PRESS RELEASE

Release Date: March 26, 2024

March 25, 2024

Contact Person: Jen Norris, Publicity Committee Chair

Email address: izziespublicity@gmail.com

The Isadora Duncan Dance Awards

Website: www.izzies-sf.org

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 ISADORA DUNCAN DANCE AWARDS COMMITTEE ANNOUNCES AWARDEES FOR 2022-23 PERFORMANCE SEASON

San Francisco, California, March 26,2024 - The Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee announces the “Izzie” awardees for the 2022-23 performance season.

The following is a list of nominations by awards category with the Final awardees in bold.  Awardees were announced at a celebration event on Monday, March 25, 2024 at the ODC Theater in San Francisco.  CELEBRATION OF BAY AREA DANCE brought together Izzies nominees, honorees, and awardees from the past several award cycles to be toasted by their peers and the community. Izzie Committee members intend for this in-person “Izzies” event, the first since Spring 2019, to mark the resumption of an annual tradition. 

Please note that in the categories of Individual Performance and in Choreography or Direction, there is more than one awardee listed indicating that there was a virtual tie during the voting meeting. Accordingly, multiple Izzies for Outstanding Achievement were awarded in these two categories for this performance year.

Outstanding Achievement in Choreography or Direction

● Eric Garcia, We Build Houses Here, Detour Dance, Oasis Nightclub, San Francisco

● Rogelio Lopez, Entre Despierto y Dormido, Rogelio Lopez and Dancers, Joe Goode Annex, San Francisco

● Danielle Rowe, MADCAP, San Francisco Ballet, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco

● Amy Seiwert, Witness, ODC/Dance, Blue Shield Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco

● Nadhi Thekkek, Rogue Gestures/Foreign Bodies, Nava Dance Theatre, ODC Theater, San Francisco

Outstanding Achievement in Performance – Individual

● Jin Lee Baobei, depth & mirrors, choreography by Jin Lee Baobei, Dragons Dance, ODC Theater, San Francisco

● Crystaldawn Bell, Can I Keep Just One?, choreography by Crystaldawn Bell, Monica C. Moses, and Robert Moses, Robert Moses' Kin, Presidio Theatre, San Francisco

● Lawrence Chen, 2022-2023 Season, Artistic Director Graham Lustig, Oakland Ballet Company, Paramount Theater, Odell Johnson Performing Arts Center Laney College, Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Oakland; Hammer Theatre, San Jose; and Presidio Theatre, San Francisco.

● Makhissa Sano, There’s a lemon tree growing inside her belly, choreography by Nicole Klaymoon in collaboration with dancers, Embodiment Project, 2023 Cuba Caribe Festival, Dance Mission Theater, San Francisco

● Nicole Townsend, Rainbow Dances 2023, Artistic Director Graham Lustig, Oakland Ballet Company, Odell Johnson Performing Arts Center Laney College, Oakland

Outstanding Achievement in Performance – Ensemble

● Hannah Meleoakaiao Ayasse, Clarissa Rivera Dyas, Gabriele Christian, and Ainsley Elizabeth Tharp, something remains, direction by Clarissa Rivera Dyas and Jakob Pek in collaboration with Hannah Meleoakaiao Ayasse, Gabriele Christian, Ainsley Elizabeth Tharp, Julie Moon, Aaron Oppenheim, and Jennifer Wilsey, Dresher Ensemble Artist Residency, Dresher Ensemble Studio, Oakland

● Bianca Cabrera, Nico Maimon, Chelsea Mulholland and Nina Wu, Fever Dreams, choreography by Bianca Cabrera, Blind Tiger Society, ODC Theater, San Francisco

● Carolina Czechowska & Jamielyn Duggan, Coordinates, choreography by Erik Wagner, with collaborators Carolina Czechowska and Jamielyn Duggan, James Graham Dance Theatre: Dance Lovers 11, Joe Goode Annex, San Francisco

● Kevin Gaytan, Matt Han, and Rogelio Lopez, Entre Despierto y Dormido, choreography by Rogelio Lopez, Rogelio Lopez and Dancers, Joe Goode Annex, San Francisco

● Joseph A Hernandez and Kelsey McFalls, Blooming Flowers and the Full Moon, choreography by Natasha Adorlee, Amy Seiwert's Imagery: SKETCH 13, ODC Theater, San Francisco

Outstanding Achievement in Performance – Company

● Gamelan Sekar Jaya, Music and Dance of Bali, 2022-2023 Guest Dance Director: Cok Istri Putri Rukmini, Ashkenaz Music and Dance Community Center, Berkeley

● Ishami Dance Company, Pehchaan, direction by Ishika Seth and Amit Patel, Oakland Theater Project, Oakland

● Los Lupeños de San José, Ritos y Costumbres, Artistic Direction Samuel Cortez, Mexican Heritage Plaza, San Jose and Boda de Pueblo en Sinaloa, choreography Yahir Padilla, Dance Mission Theater, San Francisco

● Nā Lei Hulu i ka Wēkiu, MĀHŪ, Director/Kumu Hula Patrick Makuakāne, Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, San Francisco

● Quare Dance, Quare Dance, choreography by Alyah Baker in collaboration with performers, Live Oak Theater, Berkeley

Outstanding Achievement in Music/Sound/Text

● Julie Crothers (text) and Ben Juodvalkis (music), Holy Crap, Julie Crothers, ODC Theater, San Francisco

● Jordan Glenn and Max Judelson, composers; Jordan Glenn, Max Judelson, Erika Ora, Cory Wright, musicians, Imaginary Country, Sharp & Fine, Z Space, San Francisco

● Annette Philip, Music Artist, Pehchaan, Ishami Dance Company, Oakland Theater Project, Oakland

● Ni Nyoman Srayamurtikanti, 2022-2024 Guest Music Director, Music and Dance of Bali, Gamelan Sekar Jaya, Ashkenaz Music and Dance Community Center, Berkeley

● Brian Thorstenson, Playwright, Kat Gorospe Cole, Quinn Dixon, Syd Franz, Eric Garcia, Audrey Johnson, Melissa Lewis, Wiley Naman Strasser, Erin Mei-Ling Stuart, Contributing Writers, We Build Houses Here, Detour Dance, Oasis Nightclub, San Francisco

Outstanding Achievement in Visual Design

● Jim French (Lighting Designer) in recognition of his contributions to Bay Area dance in creating unique and compelling lighting for a range of programming in the 2022-23 including lighting the nine world-premiere ballets of San Francisco Ballet’s next@90 festival, Myles Thatcher’s Colorforms, Yuri Possokhov’s Postscriptum, Amy Seiwert’s French Kiss and SF Danceworks' 2023 Season. 

● Krystal Harfert, Costume Designer, Fever Dreams, Blind Tiger Society, ODC Theater, San Francisco

●Hiroki Inokuchi and  Jun Nishida, Projection Designers, Bolero - Yuka Oishi Production, San Francisco Ballet, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco

 ● Rogelio Lopez, Costume, Lighting and Scenic Designer, Entre Despierto y Dormido, Rogelio Lopez and Dancers, Joe Goode Annex, San Francisco

● Clarissa Rivera Dyas (Co-Director, Performer), Jakob Pek (Co-Director, Composer, Visual Artist), Jessi Barber (Lighting Designer), Robert Reetz (Set Construction), something remains, Dresher Ensemble Artist Residency, Dresher Ensemble Studio, Oakland 

Outstanding Achievement in Restaging / Revival / Reconstruction

● ODC/Dance and KT Nelson, revival of Path of Miracles (2018), ODC/Dance, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco

● San Francisco Playhouse, restaging of A Chorus Line (1976), San Francisco Playhouse, San Francisco Playhouse, San Francisco

● Val Caniparoli, revival of SWIPE (2011), Smuin Contemporary Ballet, staged by Kristen Gallagher, Blue Shield of California Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco

Special Achievement Award for Outstanding Production Honoree

● La Tania Baile Flamenco and the Presidio Theatre recognized for the outstanding production of Solaz, an immersive flamenco, multimedia performance inspired by the Egyptian Temple of Debod, with artistic direction by La Tania and Adrián Arias, featuring Melissa Cruz, Cristina Hall, Mizuho Sato, José Luis de la Paz, José Cortés, Gary Haggerty, and Faisal Zedan.

Special Achievement Award Honorees

● Rena Butler for her choreography and outstanding use of dance in Matthew Ozawa’s production of Orpheus and Eurydice at San Francisco Opera in which dancers amplify the emotions of the characters.

● Dance Mission Theater for the D. I. R.T. Festival 2023: Citizen SUPREME, featuring sixteen dance/performance works in response to recent supreme court decisions that stripped away freedoms and pushed progress back decades, including those surrounding reproductive justice, gun control, and environmental protection.

● José Ome Mazatl and Debby Kajiyama of NAKA Dance Theater for outstanding community-based social justice collaboration, lifting up the stories of Indigenous and Latina immigrant women through their work with the grassroot organization, Mujeres Unidas y Activas.

Sustained Achievement Honorees

● Recognizing Dimensions Dance Theater on the occasion of their extraordinary 50th Anniversary. Dimensions Dance Theater embodies the transformative power of the arts, through the  creation and performance of dance that reflects the lives and historical experiences of the African Diaspora. This Oakland-based dance company and school, known for its presentations of traditional and contemporary choreography drawn from African, Caribbean, Jazz and Modern dance idioms, has been essential to the visibility and advancement of African American dance as an art form for half a century.

● In honor of choreographer Nancy Karp on the 40th Anniversary of her dancemaking in the Bay Area and in appreciation for continuing to create and expand the universal understanding of modern dance, interdisciplinary collaborative practice, and by creating and maintaining records throughout her career, which document the work of Nancy Karp + Dancers for future generations. Placing the records of her process, the printed program, notebooks, photos, video and related ephemera of the full dance creation process with the dance archive at UC Berkeley Bancroft Library allows scholars insight into Bay Area artists and their methods.

● Sustained Achievement Award, presented posthumously, to Robert Henry Johnson for his deep and abiding contributions to the Bay Area Dance Community as a dancer, choreographer, playwright, poet, and teacher. An extraordinary performing artist whose precocious brilliance, evident from childhood glowing with promise, blossomed into artistry of such charismatic phrasing and inspired flow of movement, none who saw him could forget the sight. He became the radiant embodiment of an enduring spiritual truth expressing authentic narrative of the Black experience, while centering his practice of Christian faith and evangelism through his art.

The Isadora Duncan Dance Awards, informally known as the Izzie Awards, are awarded annually to acknowledge exceptional achievements in the performance and presentation of dance. Awards are given in nine categories to honor the dancers, choreographers, designers, composers, dance companies, scholars and other individuals who have made important contributions to the Bay Area’s thriving dance community and to celebrate the excellence and diversity of dance in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

The wholly volunteer Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee was established in 1984 and bestowed its first awards in 1985. The Committee is made up of artists, teachers, dance writers, academics and arts administrators with diverse areas of expertise and a willingness to commit to viewing a broad range of work.

During each 12-month performance cycle, running September 1-August 31, the Committee collectively views hundreds of eligible performances each year. The final nominees are selected at an annual voting meeting held in September after the close of the viewing cycle.

Prior to the 2020 pandemic, dance films and videos of performances were not considered eligible for consideration.  Since 2020, videotaped content has been considered eligible, provided the artists and the filming location are Bay Area-based.

Member profiles and lists of previous nominees and winners are available online at www.izzies-sf.org.

The Izzies Committee is supported in part through grants, in-kind donations, and annual giving by individuals.

For additional information, contact: izziespublicity@gmail.com

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San Francisco, California, July 31, 2023 - The Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee announces the “Izzie” nominees, honorees and awardees for the 2021-2022 performance season. The following is a list of awardees and honorees by awards category.

Outstanding Achievement in Performance – Individual

● Erik K. Raymond Lee, Work in progress, choreography by Erik K. Raymond Lee, Black Choreographers Festival: Here and Now 2022, Dance Mission, San Francisco

Outstanding Achievement in Performance – Ensemble

● Megan Lowe and Johnny Huy Nguyễn, HOME(in)STEAD, choreography by Megan Lowe and Johnny Huy Nguyễn, Meghan Lowe Dances, David Ireland House, 500 Capp Street, San Francisco

● Ashley Gayle, Lydia Clinton, Niara Hardister, Erik K. Raymond Lee, Kao Vey Sebastian Saephanh, Terrence Paschal and Patrick Secrease, Emma Ya: Expedition, direction and choreography by Raissa Simpson, PUSH Dance Company, outside in front of 447 Minna Street, San Francisco

Outstanding Achievement in Performance – Company

● inkBoat, These Are the Ones We Fell Among, ODC Theater, San Francisco

Outstanding Achievement in Direction or Choreography

● Gerald Casel, Not About Race Dance, Gerald Casel Dance, CounterPulse, San Francisco

Outstanding Achievement in Music/Sound/Text

● Surabhi Bharadwaj and Veena Basavarajaiah (text) and Roopa Mahadevan (music), The Maze, Deborah Slater Dance Theater, Studio 210 Residency, San Francisco

Outstanding Achievement in Visual Design

● Wayne Campbell and Sean Riley (scenic design), David Freitag (master rigger) Love, A State of Grace, Zaccho Dance Theater, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco

Outstanding Achievement in Restaging / Revival / Reconstruction

● Amy Seiwert and Amy London, revival of Dear Miss Cline by Amy Seiwert (2011), Smuin Contemporary Ballet, Cowell Theater at Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, San Francisco

Special Achievement Award Honorees

● SanSan Kwan, for her book Love Dances: Loss and Mourning in Intercultural Collaboration, an important contribution to dance scholarship with its premise that the practice and performance of dance serves as a revelatory site for working across culture.

● Oakland Asian Cultural Center (OACC) and Oakland Ballet for their collaboration in creating the Dancing Moons Festival (2022) as a powerful way to champion Asian artists and combat anti-Asian violence and rhetoric.

Sustained Achievement Award Honorees

● Renee Renouf Hall for sustained achievement over sixty years of dance writing and dance criticism. In beginning her career as a dance correspondent in 1960 for Dancing Times and Dance News in New York City from 1962—1983, continuing as a dance and culture critic for Hokubei Mainichi in San Francisco from 1968—1983 and Asian Week in San Francisco from 1983—1995, and long-time contributor to the Dancing Times. She has provided invaluable service to the dance community and created a valuable historic record of dance performances in the San Francisco Bay Area.

● Carlos Moreno Samaniego, General Director of Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de Carlos Moreno, for his sustained leadership of the company since its founding in Livermore in 1967. His passion for researching, teaching, and performing the traditional dances of Mexico have made him a recognized expert in the field. Moreno has over many years opened a school and built the company's status, performing in major venues, for professional sports events, popular TV shows, educational and cultural events throughout the United States, and in Mexico.

● Helgi Tomasson for outstanding achievement as the Artistic Director of the San Francisco Ballet from 1985 to 2022, a time which saw unprecedented artistic growth and sustained excellence of the Company. Under his leadership, San Francisco Ballet has transformed into one of the world’s leading ballet companies with regular touring appearances in the United States and internationally. Tomasson is recognized for championing new and contemporary choreography, supporting emerging choreographers and the next generation of dancers, and ensuring that classic works continue to be revived and reimagined with respect to the traditional artform.

ISADORA DUNCAN DANCE AWARDS (The Izzies) COMMITTEE ANNOUNCES NOMINEES AND HONOREES FOR 2021-22 PERFORMANCE SEASON.* 

San Francisco, California, July 2023 - The Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee announces the “Izzie” nominees and honorees for the 2021-2022 performance season. 

The following is a list of nominations and honorees by awards category.  
*The Final Awardees for the nominations will be announced on July 31, 2023.

Outstanding Achievement in Performance – Individual 
● Benjamin Freemantle, Summer (Storm Section), choreography by Robin Dekkers, virtual only - premiered in June 2022, filmed on the 2nd Street Garage rooftop in downtown San Francisco
● Erik K. Raymond Lee, Work in progress, choreography by Erik K. Raymond Lee, Black Choreographers Festival: Here and Now 2022, Dance Mission, San Francisco
● Brooke Terry, Joy Protocol, choreography by Gregory Dawson, Black Choreographers Festival: Here and Now 2022, Dance Mission, San Francisco
● Sawako Ogo, for an entire season performing in works by:  Jesselito Bie, Christian Burns (ZiRu Dance Productions), Kristin Damrow & Company, David Herrera Performance Company, Natasha Adorlee, Joe Landini Dance, Alyssa Mitchel, A Pulso Dance (Andi Salazar), FACT/SF (Charles Slender-White), and Erin Yen
● Miche Wong, Vamanos, choreography by Dexandro Motalvo, ODC/Dance, Blue Shield of California Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco

Outstanding Achievement in Performance – Ensemble 
● Adji Cissoko and Michael Montgomery, Azoth, choreography by Alonzo King, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Blue Shield of California Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco 
● Babatunji Johnson, Lorris Eichinger, Shuaib Elhassan, Alvaro Montelongo, and Michael Montgomery, The Radius of Convergence (excerpt), choreography by Alonzo King, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Blue Shield of California Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco 
● Styles Alexander, Gerald Casel, Audrey Johnson, Karla Quintero and Cauveri Suresh, Not About Race Dance, choreography by Gerald Casel, Gerald Casel Dance, CounterPulse, San Francisco 
● Megan Lowe and Johnny Huy Nguyễn, HOME(in)STEAD, choreography by Megan Lowe and Johnny Huy Nguyễn, at David Ireland House, 500 Capp Street, San Francisco
● Ashley Gayle, Lydia Clinton, Niara Hardister, Erik K. Raymond Lee, Kao Vey Sebastian Saephanh, Terrence Paschal and Patrick Secrease, Emma Ya: Expedition, direction and choreography by Raissa Simpson, PUSH Dance Company, outside in front of 447 Minna Street, San Francisco

Outstanding Achievement in Performance – Company 
● Ballet22, Summer Season 2022 Juntos, Cowell Theater at Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, San Francisco
● inkBoat, These Are the Ones We Fell Among, ODC Theater, San Francisco
● Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, Global Moves, Presidio Theatre, San Francisco 
● ODC Dance Company, Dance Downtown Spring 2022 and Summer Sampler 2022, Blue Shield of California Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and ODC Theater, San Francisco 
● Peninsula Ballet Theatre, Cinderella, Fox Theater, Redwood City
● Sean Dorsey Dance, 18th Annual Home Season, Z Space, San Francisco 

Outstanding Achievement in Direction or Choreography 
●  Gerald Casel, Not About Race Dance, Gerald Casel Dance, CounterPulse, San Francisco 
● William Forsythe, Blake Works II, San Francisco Ballet, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco 
● Alonzo King, Deep River, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Blue Shield of California Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco 
● Dwight Rhoden, The Promised Land, San Francisco Ballet, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco 
● Amy Seiwert, No Alibi, ODC/Dance, Dance Downtown, Blue Shield of California Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco

Outstanding Achievement in Music/Sound/Text 
● Surabhi Bharadwaj and Veena Basavarajaiah (text) and Roopa Mahadevan (music), The Maze, Deborah Slater Dance Theater, Studio 210 Residency, San Francisco
● Paul Dresher with Joel Davel (music), Michael Palmer with Rinde Eckert (text), Global Moves, Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, Presidio Theatre, San Francisco 
● Jason Moran and Lisa Fischer (music), Lisa Fischer (vocals), Deep River, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Blue Shield of California Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco 
● Robert Moses (text), The Soft Solace of a Slightly Descended Lost Life (Suck It), Robert Moses’s KIN, Presidio Theatre, San Francisco 

Outstanding Achievement in Visual Design
● Wayne Campbell and Sean Riley (scenic design), David Freitag (master rigger) Love, A State of Grace, Zaccho Dance Theater, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco
● Kristin Damrow (scenic design) MEDIUM, Kristin Damrow & Company, Firehouse at Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, San Francisco 
● Larry Arrington and Alexa Burrell (film), WOW MOM, Larry Arrington, ODC Theater, San Francisco 
● Robert Perdziola and Caitlin Rain (costume design), Mark Stanley (lighting), The Seasons, San Francisco Ballet, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco 
● Jax Blaska, Robert McCole, Del Medoff, Maryam Rostami, Charles Slender-White (scenic design), Split, FACT/SF, CounterPulse, San Francisco 
● Grisel “GG” Torres (lighting), TRY (Directors: Ishmael Houston-Jones, jose e. abad, Snowflake Calvert, Keith Hennessy, and Dr. Kevin O'Connor), Z Space, San Francisco

Outstanding Achievement in Restaging / Revival / Reconstruction
● Kimi Okada, revival of Two If By Sea by Kimi Okada (2013), ODC/Dance, ODC Theater, San Francisco 
● Amy Seiwert and Amy London, revival of Dear Miss Cline by Amy Seiwert (2011), Smuin Contemporary Ballet, Cowell Theater at Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, San Francisco 
● Helgi Tomasson, revival of Bournonville’s La Sylphide (1836), San Francisco Ballet, War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco 

Special Achievement Award Honorees 
 ● SanSan Kwan, for her book Love Dances: Loss and Mourning in Intercultural Collaboration, an important contribution to dance scholarship with its premise that the practice and performance of dance serves as a revelatory site for working across culture.

● Oakland Asian Cultural Center (OACC) and Oakland Ballet Company for their collaboration in creating the Dancing Moons Festival as a powerful way to champion Asian artists and combat anti-Asian violence and rhetoric.

Sustained Achievement Award Honorees 
● Renee Renouf Hall for sustained achievement over sixty years of dance writing and dance criticism. In beginning her career as a dance correspondent in 1960 for Dancing Times and Dance News in  New York City from 1962—1983, continuing as a dance and culture critic for Hokubei Mainichi in San Francisco from 1968—1983 and  Asian Week in San Francisco from 1983—1995, and long-time contributor to the Dancing Times.  She has provided invaluable service to the dance community and created a valuable historic record of dance performances in the San Francisco Bay Area.  

 ● Carlos Moreno Samaniego, General Director of Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de Carlos Moreno, for his sustained leadership of the company since its founding in Livermore in 1967.  His passion for researching, teaching, and performing the traditional dances of Mexico have made him a recognized expert in the field. Moreno has over many years opened a school and built the company's status, performing in major venues, for professional sports events, popular TV shows, educational and cultural events throughout the United States, and in Mexico. 

● Helgi Tomasson for outstanding achievement as the Artistic Director of the San Francisco Ballet from 1985 to 2022, a time which saw unprecedented artistic growth and sustained excellence of the Company. Under his leadership, San Francisco Ballet has transformed into one of the world’s leading ballet companies with regular touring appearances in the United States and internationally. Tomasson is recognized for championing new and contemporary choreography, supporting emerging choreographers and the next generation of dancers, and ensuring that classic works continue to be revived and reimagined with respect to the traditional artform.

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ISADORA DUNCAN DANCE AWARDS COMMITTEE ANNOUNCES HONOREES FOR 2019-20 PERFORMANCE SEASON 

San Francisco, California, July 2023 - The Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee announces the “Izzie” honorees for the 2019-20 performance season, a season cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The following is a list of Honorees in Sustained and Special Achievement for 2019-20.

Special Achievement Award Honorees 
● Amerikkka is Burning Ball, Lake Merritt Amphitheater, Oakland, CA; August 30, 2020, (height of the COVID-19 pandemic); for producing an outdoor all-ages House/ballroom vogue event for queer and trans-youth addressing the racial reckoning following the murder of George Floyd.  In each category of performance, competitors were asked to show their “resourcefulness, ingenuity, and creativity focused on protection and survival from the rona or police brutality.”  Political and health education was woven throughout the event’s design.  With a virtual broadcast as lit as the in-person experience, this function safely, and powerfully occupied public space. 

● Dancing Round Race: Gerald Casel, Sammay Dizon, Yayoi Kambara, and Raissa Simpson for conceiving and creating  “Dancing Around Race: Interrogating Whiteness in Dance”, February 15, 2020 at the Asian Art Museum. The event which interrogated the dynamics of equity in performance, specifically how the structures and systems of dance presentation are affected by race. The presentation included site-specific performances around the museum, as well as a talk by Casel, the culmination of his yearlong community engagement residency Dancing Around Race.

● ABD/Skywatchers is recognized for its deep durational, relational work in the Tenderloin community and for creating an influential piece of social justice performance with Came Here to Live: Resilience and Resistance in the Containment Zone. Through this work, presented November 22-24, 2019 at CounterPulse in San Francisco, the Skywatchers Ensemble has co-created work that is of, by, and for not only Tenderloin residents, but all who are directly and indirectly affected by the criminalization of poverty. Importantly, they do this work while engendering an understanding of our shared humanity and lifting up the abundant beauty, brilliance, wisdom, and love of marginalized people.

● Surabhi Bharadwaj is recognized for her creation and performance of Ashrutam: The Unheard Voice, a dance-theater production paying tribute to the hereditary artists who played a pivotal role in cultivating the Indian performing arts. Performed on November 1 – 3, 2019 at ODC Theater, the production highlighted the history of Devadasis (a matriarchal community of progressive and independent women of ancient India who devoted their life to music and dance) and drew parallels to the voice of women of all generations who have fought for their rights, freedom, and equality. Recognized for its strong production values, outstanding performance and for shedding light on this historically important community.

 Sustained Achievement Award Honorees 
● Alma del Tango, for championing Argentine Tango through classes, performances, and dances and thus creating a vibrant partner-dance community in Marin County and beyond for more than twenty-five years, since its founding in 1996.

● Betsy Erickson, for her numerous contributions to the ballet community in the Bay Area as a dancer with San Francisco Ballet from 1964-84; a ballet master and choreographer for Oakland Ballet, and her role as ballet master of San Francisco Ballet since 1992 where as a central member of the artistic team, Erickson spent 28 years staging ballets and rehearsing hundreds of SF Ballet dancers.

● David McCauley for his nineteen years (2001-2020) of dedication and exemplary leadership as Director of the Berkeley/Oakland AileyCamp, where he has served as a director, choreographer, dance teacher and mentor. David McCauley was a highly regarded role-model and helped to develop self-esteem, self-discipline, creative expression and critical thinking skills for hundreds of East Bay young people.

● Farah Yasmeen Shaikh, Kathak dancer and choreographer, for her conception, choreography and enthralling performance of "The Forgotten Empress" in San Jose and San Francisco in March of 2020, which demonstrated her high artistic values, and comprehensive study of the Kathak dance, over the past 25 years, in the Bay Area.

● George Mizrahi Jackson on the occasion of being deemed “Iconic” by the House Ball Community and being named the international director of The House of Mizrahi and recognized as the Overall “Father” for the organization. In recognition of Jackson's authentic connections with these communities and his work as the Executive Director of AIDS Project of the East Bay.

● Los Lupeños Dance Company of San José, founded in 1969, for over fifty years of presenting the intricacy, depth, costuming, and traditions of Mexican folk dance. Los Lupeños has been training children, youth and adults in its traditional dance style for many years while consistently performing and engaging in communities in San José and beyond.

●  Miko Thomas / Landa Lakes, for her leadership in the Native Drag and Two-Spirit community over the past decade. She is recognized for forming the first Native drag house in the Bay Area, the Brush Arbor Gurlz, and her ongoing contributions as the protocol director of the Two-Spirits Powwow since its founding in 2011.

 ● Robert Moses’ KIN, for twenty-eight years of artistic excellence as an internationally recognized contemporary dance company under the leadership of artistic director Robert Moses. With a repertory of over 100 works, an extensive roster of collaborations with artists in a wide range of disciplines, and a growing catalogue of original text and sound scores composed by Robert Moses, RMK uses movement as a medium through which race, class, culture and gender are used to voice the existence of our greater potential and unfulfilled possibilities. 

● Sahiyar Dance Troupe, for spreading Gujarati culture through the traditional folk dance form of Garba since 1994. Preserving the tradition of this community dance form and bringing it to stage.

● San Francisco Ballet Dance in Schools and Communities (DISC), for forty  years of service and partnership with San Francisco Unified School District leading classical and folklorico dance enrichment programs in more than one hundred classrooms each year.  Offering scholarships for continued study at San Francisco Ballet’s School to sixty new students recruited annually from the DISC program.

● Zaccho Dance Theatre, in recognition of its fortieth anniversary (founded in 1980) as a creative innovator and instigator and the twentieth anniversary of its education-based  Zaccho Youth Program (launched 2002). Zaccho is an essential part of Bayview Hunters Point district of San Francisco, where it is the only non-profit dance organization. The company's arts education program serves 100-150 children annually, offering free in-school and after-school classes, and performance opportunities.

● Zak Diouf and Naomi Diouf, for forty-five years as leaders of West African dance company Diamano Coura. Under their leadership and through ongoing workshops, performances, youth programs, community outreach, and creative partnerships Diamona Coura has nurtured generations of Bay Area dancers and served as cultural ambassadors by touring their West African dance performances to audiences in Europe, Asia and the Americas, furthering the preservation, education, and appreciation of traditional West African music, theater, and culture.
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About the Isadora Duncan Dance Awards

The Isadora Duncan Dance Awards (The Izzies), are awarded annually to acknowledge exceptional creative achievements in the performance and presentation of dance. Izzie awards are given in nine categories to honor the dancers, choreographers, designers, composers, dance companies, scholars and other individuals who have made important contributions to the Bay Area’s thriving dance community and to celebrate the excellence and diversity of dance in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

The volunteer-led Isadora Duncan Dance Awards Committee was established in 1984 and bestowed its first awards in 1985. The Committee is made up of artists, teachers, dance writers, academics and arts administrators with diverse areas of expertise and a willingness to commit to viewing a broad range of work.

During each 12-month performance cycle, running September 1-August 31, the Committee collectively views over four hundred eligible performances. The final nominees are selected at an annual voting meeting held in September after the close of the viewing cycle.

Prior to the 2020 pandemic related venue closures, nominations in the performance categories were based on live performances, and not on dance film or dance videos of performances. However, such performances could include elements of filmed dance or dance videos as part of the Visual Design category. In addition the Special Achievement Awards has been bestowed in certain years for dance films. Since 2021, live streaming video and various digital streaming have been allowed for performances that were being performed live in the current viewing year. Archival footage was not considered eligible for viewing and nominating purposes.

Member profiles and lists of previous nominees and winners are available online at www.izzies-sf.org.

The Izzies Committee is supported in part through grants, in-kind donations, and annual giving by individuals. For additional information, contact: izziespublicity@gmail.com 

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