Fast Feet, Collage Troupes Vault to the Top of Horton Awards List

The 11th annual Lester Horton Dance Awards honored a wide range of styles and companies at ceremonies Sunday at the Japan America Theatre.

Presented by the Dance Resource Center of Greater Los Angeles and named after a locally based modern dance pioneer, this edition of the awards was hosted by choreographer-impresario Deborah Brockus and dance company administrator Erwin Washington.

The awards went to work presented in 2001 and reflected the choices of a 15-member nominating committee and the votes of the DRC membership.

Dancer-choreographer Jamie Nichols of contemporary ensemble Fast Feet, and choreographer-company leader Heidi Duckler and her Collage Dance Theatre, which specializes in site-specfic events, emerged as big winners. Multiple Hortons also went to world dance choreographers Ramaa Bharadvaj of the Angahara Ensemble and Jamal of Avaz International Dance Theatre.

Horton lifetime achievement awards went to R’wanda Lewis, longtime choreographer, teacher and company leader; Marion Scott, a dancer, choreographer and teacher who heads the Spirit Dances series at Highways; Yvonne Mounsey, former New York City Ballet principal dancer and founder of West Side Academy. Lifetime achievement awards sponsored by the California Arts Council went to choreographer and now UC Irvine professor of dance Donald McKayle, and co-founder of the Aman and Avaz world dance companies, Anthony Shay.

Speeches by presenters and winners introduced a feisty political edge this year.

Winner Bharadvaj described the financial perils of a dance career and ridiculed dancing without payment and for mere exposure.

Among the presenters, Lula Washington, head of Lula Washington Dance Theatre, asked that the Hortons offer a cash award in the future. Choreographer Karen Goodman wanted more media coverage of the event and Jordan Peimer, of the Skirball Cultural Center, suggested a number of Horton reforms--including fewer awards.

Choreography I (long-form pieces): Heidi Duckler, “After Eden,” Collage Dance Theatre, Marriott, downtown L.A., October.

Choreography II (short-form pieces): Ramaa Bharadvaj, “Suddha Nrittam,” Dance Kaleidoscope, Japan America Theatre, July.

Performance-Individual/Western -- Male: Stanley Holden, “Coppelia” (Dr. Coppelius).

Inland Pacific Ballet,Bridges Auditorium, Claremont, April, and Luckman Fine Arts Complex, May.

Performance-Individual/Western --Female: Jamie Nichols, “El Trabajo Solo Progresa,”Jamie Nichols, choreographer, Fast Feet, Spectrum: Dance in L.A. #8,Ivar Theatre, May.

Performance-Individual/Non-Western: Ramaa Bharadvaj, “Suddha ittam.”

Performance-Company/Western: Collage Dance Theatre, “After Eden.”

Performance-Company/Non-Western: Avaz International Dance Theatre, “Charkh,” Jamal, choreographer, Japan America Theatre, November.

Revival, Reconstruction, Restaging: Jamie Nichols, “El Trabajo Solo Progresa.”

Set Design: (tie) Daniel Wheeler, “Trajectoire,” Section 2, Diavolo Dance Theatre, Jacques Heim, choreographer, SUN Performing Arts Center, November.

Steven Woodruff, “She Don’t Work at the Pizzeria No Mo’,” Jamie Nichols, choreographer, Fast Feet, Jazz Dance L.A., Luckman Fine Arts Complex, October.

Light Design: Frank McKown, “After Eden.”

Costume Design/Western: Charles Tomlinson, bodytalk dance, Lauren Winslow Kearns, choreographer, Highways Performance Space, September.

Costume Design/Non-Western: Jamal, “Charkh.”

Original Music for Dance: Amy Knoles, “After Eden.”

Production of a Festival or Series: John Anson Ford Amphitheatre-Dance Series,Summer, 2001.

Teaching: Jamie Nichols, Academy of Dramatic Arts, Pasadena Athletic Club and Ballet Petit (in La Canada Flintridge).

Lifetime Achievement: R’wanda Lewis, dancer, choreographer and company leader.

Marion Scott, dancer, choreographer and teacher.

Yvonne Mounsey, ballet dancer and teacher.

Gary Bates Service to the Field Award: Louise Reichlin, director, Los Angeles Choreographers and Dancers.

California Arts Council Lifetime Achievement: Donald McKayle, dancer, choreographer and teacher.

Anthony Shay, dancer, choreographer, teacher and company leader.