Contemporary Dance Vs. Cabaret at The A.W.A.R.D. Show at OtB

Ezra Dickinson of The Offshore Project, choreographed by Rainbow Fletcher, one of the participants in to 2010-2011 A.W.A.R.D. Show at OtB in January. Photo by Sean Johnson.

This morning, the list of 12 companies performing in the second Seattle A.W.A.R.D Show at On the Boards in January 2011 were announced, and it's, well, interesting. The backstory of the A.W.A.R.D. Show (which stands for "Artists with Audiences Responding to Dance") is that it was founded in NYC in 2005 by choreographer Neta Pulvermacher to have a new sort of dance laboratory and a new way of engaging audiences. The Joyce Theatre eventually partnered with them and a big cash grant ($10,000) was thrown on top, which is awarded (in part) by audience vote. Last year, the program expanded nationally to include about a half dozen cities including Seattle, where Boeing underwrote the prize grant.

Critics have long held that it's degrading to the artists to engage in a reality TV-style competition that risks encouraging them to appeal to the lowest common denominator to win, while supporters have pointed out that really, it's not so different from the normal process of giving out artistic development grants, but just makes it more public.

This year, the stakes have been increased in a very interesting way. While the 12 entries include a number of prominent contemporary dance artists--Zoe Scofield, Marissa Rae Niederhauser, Ellie Sandstrom, and Olivier Wevers' Whim W'Him returning for a second go--the line-up also include at least two artists/companies working in the cabaret vein: Cherdonna and Lou (dancers Ricki Mason and Jody Kuehner) and the real wildcard, boylesque star Waxie Moon (Marc Kenison).

I can only imagine some of the other artists are sweating this morning seeing who they're up against, and it will no doubt engender a new round of hand-wringing about what it's like to put something like Scofield's subtle and complex work up against a six-and-some-foot-tall mustachioed bald man in a thong, covered in glitter, who (I can only assume) has the option of directly talking to the audience as part of his act.

That said, Kenison, Mason, and Kuehner are all accomplished dancers, and all have pushed the boundaries of the cabaret form in their work, the Cherdonna and Lou Show being downright meta and postmodern and Waxie Moon being, well, I've always thought it's pure genius. (I have to admit, I'd like to see Moon compete with his version of "One" from A Chorus Line, in which he plays a nameless chorus member and really doesn't do anything onstage for three minutes, just to see how it does against the rest.)

Whatever the case, more will be written on this later, as the competition approaches. Full details below.

The 2010-2011 A.W.A.R.D. Show Seattle includes:

• Lauren Edson
• Rainbow Fletcher - The Offshore Project
• Angelle Hebert - tEEth
• Marc Kenison a.k.a. "Waxie Moon"
• Ricki Mason and Jody Kuehner - The Cherdonna and Lou Show
• Shannon Mockli
• Marissa Rae Niederhauser - Josephine's Echopraxia
• Ellie Sandstrom - SANDSTROMMOVEMENT
• David Lorence Schleiffers - Quark Contemporary Dance Theatre
• Zoe Scofield - zoe | juniper
• Crispin Spaeth
• Olivier Wevers - Whim W'Him

The A.W.A.R.D. Show takes place at On the Boards January 27-30, 2011. For the first three nights, four artists/companies will present a 20-minute work for the audience, who will then vote. The top vote-winner from each night will then perform again on the final night. The ultimate winner of the $10,000 prize grant will be determined through a voting process in which a small group of panelists will each have one vote, as well as one vote being granted to the audience favorite.