News of Note: What You Might Have Missed in September 2021

September 30, 2021

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

Comings & Goings

Ángel García Molinero
has joined Boston Ballet as a soloist, Michaela DePrince as a second soloist.

Laura
and Jerome Tisserand have joined Les Ballets des Monte-Carlo.

Christopher Bruce
has stepped down from his associate choreographer position at Houston Ballet, where he has held a position for 32 years.

Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts artistic director Paul Crewes will step down at the end of 2021. He will remain involved with the organization as an artistic advisor.

Allison DeBona
has been appointed principal of the Peggy Bergmann Park City Campus of the Frederick Quinney Lawson Ballet West Academy.

Boston Ballet School director Margaret Tracey has stepped away from the position.

National Ballet of Canada principal Sonia Rodriguez will retire after 32 years with the company; her final performance is currently scheduled for March. Former principal Xiao Nan Yu has been named artistic coach, and choreographic associate Robert Binet has been named curator and producer of CreativAction and special initiatives.

Awards & Honors

Jawole Willa Jo Zollar leans back against a white pillar. She smiles widely and brightly as she looks up and off into the distance. She wears a black dress and light brown geometric earrings. Blurry in the background is a white couch with grown and green throw pillows, as well as bright leafy plants.
Jawole Willa Jo Zollar

Kyle Froman

Jawole Willa Jo Zollar
has been named a 2021 MacArthur Fellow, which includes an unrestricted $625,000 grant.

Soledad Barrio
has received the 2022 Vilcek Prize in Dance, worth $100,000. Tatiana Desardouin, Tamisha Guy and Leonardo Sandoval have been awarded the 2022 Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Dance, each of which includes a $50,000 cash prize.

The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage has awarded a Pew Fellowship, which includes a $75,000 grant, to angel shanel edwards. Dance presenters FringeArts and Mann Center for the Performing Arts were awarded Re:imagining Recovery grants for facility upgrades.

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has awarded Adaptation Grants to AXIS Dance Company, CounterPulse, Dance Palace, Dancers’ Group, Fresh Meat Productions and Luna Dance Institute.

New England Foundation for the Arts has awarded 2021 National Dance Project Production Grant Awards to Flyaway Productions, Brandon Kazen-Maddox, Everett Company, Leslie Parker, Company SBB, BANDALOOP, Versa-Style Dance Company, Music From the Sole/Leonardo Sandoval & Gregory Richardson, Indigenous Enterprise, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Nkeiruka Oruche + Gbedu Town Radio, d. Sabela grimes, The Dancing Wheels Company and School, Marjani Forté-Saunders + Everett Saunders, Red Clay Dance Company, Rosy Simas Danse, Mythili Prakash, Onye Ozuzu, Dakota Camacho and Brownbody. Each will receive a $45,000 creation grant, $10,000 in unrestricted general operating support funds, and $11,500 towards production residencies. In addition, $10,000 National Dance Project Finalist Awards were awarded to Jamal Jackson Dance Company, Dancing Earth Creations, Prumsodun Ok, Jason Samuels Smith, Cardell Dance Theater, Urban Bush Women, MKArts/MK Abadoo, KAMBARA+, Dominic Moore-Dunson, Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre, Yjastros: The American Flamenco Repertory Company, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Takahiro Yamamoto, BRKFST Dance Company, Susana Arenas Pedroso, Kiandanda Dance Theater, Helanius J. Wilkins, nia love, Blue13 Dance Company and ANIKAYA.

On an otherwise empty stage, a dancer in white trousers and a white blazer open over a bare chest falls to the ground. Their right shin eases their fall as their head is flung back, both hands raised to shoulder height, elbows bent.
Symara Johnson

The Fleet, Courtesy Center for Performance Research

Center for Performance Research’s 2022 artists in residence are Justin Cabrillos, Ayano Elson, Doménica García, ryen heart, Symara Johnson, Johnnie Cruise Mercer, Star Mitchell, Pioneers Go East Collective, Ogemdi Ude and Jessie Young.

The NY Dance and Performance Awards (the “Bessies”) will honor George Faison with the 2021 Bessie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Dance and DanceAfrica with this year’s award for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance. These, and the rest of the awards, will be presented on October 11.

Helgi Tomasson
will receive the San Francisco Arts Medallion from the Museum of Performance + Design on October 21.

Libby Nye
and Rachna Ramya Agrawal will receive 2021 Distinguished Achievement in Dance Awards from Connecticut Arts Alliance on October 3.

Sonya Tayeh
won a Tony Award for Best Choreography for Moulin Rouge! The Musical, which won 10 awards in total, including Best Musical.

At the Creative Arts Emmys, Debbie Allen received the award for Outstanding Choreography for Scripted Programming for Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square. Derek Hough received the award for Outstanding Choreography for Variety or Reality Programming for “Dancing with the Stars.”

Harry Styles’ “Treat People With Kindness” video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography.