Boston Ballet dancer and choreographer Heather Myers will receive The Banff Centre’s 2009 Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award. Given annually to an emerging choreographer residing in North America, the award includes a five-week creation and production residency at the Centre, and a $5,000 cash prize.
Working with participants in The Banff Centre’s Professional Dance program, Myers will create a new work which will premiere as part of the Festival Dance program running July 22 to 26 at the 2009 Banff Summer Arts Festival. Myers will have access to the program’s resident lighting and costume designers, and the production and staging facilities at the Centre.
“It is so important for promising dancers and choreographers to have the opportunity to work with each other to understand the complexities involved in creating new work,” says Sarah Iley, vice president of Programming at The Banff Centre. “The Banff Centre is proud of the role we play in creating new repertoire through the Lee Award.”
“As a choreographer, I have had great dancers to work with, and as a dancer, the work of great choreographers to inspire and stimulate my desire to create,” says Myers. “This upcoming project at The Banff Centre is another stepping stone in further discovering all of the possibilities in making a ballet in a beautiful and supportive environment for creativity.”
Originally from Calgary, and a former participant in The Banff Centre’s Professional Dance program, Myers received her dance training at The National Ballet School and The Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. She danced with Alberta Ballet for four years under the direction of Mikko Nissinen, and at Le Festival des Arts de Saint Saveur. In 2002 she joined Boston Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet and has since been promoted to soloist. Myers’s choreographic work includes Gone Again for Boston Ballet, Found for Boston Ballet 2, and workshops and choreography for the film The Game Plan.
The Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award was established in 1978 by the Clifford E. Lee Foundation. Past recipients include Mark Godden, Christopher House, Bengt Jörgen, Sabrina Matthews, Crystal Pite, Wen Wei Wang, Simone Orlando, and Robert Glumbek. The Award runs in conjunction with The Banff Centre’s Professional Dance program under the direction of Lindsay Fischer, with professional support from John Alleyne of Ballet British Columbia, Gradimir Pankov at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, Karen Kain at the National Ballet of Canada, Andre Lewis of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Alberta Ballet’s Jean Grand-Maître, Boston Ballet’s Mikko Nissanen and Bengt Jorgen of Ballet Jorgen.
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More information on dance at The Banff Centre.
