The A.W.A.R.D. Show Announces Makiko Tamura As Winner

The Joyce Theater Foundation is pleased to announce that choreographer Makiko Tamura (small apple co.) is the winner of The A.W.A.R.D Show! 2009: New York City. Tamura, who competed in a four day event with eleven other participants, received a $10,000 cash award to use toward the creation of a new dance work. Two runners-up, Monica Bill Barnes (Monica Bill Barnes & Company) and Shannon Gillen & Elisabeth Motley (DOORKNOB COMPANY) were each awarded $1,000.

The A.W.A.R.D. Show! was presented to sold-out houses at Joyce SoHo from June 18-21. Each of the first three evening performances featured the work of four different choreographers followed by an audience vote to select a finalist to perform again on the fourth night of the series. A moderated discussion involving the artists and the audience took place directly following each vote. "By declaring out loud and upfront that audiences for The A.W.A.R.D. Show! are charged with the rights and the responsibility to make qualitative choices about what they see, the selection process becomes transparent and hopefully encourages honesty. Then, the audience and artists can get on with the task of really looking at the work before them for what it is and to try and see it deeply," said Neta Pulvermacher, founder of The A.W.A.R.D. Show!

At the final performance on June 21, a panel of arts professionals along with the audience chose the winner of the $10,000 award. The voting panelists included: Jacqueline Z. Davis, Executive Director of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center; Neta Pulvermacher, choreographer and founder of The A.W.A.R.D. Show!; Linda Shelton, Executive Director of The Joyce Theater Foundation; and Deganit Shemy, choreographer and winner of The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2008.

Linda Shelton commented, "It was a very exciting weekend for Joyce SoHo; lines formed up the block every night to get a ticket. Each participant's work was very different and if The Joyce had the funding to give all twelve choreographers an award we would; however, Makiko Tamura proved victorious in the end and a new dance piece will be born from her $10,000 award."

Makiko Tamura, Monica Bill Barnes, and Shannon Gillen & Elisabeth Motley will report back on their progress in creating new work with the prize money that they received. When performances of these works are scheduled, they will be advertised on The Joyce Theater website and on each company's website. The audiences will then have a chance to attend a performance of a work that they ultimately helped to actualize.

The twelve participants in New York City were:

* Vanessa Justice-Vanessa Justice Dance
* Sidra Bell-Sidra Bell Dance New York
* Shannon Gillen & Elisabeth Motley-DOORKNOB COMPANY
* Andrea Miller-Gallim Dance
* Makiko Tamura-small apple co.
* Isabel Gotzkowsky-Isabel Gotzkowsky and Friends
* Anthony Whitehurst-Red Novae
* Vershawn Sanders-Red Clay Dance Company
* Ximena Garnica-Garnica LEIMAY
* Monica Bill Barnes-Monica Bill Barnes & Company
* Emery LeCrone
* Tami Stronach-Tami Stronach Dance

The A.W.A.R.D. Show! was founded in 2006 by choreographer Neta Pulvermacher/The Neta Dance Company and producer Marisa König Beatty in response to a need for a lab-like space in which working dance artists can engage in an open dialogue with the audience about the work presented. The A.W.A.R.D. Show! is now administered and produced by The Joyce Theater Foundation and has been expanded from an annual series held in New York City at Joyce SoHo to a multi-city format in 2009. This year, The Joyce Theater Foundation has partnered with The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, Philadelphia Live Arts Festival and On the Boards (Seattle) with additional series taking place in Chicago from June 24-27, in Philadelphia from September 15-19, and in Seattle from December 10-13.

The awards in New York City have been generously underwritten by Scott Kasan.

The awards in Chicago, Philadelphia and Seattle have been generously underwritten by The Boeing Company.

The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2009: New York City Biographies

Makiko Tamura (Choreographer/Dancer) graduated from the Women's Junior College of Physical Education and Toho Gakuen College of Drama and Music in Tokyo, Japan. She has worked with Nathan Trice/RITUALS, Vanessa Justice Dance, Digby Dance, Ellis Wood Dance and in the works of various New York City choreographers.

She founded small apple co. in 2004. She choreographs, teaches and she is a special guest choreographer/dancer of The Dance Satellite Lecture at The Yamaguchi University Faculty of Education every year in Japan since 2004. She has been presented at newsteps choreographer's series at Chen Dance Center, Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, Jennifer Muller/THE WORKS, Dance New Amsterdam and Tisch School of the Arts. She will be showing her work at Dance New Amsterdam presents RAW Material 2009. (http://www7b.biglobe.ne.jp/~small_apple05/)

Monica Bill Barnes (Choreographer/Dancer) is a New York based choreographer and performer. She has created twelve evening-length dance works, numerous site-specific events and several cabaret numbers for her company, Monica Bill Barnes & Company. Since moving to New York from her native California in 1995, Barnes choreography has been produced in over twenty venues, including Danspace Project which has commissioned and presented three works; When we were pretty (2002), The Happy Dance (or what started out ok) (2004) and Suddenly Summer Somewhere (2007). Other commissions include Another Parade (2009) commissioned by the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Festival, I feel like (2008) commissioned by DanceNow's 10 Year Anniversary Project and Game Face (2008) presented by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's SITELINES Festival. Her work has been presented in 30 cities throughout the United States and abroad. (www.monicabillbarnes.com)

DOORKNOB COMPANY: Manifesto/Credo
shannon gillen & elisabeth motley

As part of DOORKNOB COMPANY's integrative approach to dance theater, the company utilizes a rigorous developmental process to explore various conflicts. Environment dictates everything. DOORKNOB, therefore, explores character driven experience and creates movement as a reaction to the constraints of each scene. Movement, text, scenic elements and music work in tandem creating a heightened reality. Performers live truthfully under imaginary circumstances.

Since its establishment in 2004, DOORKNOB COMPANY has performed works at Festival Oltre Passo in Lecce, Italy, Dance Theatre Workshop, The Stella Adler Studio of Acting, HERE Arts Center's American Living Room Festival, Dance New Amsterdam's Raw and Object series, The Ontological-Hysteric Theatre, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Sitelines Series, and Movement Research at Judson Memorial Church. The company's founders have held residency with DTW's Fresh Tracks, DNA's AIR and most recently LMCC's Swing Space. (www.doorknobcompany.org)