The Keir Foundation, Australia Council for the Arts, Dancehouse and Carriageworks have announced Angela Goh as the recipient of the $50,000 Keir Choreographic Award, Australia’s most prestigious choreographic award, as well as Amrita Hepi as the recipient of the $10,000 Audience Choice Award.
The recipient of the 2020 Keir Choreographic Award is dancer and choreographer Angela Goh, for her work, Sky Blue Mythic. Performed by Goh to Corin Ileto’s live operatic soundscape, Sky Blue Mythic imagined dance as a non-human entity. In a quest to move away from anthropocentrism, Goh’s stark new work allows dance to alienate itself from human expression, in turn requiring the body to become an interface rather than a vehicle.
The Audience Choice Award choreographer, Amrita Hepi’s work, Rinse questions whether being on the brink of extinction, or endings, has intensified the seduction of the past. An intimate solo based on a dynamic improvisational score, Rinse travels from end to end of an origin myth, positioning personal narratives in relation to dance, art, feminism, cannons, the void, desires, popular culture and colonial history.
“Congratulations to Angela Goh, Corin Ileto and team for the glorious Sky Blue Mythic,” said Keir Choreographic Award Founder Phillip Keir. “A wonderful piece of sharply defined choreographic art that resonates with our times. And congratulations to Amrita Hepi, winner of the audience award for such a personal and beautifully observed piece of dance.”
“It was an enormous privilege to be involved in supporting all eight dynamic and diverse pieces of best of Australian choreographic work,” he added.
Eight artists were selected by an international jury to take part in the biennial competition, dedicated to the commissioning, presentation, promotion and dissemination of new Australian choreography. The selected artists were: Alison Currie and David Cross, Angela Goh, Riana Head-Toussaint, Amrita Hepi, Jo Lloyd, Zachary Lopez, Lewis Major, The Farm.
A jury of international choreographers, critics and curators, Serge Laurent (FR), Mette Edvardsen (NO), Takao Kawaguchi (JP), Claudia La Rocco (USA) were tasked with the responsibility of selecting eight new commissions to compete in the semi-finals at Dancehouse, four works to be presented in the finals at Carriageworks, and the recipient of the Award announced on Saturday 14 March.
The Australia Council for Arts, the Keir Foundation, Carriageworks and Dancehouse have confirmed their continued support to another two editions of the Keir Choreographic Award (2022 and 2024), an exciting development guaranteeing the longevity of this signature Australian commissioning program. For more information, visit: www.thekeirfoundation.org for details.
Image: Angela Goh, Sky Blue Mythic, 2020 – photo by Gregory Lorenzutti for Dancehouse