The Ellis-Beauregard Foundation is enormously pleased to announce that Jay Carlon, based in Los Angeles, California, is the 2024 Choreographer Awardee. Although is was a very difficult decision involving a large pool of exceptional artists, our esteemed panel of jurors, Flee Willems, Independent Creative Producer based in France, Sita Frederick, Director, Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State, and Kayla Farrish, Choreographer and the 2023 Ellis-Beauregard Foundation Choreographer Awardee. “All agreed that Jay’s unique voice, devotion to community and compelling movement choices brought them to the top. They are a truly unique voice, states Donna McNeil, Founding Executive Director of the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation”.

Juror Sita Frederick adds, “I was impressed by the incredible creativity of the applicants. Jay’s artistry stood out for its visceral imagery, connection to communities, and narrative power”. Juror Flee Willems adds, “I am deeply honoured to be among the jurors selecting Jay Carlon for the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation’s Contemporary Dance Award in 2024. Jay’s distinct dance theater voice —marked by his layered storytelling and exploration of identity and belonging—resonates profoundly with audiences. His work is both compelling and accessible inviting reflection and growth through its richness, humility and evocative power. Witnessing Jay’s journey is inspiring and I look forward to seeing how he continues to shape and influence the national and global dance landscape”. Further, juror Kayla Farrish adds, “Witnessing Jay Carlon’s body of work, revived archives, personal narrative that uncovers Filipino histories, and onwards to bringing community together through sites/place and culture, Jay brings our humanity into proximity. His work is daring in its authenticity and in dreaming existence to be, while being so personal with visceral feeling. I feel that those who witness can fall in with him. I’m excited for their liberation studies and community building to reach and connect folks. Their visceral embodiment and reimagined performances space both live and film have such power and empathy. I’m excited to see how this award’s support can lead them to build more of this special work”

Jay Carlon (he/they) is a queer dance artist, choreographer and community organizer whose work is grounded in a collective journey toward decolonization and sustainability. Carlon grew up the youngest of 12 in a Filipino Catholic migrant family, on the Central Coast of California. His work facilitates collective healing and the exploration of post-colonial identity, ancestry, and the complex experience of queer and Filipinx communities in relationship to site and space.

Named one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch,” Carlon has led workshops, artist talks, and facilitated discussions on decolonial ritual performance at institutions such as Johns Hopkins University, UCLA, University of the Arts, Purdue University, USC, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Asians @ Google. His work spans genres—from site-specific interventions and gallery installations to concert dance—and has been presented at CAP UCLA, REDCAT, 92nd Street Y, Lincoln Center, and more. As a performer, he has collaborated with artists including Miguel Gutierrez, The Industry Opera, Oguri, and the Metropolitan Opera. His commercial credits span performances and choreography for Solange Knowles, Mndsgn, Kanye West, and Rodrigo y Gabriela. He is the U.S. Associate Director for Sway, an Australian- based aerial spectacle company, where he has choreographed and performed at the 2014 Olympics and the 2018 Super Bowl.

Upon receipt of the award Jay Carlon notes, “I am deeply honored to receive the Choreographer Award from the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation, which will be instrumental in expanding the social impact of my work. I believe that the compositional skills I’ve developed as a dance maker translate into the ways I choreograph community— shaping social movements and advancing the pursuit of liberation. This recognition strengthens my commitment to sustainability and deepens my journey of reclaiming heritage, building connections, and creating meaningful experiences for the communities I care deeply for. I look forward to channeling this support into art that uplifts, heals, and empowers.”

The Ellis Beauregard Foundation is pleased to announce its $50,000.00 – 2023 Choreographer Award recipient, Kayla Farrish. Paired with the award is a performance with Portland Ovations Raising the Barre initiative as well as a residency with Ellis-Beauregard Foundation in Rockland, Maine.

Farrish was selected through a jury process of esteemed professionals in the field of dance: Danni Gee, Director of Programming, Joyce Theatre, Colleen Jennings Roggensack, Vice President of Cultural Affairs and Director of the Gammage, Arizona State University and Graham Cole, Executive Director of White Bird, Portland, Oregon.

Kayla Farrish was born in North Carolina and currently resides in New York City where she works as a Choreographer, Director, Filmmaker, and freelance performer, and serves as adjunct dance faculty at Tisch. Farrish has worked with Kyle Abraham, Limon Dance, Kenyon Adams at Bard College and with MIT Black Feminist Theories and Space and Technology Presentation, Put Away the Fire, dear (Fall 2022- Spring 2024), La Mama Theater, Myths Until you Hold Me- New Solo Commission Harlem Stage- Black Arts Movement Examined: Dance Part VI E-Moves to name just a few of her engagements. Farrish is currently rehearsal director for Sleep No More NYC and a recent New England Foundation for the Arts National Dance Project Grantee. 

Regarding the award Farrish says, I am humbled, excited, and passionate about the possibilities of the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation Contemporary Dance Award to provide both a way to share my work among communities in Maine and to also to be able to expand as an artist. It is unimaginable at times to understand how it is possible to create the visions that come to us as artists, and also as humans. It is a gift to be able to see what could be and to be granted opportunities for the early stages of our work. However, the gift to have a full creative process, collaborating, to dream beyond scarcity, and also not supporting ourselves along the way, it is incredible to receive this support. This makes my visions seem possible and creates accessibility for artists like myself to move forward. I envision creation that can support exchange with community towards liberation, acknowledgment of history and witnessing erased stories, and creating space for risk and transformation. I want this to be in communication with community. And I dream for more spaces of oppressed and marginalized voices to move, speak, and make with freedom. With the support of this Award, Creative Space, and Performance in Maine, I’m looking forward to what can unfold. It gives me hope that I’m so thankful for.”

Juror Colleen Jennings Roggensack comments, ”The Ellis Beauregard Foundation keeps dance alive, vibrant and vital to our local and global cultural landscapes. The selection of Kayla Farrish exemplifies the commitment to artistic innovation rooted deeply in communities.”

Juror Graham Cole adds I was honored to be among the jurors selecting Kayla Farrish for the Ellis-Beauregard Foundation’s Contemporary Dance Award this year. Kayla is a hugely talented choreographer, whose ability to inspire a wide range of viewers through her cinematic and emotional approach to dancemaking is already impressive at this early stage in her career. I, among many others, look forward to seeing how her artistic voice will continue to resonate as a result of this award.

 “I am thrilled by the juror’s choice of choreographer Kayla Farrish. I am delighted to have this unique occasion to introduce her to Maine audiences. New artists, new opportunities – some of the many gifts of the Ellis-Beaureguard Foundation Choreography award and the partnership with Portland Ovations Raising the Barre initiative” says Aimee Petrin, Executive Director of Portland Ovations.

“The Ellis – Beauregard Foundation is thrilled with the jurors’ selection of choreographer Kayla Farrish as this year’s awardee,“ noted Ellen Golden, EBF President. “This award is part of our ongoing commitment to supporting diverse disciplines and artists and contributing to the dynamic art community in Maine.”