The New Choreography Award 2008 was attributed to scholar and choreographer Efrosini Protopapa on October 22, 2008. The award ceremony took place in the Soho Theatre in London and the award was given by Morag Deyes, artistic director of Dance Base, Scotland’s National Center for Dance. The prize was established by the Bonnie Bird Choreography Fund founded in 1985 to the honour of Bonnie Bird, a brilliant dancer in the Martha Graham dance company, and is aimed at supporting and nurturing innovative choreographers in Great Britain, Europe and the USA.
The amount of money accompanying the prize has been granted to Efrosini Protopapa in order for her to further develop her choreographic and research activities. As Efrosini Protopapa herself stated during the award ceremony, she will use the prize money to participate in professional seminars and research schemes, visit European festivals and complete her new work, "ShowReal", which is to start touring Great Britain and Europe from 2009 autumn.
Efrosini Protopapa is a choreographer and theatre expert, as well as a prospective professor in the British University of Roehampton. She is a First-Class Honors graduate of the State School of Dance and the Department of Theatre Studies of the University of Athens. With scholarships from the Greek State Scholarships Foundation and the Onassis Foundation she went on to study at the SNDO in Amsterdam and the Laban Centre in London from where she obtained a postgraduate degree (with distinctions) in choreography, aesthetics and stage design.
She is the artistic director of Lapsus Corpi performance group, which has performed in Great Britain, Berlin and Athens under her direction. Her work "(Dis)Appearing Acts" was recently presented in London’s Royal Festival Hall within the context of the European Dance Festival DancEUnion.
Efrosini Protopapa has also worked with Jonathan Barrows, Xavier Le Roy, Deborah Hay, Jill Clark and Carol Brown. She teaches kinetics, choreography and theory of performance arts in various universities in England and Greece, while she also publishes articles in the international press.
Photos:
Top: Snapshot from the "(Dis)Appearing Acts" in the DancEUnion Festival. The performance was sponsored by the Onassis Public Benefit Foundation.
Bottom: Efrosini Protopapa receives her award from Morag Deyes, artistic director of Dance Base, Scotland’s National Center for Dance.
