Karen Kain, artistic director of The National Ballet of Canada, won a 2015 Dance Magazine Award on December 7 at a ceremony in New York City at The Ailey Citigroup Theater. Kain is the first Canadian to receive the award in eighteen years and is one of six Canadians to receive the award since it began in 1954.
Belgian choreographer Alain Platel was awarded the Grand Prix de la danse de Montréal 2015 on November 19. Choreographers Mélanie Demers, Aurélie Pedron, dancer Lucie Vigneault and the company Zab Maboungou / Compagnie Danse Nyata Nyata were also honoured.
Marie-Hélène Falcon, founder and former artistic director of Festival TransAmériques, won the 2015 Denise Pelletier Award on November 18; the award acknowledges cultural achievements and is distributed by the Government of Québec as part of the Prix du Québec.
Flamenco artist Maria Osende won the Established Artist Recognition Award presented by the Creative Nova Scotia Leadership Council on November 7. Osende is originally from Madrid, Spain, and it was a Fulbright scholarship to the School of American Ballet in New York City at the age of seventeen that launched her international performance career. She moved to Halifax in 2003.
Kaha:wi Dance Theatre won the Artist of the Year Award from Ontario Contact on November 6 for the company’s touring activities in Ontario. Kaha:wi Artistic Director Santee Smith was also recognized as an Eihwaedei Yerihwayente:ri (Community Scholar) by Six Nations Polytechnic during their Indigenous Education Conference on November 4.
Crystal Pite won the City of Vancouver’s Mayor’s Arts Award 2015 for Dance. These awards are unique in that each peer jury–selected honouree chooses the emerging artist winner in their category, and Pite chose Lesley Telford.
Mavis Staines, artistic director of Canada’s National Ballet School, won a 2015 Premier’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts on October 20. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2010 in recognition of her commitment to furthering the field of dance education.
Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet won a Manitoba Tourism Award on October 2nd for Going Home Star – Truth and Reconciliation choreographed by Mark Godden. The ballet premiered in 2014 and is based on a story by Canadian novelist Joseph Boyden with scenic design by KC Adams, a Canadian Métis artist.
Tagged: African, Awards, Ballet, Contemporary, Flamenco, Uncategorized, National