Dance
faculty, NAS professor to be honored at Bravos Awards
UNM dance
faculty and Associate Professor of Native American Studies Lee
Francis will be honored at the 19th Annual Bravos Awards dinner,
sponsored by the Arts Alliance, on Saturday, April 5, at the
Marriott Hotel in Albuquerque.
Several
UNM dance faculty will be noted for Excellence in Dance. The
winning performance Reflections and Beginnings,
was conceived and directed by Dance Professor Bill Evans, who
is approaching retirement. The performance featured a retrospective
of Evans choreography and included new works by Evans,
Rujeko Dembutshena and Eva Encinias-Sandoval, who won the 2001
award.
Lee Francis,
Ph.D., will be hailed for Excellence in Literary Arts. Francis
is a gifted writer and educator who inspires his students
to write creatively, brilliantly and soulfully, wrote
his nominator.
Francis'
first book of poetry On the Good Red Interstate: Truckstop
Tellings and Other Poems was published in fall 2002. He
is founder and national director of Wordcraft Circle of Native
Writers and Storytellers with participants from 135 sovereign,
indigenous nations and tribes around the world. He is a member
of the Laguna Pueblo Education Foundation, where he is developing
curriculum for the Pueblo of Laguna culture course to be taught
in the high school.
The winners
were selected by a committee of professional peers. The Arts
Alliance celebrates, supports, strengthens and promotes arts
creators in music, theater, visual and literary arts. Achievement
is realized through advocacy and service efforts and the implementation
of the Cultural Plan for Albuquerque.
For information,
call Cricket Appel, 268-1902.