Princess Grace Foundation Announces Choreography Fellowship Award

The Board of Trustees of the Princess Grace Foundation-USA and its Chairman, Hon. John F. Lehman, announced today the winners of the 2006 Princess Grace Awards. The Awards for Theater, Dance and Film, first instituted in 1984, are named in honor of Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco, who helped aspiring artists pursue their goals throughout Her lifetime.

The Foundation, a public charity formed after the death of Princess Grace in 1982, awards grants, scholarships, apprenticeships and fellowships to assist artists with their training. Pulitzer and Tony Award winning Playwright Tony Kushner and "SpongeBob SquarePants" creator Stephen Hillenberg were previous Princess Grace Award winners. HSH Prince Albert of Monaco, the Foundation's Vice Chairman, together with other notables from the artistic world will preside over the Awards Gala.

Over years, over 400 scholarships have been awarded to emerging talent who represent the best and the brightest in their fields.

Originally from Dallas, Texas Adam Hougland received his BFA in Dance from The Juilliard School in 1999. After performing with Toronto Dance Theater and the Limón Dance Company, Adam's choreographic career took off. His work has been performed nationally and internationally by such companies as the Limón Dance Company, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, Cincinnati Ballet, Introdans, Washington Ballet, New York Choreographic Institute, the Juilliard Dance Ensemble and Louisville Ballet where he was recently made Principle Choreographer.

Adam has received the Hector Zaraspe Prize for Outstanding Choreography, the Choo-San Goh Award for Choreography and a New York State Council for the Arts Commissioning Grant. He was recently commissioned to create a piece for Juilliard's Centennial Celebration, which was televised "Live From Lincoln Center" on PBS.

In response to what inspires his career, Mr. Hougland says, "The desire to create has always motivated me. Dance has become the language I use to express myself and enables me to continue creating."

Hougland was surprised and excited when he learned he had been selected. On being honored by The Princess Grace Foundation-USA, he elaborates, ": The Princess Grace Award Choreography Fellowship has given me a new level of exposure that will allow me to branch out and find new and exciting opportunities for creation.

Ballet Memphis is celebrating its 20th anniversary this season. To support the season-long theme of home, the March show will focus on architectural form and its connection to dance and will be performed in the company's own architectural award-winning building.

During her most recent annual visit to Julliard, Dorothy Gunther Pugh, founder and artistic director of Ballet Memphis, was looking for a young choreographer whose work would have an architectural sense to create a ballet for the company's March show.

"Someone suggested that I contact Adam," Pugh says, "so I looked at his videotape, and every single piece was pristinely constructed, beautifully lit, and used structural elements in a precise, highly effective way. He was absolutely right for the project." -- www.balletmemphis.org