Brian Evans
Brian Evans, Class of 2007, now in his fourth season with the Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater Company, has won the 2010 SAGE Award in the category of “Outstanding Performer.” The winners were announced at the annual Minnesota SAGE Awards Dinner on September 14 at the Southern Theatre in Minneapolis.
With his selection as best performer for 2010, Brian Evans’ reputation as one of the new stars on the Minneapolis dance stage continues to expand. He earned his B.A. from Gustavus with an emphasis in dance in 2007. As a student, he was recognized as an outstanding performer on the dance, theatre and music stages as well as the athletic fields of the Golden Gusties. That extensive and varied background continues to serve him well as he continues to earn the attention and respect of Minnesota’s dance community and was selected to win this recognition.
Jay Gabler of the Twin Cities Daily Planet wrote “The evening’s highlights included … the mother of Brian Evans accepting on her son’s behalf. (He was out of town filming a movie.) Explaining how she became a widow when her son was only seven years old, Evans’s mother acknowledged her parents (“My dad is probably thinking, ‘I guess that first dance was about a bird or something'”) and read a gracious note of acceptance from her son.”
Following Evan’s Renovate performance at the Minneapolis Ritz in May, blogger/critic Lightsey Darst wrote “Renovate might as well be subtitled ‘A Brian Evans Evening,’ because this charismatic dancer is featured in five of thirteen pieces. Evans … looks to be having a breakout year. And why not? Explosions of athletic young male energy are always a thrill, but they’re rarely combined with emotional nuance, intelligent details, and that light touch, now whimsical, now modest, that Evans supplies.”
The Sage Awards are Minnesota dance’s recognition of achievement named after a long-time dance choreographer, performer and philanthropist, Sage Cowles. She and her husband John have held a number of positions both locally and around the country in dance and creative expression. This past summer, in honor of Sage and John Cowles’ life-long support of the Twin Cities dance community, the Shubert Theater was renamed The Cowles Center for Dance and Performing Arts.