Friday, December 20, 2024

Contact: Michelle Tabnick, (646) 765-4773, michelle@michelletabnickpr.com

Heather Robles Steps Down as Executive Director of The Bessies Awards After 15 Transformative Years

New York, NY – Heather Robles, who has been an integral part of The Bessie Awards for the past 15 years and has served as its Executive Director for the last four, is stepping down from her role. During her tenure, Robles made significant contributions to the organization, leaving a lasting legacy that has elevated The Bessie Awards’ presence in the dance and performance community.

“Artists are the truth-tellers and imaginers who create the change so needed in the world,” Robles said. “The Bessies exists to honor artists’ profound work, which often takes place without thanks or witness. The journey of supporting this community will continue, and I’m proud of what we have built together.”

Robles’ impact on The Bessie Awards has been profound. Among her key achievements:

• Establishing a Board of Directors to enhance governance and strategic oversight.
• Ensuring diverse representation of the field of NYC within both the organization and awards.
• Securing partnerships with New York City’s renowned cultural institutions to deepen the organization’s engagement with the arts community.
• Bringing clarity to the voting process by codifying award eligibility criteria, ensuring transparency and integrity.
• Expanding the reach of The Bessie Awards with the 2020 awards ceremony broadcast on ALL ARTS public television.
• Partnering with Lincoln Center to hold the 2023 Bessie Awards Ceremony.
• Successfully guiding the organization through the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In stepping down, Robles will be focusing on completing an Executive MBA at Brown University and IE University, and pursuing new opportunities. She will continue to be available to The Bessies as a consultant.

The Bessie Awards Board of Directors expressed deep gratitude for Robles’ leadership and vision. “Heather’s contributions have been transformative for The Bessie Awards,” said Board member Charles Vincent Burwell. “She has set a standard of excellence and inclusivity that will guide us as we move forward.”

The Bessies Board of Directors will make announcements about an Interim Executive Director in the New Year.

About The Bessies

A Selection Committee comprised of artists, presenters, producers, designers and writers choose nominees. All those working in the dance field are invited to join The Bessies Membership—members participate in annual discussions on the direction of the awards and nominate members to serve on the Selection Committee. The mission of The Bessies is to recognize groundbreaking dance and performance work performed in New York City, to gather the city’s dance-making communities, and to advocate for New York dance nationally and internationally. For more information, visit bessies.org.

 The Bessies Board of Directors

Dave Archuletta, Aziza A. Bowser, Esq., and Charles Vincent Burwell.

The 2024-2025 Bessie Awards Selection Committee:

Tyler Ashley, PeiJu Chien-Pott, Yoshiko Chuma, Duke Dang, Gregory English, Kyla Gordon, Celia Ipiotis, William Isaac, Raelle Myrick Hodges, Suzzanne Ponomarenko, Rakia Seaborn, Alex Smith, Kate Thomas, Farren Wood, Nami Yamamoto, Sangeeta Yesley, Jens Richard Giersdorf.

The Bessies Steering Committee:

Stanford Makishi, maura nguyễn donohue, Nicky Paraiso, Craig Peterson, Tiffany Rea-Fisher, george emílio sanchez, and Charmaine Warren.

Follow The Bessies on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: #TheBessies / @bessieawards

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The Bessies Announce 2023 Angel Award Honorees: adrienne maree brown, Lane Harwell, Young Soon Kim, and in memoriam, Gus Solomons jr

New York, NY, September 29, 2023 – The New York Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, will celebrate the 2023 Angel Award honorees: adrienne maree brown, Lane Harwell, Young Soon Kim, and in memoriam, Gus Solomons jr, at the 2023 Bessies Angel Party on Wednesday, October 11, at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The award recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to the dance field through their artistry, leadership, support, and advocacy.

Presentations and remarks by nia love, Wendy Perron, Heather Robles, george emilio sanchez, and Lucy Sexton.

The Bessies Angel Awards Host Committee: Yvonne Chow, maura nguyen donohue, Nicky Paraiso, Craig Peterson, and george emilio sanchez.

EVENT DETAILS

The 2023 Bessies Angel Party
Wednesday, October 11, 6:30–9:00pm ET
6:30pm: Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres
8:00pm: Remarks, award presentations, and a special performance by WHITE WAVE Dance
Location: The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, 111 Amsterdam Avenue, New York NY, 10023

Tickets start at $150 and are available here.

Bessies Angel Honorees                                                    

adrienne maree brown grows healing ideas in public. Through her writing, which includes short- and long-form fiction, nonfiction, spells, tarot decks and poetry; her music, which includes songwriting, singing and an upcoming immersive musical ritual; and her podcasts, including How to Survive the End of the World, Octavia’s Parables and The Emergent Strategy Podcast, adrienne has nurtured Emergent Strategy, Pleasure Activism, Radical Imagination and Transformative Justice as ideas, frameworks, networks and practices for transformation. Her work is informed by 25 years of social and environmental justice facilitation primarily supporting Black liberation, her path of teaching somatics, her love of Octavia E Butler and visionary fiction, and her work as a doula. She is the author/editor of several published texts including Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds (2017), Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good (2019), Grievers (2021) and Maroons (2023) the first two novellas of her speculative fiction trilogy. After a multinational childhood, adrienne lived in New York, Oakland and Detroit before landing in her current home of Durham, NC.

Lane Harwell is a nonprofit and philanthropic leader working to advance arts and culture, civic engagement, and social justice. They chaired the steering committee for the Bessie Awards for nearly a decade when serving as the founding executive director of the service organization Dance/NYC. Harwell is currently a program officer of Creativity and Free Expression at the Ford Foundation. Their background encompasses creative, business, and civic realms, and includes an early career as a dancer with American Ballet Theatre Studio Company. They are an appointee to New York City’s Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission. They also serve on the boards of Association for Performing Arts Professionals and Funders for LGBT Issues and co-chair New York Grantmakers in the Arts, a peer network of grantmakers.

Young Soon Kim, Artistic Director of WHITE WAVE Dance, is a nationally and internationally acclaimed choreographer, whose work has been hailed for its exhilarating, visually stunning, and emotionally rich phrases and textures. In addition to her role as a performer and artistic director, Kim created a series of dance festivals soon after inaugurating the WHITE WAVE John Ryan Theater in DUMBO, Brooklyn, in 2001. She has since become one of the most recognized producers/curators in NYC and has also served as a juror for NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Kim and Company has performed at BAM Fisher, The Joyce Theater, The Kennedy Center, Dance Theater Workshop, Jacob’s Pillow, American Dance Festival, and the 1988 Summer Olympics World Dance Festival (Korea), just to name a few. In June 2021, the Korean Arts Council, which manages the archive for famous artists, chose Young Soon Kim as the first active artist outside of Korea in all genres inducted into the archive.

Gus Solomons jr (August 27, 1938 – August 11, 2023) graduated in architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and studied with Jan Veen at Boston Conservatory before moving to New York City to dance in Kicks and Co.! Solomons joined Donald McKayle’s company and studied the Martha Graham Technique but soon felt the constraints of modern dance. He was part of the collective of avant-garde experimentalists that eventually formed the Judson Dance Theater. Then, postmodern choreographer Merce Cunningham asked Solomons to join his company. Solomons began interpreting Cunningham’s postmodern concept of kinetic intention in his own choreography, founding The Solomons Company/Dance (1969-1994) and co-founding PARADIGM (1996-2011) with Carmen deLavallade and Dudley Williams. He created over 165 dances and is known for his analytical approach, architectural concepts, musical collaborations, and use of video and other forms of media. He was a member of the Bessies Selection Committee and Steering Committee for a combined two decades.

Accessibility Notes from The Bessies: The evening’s in-person events will include live ASL Interpretation.

Accessibility Notes from The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (NYPL): Please enter the event at 111 Amsterdam Avenue, New York NY 10023. The renovated building of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center is fully accessible to individuals with disabilities, including the incorporation of ADA-compliant ramps, doorways, restrooms and elevators. In addition, its screening facilities feature wheelchair-accessible viewing carrels, individual laptop computers enabling non-verbal communication, and volume-enhancing headphone adaptors. The Library for the Performing Arts also serves as a source for many performance accessibility projects at Lincoln Center and throughout the area.

ABOUT THE BESSIES

The New York Dance and Performance Awards have saluted outstanding and groundbreaking creative work in the dance field in New York City for 39 years. Known as “The Bessies” in honor of revered dance teacher Bessie Schönberg, the awards were established in 1984 by David R. White at Dance Theater Workshop. They recognize choreography, performance, music composition, visual design, legacy, and service to the field of dance by independent dance artists and organizations. Nominees are chosen by a selection committee composed of artists, presenters, producers, and writers. All those working in the dance field are invited to join the Bessies Membership and participate in annual discussions on the direction of the awards and nominate members to serve on the selection committee. For more information about The Bessies, visit www.bessies.org.                  

The 2023-2024 Bessie Awards Selection Committee: Alex Smith, Anabella Lenzu, Celia Ipiotis, David Persky, Duke Dang, Farren Wood, Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, Gregory English, Hannah Garner, Ivan Talijančić, Kate Thomas, Kyla Gordon, Lynn Schwab, Nami Yamamoto, PeiJu Chien-Pott, Porshia Derival, Rakia Seaborn, Ronald K. Alexander, Shalewa Mackall, Tyler Ashley, William Isaac, Yoko Murakami, Yoshiko Chuma, and zavé martohardjono.                                         

The Bessies Steering Committee: Yvonne H. Chow, Stanford Makishi, maura nguyễn donohue, Nicky Paraiso, Craig Peterson, Tiffany Rea-Fisher, george emílio sanchez, and Charmaine Warren.

Press contact:
Janet Stapleton – 212-633-0016 / stapleton.janet@gmail.com

Follow The Bessies on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: #TheBessies / @bessieawards

THE BESSIES ANNOUNCE RECIPIENTS OF 2023 NEW YORK DANCE AND PERFORMANCE AWARDS

New York, NY (August 4, 2023) – The New York Dance and Performance Awards, the Bessies, tonight announced the 2023 award recipients at the 39th Bessie Awards Ceremony. The Illustrious Blacks hosted this year’s celebratory event, which was held at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park as part of Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City. A complete list of the 2023 awards follows below.

Bessie Awards were presented to artists for outstanding choreographer/creator, performer, sound design/music composition, visual design, outstanding revival, and breakout choreographer—an award that honors an artist who has made an exceptional leap in their career this past year. All of the awardees and nominated artists in these categories received a $500 honorarium, courtesy of a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Renowned dancer, singer, and actor Dionne Figgins presented Virginia Johnson with the 2023 Award for Lifetime Achievement in Dance. Artists and dance advocates Porshia A. Derival and Ms Vee presented Michele Byrd-McPhee with the 2023 Award for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance. Other presenters included Tyler Ashley, Clifton Brown, George Faison, Erin Fogerty, Dyane Harvey Salaam, Karisma Jay, Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, Abdel Salaam, and Paz Tanjuaquio.

Barkha Patel was honored with the 2023 Juried Bessie Award, selected by the 2023 Bessie Jury luciana achugar, Ayodele Casel, and Kyle Marshall. The Juried Award recognizes a choreographer who exhibits some of the most interesting and exciting ideas in dance in New York City today, and whose work deserves to be seen more outside the city. The award comes with touring support and other engagement opportunities from New York State DanceForce.

The ceremony also included special remarks from Vicky Capote of Dance/NYC, Alton Murray, Deputy Commissioner, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Lucy Sexton, Executive Director, New Yorkers for Culture and Arts, and Bessies Executive Director Heather Robles.

The Bessies also honored members of the dance community who died this past year. The moving In Memoriam was presented by dancers Mireicy Aquino and Jhailyn Farcon.

The celebration continued at the Bessies Silent Disco After-Party with DJ Sabine Blaizin on Lincoln Center’s Josie Robertson Plaza.

The 2023 Bessie Awards Ceremony was produced by Torya Beard and Heather Robles.

Images are available here.

THE 2023 NEW YORK DANCE AND PERFORMANCE AWARD RECIPIENTS AND CITATIONS:

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCE AWARD

Virginia Johnson

For inspiring audiences for 28 years with dynamic performances as a founding member and principal dancer of Dance Theatre of Harlem. For her tenure as Artistic Director of Dance Theatre of Harlem, continuing the company’s legacy of innovation and excellence, while expanding its reach and impact through collaborations with other organizations. For founding Pointe Magazine, and serving as editor-in-chief for nearly a decade. For editorial vision, bringing diverse voices and perspectives to the forefront of the dance community. For a lifelong commitment to the arts, and a career of significant contributions to the world of dance as a celebrated dancer, editor, and artistic director.

OUTSTANDING SERVICE TO THE FIELD OF DANCE AWARD

Michele Byrd-McPhee

For being an incredible force in the global dance community, especially as an advocate for young girls and women in hip-hop. As the Founder and Executive Director of Ladies of Hip-Hop, Byrd-McPhee has worked for decades to recontextualize spaces and conversations about hip-hop along gender, cultural, socio-historical, and racial lines. Her vision for women of all generations in hip-hop has created opportunities for them to perform on concert dance stages, teach in the most prestigious dance institutions, and create incredible opportunities for themselves within hip-hop’s legacy.

OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHER/CREATOR

LaTasha Barnes

LaTasha Barnes presents The Jazz Continuum at The Joyce Theater

A joyous celebration of jazz dance throughout history, Barnes flexes the imposed proscenium setting to engage a communal experience, demonstrating community as the center of this form. An offering of (re)embodiment to the audience, this work showcases seamless transitions between styles, demonstrating technical mastery from the cast and deep creativity and thoughtfulness from its creator.

Dormeshia

Dormeshia Tap Collective: Rhythm Is Life at The Joyce Theater

For crafting stellar interplay between movement, sound, performer, and improvisation. Deeply human, rooted in tradition and joy, Dormeshia shows us where tap dance has been, where it is, and where it is going.

Benjamin Akio Kimitch

Tiger Hands at The Shed

For a beautiful work with an extraordinarily sensitive exploration of personal and cultural identity. The work creates an entirely new movement vocabulary that holds resonant memories of traditional Peking opera dance forms, and is embedded with shimmering novelty in tribute to a beloved mother.

Omari Wiles

New York Is Burning at Works & Process at The Guggenheim

For a beautiful representation of intergenerational Black experiences that pays homage to the dancers and artists from the classic documentary Paris Is Burning. This work is a gorgeously joyous, queer collection of dance and music stories. As a timeless tribute, it highlights the Afro Dance, House, Vogue, and Ballroom communities, their current cultural relevance, and prioritizes the diversity of dancers’ bodies, bringing out the power within Black dance and music.

OUTSTANDING PERFORMER

j. bouey

In A Message from Mx. Black Copper by j. bouey at Movement Research at the Judson Church

For an exhilarating performance embodying Black joy. This work is an exploration of emotion and movement that evokes love, trauma, honesty, and progression. The performance was thoughtful, unapologetic, and celebratory of life, self, and ancestry.

Amanda Castro

In Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic by Ayodele Casel at The Joyce Theater

Castro’s performance capacity and arresting stage presence offer playfulness, dynamism, and mastery, particularly in the connection between percussionist and dancer. Her clear delineation in performance teaches the audience about Afro-Latin influences and intrinsic tap rhythms, with a demonstrated fluency in many styles.

Joyce Edwards

In Grace, The Equality of Night and Day and Open Door by Ronald K. Brown at The Joyce Theater

For bringing presence and identity into an exquisite embodiment of Ronald K. Brown’s work. Edwards exudes irrefutable strength, depth, warmth, reverence, conviction, and connection.

Albert Silindokuhle Ibokwe Khoza

In And so you see… our honorable blue sky and ever enduring sun… can only be consumed slice by slice… by Robyn Orlin at New York Live Arts

A uniquely bombastic, outrageous, and gorgeous performance that transcends genres, this is an unforgettably commanding performance that reveals deeper truths.

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL

In The Upper Room (1986/2022)

By Twyla Tharp at New York City Center

For a masterfully crafted and timeless work of dance art. In the Upper Room synthesizes choreography, costumes, music, and lighting into a transcendent experience for both audience and performers. The compelling score intersects with the bold choreography, creating an experience of raw power and grace.

OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN/ MUSIC COMPOSITION

Charles Turner and Sean Mason

For LaTasha Barnes presents The Jazz Continuum by LaTasha Barnes at The Joyce Theater

For a New York City sonic dream of musical arrangement that pays tribute to the eras of Black music from authentic jazz to hip-hop classics. The audience is brilliantly taken on a rollercoaster of musical nostalgia that makes one want to cry, dance, and move with joy! From the piano keys to the DJ turntables, and from the jazz clubs of Harlem to the playgrounds of Brooklyn, the arrangement is a true delight showing the magic of The Jazz Continuum.

OUTSTANDING VISUAL DESIGN

Tina Tzoka & Loukas Bakas (Set Design), Stephanos Droussiotis (Lighting Design), Nektarios Dionysatos (Sculptures and Special Constructions), Dimitris Korres (Mechanical Inventions)

For Transverse Orientation by Dimitris Papaioannou at the Brooklyn Academy of Music

For a team of designers who create scenes beyond what people might think is possible, and leave them gasping in awe. The team is the ‘David Copperfield’ of the field, possessing wide imaginative abilities that create the magic and make-believe of the theater.

OUTSTANDING BREAKOUT CHOREOGRAPHER

Symara Johnson

For deeply personal and profoundly joyful movement research with a choreographic practice based in American and West Indian heritage. For merging movement practices with rigorous archival research which calls for being in the present moment. For a creation of space within this practice for engagement of many ideas generated on the spot, and the ability to move between them with abandonment.

2023 JURIED BESSIE AWARD

Barkha Patel

For elegantly and magnificently creating, educating, and sharing work that elevates classical Indian and Kathak dance. Patel is deeply rooted in her art form’s spiritual and cultural history and is a contemporary voice who will contribute to the evolution of Kathak dance and its place in the dance world at large.

ABOUT THE BESSIES

The New York Dance and Performance Awards have saluted outstanding and groundbreaking creative work in the dance field in New York City for 39 years. Known as “The Bessies” in honor of revered dance teacher Bessie Schönberg, the awards were established in 1984 by David R. White at Dance Theater Workshop. They recognize choreography, performance, music composition,  visual design, legacy, and service to the field of dance by independent dance artists and organizations. Nominees are chosen by a selection committee composed of artists, presenters, producers, and writers. All those working in the dance field are invited to join the Bessies Membership and participate in annual discussions on the direction of the awards and nominate members to serve on the selection committee. For more information about The Bessies, visit www.bessies.org.

The 2022–2023 Bessie Awards Selection Committee: Tyler Ashley, Elizabeth Burke, Tymberly Canale, Yoshiko Chuma, Donna Costello, Porshia A. Derival, Tiffany Geigel, Valerie Green, Satsu Holmes, William Isaac, Anabella Lenzu, Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, Shalewa Mackall, Yoko Murakami, Ivan Talijančić, and Kate Thomas.

The Bessies Steering Committee: Paz Tanjuaquio (chair), Yvonne H. Chow, Stanford Makishi, maura nguyễn donohue, Nicky Paraiso, Craig Peterson, Tiffany Rea-Fisher, george emilio sanchez, and Charmaine Warren.

Press contact:

Janet Stapleton – 212-633-0016 / stapleton.janet@gmail.com

Follow The Bessies on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: #theBessies / @bessieawards

AT LINCOLN CENTER’S DAMROSCH PARK

New York, NY (July 25, 2023) – The New York Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, announce the lineup of special guests for the 39th Bessie Awards Ceremony. Acclaimed queer pop duo The Illustrious Blacks (Manchildblack x Monstah Black) will host this year’s ceremony, which will be held on Friday, August 4, at 7:30pm, at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park as part of Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City. Doors open at 6:30pm. Admission is free. To preregister for tickets, click here. For more information, visit the 39th Bessie Awards Ceremony page.

Award presenters include notable members of the dance and performance community, including Mireicy Aquino, George Faison, Jhailyn Farcon, Dionne Figgins, Erin Fogerty, Tiffany Geigel, Dyane Harvey Salaam, Karisma Jay, Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, Fredrick Earl Mosley, Abdel Salaam, Paz Tanjuaquio, and Ms Vee. The 2023 Bessie Jury panelists—Ayodele Casel, Kyle Marshall, and luciana achugar—will present the award to this year’s Juried honoree.

The evening will include performances by Dance Theatre of Harlem, performing in honor of Lifetime Achievement in Dance recipient Virginia Johnson, Princess Lockerooo’s Fabulous Waack Dancers, Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance, and Ladies of Hip-Hop Collective, performing in honor of Service to the Field of Dance recipient Michele Byrd-McPhee, and students from AbunDance Academy of the Arts.

The 2023 Bessie Awards Ceremony is produced by Torya Beard and Bessies Executive Director Heather Robles.

A list of the 2023 Bessie nominees can be found at 2023 Bessie Nominees.

About the Hosts

Self-proclaimed Afro-Electro-Disco-Space-Punks, DJ/music duo The Illustrious Blacks are unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Part DJ set, part dance performance, part Studio 54, part Berlin underground, this NY couple knows how to put on a SHOW!

With inspiration from artists like Prince, David Bowie, Grace Jones, Depeche Mode and George Clinton, The Illustrious Blacks have arrived with a mission to fuse futuristic funk, hypnotic house, space disco and synth-pop into pulsating positivity for the planet. The real-life married couple are not only co-pilots on their artistic voyage, but are united in their fantastical journey through life.

In 2017, the duo that The New York Times called Bed-Stuy’s “favorite creative couple” released their highly anticipated debut EP, Neo Afro Futuristic Psychedelic Surrealistic Hippy, on Concierge Records. In the same year, the dynamic duo found time to work on a remake of the 90s dance floor classic “Funk That!,” which spawned a popular music video.

Currently, The Illustrious Blacks are working on the final touches of their debut album and on various musical collaborations with notable dance music producers Luke Solomon (Beyoncé), Russell Small (Freemasons), Seven Davis Jr., KDA, Nickodemus, and Toribio and Soul Clap. In 2023 the duo will take Ibiza by storm as part of Glitterbox’s Hi Ibiza residency.

Individually, Monstah Black and Manchildblack illuminate the galaxy with equal magnitude. As The Illustrious Blacks, they have combined their powers to save the world one beat at a time and encourage all to LIVE THE HYPE LIFE!

Photos are available here.

EVENT DETAILS

The 39th Bessie Awards Ceremony

Friday, August 4, at 7:30pm (Doors open at 6:30pm)

Rain date: Sunday, August 6, at 7:30pm

Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center

Presented as part of Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City

Admission is free, first come, first served

For more information, visit 39th Bessie Awards Ceremony.

Stay afterward for a free, live DJ’d Bessies Silent Disco After-Party with DJ Sabine Blazin on Josie Robertson Plaza!

ABOUT THE BESSIES

The New York Dance and Performance Awards have saluted outstanding and groundbreaking creative work in the dance field in New York City for 39 years. Known as “The Bessies” in honor of revered dance teacher Bessie Schönberg, the awards were established in 1984 by David R. White at Dance Theater Workshop. They recognize choreography, performance, music composition, visual design, legacy, and service to the field of dance by independent dance artists and organizations. Nominees are chosen by a selection committee composed of artists, presenters, producers, and writers. All those working in the dance field are invited to join the Bessies Membership and participate in annual discussions on the direction of the awards and nominate members to serve on the selection committee. For more information about The Bessies, visit www.bessies.org.

The 2022–2023 Bessie Awards Selection Committee: Tyler Ashley, Elizabeth Burke, Tymberly Canale, Yoshiko Chuma, Donna Costello, Porshia A. Derival, Tiffany Geigel, Valerie Green, Satsu Holmes, William Isaac, Anabella Lenzu, Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, Shalewa Mackall, Yoko Murakami, Ivan Talijančić, and Kate Thomas.

The Bessies Steering Committee: Paz Tanjuaquio (chair), Yvonne H. Chow, Stanford Makishi, maura nguyễn donohue, Nicky Paraiso, Craig Peterson, Tiffany Rea-Fisher, george emilio sanchez, and Charmaine Warren.

Press contact:

Janet Stapleton – 212-633-0016 / stapleton.janet@gmail.com

Follow The Bessies on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: #theBessies / @bessieawards

New York, NY (July 17, 2023) – The New York Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, New York City’s premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, are thrilled to announce that Virginia Johnson, founding member and former artistic director of Dance Theatre of Harlem, will receive the 2023 Bessie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Dance. Michele Byrd-McPhee, founder and executive director of Ladies of Hip-Hop, will receive this year’s award for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance. Both awards will be presented at the 39th Bessie Awards Ceremony on Friday, August 4, at 7:30pm, at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park as part of Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City. Admission is free. To preregister for tickets, click here. For more information, visit 39th Bessie Awards Ceremony.

In announcing the awards, New York Dance and Performance Awards Executive Director Heather Robles said, “Virginia Johnson and Michele Byrd-McPhee are both pioneering women in the arts. As artists and advocates, they have impacted countless lives, forwarding the legacy of each of their artforms, while simultaneously leading them into new futures. The Bessies are proud to celebrate their outstanding careers and contributions to the field of dance.”

Founding member and former principal dancer, Virginia Johnson, was appointed Artistic Director of Dance Theatre of Harlem by Arthur Mitchell in 2010. Born in Washington, D.C., Johnson graduated from the Academy of the Washington School of Ballet and briefly attended New York University as a University Scholar before joining DTH in 1969. Universally recognized as one of the great ballerinas of her generation, she was cast in classical, neoclassical, and contemporary works, but is perhaps best known for her performances in the ballets Giselle, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Fall River Legend, each of which was videotaped for broadcast. While still performing, Johnson ventured into choreography but her interest in journalism led her to Fordham University where she pursued a degree in communications. After retiring from performing, an Independent Artist grant from The Field led to an exploration of arts presenting. At the School of Visual Arts Johnson studied serigraphy, film-making, and television production before the opportunity to create POINTE magazine presented itself. She was founding editor-in-chief of that magazine from 2000 to 2009. Her honors include a Young Achiever Award from the National Council of Women, Outstanding Young Woman of America Award, the Dance Magazine Award, a Pen and Brush Achievement Award, the Washington Performing Arts Society’s 2008–2009 Pola Nirenska Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2009 Martha Hill Fund Mid-Career Award, and honorary doctorates from Cornish College of the Arts, Swarthmore College, and Juilliard. She is an honorary member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and The Society, Inc. In February 2016 Johnson was honored by First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House for her contribution to the field of dance. In 2018 Johnson held the Brackett Visiting Artist Chair at the University of Oklahoma, she is also a recipient of the Mary Day Award from the Washington Ballet and the 2019 CORPS de Ballet International Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2020 she was presented with a medal of honor from the Actor’s Fund and in 2023 she was presented with Dance Films Association’s Dance in Focus Award. She serves on the advisory boards of The Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU and Dance/NYC, as well as on the Board of Works & Process. In July 2023 Johnson officially stepped down as artistic director and passed artistic leadership of DTH to Robert Garland, DTH’s resident choreographer.

A tireless advocate for girls and women, Michele Byrd-McPhee is the founder and executive director of Ladies of Hip-Hop, a non-profit organization empowering girls and women through Hip-Hop culture and arts. Byrd-McPhee has been working for decades to recontextualize spaces and conversations about Hip-Hop culture along gender, sex, cultural, socio-historical, and racial lines, as well as situating Black dance forms, theories, dance techniques, and the value of the lived artistic experience in spaces that honor and acknowledge cultural roots along with the many creative pioneers who have shaped them. This is especially important given the ways in which Black dance has been co-opted, appropriated without acknowledgement to its community and cultural origins. Byrd-McPhee earned her BS from Temple University and an MS in Nonprofit Arts Management from Drexel University. She also worked for many years in TV and arts production, working as a production coordinator at Brooklyn Academy of Music and then as a senior music coordinator at Late Night with Seth Meyers. She is honored to have served as a former Bessie Selection Committee member. In 2020 Byrd-McPhee was awarded an Integrated Arts Residency Fellowship grant at University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she taught her course Hip-Hop, Women and the World. Presently, she is relishing her roles as a performer and production manager for The Jazz Continuum, along with her ongoing commitment as executive director for Ladies of Hip-Hop and artistic director of LDC (LOHH Dance Collective).

Photos are available here.

A list of the 2023 Bessie nominees can be found at 2023 Bessie Nominees.

EVENT DETAILS

The 39th Bessie Awards Ceremony

Friday, August 4, at 7:30pm (Rain date: Sunday, August 6)

Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center

Presented as part of Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City

Admission is free

To preregister for tickets, click here.

Stay afterward for a free, live DJ’d Bessies Silent Disco After-Party on Josie Robertson Plaza!

ABOUT THE BESSIES

The New York Dance and Performance Awards have saluted outstanding and groundbreaking creative work in the dance field in New York City for 39 years. Known as “The Bessies” in honor of revered dance teacher Bessie Schönberg, the awards were established in 1984 by David R. White at Dance Theater Workshop. They recognize choreography, performance, music composition, visual design, legacy, and service to the field of dance by independent dance artists and organizations. Nominees are chosen by a selection committee composed of artists, presenters, producers, and writers. All those working in the dance field are invited to join the Bessies Membership and participate in annual discussions on the direction of the awards and nominate members to serve on the selection committee. For more information about The Bessies, visit www.bessies.org.

The 2022–2023 Bessie Awards Selection Committee: Tyler Ashley, Elizabeth Burke, Tymberly Canale, Yoshiko Chuma, Donna Costello, Porshia A. Derival, Tiffany Geigel, Valerie Green, Satsu Holmes, William Isaac, Anabella Lenzu, Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, Shalewa Mackall, Yoko Murakami, Ivan Talijančić, and Kate Thomas.

The Bessies Steering Committee: Paz Tanjuaquio (chair), Yvonne H. Chow, Stanford Makishi, maura nguyễn donohue, Nicky Paraiso, Craig Peterson, Tiffany Rea-Fisher, george emilio sanchez, and Charmaine Warren.

Press contact:

Janet Stapleton – 212-633-0016 / stapleton.janet@gmail.com

Follow The Bessies on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: #theBessies / @bessieawards

39TH ANNUAL BESSIES CEREMONY SET FOR AUGUST 4, 2023, AT

LINCOLN CENTER

New York, NY (May 25, 2023) – The New York Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, New York City’s premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, today announced the nominees for the 2023 Bessie Awards. This year’s Bessie Awards ceremony will be held on Friday, August 4, at 7:30pm, at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park as part of Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City. The event is free and open to the public.

Nominations are made by the Bessie Awards Selection Committee, an independent committee of dance industry professionals. With the change in the ceremony’s location this year, a new nominating time frame was established. Performances presented between June 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023, were eligible for consideration. Award categories include Outstanding Choreographer/Creator, Outstanding Performer, Outstanding Revival, Outstanding Sound Design or Music Composition, Outstanding Visual Design, and Outstanding Breakout Choreographer. Additional awards are given for Lifetime Achievement, Service to the Field of Dance, and a special Juried Award in partnership with NYS DanceForce.

“Under the auspices of Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City, The Bessies are thrilled to celebrate this year’s artists with the dance community at our first free ceremony in decades,” said Bessies Executive Director Heather Robles.

The 2023 Bessie Awards Nominations

Outstanding Choreographer/Creator:

Vanessa Anspaugh

mourning after mornings

New York Live Arts

LaTasha Barnes

LaTasha Barnes presents The Jazz Continuum

The Joyce Theater

Sidra Bell

REP: Introspection

Gibney

Jessica Chen

NüWa (女媧)

Arts on Site

Dormeshia

Dormeshia Tap Collective: Rhythm Is Life

The Joyce Theater

Rennie Harris

Lifted

The Joyce Theater

Deborah Hay

Horse, the solos

The Joyce Theater

Benjamin Akio Kimitch

Tiger Hands

The Shed

Jordan Demetrius Lloyd

Blackbare in the Basement

Danspace Project

Shamel Pitts

BLACK HOLE – Trilogy And Triathlon

New York Live Arts

Lia Rodrigues

Encantado

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Omari Wiles

New York Is Burning

Works & Process at the Guggenheim

Outstanding Performer:

Billy Barry

Hora

By Ohad Naharin

The Joyce Theater

j. bouey

A Message from Mx. Black Copper

By j. bouey

Movement Research at the Judson Church

Amanda Castro

Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic

By Ayodele Casel

The Joyce Theater

Joyce Edwards

Grace, The Equality of Night and Day, and Open Door

By Ronald K. Brown

The Joyce Theater

Timothy Edwards

Mr. TOL E. RAncE

By Camille A. Brown

The Joyce Theater

Rachel Harris

Mr. Withers

By David Parsons

The Joyce Theater

Niall Jones

C O M P R E S S I O N

By Niall Jones

Performance Space New York

Albert Silindokuhle Ibokwe Khoza

And so you see… our honourable blue sky and ever

enduring sun… can only be consumed slice by slice…

By Robyn Orlin

New York Live Arts and FIAF’s Crossing the Line Festival

Maleek Washington

Mr. TOL E. RAncE

By Camille A. Brown

The Joyce Theater

Ensemble: Anand Bolder, Louise Dahl, Freddy Houndekindo, Eliott Marmouset, Adam Schütt, Johanna Tengan, Vincent Van Der Plas

Horse, the solos

By Deborah Hay

Cullberg

The Joyce Theater

Ensemble: bree breeden, Wendell Gray II, José Lapaz Rodriguez, Jordan Demetrius Lloyd, Mia Martelli, Mykel Marai Nairne, Owen Prum, Kennedy Thomas

Blackbare in the Basement

By Jordan Demetrius Lloyd

Danspace Project

Ensemble: Marielys Burgos-Meléndez, Rafael V. Cañals Pérez, Christopher “Unpezverde” Núñez

The Circle or Prophetic Dream

By Christopher “Unpezverde” Núñez

Danspace Project

Outstanding Revival:

Pina Bausch & Tanztheater Wuppertal

Água (1995/2023)

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Camille A. Brown & Dancers

Mr. TOL E. RAncE (2012/2022)

The Joyce Theater

Garth Fagan & Garth Fagan Dance

Prelude (1981/2022)

The Joyce Theater

Twyla Tharp

In the Upper Room (1986/2022)

New York City Center

Outstanding Sound Design or Musical Composition:

Roman Bestion, Fouad Boussouf, and Marion Castor

Näss

By Fouad Boussouf

The Joyce Theater

Graham Reynolds

Horse, the solos

By Deborah Hay

Cullberg

The Joyce Theater

Evil Tracy The International Showoff and DJ Razor Ramon

Rome & Jewels

By Rennie Harris

The Joyce Theater

Charles Turner and Sean Mason

LaTasha Barnes presents The Jazz Continuum

By LaTasha Barnes

The Joyce Theater

Outstanding Visual Design:

Isabela Dos Santos (Animation)

Mr. TOL E. RAncE

By Camille A. Brown

The Joyce Theater

Sarai Frazier (Lighting)

all things under dog, where two things are always true

By Monica Mirabile

Performance Space New York

Zane Pihlström (Costume and Stage Design)

Company XIV: Seven Sins

By Company XIV

Théâtre XIV

Tina Tzoka and Loukas Bakas (Set Design), Stephanos Droussiotis (Lighting Design), Nektarios Dionysatos (Sculptures and Special Constructions) Dimitris Korres (Mechanical Inventions)

Transverse Orientation

By Dimitris Papaioannou

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Outstanding Breakout Choreographer:

Bryan and Shaina Baira of BAIRA

Symara Johnson

Soles of Duende: Amanda Castro, Brinda Guha, Arielle Rosales

marion spencer

ABOUT THE BESSIES

The New York Dance and Performance Awards have saluted outstanding and groundbreaking creative work in the dance field in New York City for 39 years. Known as “The Bessies” in honor of revered dance teacher Bessie Schönberg, the awards were established in 1984 by David R. White at Dance Theater Workshop. They recognize choreography, performance, music composition, visual design, legacy, and service to the field of dance by independent dance artists and organizations. Nominees are chosen by a selection committee composed of artists, presenters, producers, and writers. All those working in the dance field are invited to join the Bessies Membership and participate in annual discussions on the direction of the awards and nominate members to serve on the selection committee. For more information about The Bessies, visit www.bessies.org.

The 2022–2023 Bessie Awards Selection Committee: Tyler Ashley, Elizabeth Burke, Tymberly Canale, Yoshiko Chuma, Donna Costello, Porshia A. Derival, Tiffany Geigel, Valerie Green, Satsu Holmes, William Isaac, Anabella Lenzu, Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, Shalewa Mackall, Yoko Murakami, Ivan Talijančić, and Kate Thomas.

The Bessies Steering Committee: Paz Tanjuaquio (chair), Yvonne H. Chow, Stanford Makishi, maura nguyễn donohue, Nicky Paraiso, Craig Peterson, Tiffany Rea-Fisher, george emilio sanchez, and Charmaine Warren.

Press contact:

Janet Stapleton – 212-633-0016 / stapleton.janet@gmail.com 

Follow The Bessies on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: #theBessies / @bessieawards

Derival welcomed artists and supporters of the New York dance community who gathered to celebrate the nominees and awardees. Bessie Awards were presented to artists for outstanding choreographer/creator, performer, sound design/music composition, visual design, outstanding revival, and breakout choreographer—an award that honors an artist who has made an exceptional leap in their career this past year. All of the awardees and nominated artists in these categories received a $500 honorarium, courtesy of a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Tatiana Desardouin was honored with the 2022 Juried Bessie Award, which recognizes a choreographer who exhibits some of the most interesting and exciting ideas in dance in New York City today, and whose work deserves to be seen more outside the city. The award comes with touring support and other engagement opportunities from New York State DanceForce. The 2022 Bessies Jury of three acclaimed choreographers, LaTasha Barnes, Molissa Fenley, and Abby Zbikowski, selected Desardouin.

Emily L. Waters, a senior program associate in the Arts and Culture program at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, was honored with the 2022 Bessies Angel Award for her leadership and advocacy on behalf of dance.

Two previously announced awards were also presented. Choreographer and dancer Nai-Ni Chen was posthumously honored with the 2022 Lifetime Achievement in Dance Award. Christine Jowers, founding editor of The Dance Enthusiast, received the 2022 Award for Service to the Field of Dance.

The ceremony featured a performance of Nai-Ni Chen’s stunning Crosscurrent, performed by Rio Kikuchi and Esteban Santamaria. The evening also included an exhilarating pop-up performance by Passion Fruit Dance Company’s Tatiana Desardouin, with Mai Lê Hô, Lauriane Ogay, and Gyeun “Lobel” Jeong.

The Bessies also honored members of the dance community who passed away since the last Bessies ceremony. The In Memoriam section was presented by Sangeeta Ghosh Yesley and Paz Tanjuaquio.

Other presenters included Abdiel, Marija Abney, Michele Byrd-McPhee, PeiJu Chien-Pott, Natsha Diggs, maura nguyen donohue, Brinda Guha, Anabella Lenzu, Kyle Marshall, Nicky Paraiso, Tiffany Rea-Fisher, george emilio sanchez, Lucy Sexton, Philip Treviño, and André M. Zachery.

The 38th annual Bessie Awards was produced by H+ | TOTEM Productions.

Images are available here.

THE 2022 NY DANCE AND PERFORMANCE AWARD RECIPIENTS AND CITATIONS:

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCE AWARD

Nai-Ni Chen

Nai-Ni Chen was a force in the dance community with her unique choreographic body of work that fuses Eastern cultural forms of Chinese dance and the Western world of modern dance. Her vision of the immigrant’s journey of crossing cultures and adapting to a new home provided endless inspirations and opportunities for creative expressions that enrich the human experience.

SERVICE TO THE FIELD OF DANCE AWARD

 Christine Jowers

Jowers is an example of generosity, dedication, and commitment in service to the dance field. After her career as a dancer performing in England and the U.S., Jowers devoted herself to supporting dance artists, to writing about them with respect, truth, and love. In times when dance reviews and writers are almost extinct, when publications and dance journalists are disappearing, Jowers and The Dance Enthusiast value and care about dance criticism and documenting performances. She has and continues to ignite the dance community with passion, curiosity, and conversation.

BESSIES ANGEL AWARD

Emily L. Waters

Waters is being recognized for her advocacy of dance in times when artists need it the most; for ensuring dance is brought to the table as a former professional dancer; for being a trailblazer for dance in the philanthropic setting.

OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHER/CREATOR

 Leslie Cuyjet

Blur at Open Call at The Shed

Intimate, vulnerable, bold, and enigmatic, this visceral piece is a quiet merging of Cuyjet’s inner worlds. With sequences of highly orchestrated, improvised structures that are exacting, charged, and in the present, Cuyjet creates a vast, living landscape.

Bill T. Jones, Janet Wong, and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company

Deep Blue Sea at Park Avenue Armory

For a visionary, large-scale work incorporating around 100 dancers and a nontraditional use of space and production elements, culminating in a creation both universal and deeply personal.

Anna Sperber

Bow Echo, presented by XØ Projects Inc and The Old American Can Factory

With keen attention to detail in choreographic structures that relate to the environment, Sperber creates a visual, exciting rooftop ritual with movement invention and materials that break the conventional expectations of an audience.

Raúl Tamez

Migrant Mother for Limón Dance Company at The Joyce Theater

For creating a tributary piece to the immense grief and emotional pain that migrant mothers endure. From technically complex choreography, using space and bodies to sculpt eye-catching negative and positive space, to the blended use of modern-day sound bites with music, this is a deeply somatic experience.

OUTSTANDING PERFORMER

Soledad Barrio

in Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca at The Joyce Theater

For stamping the fire and passion of flamenco into the heart of the observer, making everyone want to be from Spain. Barrio’s blended precision, rhythm, and expressiveness do not just move with the music, but sing back to it.

Kayla Farrish

in December 8th by Kayla Farrish in collaboration with Belinda McGuire, the Eva Yaa Asantewaa Solo for Solo Showing at Gibney

For a tumble and waterfall of physicality and phrasing that at times takes one’s breath away, and at times quickens the blood. Farrish is in full control from start to finish, and is also able to offer vulnerability and heart through her performance.

Nikolai McKenzie Ben Rema

in A Jamaican Battyboy in America by Arthur Avilés at Hemispheric Institute at NYU and BAAD!

For interpreting and adding to a revival with precision, poise, and evident generosity of spirit. McKenzie Ben Rema becomes at once a channel and a generating vessel with bold and mesmerizing dancing.

Antonio Ramos

in Puro Teatro by luciana achugar at The Chocolate Factory Theater

Ramos embraces achugar’s choreographic vision to create a living landscape where bodies are in the present, joyful, courageous, vulnerable, funny, connecting, and intersecting with one another. Ramos’s movements of improvised structures are exacting, highly-skilled, charged, and playful.

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL 

Set and Reset/Reset (2021)

Choreographed and co-directed by Abigail Yager, co-directed by Jamie Scott with assistance from Diane Madden, performed by Candoco Dance Company at the Brooklyn Academy of Music 

For a dynamic, fully embodied vision/revision of Trisha Brown’s Set and Reset (1983). Candoco dancers fully speak Brown’s vocabulary while also creating new ways to speak. With the fabric Brown laid out for them, the dancers create a vibrant tapestry that shimmers and moves with fluidity and grace. Beautiful and moving, the dancers leave the audience with much to rethink.

OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN / MUSIC COMPOSITION

Marc Álvarez (arrangement)

For Carmen by Johan Inger, performed by Compañía Nacional de Danza at The Joyce Theater

For remixing music using Bizet’s original composition with a contemporary twist. There is a seamless transition from classical to contemporary that makes the music one.

 OUTSTANDING VISUAL DESIGN

New Affiliates (Set and Costume Design) – Ivi Diamantopoulou, Jaffer Kolb, and Rashaad Newsome Studio with Truman T. Brown Jr., Howie B., Kimberly Jones, and Randy Rosenthal

For Assembly by Rashaad Newsome at Park Avenue Armory

For an exciting multi-arts spectacle, a true celebration of African culture disseminated into current society supporting dance, music, and poetry through textiles and visual art. An impressive amalgamation of unsuspecting elements making a unified whole. 

OUTSTANDING BREAKOUT CHOREOGRAPHER

Princess Lockerooo

For artistry that moves the audience from spectator to fellow performer quite seamlessly, teaching about dance culture in the process. Princess Lockeroo is a multifaceted artist who has always been fully dedicated to her craft and does not miss any details in creating a full, immersive experience for her audience.

2022 JURIED BESSIE AWARD

 Tatiana Desardouin

Desardouin’s “groove,” embraces the relationship of time with an individual’s true nature. Each moment becomes fully realized and progresses forward to reveal the dancer’s authentic self. Just as her “Passion Fruit Seeds” provide a sourceable root for individuals to create and sustain, she and her works are a galvanized source of inspiration and dopeness for the Street and Club dance community and everyone she encounters.

ABOUT THE BESSIES

The NY Dance and Performance Awards have saluted outstanding and groundbreaking creative work in the dance field in New York City for 38 years. Known as “The Bessies” in honor of the late revered dance teacher Bessie Schönberg, the awards were established in 1984 by David R. White at Dance Theater Workshop. They recognize outstanding work in choreography, performance, sound design/music composition, and visual design. Nominees are chosen by a selection committee composed of artists, presenters, producers, and writers. All those working in the dance field are invited to join the Bessies Membership as members and participate in annual discussions on the direction of the awards and nominate individuals to serve on the selection committee. For more information about The Bessies, visit www.bessies.org.

The 2021–2022 Bessie Awards Selection Committee: Ronald K. Alexander, Maria Baranova Suzuki, Maria Bauman, Charles Vincent Burwell, Yvonne H. Chow, Yoshiko Chuma, Sangeeta Ghosh Yesley, Valerie Green, Anabella Lenzu, Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte, Tiffany Rea-Fisher, Elgie Gaynell Sherrod, Ivan Talijančić, and Philip Treviño.

The Bessies Steering Committee: Yvonne H. Chow, Stanford Makishi, maura nguyen donohue, Nicky Paraiso, Carla Peterson, Craig Peterson, Tiffany Rea-Fisher, george emilio sanchez, Paz Tanjuaquio (chair), Laurie Uprichard, and Charmaine Warren.

Press contact:

Janet Stapleton – 212-633-0016 / stapleton.janet@gmail.com

Follow The Bessies on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram: #TheBessies / @bessieawards

What would it be like to have a dance awards rooted in and owned by the community it serves? How can an awards organization become more openly transparent about process with the community? Do you have ideas of how recognition can support artists in an expanding virtual world? What do you long to experience from a community dance awards organization? 

You are invited to join a series of open Community Chats with The Bessies. Share what matters to you and how you imagine The Bessies might reflect and meet the needs of an ever-evolving field of dance.

Community Chat dates:

• Thursday, March 24 from 5:00pm-6:30pm ET
• Wednesday, April 27 from 5:30pm-7:00pm ET
• Tuesday, May 24 from 1:00pm-2:30pm ET
• Thursday, June 23 from 10:00am-11:30am ET
• Friday, July 22 from 12:00pm-1:30pm ET

All chats will be held virtually. You are welcome to join one chat or several. Prior involvement at The Bessies is not required to participate. 

To attend, please RSVP to bessies.communitychats@gmail.com. 

The ceremony was preceded by the Bessies Angel Party honoring the incomparable Charmaine Warren for her extraordinary performing, curating, producing, teaching, and mentorship. Her vision and advocacy in dance is exemplary and revolutionary.

The Bessies ceremony included a video presentation of all of the nominated artists and works. The evening also included tributes to essential dance workers and all those who work behind the scenes and are central to making live and online performance happen in New York. Stories from the new #ArtistSupportStories, a social-media video campaign in which anyone in the community can lift up an individual, group, or organization from the dance community that supported them in some way during the pandemic, were also presented.

BAAD! founders, dancer/choreographer Arthur Avilés and writer and activist Charles Rice Gonzáles, presented choreographer, director, and producer George Faison with the 2021 Lifetime Achievement in Dance Award. The brilliant dance manager Pamela Green presented DanceAfrica with the 2021 Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance Award. Other presenters throughout the evening included Monica Bill Barnes, Tina Croll, Tess Dworman, nia love, Annie-B Parson, Antoine Roney, George Emilio Sanchez, and Bijayini Satpathy.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) will re-release its 44th annual DanceAfrica presentation titled Vwa Zanset Yo: Y’ap Pale N’ap Danse! (“Ancestral Voices…They Speak, We Dance!” in Haitian Creole) by streaming it for free on YouTube (BAMorg). The production features short dance films inspired by the characteristics of lwa, the divine spiritual forces in Haitian Vodou. The shorts include performances by the 2021 Bessies-nominated troupe The Fritzation Experience (Brooklyn), HaitiDansco (Cap Haïtien, Haiti), Rara Tou Limen (Oakland), Àṣẹ Dance Theatre Collective (Brooklyn), BAM/Restoration DanceAfrica Ensemble (Brooklyn), and DanceAfrica Spirit Walkers (Brooklyn). Brought back by popular demand following its May premiere, the performances will be available on BAM’s YouTube channel starting on Monday, October 18, 2021.

The Bessies also honored those who died this past year. The In Memoriam segment was presented by Emmy and Tony Award winner Bebe Neuwirth, with vocal accompaniment by Samita Sinha.

All of the nominated artists received a $500 honorarium, courtesy of a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

The celebration continued at the Virtual Bessies Afterparty.

Photos:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/len3v5amqylbkb9/AAA6qVPA92YNYyRjsJomve0xa?dl=0

THE 2021 NY DANCE AND PERFORMANCE AWARD RECIPIENTS AND CITATIONS:

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCE


George Faison

For a life devoted to the splendors of dance’s impact on the world, Faison exploded from the ranks of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, electrified audiences with his ballet Suite Otis, and sailed over to Broadway where he was the first Black male to be awarded a Tony for “Best Choreography” for The Wiz. A beloved dance community ringmaster, Faison scaled his life beyond his own successes to help mentor a new generation, honor his elders, and uplift forgotten dance heroes while simultaneously throwing epic mix parties. After triumphing as a dancer, choreographer, director, producer, educator, and human impresario, Faison took one more momentous step opening The Faison Firehouse Theater in Harlem: a full-service theater, research, and education community center, designed to give back and uplift the many who lacked access to an ecosystem of professional dance and theater facilities. A pillar of the dance community, Faison gave form to a community’s dreams.

OUTSTANDING SERVICE TO THE FIELD OF DANCE

DanceAfrica

In addressing the political movements of the 1960s and building on the growth of Black Dance throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the celebration DanceAfrica consistently showcases, nurtures, and augments a public understanding of the many traditional and indigenous dances of Africa and the African Diaspora. With the early implementation of the African styled Bazaar that surrounds the performance venue, DanceAfrica has become as much of a New York City cultural event as it is a series of performances. Thus, in fostering an ongoing relationship with the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation’s Youth Arts Academy, DanceAfrica has ensured that subsequent generations within the community will benefit from the foundations set forth by its founder, the late Baba Chuck Davis, and current artistic director, Abdel R. Salaam. As such, it remains the nation’s largest festival of African Dance.

BESSIES ANGEL AWARD


Charmaine Warren

For being an angel in every way, from her many roles on stage as a remarkable performer, to her many years of service on the Bessies Committee, paying good attention to all kinds of dance in the city. For bringing so many Black Dance Stories to the attention of a wide audience with joy and care and rigor that buoyed our spirits during the pandemic. For being Mama Charmaine to generations of choreographers, dancers, and students while continuing to pave the way of her own mentors and dance ancestors.

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTIONS


Ayodele Casel

Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic at The Joyce Theater

For a brilliant, tuneful invention aligning music, performers, lighting, and filming. For reminding us of and revitalizing the power of connections between rhythm, music, song, and people. For truly creating magic with, and beyond, virtuosity. 

Israel Galván

Maestro de Barra at The Joyce Theater

Filmed in his neighborhood Spanish bar, Galván’s masterfully syncopates flamenco rhythms against everyday sounds of fish searing in a pan, soccer games blaring, or tables being set. In this “tongue in cheek” piece, traditional flamenco is wittily flipped on its heels in a deliciously engaging production that laces ballet and modern dance into Andalusian traditions. Galván’s Maestro de Barra is an exhilaratingly joyous piece that bets on hope for the future of dance and humanity. 

Indigenous Enterprise

Indigenous Enterprise: Powwow Style at The Joyce Theater

With stunning views of both suburban and urban landscapes, Indigenous Enterprise: Powwow Style brings to life a dynamic range of traditional American dances from various tribes. For reminding us that powwows are essential for gathering, sharing, celebrating, and preserving the rich heritage of Native American People. For presenting the authenticity of each style, offering insight into the original connection that exists between humanity and nature’s elements, and for speaking boldly to the pure necessity of the arts beyond entertainment. 

Saul Williams, Bill T. Jones, Maria Bauman, Kayla Farrish, Marjani Forté-Saunders, d. Sabela grimes, Jasmine Hearn, and Shamel Pitts

The Motherboard Suite at New York Live Arts

The Motherboard Suite is a dynamic collaboration of musicians and choreographers who use their embodied artistry to activate the space in this transformative work. In this creative exploration, time, space, and personal stories are interrogated through multiple lenses, including technology – ancient and contemporary, race and othering, exploitation and activism. The spoken word and the embodiment of text are the conjurers of the then, now and next iterations of who we become.

OUTSTANDING PERFORMERS


LaTasha Barnes

Sustained Achievement 

Barnes is celebrated globally for her musicality, athleticism, and joyful presence. “Your Favorite Dancer’s Favorite Dancer”; this is how Barnes is referred to within the dance community. With a performance history that includes Caleb Teicher & Company, Dorrance Dance, Ephrat Asherie Dance, Ladies of Hip-Hop, Passion Fruit Dance Company, and numerous wins in Lindy Hop, house dance, and hip-hop battles, Barnes is as popular as she is versatile. She is an amazing dancer telling a beautiful and captivating story.

Jasmine Hearn

The Motherboard Suite, Order of Time at New York Live Arts

While each choreographer is invited to explore “the intersection of technology and race, exploitation and mystical anarchy, where hackers are artists and activists,” Hearn takes the investigation to another realm. Hearn’s performance throughout the work is both ethereal and grounded, skillfully capturing the viewer in the juxtaposition of effort and ease, comfort and discomfort in the discovery of a dynamic sweet spot—somewhere along the journey. In The Motherboard Suite, Hearn brings multidimensional artistic tools to bear, including a choreographic practice based on an interdisciplinary approach to multiple dance forms, the use of embodied and verbal language, and being a receptive thought-partner and collaborator.   

d. Sabela grimes

The Motherboard Suite, We get what you deserve at New York Live Arts

In The Motherboard Suite, grimes brings the Africanist presence into the performance space. Upon entering the performance conversation, grimes invokes Africanist ancestral synergy that becomes the vessel (and activist) at the crossroads that interrupts and transmutes the dire premonitions repeated in Williams’ haunting poetic verse. grimes’ every movement is a declaration of power and agency that reverberates with resistance and liberation. Their skillful use of a fusion of contemporary and traditional African-derived dance forms reunites Orishas from across the oceans and centuries via the brilliant technology of the human body and spirit. 

Annique Roberts 

Sustained Achievement with Ronald K. Brown/Evidence

Roberts is an absolute force in our dance community. Her years of true grit and rigor with Ronald K. Brown/Evidence is profound. She has helped shape the form of the company while also maintaining the mission and philosophy of the group through superb guidance and leadership. She is an astounding performer, one who not only conveys the steps, but embodies every ounce of the work’s philosophy. The work doesn’t define her, but she has defined the work through connection, steadfast rigor, and clear work ethic. Roberts is celebrated for the dignity brought to the work, but also the ability to explore, teach, and share this work in communities throughout the world.

OUTSTANDING REVIVAL

State of Darkness by Molissa Fenley

The Joyce Theater

For a searing interrogation of The Rite of Spring, Fenley’s State of Darkness excavates the legendary score’s surging rhythms and chilling pockets of dissonance through the expansively economic interpretations of her original solo by seven supremely gifted dance artists.

OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN / MUSIC COMPOSITION


Pedro León and Manu Prieto

For Maestro de Barra by Israel Galván at The Joyce Theater

This work is a meticulous percussion of foot and hand, tapas plate and fork, pinball machine and bathroom door. León and Prieto marry the music of the ballet barre with shoe taps in a tapas bar. There is brilliant invention in singing a menu and a soccer loss as dance music. With the shoosh of a searing grill and the precise sharpness of a knife on a cutting board, they serve up delectable audible courses, a true feast for the ears.

OUTSTANDING VISUAL DESIGN

Fritzlyn Hector (Director), Catalin Stelian (Director of Photography, Cinematography, Editor), Kofi Assane Opare (Cinematography), and Kweku Amantey Opare (Editor)

For Steel Standing by Fritzlyn Hector

DanceAfrica 2021 at Brooklyn Academy of Music

On a stark palette of grey and white warehouses and heavy machinery come vivid splashes of red costumes, hair, and warehouse piping. The bold color is significant to the daring of the dancers and knowledge of their fierceness. Flames are sparked not only in front of the camera, but in the heart of the viewer. The superb videography captures all the heat of the work. It is impossible not to feel the burn.

OUTSTANDING “BREAKOUT” CHOREOGRAPHER

Hope Boykin

An immensely multi-talented and multifaceted dancer, choreographer, and educator, Boykin is more than a force of nature. Boykin is a writer who infuses text in her work. In a particular piece, she had singers and dancers together, voices and movement together to create many dimensions. She is a force to be reckoned with in terms of her accomplishments and accolades in the world of dance and theater.

The Bessies Steering Committee, responsible for setting policy and providing oversight for the Bessie Awards throughout the year, is comprised of Cora Cahan, Judy Hussie-Taylor, Jeanne Linnes, Stanford Makishi, Nicky Paraiso, Carla Peterson, Craig Peterson, Gus Solomons jr, Paz Tanjuaquio (chair), Laurie Uprichard, and Charmaine Warren.

The 2020–2021 Bessies Selection Committee: Ronald Kevin Alexander, Charles Vincent Burwell, Maria Baranova-Suzuki, Michele Byrd-McPhee, Yoshiko Chuma, Sangeeta Ghosh Yesley, Celia Ipiotis, Benjamin Akio Kimitch, Koosil-ja, Anabella Lenzu, Adesola Osakalumi, Pam Pietro, Tiffany Rea-Fisher, Elka Samuels Smith, George Emílio Sanchez, Elgie Gaynell Sherrod, Andrea Snyder, Ivan Talijancic, and Philip Treviño.

ABOUT THE BESSIES

The NY Dance and Performance Awards have saluted outstanding and groundbreaking creative work in the dance field in New York City for 37 years. Known as “The Bessies” in honor of revered dance teacher Bessie Schönberg, the awards were established in 1984 by David R. White at Dance Theater Workshop. They recognize outstanding work in choreography, performance, music composition, and visual design. Nominees are chosen by a selection committee composed of artists, presenters, producers, and writers. All those working in the dance field are invited to join the Bessies Membership and participate in annual discussions on the direction of the awards and nominate members to serve on the selection committee. For more information about The Bessies, visit www.bessies.org.

Press contact:

Janet Stapleton – 212-633-0016 / stapleton.janet@gmail.com

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