Yvonne Chartrand wins Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award in dance

photo courtesy of Yvonne Chartrand

>> by Naomi Brand
Contemporary choreographer, dancer and Métis jigger Yvonne Chartrand won the Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award for dance. Chartrand is the artistic director of the Vancouver-based contemporary and Métis dance company Compaigni V'ni Dansi, which performs both traditional Métis dance and selected contemporary works. Her ancestors come from the Métis community of St. Laurent, Manitoba. The annual awards recognize outstanding mid-career artists in the seven disciplines funded by the Canada Council for the Arts. Winners are chosen from the pool of applicants from the Grants to Professional Artists programs. The prizes were created with funds bestowed to the Canada Council by the late Victor Martyn Lynch‑Staunton.
http://canadacouncil.ca/news/releases/2011/wb129532232563933589.htm
http://www.vnidansi.ca/

32nd Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards

Robert Glumbek and Roberto Campanella at the Dora Awards 2011 / Photo by John Lauener

>> by Brittany Duggan
The 32nd Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards were held on Monday, June 27th at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts’ Bluma Appel Theatre in Toronto. Celebrating the 2010/11 season in dance, the award for Outstanding Original Choreography went to Roberto Campanella and Robert Glumbek for ProArteDanza’s . . .in between. . .; Alain Platel/Les Ballets C de la B won Outstanding Production for Out of Context – for Pina; Outstanding Performance went to Juan Ogalla for Esmeralda Enrique Spanish Dance Company's Espejo de Oro / Mirror of Gold, and Joby Talbot garnered Outstanding Original Sound Design/Composition in Wayne McGregor’s Chroma for The National Ballet of Canada. In the General Theatre Production Divison, Peter Darling won Outstanding Choreography for Billy Elliot The Musical. The awards, produced and presented on behalf of the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), recognize excellence in Toronto theatre, dance and opera.

Lata Pada receives pretigious award from India

Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil and Lata Pada

Photo courtesy of the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India

>> by Samantha Mehra

SAMPRADAYA Dance Creations Artistic Director Lata Pada, C.M., was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman by the President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, on January 9th, 2011 in New Delhi, India. She is one of fifteen individuals to receive the award, which recognizes lifetime accomplishments by members of the global Indian diaspora. Pada was commemorated for her exceptional contributions to the promotion of Indian dance in Canada, as well as her support of an inquiry into the 1985 bombing of Air India Flight 182 (Kanishka), and her role as an advocate for anti-terrorism legislation.

Karen Kain receives Distinguished Artist Award from ISPA

>> by Brittany Duggan

Karen Kain / Photo by Sian Richards

Karen Kain, artistic director of The National Ballet of Canada, was awarded the Distinguished Artist Award from the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) on June 16th during the society’s 25th Congress, which was held in Toronto June 15th through 18th. The awards acknowledge the contribution made by arts leaders and professionals committed to advancing the field of the performing arts. Also honoured this year were British choreographer Akram Khan, set and costume designer Michael Levine and songwriter Luc Plamondon. Past recipients have included Celia Franca (1979), Philip Glass (1989), Mikhail Baryshnikov (1982), Jerome Robbins (1978), Martha Graham (1976), Merce Cunningham (1993), Pina Bausch (2000), Twyla Tharp (1996), Alvin Ailey (1984) and Suzanne Farrell (1986), among others. Kain's award was presented to her by arts patron and Business for the Arts Chair Jim Fleck.

CCCO visits Thunder Bay and Guelph

>> by Cynthia Brett

Cultural Careers Council Ontario (CCCO) visited Thunder Bay on June 17th and 18th to present its latest conference: "Creating a Living: Your Art, Your Business". The event included presentations from artists and professionals in Thunder Bay on how to "transfer creative planning skills to a business context," according to CCCO's website. Previously, the organization travelled to Guelph on May 25th for CultureCamp, an idea-sharing event for Guelph's Culture Days this September.

Trillum Foundation awards funding to micro-finance for artists research project

Elizabeth Chitty / Photo by Brian Yungblut Photography

>> by Samantha Mehra

The Canadian Alliance of Dance Artists, Ontario Chapter (CADA-ON), has been awarded a $27,800 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation Province-Wide Program. The award supports a research project that aims to discover how micro-finance might support Ontario artists. The project is a collaboration with the Canadian Artists' Representation/le Front des artistes canadiens (CARFAC Ontario), Dance Ontario, Ontario Crafts Council, and the Canadian Music Centre - Ontario Region. In a press release, CADA-ON Executive Director Elizabeth Chitty expressed the intent of the project: "This research project will investigate and explore how micro-finance tools work, how they could be used by individual artists in Ontario and what steps will be required to enable their use by artists ... Artists' improved status will enable their greater contribution to Ontarians' quality of life, social and economic health." http://www.cada-on.ca

Crystal Pite wins Jacob's Pillow Dance Award

Crystal Pite / Photo by Joris JanBos

>> by Cynthia Brett

Acclaimed choreographer and performer Crystal Pite, artistic director of Kidd Pivot Frankfurt RM, has been awarded the fifth annual Jacob's Pillow Dance Award. This award recognizes exceptional visionary talent and is accompanied by a $25,000 prize, as well as a custom-designed glass sculpture by renowned artist Tom Patti, which Pite will receive at the Jacob's Pillow Season Opening Gala on June 18th. Ella Baff, executive and artistic director of Jacob's Pillow, commented in a press release that "Crystal is one of the most talented, intelligent, and original dancemakers to come along in recent years ... She is respected and admired by the dance field throughout the world, and each of her creations is something unexpected and deeply imaginative." Pite is a former dancer of Ballet British Columbia and the Frankfurt Ballet. She founded Kidd Pivot in 2001, which is currently the resident company at Kunstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt. She was also resident choreographer for Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal from 2001 through 2004, and has choreographed for numerous companies, such as Nederlands Dans Theater I, Cullberg Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, Ceder Lake Contemporary Ballet, Alberta Ballet and Ballet Jörgen Canada.