, at the SF Ethnic Dance Festival 3

  • Katherine Warner and Dudley Brooks in Autumn Songs (by Virginia Matthews), with At Fifty—Still Dancing, at Dancers Group

COMPANY PERFORMANCE

  • AXIS Dance Company for their entire program at the Cowell Theater

  • Diablo Ballet in The Puzzle (by Nikolai Kabaniaev)

  • Harsanari in a program of Sundanese dances, at the Ethnic Dance Festival

  • Maharlika Cultural Troupe in Dances of the Phillipines, at the Ethnic Dance Festival

  • Sara Shelton Mann, Krissy Keefer, et al. in Research/Phase I/Monk at the Met — a Community Performance Extravaganza, at Dance Mission

REVIVAL/ RESTAGING/ RECONSTRUCTION

  • Natalia Makarova, for the restaging of Kingdom of the Shades from La Bayadère (by Marius Petipa), for San Francisco Ballet

  • Oakland Ballet for the restaging of Jinx (by Lew Christensen)

  • June Watanabe Dance Company for the revival of A Moment (by June Watanabe)

CHOREOGRAPHY

  • Bill T. Jones, Fantasy in C Major, for Axis Dance Company

  • Yuri Possokhov, Magrittomania, for San Francisco Ballet

  • Julia Adam, Night, for San Francisco Ballet

  • Jo Kreiter in collaboration with Leslie Seiters, Face to Face from The Body Project, for Flyaway Productions

  • Patrick Makuakane and Yasmen Mehta, Pua, for California Contemporary Dancers’ with Na Lei Hulu i ka Wekiu

  • Robert Moses, Lucifer’s Prance, for Robert Moses Kin

SPECIAL AWARDS

  • Dance Community in Action — The Isadora Duncan Dance Award Committee wishes to acknowledge and award the leadership of WAYNE HAZZARD in creating a moving and heartfelt event to say goodbye to the studio and performing space that has served the dance community continually for 45 years; KEITH HENNESSEY’s and RACHEL KAPLAN’s roles as spearheads of the dance community in protesting the eviction; and KRISSY KEEFER for her leadership in the political action involving
    city government. And most of all we wish to acknowledge the MEMBERS OF THE DANCE COMMUNITY who put their hearts and effort into the need to save our rehearsal and performing spaces.

  • San Francisco Ballet's Discovery Programs, for providing an opportunity for young choreographers to show excellent work. The Series premiered Julia Adam’s Night, Vladimir Anguelov’s Impetuous, David Palmer’s Concerto Romantique, Yuri Possokhov’s Magrittomania, Christopher Stowell’s Opus 50, and Christopher Wheeldon’s Sea Pictures

SUSTAINED ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

  • 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.