On Thursday, May 9, 2024, Mark DeGarmo Dance’s DANCE FOR DANCE (D4D) FOR SOCIAL CHANGE 2024 honors acclaimed Dancers, Teachers, Directors, and Choreographers Phyllis Lamhut & Douglas Dunn with its “Educational Visionary” Lifetime Achievement Award 2024. The awards will take place at St. Mary’s Church in New York City and presented by Alberto del Saz & Joan Finkelstein.
Over the years Mark DeGarmo Dance has honored USA and global artists, educators, scholars, activists, and outstanding citizens. “Educational Visionary” Lifetime Achievement Awardees include educational theorist Maxine Green (2013); actor, writer, director, and Co-Founder of The Living Theatre Judith Malina (2014); classical ballet luminaries Oleg Briansky and Mireille Brianne (2015); dance author, critic, and educator Deborah Jowitt (2016); dancer, choreographer, and dance educator Patricia Aulestia (2017); Inaugural “Arts Education Advocate” Awardee opera singer, composer, arts education advocate, and Miss America 2019, Nia Imani Franklin; and “Dance Ambassador” 2023 Awardee dancer, teacher, director, filmmaker Christine Dakin (2023).
ABOUT THE HONOREES
Phyllis Lamhut, choreographer of 100+ works, principal dancer for 20 years with Nikolais Dance Theater and Murray Louis Dance Company, performed globally on stages, television, and National Endowment for the Arts Dance Touring and Artists in Education programs. Phyllis Lamhut Dance Company was formed in 1970. She directed National Association of Regional Ballet Craft of Choreography Conference; National Canadian Composer/Choreographer Seminar; Dance and Music Workshop, Israel; Venice Biennale Move Man project; Carlisle Project New Impulses; and was Choreography Advisor/Editor for Joyce-Soho Residency. She is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, awards from NYS Council on the Arts and NY Foundation for the Arts, Mary Flagler Charitable Trust, and Meet the Composer/Choreography Project. The National Endowment for the Arts awarded her 16 Choreography Fellowships. She was on the NYU Tisch School of the Arts faculty 1987-2022. In 2013, she was Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Bieneke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching from American Dance Festival. In 2022, American Dance Guild awarded her a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Douglas Dunn – Photo courtesy of Mark DeGamo Dance.
Douglas Dunn is a New York dancer and choreographer working since 1971. He was a member of Merce Cunningham Dance Company (1969-73), and a founding member of Grand Union, a troupe that rollicked from 1970 to 1976. Following duet, solo, and film work in the 1970s, he formed Douglas Dunn + Dancers in 1978. In 1980 he set Stravinsky’s Pulcinella on Paris Opera Ballet. He collaborates with poets, painters, sculptors, musicians, composers and playwrights. In 1998 he was awarded a NY Dance and Performance Award (Bessie) for Sustained Achievement, and in 2008 was honored by the French government as Chevalier in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He leads Douglas Dunn + Dancers, teaches Open Structures at New York University’s Steinhardt School, and presents salons at his studio at 541 Broadway, Manhattan. His book of collected writings, Dancer Out of Sight, is available at amazon.com.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS
Joan Finkelstein (EdD), Executive Director of the Harkness Foundation for Dance, was Director of Dance at the NYC Department of Education and Director of 92Y Harkness Dance Center. She has performed with modern and Afro-Haitian companies and on Broadway, choreographed for modern and ballet companies, and taught children and adults nationwide. Ms. Finkelstein will be presenting the “Educational Visionary” Lifetime Achievement Award 2024 to Douglas Dunn.
Alberto “Tito” del Saz, Director of the Nikolais/Louis Foundation for Dance, was lead soloist with the internationally acclaimed Nikolais Dance Theater and has appeared for President Reagan at the Kennedy Center Honors, as well as on American Masters series in “Nik and Murray,” and has represented the United States State Department on a tour of India. Mr. Del Saz will be presenting the “Educational Visionary” Lifetime Achievement Award 2024 to Phyllis Lamhut.
**********
WHEN: Thursday, May 9th, 2024 6:30-9:00 PM
WHERE: St. Mary’s Church, 440 Grand Street (east of Clinton Street) NY, NY 10002
TRAVEL: The site is one block south of Delancey Street and 3 blocks east of the F, J, M Delancey/Essex subway station. There is municipal parking on Essex St.
TICKETS, SPONSORSHIPS, & DONATIONS: https://bit.ly/41Oq5GE
Donations by Check: Dynamic Forms, Inc., PO Box 218, Ancram, NY 12502-0218
SILENT AUCTION 2024: https://new.biddingowl.com/D4Dsilentauction2024
**Now open for bidding! Place your bids no later than May 9 at 8:30PM!
For more information about Mark DeGamo Dance, please visit their website.
Compiled by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle from Mark DeGamo Dance’s press release.
Featured image: Phyllis Lamhut Dance Company Photo – 1982 ©Tom Caravaglia.
