News of Note: What You Might Have Missed in November 2022

December 2, 2022

Here are the latest promotions, appointments and departures, as well as notable awards and accomplishments, from November 2022.

Comings & Goings

At Pacific Northwest Ballet, Madison Rayn Abeo, Dammiel Cruz-Garrido, Christopher D’Ariano, Amanda Morgan, Christian Poppe and Leah Terada have been promoted to soloist.

At Paris Opéra Ballet, Bleuenn Battistoni and Antoine Kirscher have been promoted to premier danseur; Guillaume Diop, Antonio Conforti, Clara Mousseigne and Hohyun Kang to sujet; Alexandre Boccara, Aurélian Gay, Luna Peigné and Hortense Millet-Maurin to coryphée. François Alu has left his position as étoile.

At Neville Dance Theatre, Lauren Settembrino has been promoted to principal.

Marcelo Gomes has been named artistic manager of Dresden Semperoper Ballet for the 2023–24 season.

Viver Brasil associate artistic director Vera Passos has been named co-artistic director. Natalie Marrero has been named executive director after serving as interim executive director since October 2021.

Caryn Campbell has been named executive director of The Misty Copeland Foundation, Sindy Folgar director of the organization’s BE BOLD program, both effective in January.

Current Gibney Company general manager Shane Jewell will succeed Thomas Bruner as executive director of Oregon Ballet Theatre on January 9.

Jena Woodbury will step down as executive director of Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company at the end of the 2022–23 season.

Victoria Hulland has rejoined Sarasota Ballet as artistic assistant to the directors.

Awards & Honors

Recipients of 2022 Dance/USA Fellowships to Artists, which include a $30,167 unrestricted grant, include MK Abadoo, Mesma Belsaré, Natalie Benally, Phil Chan, Jemal “P-Top” Delacruz, Tyde-Courtney Edwards, Peter Rockford Espiritu, Jenn Freeman | Po’Chop, Gabriel “MoFundamentals” Gutiérrez, Harrison Guy, Dr. Julie B. Johnson, Petra Kuppers, ShanDien Sonwai LaRance, cat mahari, Muisi-kongo Malonga, Kesha McKey, Prathiba Natesan Batley, Christopher “Unpezverde” Núñez, Luis Ordaz Gutiérrez, Nkeiruka Oruche, iele paloumpis, Bhumi B Patel, Potri Ranka Manis, Angelina Ramirez, Vershawn Sanders-Ward, Gema Sandoval, Dr. Iquail Shaheed, Shakiri, Olivier Tarpaga and Anne Martine Whitehead.

Botis Seva has received the Carmen Mateu Young Artist European Award Opera and Dance, which includes €30,000 towards the creation of a new commission.

Robin Dekkers received Mark Morris Dance Group’s Dance for PD’s Lucy Bowen Award for Inclusive Choreography, which includes a $10,000 grant.

Daina Ashbee has received the 2022 Clifford E. Lee Award from the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

A portrait of Germaine Acogny. She is a dark-skinned, older woman with a shaved head and light brown eyes. She stands in front of a red and orange stone wall, gazing seriously at the camera. An orange, corded necklace is looped around her neck.
Germaine Acogny. Photo by Jean Lebreton, courtesy Michelle Tabnick Public Relations.

At its annual conference in January, the International Association of Blacks in Dance will award Germaine Acogny its Joan Myers Brown “Keeper of the Flame” Legacy Award; John Alleyne and Ola Marie Skanks its Dunham/Primus International Acclaim Legendary Artist Awards; Rosemary James the Charles Augins Inspirational Artist Award; and Don Jordan – Jazz Dance Factory the Jeraldyne Blunden Local Innovators Award.

Mikhail Baryshnikov received the Royal Academy of Dance’s Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Award.

Alonzo King will be inducted into the California Hall of Fame in a ceremony on December 13.

France awarded Ohad Naharin the rank of Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters.

Jozef Varga received the Merit Award from Stichting Dansersfonds ’79.

Taryn Cheng and Gabe Stone Shayer have been named to Forbes’ 2023 30 Under 30 list.