The Canada Council for the Arts announced that Montreal contemporary dancer Anne Le Beau is the winner of the 2007 Jacqueline Lemieux Prize. The Prize was awarded last year to Bill James, of Peterborough (Ontario), choreographer and artistic director of Atlas Moves Watching Dance Projects.

The Jacqueline Lemieux Prize, valued at $6,000, is awarded annually to the most deserving applicant in the Dance Section’s Grants to Dance Professionals program. The prize is awarded in memory of Jacqueline Lemieux and her contribution to Canadian dance. Along with her husband Lawrence Gradus, Ms. Lemieux co-founded the Montreal dance company Entre-Six and Québec Été Danse, a summer school in Lennoxville. She was a teacher, administrator and member of the Canada Council for the Arts Advisory Panel.

Other recent winners of this Prize include Vancouver-based flamenco dancer Oscar Nieto (2005), and Toronto dancer and choreographer Sarah Chase (2004). Visit our web site at the Canada Council for the Arts – Jacqueline Lemieux Prize to view the full list of the past winners.

The winner of the Jacqueline Lemieux Prize is chosen by a peer assessment committee. For 2006, the committee consisted of Robert Abubo (Ottawa), Emily Molnar (Vancouver), Selma Odom (Toronto) and Lynn Snelling (Montreal). For 2007, the committee included Peter Bingham (Vancouver), Michèle Febvre (Montreal) and Rina Singha (Toronto).