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Starting tonight and running all weekend, our very own home for new and exciting performance, REDCAT will host a four evening “contest” for audience-decided best (modern) dance in the area. Part of a national six-city event created in New York in 2005, The A.W.A.R.D. Show! presents the work of 12 local dancemakers chosen by a national panel of cognoscenti. Each choreographer will show a short piece on one of the first three nights (Thursday-Saturday) and the audience-voted “best” of each night will then go to the closing round on Sunday. The final winner takes home $10,000 earmarked for the creation of a new dance and the two runners up will pocket $1000 each.
Cryptically labeled to identify a much-desired meeting of minds—Artists With Audiences Responding to Dance, each production will include a post-performance moderated discussion with voting taking place after that. Following this conversation, there will be a reception to encourage further informal dialogue about what's been seen. Here in Los Angeles, the participating artists range from the barely known to those who have already made a mark on the contemporary dance scene. In my eyes, each program is as good as the next and, though the closing night includes the preceding nights’ “winners,” one of those preliminary evenings may even be better (to me). So, I’m planning on seeing them all!
It’s not often that one artist is supported with this much resource, but it’s certainly appropriate and deserved. The funding for this enterprise came, at the onset, from one private philanthropy and now, big business has come into play! The artists are a bit bemused by the competitive structure, but, hey, the pot of gold at the end of this rainbow is nothing to sneeze at.
Definitely worth checking out!
