The Joyce Theater Foundation
presents
The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010–2011
Artists With Audiences Responding to Dance

In partnership with
The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago
REDCAT (Los Angeles)
Dance Affiliates (Philadelphia)
ODC Theater (San Francisco)
and
On the Boards (Seattle)

The Joyce Theater Foundation is pleased to announce that for The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010–2011 it will partner with five presenting organizations across the country: The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, REDCAT (Los Angeles), Dance Affiliates (Philadelphia), ODC Theater (San Francisco) and On the Boards (Seattle). The A.W.A.R.D. Show! was created in 2005 by choreographer Neta Pulvermacher in response to a need for a lab-like space in which working dance artists can engage in an open dialogue with the audience about their work. It is dedicated to nurturing new work, discussion, exploration, creativity and the free exchange of ideas, thoughts and opinions.

Each of the series—in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle—will present the work of 12 promising contemporary choreographers. Three preliminary evenings will feature the work of four choreographers per night. Each dance piece will be 12–15 minutes of a completed work, excerpt or work-in-progress. After each performance, a moderated artist and audience discussion will take place, followed by an audience vote to select a finalist to perform on the fourth and final night of the series. Each night, the audience and the artists will be invited to a post-performance reception to encourage further informal dialogue about the work. On the final night in each city, a panel of experts in dance and other cultural arts fields, along with the audience, will choose the winner of the award.

The first place winner in each of the six participating cities will receive a $10,000 cash award. The two runners-up in each city will receive $1,000. The winners and runners-up will use these awards toward the creation of new dance work. This expansion into Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle is made possible by a generous grant from The Boeing Company.

[More info after the jump…]

The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010–2011 Schedule of Events:

1) The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago
July 28–31, 2010 at 8pm
1306 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL
Tickets: $15
The Dance Center: 312-369-8330 or visit colum.edu/dancecenter
Tickets available June 2010

2) Joyce SoHo
November 17–20, 2010 at 7pm
155 Mercer Street, New York, NY
Tickets: $15
Joyce Charge: 212-242-0800 or visit joyce.org
Tickets available September 2010

3) ODC Theater
January 12–15, 2011 at 8pm
3153 17th Street, San Francisco, CA
Tickets: $18 single tickets (advance sale) or $60 for all four shows (advance sale)
ODC Theater Box office: 415-863-9834 or visit odctheater.org

4) REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater)
January 13–16, 2011 at 8:30pm
631 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA
Tickets: $18
REDCAT Box Office: 213-237-2800 or visit redcat.org

5) On the Boards
January 27–30, 2011 at 8pm
Behnke Center for Contemporary Performance
100 W. Roy Street, Seattle, WA
Tickets: $15
On the Boards Box Office: 206-217-9888 or visit ontheboards.org

6) Dance Affiliates
Series dates in spring 2011 to be determined
Philadelphia, PA
danceaffiliates.org

Linda Shelton, Executive Director of The Joyce Theater Foundation, said: “Last year’s successful expansion of The A.W.A.R.D. Show! in partnership with presenters in Chicago, Philadelphia and Seattle was very exciting–over 3,000 audience members participated. With increased funding from The Boeing Company, The Joyce is thrilled to broaden the program even further to include Los Angeles and San Francisco. Dance artists across the country will now have the opportunity to receive over $70,000 to create new work in 2010 and 2011.”

Choreographer Kate Weare, winner of The A.W.A.R.D. Show! at Joyce SoHo in 2007, comments on her participation: “The A.W.A.R.D. Show! brought forth issues about the artist’s relationship to the audience itself, particularly in the post-show discussions with an empowered audience actively judging our work: how one regards an audience while making work; whether one feels responsible to communicate with an audience; and in what ways does one need the audience’s approval? This experience helped me come to terms with the fundamental values around these questions as an artist.”

The audiences and the panel will be asked to think objectively about their choices and to evaluate the work according to the “P.O.E.M.” criteria: Potential, Originality, Execution and Merit.

§ Potential: Does the artist have potential and seem to have the maturity to take advantage of such an award at this point in his/her career?
§ Originality: Does the artist have a personal and unique voice? Is the work innovative and does it take risks? How singular is the artist’s movement language, concept and vision?
§ Execution: Were the performers committed, well-rehearsed and capable of carrying out the intricacies of the artist’s vision?
§ Merit: Can a value of the whole be attributed based on the combination of the work’s Potential, Originality and Execution?

Along with their votes, the audience will provide artists with anonymous comment cards, which will offer feedback on their work.

Past recipients of The A.W.A.R.D. Show! $10,000 creation and production award include La Manga Video & Dance Company (2006), Kate Weare Company (2007), Deganit Shemy & Company (2008), Makiko Tamura–small apple co. (2009), Jessica Miller Tomlinson (2009), Nichole Canuso (2009) and Amelia Reeber (2009).

The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010–2011 is administered by The Joyce Theater Foundation.

The $10,000 cash award for the first place winner and the $1,000 cash awards for the runners-up in New York City are underwritten by a generous contribution from Scott Kasen. Mr. Kasen has provided support for The A.W.A.R.D. Show! since its founding in 2005 by Neta Pulvermacher/Neta Dance Company with original co-production by Marisa König Beatty. Other initial funders of The A.W.A.R.D. Show! included The Puffin Foundation, LMCC’s Manhattan Community Arts Fund and The Maxine Greene Foundation.

The six first-place winners and the runners-up of The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010–2011 will report on their progress in creating new work. Scheduled performances will be announced on The Joyce Theater and company websites. Audiences will have a chance to attend a performance and see a dance work that they ultimately helped to fund.

The artists participating in The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010–2011 will be selected through an open call for applications from the following geographic areas; promising contemporary dance artists may apply to only one of the six locations, with one work, in 2010–2011:

New York City Specifications: Dance artists from anywhere in the United States may apply to The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010 series taking place in New York City at Joyce SoHo.

Chicago Area Specifications: Dance artists from anywhere in the Chicago Metropolitan Area may apply to The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010 series taking place in Chicago at The Dance Center. The Chicago Metropolitan Area encompasses Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will counties.

Los Angeles Area Specifications: Dance artists from anywhere in Southern California (spanning from below Santa Cruz to the Mexican border) can apply to The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2011 series taking place in Los Angeles at REDCAT.

Philadelphia Area Specifications: Dance Artists from anywhere in the Philadelphia area that encompasses the five counties–Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester and Delaware–as well Southern New Jersey (south of Princeton), may apply to The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2011 series co-presented by Dance Affiliates.

San Francisco Area Specifications: Dance artists from anywhere in Northern California (spanning from Santa Cruz up to the Oregon border) can apply to The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2011 series taking place in San Francisco at ODC Theater.

Seattle Area Specifications: Dance artists from anywhere in the Northwest Region may apply to The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2011 series taking place in Seattle at On the Boards. The Northwest Region encompasses Washington (WA), Oregon (OR), Idaho (ID), Montana (MT) and Alaska (AK).

An application for each of the six cities can be downloaded from The Joyce Theater Foundation website at www.joyce.org/about_specialevents_awardshow.html. Applicants are permitted to submit applications to perform works that will have their premiere at The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010–2011. The application deadline is Tuesday, May 11, 2010. Applications must be received on this date at The Joyce Theater no later than 5:30pm EST. A national panel, with representatives from Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle, as well as Martin Wechsler, director of programming of The Joyce Theater Foundation, will review applications and select the 12 artists/companies who will have a chance to show their work in Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle. The panelists will be looking for choreographers who have the potential to create inspirational and innovative work.

Panel Members and Biographies

Martin Wechsler, Director of Programming, The Joyce Theater Foundation
Martin Wechsler joined the staff of The Joyce as an administrative assistant in 1985. Soon after, he moved to the booking department and helped to develop The Joyce Theater’s dance education program, first as an assistant, and eventually as the Director of Booking and Education. Since 1996, Martin has been The Joyce’s Director of Programming. In this capacity, he seeks out the best dance from New York, the United States and the world, and selects more than 30 companies to perform each season as part of The Joyce’s subsidized rental and presentation programs. In addition to programming the companies, Martin is responsible for negotiating all of the engagement contracts. He also oversees The Joyce’s commissioning and artist residency programs, and curates Evening Stars, an annual free outdoor dance festival. With his extensive knowledge of the dance field, Martin is often asked to serve on advisory and grant making panels.

Phil Reynolds, Executive Director, The Dance Center of Columbia College
Phil Reynolds began his tenure as Executive Director of The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago in 1998. The Dance Center is Chicago’s leading presenter of contemporary dance and the only academic program in Chicago leading to a BA or BFA in Dance. Prior to moving to Chicago, he directed Catamount Film and Arts Company, an exemplary multi-disciplinary presenter and local arts agency in northeastern Vermont, for seven years. Reynolds began his professional career at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He was also employed in New York as Executive Director of the Nikolais and Murray Louis Foundation for Dance. In 2008, Reynolds accepted a three-year appointment to represent The Dance Center as a National Dance Project Hub Site. He has served on funding panels for Creative Capital’s Multi-Arts Production (MAP) Fund, The Japan Foundation, Dance Advance – a program of the Pew Charitable Trusts, Illinois Arts Council, Vermont Arts Council, Connecticut Arts Commission, Chicago Dancemakers Forum and Chamber Music America. Phil Reynolds was awarded the Chevalier de L’Order des Arts et des Lettres from the French Ministry of Culture and Communication in 2006. In 2004, he was recognized by the Chicago Tribune as a Chicagoan of the Year in the Arts, Dance. Reynolds received a BA from Middlebury College and an MFA in Arts Management from Columbia University.

George Lugg, Associate Director, REDCAT
George Lugg, Associate Director of the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT), has been working in contemporary performance presenting since 1991. At REDCAT he oversees the implementation of a diverse array of multidisciplinary programming, serves on the curatorial team for dance and theater, coordinates an ongoing series for new works and works in progress, and produces the annual New Original Works Festival. He is a current member of the U.S. curatorial team for the National Performance Network’s Performing Americas Project, and has served on artistic juries and panels for the Santa Monica Arts Commission, Los Angeles EdgeFest and On the Boards’ Northwest New Works Festival. George has a degree in Dance from the University of Washington.

F. Randolph (Randy) Swartz, Artistic Director, Dance Affiliates
Randy Swartz has been a dance presenter in Philadelphia for more than 38 years. In 1970, Mr. Swartz founded the Philadelphia Dance Alliance, the city’s dance service organization. Dance Affiliates was formed in 1983 by Mr. Swartz to provide world-class dance programming in the Delaware Valley. He has been the artistic director of the annual Dance Celebration series at the Annenberg Center for the past 28 seasons.

Mr. Swartz was a founding member of the board of the International Ballet Competition Inc. and served as executive director of the first competition in Jackson, Mississippi in 1979. He served as the executive director of the American Ballet Competition, the non-profit organization that sponsored American participation in international competitions. Mr. Swartz was the American judge at the Osaka, Japan in 1983, 1987 and 1995. A former Board Member of Philadanco, he currently serves on the state PCA Advisory Panel, the PA Presenters and national Board of Advisors for Dance Magazine and Dance Teacher.

Rob Bailis, Director, ODC Theater
Rob Bailis has been Director of ODC Theater in San Francisco since 2003. Under his leadership, the Theater has undergone an $8.5 million dollar expansion of its facility, and received numerous national awards in recognition of its presenting and artist advocacy programs. In 2007, the San Francisco Chronicle named Bailis “MVP” in dance presenting, describing his curation as, “…smart…instinctive, and… infectious.” He has served as a panelist/advisor for arts funding organizations including Creative Capital, WESTAF, SF Arts Commission, New England Foundation for the Arts, the Rasmuson Foundation, and Chamber Music America.
A professional clarinetist, Bailis is lauded for his “sweet, singing tone…and technical wizardry…” -S.F. Classical Voice, and has performed across the U.S., Canada, Asia, and the U.K. In 1999 he joined the Napa Valley Symphony, where he is tenured, and he continues to perform with numerous ensembles throughout California.
An active lyricist and librettist, Mr. Bailis’ newest piece, “Love/Hate”, is in development at American Opera Projects in New York City. It will premiere at Urban Arias in Virginia in Spring 2011, and tour to Houston, New York, and San Francisco.
 
He holds degrees from Northwestern University and Yale.

Lane Czaplinski, Artistic Director, On the Boards
Lane Czaplinski has been the Artistic Director of On the Boards since 2001. Prior to moving to Seattle, Czaplinski served as the Program Manager at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and worked in various capacities at the Lied Center at the University of Kansas. He has worked with many organizations as a panelist/advisor including the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, National Endowment for the Arts, National Dance Project, CEC/Artslink, National Performance Network, Arts International, American College Dance Festival, Creative Capital and the Bessie Committee.

The panel members who will review the applications for The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2010 series in New York City will be selected in the summer of 2010.