(2015-2016 Season)

Nominees Announced: December 22, 2016  |  Awardees Announced: March 27, 2017

Contact:  izziespublicity@gmail.com 

ISADORA DUNCAN DANCE AWARDS COMMITTEE AWARDEES, NOMINEES, AND HONOREES FOR 2015-­2016 PERFORMANCE SEASON

In San Francisco, California, November 2016, ­The Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee announced the “Izzies” nominees and honorees for the 2015­-2016 performance season, and celebrated 31 years of honoring local dance artists by acknowledging their outstanding achievements in dance.

The awards ceremony was held March 27, 2017 at the Brava Theater Center, 2781 24th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110. This was a free event, and it was open to the public. The doors opened at 6 pm with at Welcome Reception, and the Awards Ceremony will started at 7 pm. The following is a list of Nominees and Honorees by awards category.

The awardees are shown in boldface type.

Outstanding Achievement in Choreography

  • Dexandro “D” Montalvo, Pent, Dance Theatre of San Francisco, Cowell Theater, San Francisco

  • Gregory Dawson, Altered Larynx, dawsondancesf, Laney College Theater, Oakland

  • Kat Cole, Eric Garcia, and detour dance, Beckon, detour dance, NOHspace, San Francisco

  • Katie Faulkner, Deep Field, Little Seismic Dance Company, CounterPulse, San Francisco

  • Lauren Simpson and Jenny Stulberg, in collaboration with the dancers, Still Life No.4, Simpson/Stulberg Collaborations, ODC Theater, San Francisco

  • Liam Scarlett, Fearful Symmetries, San Francisco Ballet, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco

Outstanding Achievement in Performance – Individual

  • Carolina Czechowska, Speak, Angels and When We Were Small, Garrett + Moulton Productions and Capacitor, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture’s Gallery 308, San Francisco

  • Crystaldawn Bell, 21 Fully Realized Incomplete Thoughts, Robert Moses’ Kin, Z Space, San Francisco 

  • Mia Chong, Pent and Toward September, Dance Theatre of San Francisco, Cowell Theater, San Francisco

  • Sarah C. Griffin, Sketch 2016, Use Your Words, Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, Cowell Theater, San Francisco

  • Scott Marlowe, for his entire 2015-2016 season, San Francisco 

Outstanding Achievement in Performance – Ensemble

  • All casts of the male ensemble in white, Swimmer, San Francisco Ballet, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco

  • Crystaldawn Bell and Norma Fong, First Stab at Closure, Dance Mission Theater, San Francisco

  • Erik Debono, Jordan Drew, Ilaria Guerra, Alexander Vargas, Altered Larynx, dawsondancesf, Laney College Theater, Oakland

  • James Graham and Sebastian Grubb,  Homeroom...an evening-length duet about male relationships, masculinity, and human connections, ODC Theater, San Francisco

  • Lauren Simpson and Jenny Stulberg, Still Life No. 1, ODC Theater, San Francisco

  • Wendy Rein and Ryan T. Smith, Double Exposure, RAWdance, ODC Theater, San Francisco

Outstanding Achievement in Performance – Company

  • Dance Theatre of San Francisco, Pent and Toward September, Cowell Theater, San Francisco

  • dawsondancesf, Punctus Contra Punctum, Gray Area, San Francisco

  • Embodiment Project (Mika Lemione, Tigre Bilando, George Cheng, Rama Mahesh Hall, Malcolm Jefferson, Amber Julian, Sheila Russell, Valerie Troutt, Jon Lee, Nicole Klaymoon, Rashida Chase, Shamont Hussey, Tristan Cunningham, Dante "Animal" Rose, and Solas B. Lalgee), Chalk Outlines, Destiny Arts Center, Oakland

  • Lily Cai Chinese Dance Company, Postcards & Beyond and Silk Cascade, Rotunda Dance Series at City Hall, San Francisco

  • San Francisco Ballet, Fearful Symmetries, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco

  • Tierra Allen, Delina Patrice Brooks, Tossie Long, Cria Merchant, Omega Rae, Laila Tov-Perez, Meagan U. Wells, An Open Love Letter to Black Fathers: A Choreopoem, CounterPulse, San Francisco

Outstanding Achievement in Music/Sound/Text

  • Byb Chanel Bibene, David Boyce, and Chris Evans, Reconstruction Study 1A, Laney College Theater, Oakland

  • Jane Hirschfeld (text) and Dan Wool (music), Your Story Was This, ODC Theater, San Francisco

  • Joe Goode, the company members, and Ben Juodvalkis (original music), Kevin McKereghan (sound designer), Peter Peschke (music curator), Poetics of Space, Joe Goode Annex, San Francisco

  • Lisa Fischer (vocal performance) and JC Maillard (music, arrangement, and performance), The Propelled Heart, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco

  • Mooncandy and Valerie Troutt, Chalk Outlines, Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco

Outstanding Achievement in Visual Design

  • Heather Basarab (lighting design), Dana Genshaft (concept design), Karin Mosseri (costume design), Olivia Ting (projection/media design), Portrait, SFDanceworks, ODC Theater, San Francisco

  • Jack Carpenter, Jennifer Gonsalves, Sean Riley, Jessica Swanson, Poetics of Space, Joe Goode Annex, San Francisco

  • Jamielyn Duggan (costume design), Jim French (lighting), Jonathan Rowe (video design), and Amelia Rudolph (artistic director/choreographer, Bandaloop), for #SFPublicCanvas, The Demonstration Gardens at UC Hastings, San Francisco

  • Matthew Antaky, for the 2015-2016 season of Liss Fain Dance, San Francisco

  • Matthew Antaky (lighting), Miranda Caroligne (costumes), Jo Kreiter (artistic director/choreographer Flyaway Productions), Sean Riley (set/rigging design), Needles to Thread: Dancing Along these Lines in Continuum Alley, San Francisco

Outstanding Achievement in Restaging / Revival / Reconstruction

  • Dexandro “D” Montalvo and Robert Moses, restaging of Toward September, Dance Theatre of San Francisco, Cowell Theater, San Francisco

  • Judith Fugate, revival of Coppelia, San Francisco Ballet, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco

  • Printz Dance Project, revival of Hover Space, Printz Dance Project, Z Space, San Francisco

  • Risa Jaroslow & Dancers, restaging of Resist/Surrender, ODC Theater, San Francisco

  • Yuri Possokhov and Anita Paciotti, revival of Magrittomania, San Francisco Ballet, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco

Special Award Honorees

  • Erasing Time: celebrating 30 years of a Radical Dance Legend, Sara Shelton Mann, with David Szlasa and Norman Rutherford, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Forum, San Francisco

  • Sean Riley, for contributions to scenic design in San Francisco across the entire 2015-2016 season

  • Shiva with Chitresh Das Dance Company, Chhandam Youth Dance Company and Memorial Video on Pandit Chitresh Das produced by Shipra Shukla and edited by Hoku Uchiyama, Zellerbach Auditorium, Berkeley

Sustained Achievement Honorees

  • Augusta Moore, ballet teacher, movement coach, Feldenkrais practitioner

  • Joan Boada, Pascal Molat, and Gennadi Nedvigin, principal dancers, San Francisco Ballet

  • Patrick Makuakāne and Nā Lei Hulu I Ka Wēkiu, 30th anniversary

  • Ruth Felt, President and Founder, San Francisco Performances

The Isadora Duncan Dance Awards, known locally as the Izzies, are awarded annually to acknowledge exceptional creative achievements in the performance and presentation of dance. Awards are given in nine categories to honor the dancers, choreographers, designers, composers, dance companies, dance scholars and other individuals who have made important contributions to the San Francisco Bay Area’s thriving dance community.

During each 12-month performance cycle, running September 1 – August 31, the Committee collectively views over 400 eligible performances. The final nominees and honorees are selected at an annual voting meeting held in September after the close of the viewing cycle. Member profiles and lists of previous nominees and award winners are available online at www.izzies.org. The Izzies Committee is supported by donations from individuals, groups, and the Zellerbach Family Foundation.

For Additional Information, contact: izziespublicity@gmail.com 

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