Bill Evans will receive the 2005 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Dance Education Organization Awards Committee. This award has been given only twice before and is the most prestigious award the organization confers. The award recognizes a member of the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) for exemplary leadership, research, scholarship and philanthropy or service to dance education. This is the fourth NDEO award to be given to a SUNY College at Brockport alumni or faculty in the past three years. Evans is a visiting professor and guest artist at SUNY College at Brockport. He earned his master's of fine arts from the University of Utah and is a certified laban movement analyst. Evans was the artistic director of the Bill Evans Dance Company for 30 years. The company has performed in all 50 states and was the most-booked company in the country for several years. In 1992 Evans founded the Evan Rhythm Tap Ensemble. He has directed the Bill Evans Summer Dance Intensives since 1976 and established the Evans Dance Technique Certification Program in 2002. Evans is a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, and numerous fellowships and grants from the national endowment fund for the arts. He was awarded the New Mexico Governor Award for Excellence in the Arts and received two Bravo Awards from the Albuquerque Arts Alliance. Evans was also named Scholar/Artist of The Year by the National Dance Association in 1997. The NDEO is a non-profit organization, whose mission is "promoting standards of excellence in dance education through the development of quality education in the art of dance through professional development, service and leadership." Evans will be honored at the group's conference in Buffalo, October 6-10. |
