About the Award
Founded in 2004 as a gift to former Jacob’s Pillow Trustee, Lorna Strassler from her husband, this prize includes a full program scholarship to The School at Jacob’s Pillow as well as a $2,500 cash prize. Each Lorna Strassler Award for Student Excellence recipient is selected based on their excellent performance skills and unwavering dedication to the arts.
About the 2019 Recipient
Adriana Ogle has been tap dancing since she was three and has since expanded to studying piano, hip-hop, modern, and jazz. At nine, she became a member of the North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble under the direction of Gene Medler. Spanning nine years, she performed extensively with the company throughout the U.S., including the Chicago Human Rhythm Project for seven years, Rockin’ in Rhythm, and the JUBA! Masters of Tap Concert at the Kennedy Center as well as Canada and Mexico. She has been teaching various ages and levels of tap at different studios throughout North Carolina since she was sixteen and studied under Mark Goodman for two years. Additionally, she has been choreographing and performing original choreography since she was eleven at tap festivals throughout the country. Learn more about Ogle’s experience as a company member with Boston-based Subject:Matter.
Past Recipients Include:
- 2018: Ariel Triunfo (Musical Theatre Dance), Mercury Theater actor, dancer, singer
- 2017: Madison Embrey (Musical Theatre Dance), New York City freelance performer & SAG-AFTRA member
- 2016: Eoin Robinson (Ballet & Contemporary), Staatsballett Berlin
- 2015: Therese Davis (Ballet), Pennsylvania Ballet
- 2014: Amber Pickens (Contemporary), founder of a live cast talk show, Kickback & Chat with Amber Pickens, and a non-profit, Art Belongs to the People, and ensemble performer for Muny’s The Wiz and Savion Glover’s Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope
- 2013: Samantha Barriento (Contemporary), Nimbus Dance
- 2012: Theresa J. Murray (Jazz/Musical Theatre), Actor’s Equity Association Member, American Guild of Variety Artists Member, Disneyland Resort Performer, performer in Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ production of Oklahoma!, and West Coast-based freelance dancer, actress, and singer
- 2011: Craig Black (Contemporary), Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
- 2010: Calvin Royal III (Ballet), soloist, American Ballet Theatre
The School at Jacob's PIllow
The School at Jacob’s Pillow is a pivotal professional advancement center for dancers, choreographers, and dance photographers to develop a uniquely resonant artistic voice.
