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Dedication and Awards
Dr. Kariamu Welsh
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The 2022 Balasaraswati/Joy Anne Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching was awarded posthumously to Dr. Welsh at a ceremony on June 19.
Dr. Welsh’s vast contributions to the dance field include creating the Umfundalai dance technique, based on African artistic practices and African diasporic dance vocabulary. Dr. Welsh trained others in the technique, which was utilized by her company, Kariamu & Company: Traditions.
Giorgios Bakatsias
2022 Season Honoree
ADF dedicated it’s 2022 season to longtime supporter and visionary North Carolinarestaurateur, Giorgios Bakatsias. The season dedication took place on June 17th. With over forty years in the culinary industry, he has been the creative force behind countless restaurants, food venues, gourmet markets and boutique hotels. His contributions to Durham and the surrounding triangle, ignited and re-positioned a community once defined only by its educational and medical prowess.
Shen Wei
The 2022 Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award for lifetime achievement was presented to acclaimed choreographer and artist Shen Wei on the 22nd anniversary of the founding of his company, Shen Wei Dance Arts, at ADF.
Shen Wei was in residence during the 2022 season working on his latest ADF commission set on ADF students through the Footprints Program. ADF Director Emeritus Charles L. Reinhart presented the $50,000 award in a brief ceremony on July 16th prior to the Footprints program that featured a world-premiere by Shen Wei that was created for and performed by ADF students.
Shen Wei is an artist of restless imagination, ever evolving, ever probing.Through his command of formal structures and the merging of artistic idioms, he reveals a deeply personal humanist vision. He illuminates the internal landscapes of the soul, the untold secrets of the spirit, and as we touch his touch, we are healed. From the most subtle of human gesture to the most profound of grand spectacle, he stirs the senses and moves the heart. It is an art of the future, singularly satisfying, profoundly surprising, yet entirely self-evident.
