Biennale Danza 2024: Golden and Silver Lions Announced

The Board of Directors of La Biennale di Venezia, accepting the proposal of dance section director Wayne McGregor, has announced the 2024 Lions, to be awarded on July 21 during the 18th International Festival of Contemporary Dance (July 18 to August 3). The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement goes to Italian-born, Sweden-based dancer and choreographer Cristina Caprioli. The Silver Lion is awarded to American choreographer and dancer Trajal Harrell. Caprioli, born in Brescia in 1953, trained at the Ballet Academy of Stockholm, the Merce Cunningham Studio, and the American Ballet School. After performing in New York, Switzerland, and Germany, she settled in Stockholm in 1983, founding the independent company ccap in 1998. Her work spans performance, film, installations, and interdisciplinary research. McGregor praised her for silently influencing generations of choreographers over three decades, noting her precision, complexity, and new forms of physical virtuosity. During the festival, Caprioli will present three works: Deadlock, Flat Haze, and Silver, plus a new choreography, The Bench, created with Biennale College dancers. Harrell, born in 1973 in Douglas, Georgia, is a graduate of Yale University, the Centre National de la Danse, and the Martha Graham School. His research blends postmodern dance, New York voguing, and Japanese Butoh, engaging with gender studies, feminism, and post-colonialism. At the festival, he will present Tambourines and Sister or He buried the Body.