To those of you who may have met Iris or knew about some early developments in dance-tech at Simon Fraser University. GARLAND -- Iris Lillian, born June 23, 1935, in Chicago, Illinois, succumbed to cancer on October 29th at Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver. She will be lovingly remembered and deeply missed by her husband of 31 years, James Warren Felter. Iris moved to Canada in 1965 to become one of the original faculty members at Simon Fraser University, where she founded and developed the contemporary dance program. The Canada Trust Teaching Excellence Award was presented to her in 1990, and in the following year she received the Simon Fraser Teacher of the Year Award. Iris introduced dance technology to SFU in 1995 and developed a course entitled "Dancing in Cyberspace: Creating with the Virtual Body" for the Centre for On-Line Learning in the Virtual University. This course was offered over the Internet and had students in Europe, Australia and North America. Iris was grateful to have received numerous University and Canada Council for the Arts grants over the years. She retired as Professor Emeritus in the School for Contemporary Arts in August of 2000. Outside the university, she was active in the local and regional dance scenes as well as in the Dance in Canada Association, where she served as chairman from 1977-78; she received the Association's Outstanding Service Award in 1985. In addition to her activities in Canada, Iris taught courses in contemporary dance for both the Compania Nacional de Danza and the Frente de Danza Independiente in Quito, Ecuador (1987). She lectured on the History of Modern Dance in Canada at the Institut del Teatre y Dansa in Barcelona, Spain (1994), and was invited to Sydney, Australia, in August 1998, where she taught an eight-day intensive workshop in Life Forms animation software for professional choreographers from across Australia under the sponsorship of the Australia Council. Last year, Iris presented a four-hour workshop class in Laban Movement Analysis at the Universidad de Alcalá (Madrid) and completed her research for a biography of the Spanish Modern dancer, Tórtola Valencia (1882-1955). She was expanding her knowledge of Spanish, taking Flamenco classes, and writing when she was overtaken by inoperable cancer earlier this year. She will be remembered by many for the dance concerts she directed, for her work as a choreographer, teacher and scholar, and for her steadfast dedication to the Art of Dance. A Celebration of Iris' Life will be held at The Dance Centre, 677 Davie Street, in Vancouver on Sunday, April 27th, 2003. As an expression of sympathy in lieu of flowers, a tax-deductible donation made via cheque in Iris's memory to The Dance Centre, 677 Davie Street, Vancouver, BC, V6B 2G6, would be greatly appreciated. Henry Daniel Assistant Professor School for the Contemporary Arts Simon Fraser University Tel: 604 291 3897 Fax: 604 291 5907 http://www.sfu.ca/~hdaniel/
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