2021 Clive Barnes Award Finalists Announced

2021 Clive Barnes Award Finalists Announced

The Clive & Valerie Barnes Foundation have announced the 2021 Clive Barnes Award Finalists. The Clive and Valerie Barnes Foundation supports young artists through recognition, encouragement, and financial support.

The Clive Barnes Foundation was formed in 2009 (renamed in 2020 to honor the founder, Valerie Taylor-Barnes) to create Annual Awards giving recognition, encouragement, and financial support to two talented young professionals, one in Dance and one in Theatre, thus, honoring the memory of the many years of critical work and the warm personal generosity of Clive Barnes and Valerie Taylor. 

This year’s Dance Finalists include Zimmi Coker with American Ballet Theatre; Erica Lall with American Ballet Theatre; Mira Nadon with New York City Ballet; and Jake Tribus with Gibney Dance Company.

Coker joined ABT Studio Company in September 2015 and was the recipient of the Dizzy Feet Foundation’s Segerstrom Award for the 2015-2016 season. She joined American Ballet Theatre as an apprentice in November 2017 and became a member of the corps de ballet in June 2018. Lall joined the ABT Studio Company in September 2014, joined American Ballet Theatre as an apprentice in December 2015, and became a member of the corps de ballet in May of 2016.

Nadon is a New York City Ballet Soloist. Named an NYCB apprentice in 2017, she joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in 2018, and was promoted to Soloist in 2022. Tribus graduated from the Glorya Kaufman School of Dance under the direction of Jodie Gates in 2020, and is currently an Artistic Associate with Gibney Dance Company.

This year’s Theatre Finalists include Justin Cooley, Jasai Chase-Owens, Erin Wilhelmi, and Samantha Williams.

Cooley made his New York Off-Broadway debut in Kimberly Akimbo at the Atlantic Theater Company. Chase-Owensgraduated from the Conservatory for the Dramatic Arts at SUNY Purchase with a BFA in acting. Wilhelmi was a member of the original Broadway cast for To Kill a Mockingbird. Williams made her Broadway debut in the Tony Award-winning hit musical Dear Evan Hansen playing the principal role of Alana Beck when she was in her junior year at Pace University. Most recently, Samantha returned to Broadway as Emmie in Caroline, or Change.

The nominees will be judged, at live performances, by a panel of experts in each field, Dance and Theatre. The Winners will be announced in late September during an Awards Ceremony in NYC.

Visit www.cvbarnesfoundation.org to learn more.