HH11 Dance Festival gets even more exciting with the premiere of the Apogee Awards, honoring excellence in dance.
Presented Friday, Feb. 19, 2016, and Sunday Feb. 21, with a special acknowledgement Saturday, Feb. 20, the Apogee Awards will round out the festival’s performances with a celebration for patrons and dance professionals.
“Artists, creators, collaborators, all those that work passionately as professionals in the dance world deserve to be celebrated. Our goal for the Apogee Awards was to highlight individuals that exhibit excellence in this field. There are so many amazing professionals; this will be truly magical,” said Devyn Duex founder, president and artistic director for Nebula Dance Lab.
Nominations were open until Feb. 10 for dance professionals featuring work from 2015 in three categories: excellence in a dance work by a performer, creator and collaborator, as well as a fourth lifetime achievement award.
A diverse panel of seven professionals from across the U.S. reviewed the nominations to honor Christopher Pilafian as the lifetime achievement recipient and 13 finalists across the other three categories.
Excellence in a Dance Work by a Performer
» Christina Sanchez, Santa Barbara Dance Theater’s Common Ground and Tonia Shimin’s A Walk with Modigliani
» Nikki Pfeiffer, Santa Barbara Dance Theater’s Common Ground and Weslie Ching Dance’s You or Someone Like You
» Leila Drake Fossek, State Street Ballet’s Common Ground, Carmina Burana and Nutcracker
» Shelby Lynn Joyce, Nebula Dance Lab’s Push & Pull and The Inquisitor
Excellence in a Dance Work by a Collaborator
» Olivia Mitchel for the original score of Life Tempo
» Adam Phillips for the original score, arrangement and performance of The Inquisitor
» Cybil Gilbertson NECTAR Artist Forum
» Meredith Cabaniss for the lighting design of The Inquisitor, Push & Pull and Wages
Excellence in a Dance Work by a Creator
» Edgar Zendajas, State Street Ballet/SBDT/Eisenhower, for Common Ground
» ArtBark International and Misa Kelly for Alma Karlin Project
» Cybil Gilbertson for NECTAR artist forum
» Louise Reichlin for Invasion
» János Feledi for Breathing Together and the Feledi Project
Awards will take place following the HH11 Dance Festival performances Friday (performer, creator and lifetime achievement) and Sunday (collaborator), with a special acknowledgement at the Feb. 20 performance.
For tickets to the HH11 Dance Festival, please visit www.nebuladance.org.
Nebula Dance Lab company members were not participants in the Apogee Awards panel or committee; Nebula board members may have been Apogee Awards panel or committee members, and were excluded from participation as award nominees.
— Devyn Deux is the founder, president and artistic director of Nebula Dance Lab.