Six Minnesota Dance Artists Selected to Receive 2010 McKnight Artist Fellowships

The Southern Theater is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2010 McKnight Artist Fellowships for Choreographers and the McKnight Artist Fellowships for Dancers. Each Fellow will receive a $25,000 fellowship award.

2010 marks the ninth year the Southern Theater has administered these two fellowship programs, during which 31 choreographers and 27 dancers have been awarded. The choreographer fellowship program originated in 1981 and will be celebrating it's 30th anniversary in the coming year. The dance fellowship program began in 1997.

The McKnight Foundation also funds artist fellowship programs in 10 other disciplines, administered by eight other Twin Cities arts organizations. More information is available at www.mcknight.org

McKnight Artist Fellowships for Choreographers

The BodyCartography Project (Otto Ramstad & Olive Bieringa)

Penelope Freeh
Megan Mayer

In addition to the $25,000 fellowship stipend, each choreography fellow is eligible to apply for funding to the Southern's Dance To Go program, which supports the creation of new work on a national or international level.

McKnight Artist Fellowships for Dancers
Emilie Plauché Flink
Leslie O'Neill
Eddie Bruno Oroyan

In addition to the $25,000 dancer fellowship stipend, each dancer fellow will receive support from the SOLO Commissioning Program to commission a choreographer of his/her choice to create a new solo work. The dancer fellows will perform these new works in joint showcase performances at the Southern Theater in July 2012.

"We are thrilled to have six new fellows, a diverse group of extremely talented artists," said Mary Ellen Childs, McKnight Fellowship Director and Southern Theater staff member. "Our selection panels found this year's decisions extraordinarily difficult to make due to the high caliber of artists who applied. This points to the amazingly rich dance community we have here in Minnesota."

The Fellowship Program is designed to enrich and strengthen the community of dance artists by acknowledging the accomplishments of individual choreographers and dancers and providing for their artistic growth. It is made possible by the generous support of The McKnight Foundation, which funds individual artist fellowships in 12 program areas.

Guidelines for next year's choreographer and dancer fellowships will be available later in the summer on the Southern Theater's website at www.southerntheater.org. For more information, call Mary Ellen Childs at 612.340.0155 ext. 321.

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