You Make Me Compete

The A.W.A.R.D. Show! challenges 12 Philly choreographers to outshine their colleagues.

by Lauren F. Friedman

[ dance ]

Bill Hebert HEART OF A CHAMPION: Philly choreographers Nichole Canuso, Jen Rose and Devynn Emory will present dance works in the Live Arts Festival's A.W.A.R.D. Show! despite some misgivings.

"Hey, what do you guys think of this blood?"

Zornitsa Stoyanova, a Philadelphia-based choreographer who directs the feverishly experimental Here[begin] Dance Co., is soliciting feedback from four already-sweaty dancers for her newest, goriest and most theatrical work to date. Late on a Wednesday night, in a quiet corner of South Kensington, the unpaid dancers prepare to run through the 15-minute piece just one more time. The fake blood — and everything else — has to be just right because the stakes are unusually high.

Side by Side is Stoyanova's entry into The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2009, a dance competition in this year's Live Arts Festival that has sparked both controversy and excitement in Philadelphia's tight-knit dance community. Twelve choreographers will present short pieces, the audience members will vote for their favorites and a moderator will lead everyone in a post-show discussion. The grand prize — underwritten by Boeing — is $10,000 to develop a new work. Two finalists will take home $1,000 each.

J.J. Tiziou (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

"I have very mixed feelings about The A.W.A.R.D. Show!," says Stoyanova. "It's such a great idea to get non-dance audiences interested in dance — but I also think it's kind of wrong."

Stoyanova is not alone in her ambivalence about the value of inviting audiences to vote on what will almost surely be nuanced and complex contemporary dance works.

"I don't view choreography as a competitive form," says Megan Mazarick, a participating choreographer who is also performing in Kill Me Now, a Live Arts show that — somewhat ironically — satirizes dance competitions. "I would be lying if I said that I thought competition was valuable in modern dance."

"A.W.A.R.D." is actually an acronym that stands for "Artists With Audiences Responding to Dance," and when the show began in New York in 2003 — as the significantly less controversial Dance Conversations series — it was not a competition at all.

Joe Devico (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

"I wanted to figure out how to create a much more charged and enlivened meeting of artists and audiences around the work," explains Neta Pulvermacher, the choreographer who originated the series and has since been called upon to defend it again and again.

"The whole point was to try to engage audiences more with what they were looking at," says Larissa Chock at the Joyce Theater Foundation, which this year expanded the show from New York to Philadelphia, Chicago and Seattle.

Nick Stuccio, Live Arts producing director, admits that though he was initially hesitant about the possibility of "cheapening the discourse around art," he ultimately couldn't refuse an opportunity that had the potential to draw in new audiences and fund new work.

"I have to defend my decision to everybody, but I'm willing to give it a shot," he says. "I'm not in a position to say, 'I don't want to give $10,000 to anybody — you keep it.'"

"Competition is around us all the time: Who's going to buy a ticket? Who's going to get a grant?" says Nichole Canuso, a contestant who will be performing a duet with Headlong Dance Theater's David Brick. "Any choreographer getting $10,000 is a good thing."

Canuso is cautiously optimistic about The A.W.A.R.D. Show! concept. "The platform isn't going to change the work — the work is what it is," she says. "Maybe people will show up expecting a glittery showcase, but what they'll find is an evening of thoughtful choreography."

Ultimately, The A.W.A.R.D. Show! is an experiment that will impose a ranking on artists so used to working together that they are still dancing in one another's pieces, despite the veneer of a cutthroat competition.

"I'm most hesitant about feelings getting hurt," says Devynn Emory, a participant who dances with fellow contestants Canuso and Kate Watson-Wallace in Headlong, and who will also be performing in Kathryn TeBordo's A.W.A.R.D. Show! entry. "I'd be happy if any one of my friends got the award — we all need it right now."

Nobody seems to agree on whether the opportunities presented by The A.W.A.R.D. Show! outweigh the potential downsides, but it hardly matters. "I see all sides of this, but in the end, we're going to do it," says Stuccio. "We'll see how it goes."

Here's hoping that the only blood shed will be on stage.

(l_friedman@citypaper.net)

The A.W.A.R.D. Show! 2009: Philadelphia, Tue.-Thu., Sept. 15-17, and Sat., Sept. 19 (finals), 8 p.m., $25-$30, Arts Bank, 601 S. Broad St., 215-413-1318, livearts-fringe.org.