NEW YORK CITY: The Clive and Valerie Barnes Foundation has announced the winners of the 13th Annual Clive Barnes Award for Dance and Theatre. This year’s recipients are leading lady Lorna Courtney of Broadway’s & Juliet and New York City Ballet member Victor Abreu. The winners each received an unrestricted award of $5,000 at an awards ceremony on May 22 at Florence Gould Hall, hosted by NY1’s Patrick Pacheco.
“Lorna and Victor represent outstanding young talent in their disciplines,” said Holly Jones and Lloyd Mayor, co-presidents of the Clive & Valerie Barnes Foundation, in a statement. “Their success has been a result of dedicated work and love of their art form. The Foundation is proud to recognize and support their talents and all the nominees in each category.”
Each year since 2009, the foundation has given annual awards to two talented young professionals in the artistic fields of dance and theatre. The finalists are nominated by the selection committee, which is composed of a panel of critics and accomplished professionals in each field. Courtney and Abreu were among eight nominees selected by the committee based on live performances given in New York City between January and December of 2022. The additional Dance Award finalists were Christian Burse, Devon Louis, and Andrew Robare. The Theatre Award finalists were Kennedy Kanagawa, Julia Lester, and Solea Pfeiffer.
Lorna Courtney is a multidisciplinary artist of stage and screen, currently starring in the title role of the new Broadway musical & Juliet, for which she received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. Previous Broadway credits include Dear Evan Hansen and the 2020 revival of West Side Story. Courtney received her BFA from the University of Michigan and is a graduate of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School.
Victor Abreu is a member of New York City Ballet’s corps de ballet. Born in New York City, he began his training at the age of 10 at New York Theatre Ballet under Diana Byer. He attended the summer courses at School of American Ballet, NYCB’s official school, in 2014 and 2015 before entering SAB full-time for the 2015 winter term. In January 2019, Mr. Abreu was named an apprentice with NYCB and in May 2019 he joined the company as a member of the corps de ballet. With NYCB, he has danced featured roles in the works of George Balanchine, Justin Peck, and Jamar Roberts.
The The Clive and Valerie Barnes Foundation is named after longtime dance, theatre, and opera critic Clive Barnes, and his wife, Valerie Barnes, who was a Royal Ballet dancer and instructor at the Royal Academy of Dance. The foundation seeks to support young artists through recognition, encouragement, and financial support.
