Awards

2009 Sixth Annual Miami Dance Festival Awards

Each year the Miami Dance Festival presents two awards to honor the unsung heroes who have made significant contributions toward the advancement of dance in the South Florida area.

This year Executive Director Michael Spring and the staff of the Miami-Dade Department of Cultural Affairs have been selected to receive a Miami Dance Festival award for creating, funding, and implementing the Performance Journalism Project. This initiative answers a long term need for responsible, professional writing and criticism about dance. It is one of the most important developments for dance in our community over the past ten years!

Once again, the Department of Cultural Affairs demonstrates leadership in all areas of development for the arts, not only through funding, but in response to all types of challenges in the environment in which we all work. The Performance Journalism Project will provide opportunities for professional writers to publish preview articles, criticism, educational articles and other relevant writing on dance. Their work will appear in local publications as well as on line. Dance has suffered from a dearth of coverage and criticism for many years. This project creates an opportunity for diverse points of view, dialogue and public education that is unprecedented!

The second 2009 Miami Dance Festival award goes to Bill Doolin, Acting Director of the Florida Dance Association, for his dedicated work in maintaining the Florida Dance Association as a viable support organization for dance through the last two difficult years of the organization’s history. He has helped countless students learn and grow through dance  by continuing to provide  festivals and master classes, as well as assisting so many with the development of their professional careers. He has helped dance companies to publicize their events and has kept the Florida Dance Festival evolving into new, more meaningful forms. His encouraging and kind attitude, his willingness to always help those who need it and his consummate example of deportment and professionalism inspire all of us! Bill truly is one of the unsung heroes of our art form!

Previous Festival awards have been presented to: dance teacher and coach Mariana Alvarez; the team of people who made the development of the Byron  Carlyle Theater possible: Nancy Liebman, Brad Judd, Jose Smith, Eric Fliss, & Bernard Zyscovich; dance teacher and community activist Florene Nichols; dance teacher and creator of the Miami International Ballet Festival Pedro Pablo Pena; Dance Supervisor for Miami Dade County Public Schools Virginia Shuker; Artistic Director of the Thomas Armour Youth Ballet Ruth Weisen.

The Miami Dance Festival awards ceremony will take place on the Festival’s closing night, Sunday, May 10 at 7:00 PM at the Byron Carlyle Theater immediately prior to the performance by the Dance Now! Ensemble. Tickets are $20 in advance/$25 the day of the show/$15 for students and seniors. Advance tickets can be purchased online at www.momentumdance.com or by calling 305-858-7002.

The Miami Dance Festival has been made possible with support from: the National Endowment for the Arts, the Miami Dade Department of Cultural Affairs and the Board of County Commissioners, the Miami Beach Cultural Arts Council and the City of Miami Beach Mayor and Board of Commissioners, the City of Coral Gables, the City of North Miami, Citizens Interested in Arts, the Guggenheim Fellowship Foundation, Funding Arts Network, the FIU College of Architecture and the Arts.