The choreographer and dancer Laila Tafur was the winner of the XVIth edition of the Andalusian Dance Awards, awarded by the Andalusian Association of Dance Companies and Professionals (PAD), after receiving the prizes for Best Indoor Show, … Best Choreography and Best Performer for the piece ‘Maja Y Bastarda’.
The gala of these annual awards, organized in the La Fundificación room, was hosted by the Sevillian actress, singer and presenter. Peace of Alarcon and the Sevillian dancer and choreographer Asunción Pérez ‘La Choni’, and presented a performance of the company Larumbe Dancewith his piece ‘Move Ashes’.
Andalusian dance professionals were represented by the president of the PAD, María José Villar, in the presence of José Lucas Chaves, director of the SGAE of Andalusia; Javier Ribera and Violeta Hernández, from the Andalusian Agency of Cultural Institutions of the Ministry of Culture and Sports, and María González, president of the National Dance Federation.
The Association of Professionals and Companies for the Development of Dance in Andalusia (PAD) is a non-profit entity with sixteen years of experience that brings together professionals from Andalusian dance companies, representing them to public and private institutions, with the aim of promoting and supporting the sector, improving their working and training conditions and contributing to their professional development. Currently, it brings together more than 150 Andalusian companies and professionals.
In this XVI edition the work ‘Maja and Bastarda by Laila Tafur received three awards, Best House Show, Best Choreography and Best Performer, while, “We are not here to dance”, by Rocío Barriga and Sergio R. Suárezwon the prize for best street performance or unconventional space. He also received the Best Performer award. Felipe Valera for “The Day Man Walked on the Moon” from the company Danza Mobile.
The prize in the Best Sound Space category was awarded to Miguel Marín for “Normcore – Lo normal” by Lucía Vázquez, and the best lighting design in Antonio Valiente for “Peón Coronado” by Gero Dominguez. The prize for best stage performance was awarded to Antonio Godoy, for “Las Yegüas” by Chloé Brûlé-Dauphin.
The award for Best Costume Design went to Ernesto Artillo, for “The Family” by Julio Ruíz and the prize for best new show was awarded to ‘And the aftertaste of La Imbuión.
The honorary prize of this edition was awarded to Manuel Llanesdirector of the Teatro Central in Seville since its inauguration in 1992 and until last June 2025 and a key figure in stage programming at Andalusian and national level.
For his part, the Dance Weaving Prices was awarded in this edition to ‘INCLASSIFIABLE cycle created by Dominique Serena Antignano in collaboration with Nacho Terceno in the Bicycle Shop, which consolidates itself as a proposal for scenic experimentation that has marked the city of Seville for more than 10 years. Its proposal is based on the contamination of artistic languages (dance, performance, audiovisual and music) in a format of proximity and immersion which shakes up conventional spaces. “INCLASSIFICABLE” offered an independent platform for Andalusian creation, becoming a resilient cultural engine, capable of generating a strong community of spectators and redefining the experience of contemporary dance in Seville.
Around thirty proposals were submitted to this edition. The winners were chosen by a jury of specialists composed of Cristina Granados and Andreas Eilertsen, from the Company. Eilertsen&granadosteaterKompani, based in Stamnsund, Norway; Jesús Alcaide, researcher, art critic, editor and independent curator; Inmaculada Jiménez de Pablos, dancer and teacher at the professional dance conservatory of Cádiz; Candela Murillo, dancer and director of the Danzahra Festival (Zahara de los Atunes, Cádiz) and Pere Bodi, dancer, teacher and manager of the Hort-Art project.
In this edition, the prizes awarded were designed by the artist Maria Naranjo Cubero, the left hand behind the needle that knits all the three-dimensional crochet dolls from the famous company Dariogurumi. For the occasion, he designed several pieces of crocheted fruit, which were given to the winners of the evening.
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