Method gets top dance accolade

The 18th annual Lester Horton Dance Awards -- presented Sunday evening at Santa Monica’s Edgemar Center for the Arts -- handed the top honor, outstanding achievement in performance by a dance troupe, to Method Contemporary Dance Company for “This Is Not an Exit.” The work, choreographed by company director Bradley Michaud for five women and one man to music by the French collective Nouvelle Vague, netted Michaud an additional award for outstanding achievement in long-form (more than 15 minutes) choreography.

The awards, given by the Dance Resource Center of Greater Los Angeles, cite excellence in performance, choreography, design, music and other categories for L.A.-area dance presentations.

Jacob “Kujo” Lyons, whose roots are in hip-hop and breaking, received an award for his performance in Lux Aeterna Dance Company’s “Metanoia,” which former Los Angeles Times dance critic Lewis Segal described as elevating a “radically reconceptualized street-dance style into the realm of the spiritual.”

“Metanoia” also snagged Lyons the award for outstanding achievement in short-form (less than 15 minutes) choreography.

The honored female performer was Drea Sobke for her appearance in “Arrive” with the Backhausdance company. David Contreras and Anh Dillon also received a performance award for “Duet,” choreographed by Terri Best.

The outstanding achievement in world dance award went to Sohini Ray for “Gita-Govinda,” performed by her company, Manipuri Dance Visions, a local group that focuses on the dance tradition originating from the northeast Indian state of Manipur.

Special awards went to Lynette Kessler, founder and executive/artistic director of Dance Camera West; Arlene Kennedy, director of Universal Dance Design; and the James Irvine Foundation.

Awards for excellence in teaching were given to Linda Yudin and Luis Badaro, co-artistic directors of Viver Brasil. Find the full list of winners at latimes.com/culturemonster.

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diane.haithman@latimes.com