Dance artist, teacher, and somatic specialist Helen Walkley wins Lola Award
The artist of more than three decades created John, the story of the disappearance of her brother, earlier this year
Dance artist Helen Walkley, Photo by Chris Randle
CHOREOGRAPHER, DANCER, and teacher Helen Walkley has received the biennial Lola Award.
The $10,000 award was founded in memory of beloved Vancouver choreographer Lola MacLaughlin. The award recognizes a mid-career or senior choreographer every two years.
In this case, the award acknowledges Walkley’s body of outstanding work over 30 years. Her most recent work here was the deeply personal John, which starred Billy Marchenski and dove into the disappearance of her brother more than 50 years ago. She’s created pieces that have been presented everywhere from the New York Improvisation Festival, American Dance Festival, and On the Boards to the Dancing on the Edge Festival, Montreal’s Tangente, Amsterdam’s Danslab, and Berlin’s Tanzfabrik.
Walkley is known for her exploration of somatic practices. She is a certified Laban Movement Analyst and somatic-movement educator. She holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Studies from SFU and has taught at Simon Fraser University, as well as the University of Calgary, Virginia Commonwealth University, Concordia University, and the Laban Institute for Movement Studies in New York City. She has worked extensively in the Netherlands and Europe, serving as faculty at the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam from 1991 to 1994 and the TanzFabrik in Berlin in 1989.
The Lola Award is supported by the Lola McLaughlin Endowment Fund with the Vancouver Foundation, and it’s administered by The Dance Centre. Since its initiation, the Award has been presented to Crystal Pite (2012), Lee Su-Feh (2014), Rosario Ancer (2016), Justine A. Chambers (2018), and Paras Terezakis (2020).
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