The Guardian turned 40 this year, and the Goldies — our annual arts awards — are now 18. Which makes them a bit like the paper’s child, a many–gendered and splendored one that reaches the US’s idea of adulthood this year. An event like that deserves a party and — after a private award ceremony in honor of this year’s winners — we’re throwing one at 111 Minna Gallery.
It’s free — a San Francisco value.
Dance is at the heart of any ceremony that matters and any party worth remembering, and it’s at the heart of this year’s Goldies thanks to three winners that demonstrate the diversity of its forms. Our cover stars, the extraordinary Benjamin Levy and LevyDANCE, prove it is past time to explode the cold post that’s been lingering in front of the phrase modern dance: close to two years after the first time I saw them perform, I still remember specific images of aggression and tender respite from their pieces. Local Hip Hop Dance Fest mainstays Funkanometry SF take the movement language of B-boys and music video choreographers, add their own signature style, and electrify and take over any room in the process. This year’s Lifetime Achievement awardee, Pandit Chitresh Das, introduced Kathak dance to this country; more recently, he has tapped into its connections to tap.
This year’s Goldie winners were selected by the Guardian’s Johnny Ray Huston, Kimberly Chun, and Cheryl Eddy with valuable input from our writers and critics, as well as members of the Bay Area arts community. The people in the following pages make noise that’s transcendental and meditative, use film to look at toxic currents of contemporary life, stage works that leap across boundaries, and vivify — and add impish prankishness to — visual art. Join us, and them, at this year’s party.
MUSIC
DEERHOOF
GRIS GRIS
OM
TRAXAMILLION
FILM
JAMES T. HONG
CHRIS METZLER AND JEFF SPRINGER
THEATER
LAST PLANET THEATRE
DANCE
FUNKANOMETRY SF
BENJAMIN LEVY AND LEVYDANCE
PERFORMANCE
SEAN DORSEY
VISUAL ART
CHRIS DUNCAN
YOON LEE
TIM SULLIVAN
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
PANDIT CHITRESH DAS