Merce Cunningham 1919 - 2009

>> by Christa Lochead

Legendary dancer and choreographer Merce Cunningham died July 26th at the age of 90. A definitive artist of the American avant-garde, Cunningham's work strongly influenced modern dance and his collaborations with artists of all disciplines redefined contemporary art. Although a meticulous choreographer, he pioneered the use of chance elements in dance. His interest in combining dance and technology made him one of the first choreographers to embrace LifeForms (later redeveloped as DanceForms), an interactive software program for creating and recording movement developed by Tom Calvert and Thecla Schiphorst at Simon Fraser University. He had been choreographer and artistic director of Merce Cunningham Dance Company since 1953.
Merce Cunningham, 2009 / Photo by Mark Seliger

New Creation in the Arts Awards Announced

>> by Christa Lochead
In May, the Imperial Tobacco Canada Foundation (ITCF) announced the winners of their inaugural New Creation in the Arts Awards. La La La Human Steps, O Vertigo Danse Inc., and artists representing the CanAsian Dance Festival, along with seven other visual and performing arts groups, received $50,000 each to be directed toward new creations. Established in 2005, the ITCF is a private charitable foundation funded solely by Montreal-based Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited. These awards, along with a larger Arts Achievement Award, replace the Arts Council and Arts Fund Awards previously offered by the foundation, which had allowed organizations to apply for various types of support.

National Ballet Sweeps Doras

>> by Christa Lochead
The National Ballet of Canada swept the 2009 Dora Mavor Moore Awards, receiving all four Dance Division awards for guest choreographer Crystal Pite’s Emergence, including Outstanding Production, Outstanding Choreography (Pite), Outstanding Performance (the ensemble), and Outstanding Sound Design/Composition (Owen Belton). Choreographers Denise Clarke and Peggy Baker also received an award for Outstanding Choreography in a Play or Musical for Radio Play. The award ceremony took place June 29th, 2009 at the Winter Garden Theatre in Toronto. The Dora Awards honour performances in theatre, dance and opera and are presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts. They are named after Canadian theatre pioneer and founder of The New Play Society, Dora Mavor Moore.

Arts Funding Renewed

>> by Christa Lochead

The Government of Canada has announced a five-year renewal of arts funding that had been set to expire March 31, 2010. A total of $504 million was committed over five years with the majority – $25 million per year – going to the Canada Council for the Arts, maintaining the Council’s annual budget of $181 million. The remainder of the funds will go to previously existing, rebranded programs focussing on cultural spaces, training, presentation and sustainability in the arts and culture sector. The announcement was made in Vancouver on June 26^th by James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, in an address to the Vancouver Arts Summit.

Pina Bausch 1940-2009

>> by Christa Lochead

Acclaimed German choreographer Pina Bausch died unexpectedly at age 68 on June 30^th. Bausch is generally recognized as an innovator of the tanztheatre (dance theatre) genre. She had been choreographer and director of her world-renowned company, Tanztheatre Wuppertal, since 1973. As a student of Kurt Jooss, the founding father of ausdruckstanz, Bausch was part of an intricate web of influential teachers and performers whose reach extended internationally (an exploration of this movement and its Canadian ties is included in the March 2008 edition of The Dance Current). Bausch had been diagnosed with cancer one week before her death.

Pina Bausch / Photo by Atsushi Iijima