Dance Victoria Awards Close to $36,000 to Dance Artists with Annual Chrystal Dance Prize

Arash Khakpour & Meredith Kalaman
Arash Khakpour & Meredith Kalaman. Photo: Curtis Stodgell

Dance Victoria recently announced that Meredith Kalaman and Arash Khakpour are the recipients of the 2017 Chrystal Dance Prize for Independent Dance Artists.

Meredith Kalaman was awarded $16,000 to bring her work, Femmes Fatales, to the stage in Greater Vancouver and Berlin. Kalaman will collaborate with renowned Berlin dramaturge Gabi Beier in the spring of 2017. Femmes Fatales will premiere at the Shadboldt Theatre in Burnaby and travel to the ada studio Berlin in August. Kalaman was the recipient of the 2015 Chrystal Dance Prize, including a two-week residency at Dance Victoria Studios and time with Beier during the work’s initial creation. She also presented her work-in-progress during Dance Days 2016.

Vancouver dance artist, Arash Khakpour, has been awarded close to $20,000 for a new duet with Swedish dance artist Emmalena Fredrickson with residencies planned for Victoria, Vancouver and Sweden. Khakpour was featured with his brother Aryo in Righteous Floater during Dance Days 2015. The Khakpours also performed at Dance Days’ Rough Cuts in January.

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