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We are proud to announce the recipients of two awards that acknowledge the achievements of British Columbia’s choreographers. Ziyian Kwan, Artistic Director of Odd Meridian Arts, is the recipient of the biennial Lola Award; and Alvin Erasga Tolentino, Artistic Director of Co.ERASGA, receives the annual Isadora Award.

Our Executive Director Mirna Zagar said: “I am so pleased that we are able to celebrate the accomplishments of two of BC’s most exciting and influential dance artists through these awards. The Dance Centre has been presenting awards for over twenty years as part of our mission to support BC’s dance sector and to recognize talent. Each year I am thrilled to see the depth and diversity of the artistry in our community. Congratulations, Ziyian and Alvin!”

The Awards

The Lola Award is designed to encourage the work of mid-career and senior choreographers. The biennial $10,000 award is supported by the Lola McLaughlin Endowment Fund with the Vancouver Foundation and administered by The Dance Centre. Since its initiation the award has been presented to Crystal Pite (2012), Lee Su-Feh (2014), Rosario Ancer (2016), Justine A. Chambers (2018), Paras Terezakis (2020) Helen Walkley (2022) and Company 605 (2024).

The annual Isadora Award, named after the dance pioneer Isadora Duncan (1878-1927), was instituted by The Dance Centre in 1999 to recognize the achievements of BC’s dance professionals. The recipient receives a specially-designed award created by renowned glass sculptor Mary Filer, studio/theatre space up to a value of $4000, and $1,000 cash. Previous recipients have included Crystal Pite, Wen Wei Wang, Jennifer Mascall, Gabrielle Martin and Jeremiah Hughes of Corporeal Imago, Margaret Grenier and Vanessa Goodman, amongst others. Recipients of both awards are chosen by juries of their peers.

The Artists

Ziyian Kwan 子嫣 (she/her) is a Hong Kong-born Chinese Filipina settler who lives on the ancestral, unceded, occupied territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, and Səl̓ílwətaɬ Nations. Ziyian began dancing professionally in 1989. She has interpreted over 100 original works by an eclectic array of artists and is recipient of The Dance Centre’s 2014 Isadora Award for excellence in performance. Ziyian began choreographing in 2013 and has authored fourteen full-length and many shorter works for presentations in Canada and Europe. In her creations that collage language and movement, Ziyian loves a raw and elegant edge, delights in peoples’ stories and seeks to express the meeting of eros and pathos through the minutiae of imagistic intelligence. Since 2015, as founding Artistic Director of Odd Meridian Arts, Ziyian has visioned, produced and secured funding for all of the organization’s programming, ranging from paid residences for 30 artists (and counting), three month-long festivals celebrating Asian artistry, plus commissions and presentations of many choreographers. In July 2020, Ziyian spearheaded Morrow, Odd Meridian’s cultural space.

Alvin Erasga Tolentino, a Filipino-Canadian, has been a prominent figure in contemporary dance for three decades, both in Canada and internationally.  As an arts maker, advocate, teacher, mentor, and community leader, he founded Co.ERASGA in 2000. This led to the creation of acclaimed 21 full-length works, including renowned pieces like SOLA, Bato/Stone, OrienTik/Portrait, Field, Paradise/Paradis, ADAMEVE-Man/Woman, Shadow Machine, EXpose, Colonial, Unwrapping Culture, Passages of Rhythms, Offering, and Accumulation.  Alvin’s body of work explores identity, gender, redress, migration and cross-cultural collaboration, reaching audiences across four continents.  His touring engagements and collaborations have taken him and Co.ERASGA to over 65 diverse cities in France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, China, the Philippines, Venezuela, Thailand, Laos, Uruguay, and throughout Canada.  In 2010, he received the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award for his contributions to the performing arts in dance.  In 2018, he was honoured with the Pan Asian Award for Arts Contribution by EXploreAsian Vancouver. In 2025, he was named one of the outstanding Filipinos in Canada by filpino.net. Alvin continues to expand his cultural work both locally and globally, using dance as a powerful tool for empowerment, creativity, and social reflection.

Photos: Alvin Erasga Tolentino/Yasuhiro Okada; Ziyian Kwan/Luciana Photography