Ottawa, September 15, 2008 – The Canada Council for the Arts announced today that dancer/choreographer Margie Gillis is the winner of the 2008 Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts. The $50,000 prize, administered and presented by the Canada Council for the Arts, recognizes the highest level of artistic excellence and distinguished career achievement by Canadian artists who have spent the major part of their career in Canada in theatre, dance or music.
Margie Gillis was selected by a peer assessment committee consisting of Peter Chin, artistic director of the Tribal Crackling Wind for the Arts (Toronto); Marie Chouinard, artistic and general director of the Compagnie Marie Chouinard (Montreal); and Grant Strate, director of the Dance Foundation (Vancouver). In awarding the prize to Ms. Gillis, the committee said:
"Over a lifetime of practice, Margie Gillis' passionate conviction to dance has touched audiences around the world. She is renowned as a dance artist for her emotional intelligence, artistic generosity and deep connection to audiences. Ms. Gillis has been revered by generations of dancers for her mastery of her form; her choreography is characteristically brave, thoughtful, emotional, intimate and elegant. She is an artist of integrity and charisma who is committed to aesthetic expression and social issues. Her influence in regional, national and international communities has made her a beacon for Canadian dance from her early practice to the present day."
Photos of Ms. Gillis can be downloaded from the Canada Council image gallery.
Presented for the first time in 2001, the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts was created as a result of a generous donation of $1.1 million to the Canada Council by Toronto businessman and philanthropist Walter Carsen, O.C. The prize is normally awarded annually on a four-year cycle: dance, theatre, dance, music. Previous prize winners include playwright Judith Thomson, choreographer David Earle, composer R. Murray Schafer, principal dancer/producer-director Veronica Tennant, playwright John Murrell, and choreographer/director Brian Macdonald.
Born in Montreal in 1953, Margie Gillis was only three years old when she discovered her passion for dance. At eighteen, she chose to devote her life to it. The Canadian public was quickly won over by the strength of her art and her feel for inventive choreography.
Ms. Gillis has made modern Canadian dance known throughout the world. In 1979, she became the first Westerner to present modern dance in China after the cultural revolution. Canada and Quebec bestowed upon her the honorific title of cultural ambassador par excellence.
In 1988, Ms. Gillis was the first modern dance artist to be honoured with the Order of Canada. In 2001, she received a career grant from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.
She is a committed artist and woman of heart and is the speaker for many humanitarian organizations. Over the years, this highly charismatic dancer has developed an incomparable style and control which inspire new generations. Critics unanimously applaud her masterful interpretation of the various facets of the human soul.
In addition to its principal role of promoting and fostering the arts, the Canada Council for the Arts administers and awards many prizes and fellowships in the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural and health sciences, engineering, and arts management. These prizes and fellowships recognize the achievements of outstanding Canadian artists, scholars, and administrators. The Canada Council for the Arts is committed to raising public awareness and celebration of these exceptional people and organizations on both a national and international level.
Please visit our website for a complete listing of these awards.
