List of Awards & Grants received
- Individual Grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York (2009)
- A 3 year Grant from the The Arts Council of Switzerland Pro Helvetia, the City of Geneva’s Department of Cultural Affairs, and the State of Geneva ‘s Department of Public Instruction (2007 – 2009)
- Swiss Award for Dance and Choreography (2006)
- Cultural Grant from the Leenaards Foundation (1998)
- New York Dance and Performance « Bessie” Award – « In recognition of outstanding creative achievement” as a dancer in the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (1995)
- Nominated by Jean Guizerix for the Benois de la Danse, Moscow (1995)
- “Prix professionnel” at the Prix de Lausanne (1987)
- 2nd Prize at the Eurovision Dance Competition, Schwezingen, Germany (1987)
- Bronze medal at the International Dance Competition in Jackson, Mississippi (1986)
- Scholarship award for Dance Studies – « Migros pour-cent-culturel » (1985 & 1986)
- Gold Medal at the Concours International d’Houlgate, France (1986)
- Gold Medal at the National Competition of Aarau, Switzerland (1985)
- Chausson d’Or award at the International Classical Ballet Competition « Le Chausson d’Or » – Nevers, France (1982)
Video – The Acceptance Speech
Foofwa accepts the Swiss Award for Dance and Choreography (2006)
The choreographer Foofwa d’Imobilité has been awarded an individual grant of 25,000 dollars for 2009 from the « Foundation for Contemporary Arts » in New York.
Founded in 1963 by John Cage and Jasper Johns, the « Foundation for Contemporary Arts » supports « remarkable and promising » contemporary artists every year. Foofwa d’Imobilité was nominated for this award after his enormous success with « Benjamin de Bouillis » in June 2008 at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City.
The official 2009 Grants to Artists Celebration was on February 23, 2009 in New York City, USA.
> Foundation for Contemporary Arts 2009 Grant Recipients – Foofwa
The FCA presentation speech
by Nancy Dalva
« Good evening. As many of you know, this foundation has its origins in funding a proposed season on broadway for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. When there were leftover funds, Merce Cunnningham proposed that they be given to other artists, because, he said, “We are all in the same boat.” Merce regrets that he cannot be here tonight, and asks me to extend his warm greetings to you all, and his congratulations to the grantees.
It is appropriate, as you will see, to begin our brief look at our grantees in the field of dance, with choreographer/dancer Foofwa d’Imobilite.
Born in Switzerland as Frederic Gafner, he is an international prize winning ballet dancer—including the 1987 professional prize at the Prix de Lausanne. upon seeing the work of Merce Cunningham, he jumped ship from the Stuttgart Ballet to work with Merce. Recently, during an interview for Mondays with Merce, I asked Merce which dancers he held in particularly high regard. We had just been talking about the Ballet Russes de Monte Carlo, and New York City Ballet in its early days, but he looked up and said, without missing a beat, Frederic Gafner. After 7 glorious years with MC, Freddy had changed his jame to the Dadaist invention Foofwa d’Imobilite, aka Foof, and had begun to show his own work.
His nominator wrote: « As a choreographer he has at his instant disposal an extraordinary asset; himself as a dancer. He is at the height of his imaginative powers, and has, in recent work, developed his technique in increasing micro detail. Even his ears seem employed in the service of his individual and distinctive art. »
Writing in the New York Times, Alastair Macauley said, « He remains the kind of performer to whom i tentatively apply the word genius ».
His own writing about his work is a pleasure to peruse. It has been my great luck to have seen this artist from his early days with Merce through his transformation into Foofwa d’Imobilite. I suggest you translate it as « crazy when sitting still ». Please join me in congratulating Foofwa. »