The Sage Awards for Dance were held for the first time in the Cowles Center, intended as the flagship for Twin Cities dance. Ten artists or groups were honored in the ceremony Tuesday night.
Three awards were presented for Outstanding Performance: Rhythmic Circus (Nick Bowman, Ricci Milan and Kaleena Miller) for the work "Feet Don't Fail Me Now!", Emily Johnson/Catalyst + BLACKFISH for "The Thank-you Bar," and Laurie Van Wieren for "Who Made These Videotapes?"
Outstanding Performer recognition went to Alanna Morris for the TU Dance spring concert and for "Dreams: A Solo" and to Greg Waletski for "Like an Octopus" and "Anatomy of a Viciously Sweet," both performed with Zenon Dance.
Rhythmic Circus was named Outstanding Ensemble for the "Feet Don't Fail Me Now!" performance.
In design, Sage Awards were given to Sonya Berlovitz for costuming "Journey," and to the design team for "Heaven," which was created by Flying Foot Forum. The group consisted of Robert Hammel and Steve Campbell (video), Marcus Dilliard (lighting), and Chan Poling and Natalie Nowytski/Peter Gorman/Victor Zupanc/Joe Chvala (score and music).
Toni Pierce-Sands, a co-founder of TU Dance and a faculty member at the University of Minnesota, was named Outstanding Dance Educator. Linda Shapiro, a longtime writer and critic who covers the Twin Cities dance scene, received the Special Citation this year.
Sage Awards are named for Sage Cowles, a dancer and longtime supporter of the dance community. The Cowles Center, on Hennepin Avenue in downtown Minneapolis, is the newest performing arts facility in the Twin Cities. This was the seventh year of the awards program.
