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Canberra Today 25°/29° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

New trophy for Dance Awards

YOU won’t see them easily from a distance, but if you’re getting one, you’ll feel the weight of it.

We’re talking about the new Dance Awards trophies created by artist Matthew Day Perez.

Matthew Day Perez with the transparent trophy and the Ausdance boxes
Matthew Day Perez with the transparent trophy and the Ausdance boxes
The artist, along with representatives of Ausdance, the Centenary of Canberra  and  the Canberra Glassworks, where the work was created, was on hand yesterday at the Glassworks to unveil the trophy amid a sea of brightly coloured Ausdance boxes in which the trophies will be packed.

Day Perez, originally from California, USA, received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Illinois State University and his Master of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design, then  in 2010 he won a Fulbright Fellowship to undertake research at   the Glass Workshop at the ANU. Canberra Glassworks CEO, Ann Jakle, applauded him on his creation.

A kind of dance “Oscar,” the new trophy offers a classical design back to the artist is reflective of “the curvature of a dancer’s unswept arm.”

According to Neil Roach, the director of Ausdance ACT, the hosting organisation of this year’s sold-out night of nights, to be held at the Playhouse on Monday, August 5, the trophies replace former, much heavier works, in stainless steel.

Mr Roach said that they awards provided an opportunity to say thankyou to dancers whose exacting profession often yielded more criticism than praise. It was a fortunate then, he explained, that dance critics and commentators were generally very close to practising dance artists and thus able to understand their work to a high degree.

Whether by happy coincidence or by  clever manoeuvring, this year is the first time Canberra has hosted the Australian Dance Awards, “embracing the core of the Centenary of Canberra celebrations with the celebration of dance,” as they’re saying.

The Australian Dance Awards, at the Playhouse,  Monday, August 5. details at canberratheatre.com.au

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Helen Musa

Helen Musa

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