CHEERING AUDIENCE OF OVER 800 RAISED A GLASS TO 2018 BESSIE WINNERS ANNOUNCED TONIGHT, OCTOBER 8, 2018 AT NYU SKIRBALL CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS<\/p>\n
The night remained forever young at The New York Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, with live performances, videos, tearful and grinning thank you\u2019s, hugs and cheers for this year\u2019s award recipients, and a costume sashay thrown into the wild mix of celebration tonight, October 8, at NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Installation dance performances took place outside the theater, along with Simone Forti\u2019s Huddle. Ayodele Casel and Shernita Anderson hosted the Awards. A pre-ceremony cocktail party at NYU\u2019s Kimmel Center honored Deborah Sale and Ted Striggles with the 2018 Bessies Angel Award. Following the awards ceremony at NYU Skirball, the night of celebration continued with The Bessies After Party at the legendary Judson Memorial Church.<\/p>\n
The evening at NYU Skirball began with New York Dance and Performance Awards Executive Director Lucy Sexton, Managing Director Heather Robles, and former Dance\/NYC Director Lane Harwell welcoming the audience of over 800 dance community members. Kitty Lunn, Taylor Mac, Greg Miller, Jennifer Monson, Dean Moss, Dwana Smallwood, Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Dr. Donald J. Rose and Eduardo Vilaro served as presenters. Opening the festive evening was an excerpt from Robert Battle\u2019s \u201cElla\u201d by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, with additional performances by Pooh Kaye, and Mariana Valencia. A scrolling list of names in honor of those who passed away during the past year was projected and read by Sylvia Waters, who also spoke about Arthur Mitchell and Donald McKayle while Peter Born, Umechi Born, David Thomson and Okwui Okpokwasili chanted \u201cA Song for Sam\u201d, created by Okpokwasili in honor of Sam Miller. A short video of Paul Taylor was shown following the chant.<\/p>\n
The 2018 Bessie Awarded artists are as follows: for Outstanding Performer, Courtney Cook for Sustained achievement with Urban Bush Women, Maria Bauman, and Marguerite Hemmings, Germaine Acogny in Mon \u00e9lue noire (My Black Chosen One): Sacre #2 by Olivier Dubois at BAM Fisher, Elizabeth DeMent in 17C by Big Dance Theater at BAM Harvey, and Sara Mearns for Sustained Achievement in the work of New York City Ballet, Isadora Duncan, Jodi Melnick, Wang Ramirez and Matthew Bourne. For Outstanding Visual Design, Mimi Lien, Peiyi Wong, Tu\u00e7e Yasak, Meena Murugesan, and Richard Fort\u00e9 for Memoirs of a\u2026 Unicorn by Marjani Fort\u00e9-Saunders presented by New York Live Arts at Collapsable Hole. For Outstanding Music Composition or Sound Design, Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste for Sustained achievement in music composition with choreographers Jaamil Olowale Kosoko, Jonathan Gonzalez, Andr\u00e9 M. Zachery\/Renegade Performance Group, and Will Rawls. For Outstanding Revival, 40th Anniversary Retrospective by Jane Comfort & Company at La MaMa. For Outstanding Production, Geoff Sobelle for HOME at BAM Harvey, David Thomson for he his own mythical beast at Performance Space New York; Marjani Fort\u00e9-Saunders for Memoirs of a\u2026 Unicorn presented by New York Live Arts at Collapsable Hole, Nami Yamamoto for Headless Wolf at Roulette. Service to the Field of Dance to Marya Warshaw. Lifetime Achievement in Dance to Simone Forti.<\/p>\n
Nominees and awardees alike in the categories of Outstanding Production, Outstanding Performer, Outstanding Revival, Outstanding Music Composition or Sound Design, Outstanding Visual Design, and Outstanding \u2018Breakout\u2019 Choreographer will receive a $500 gift made possible by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.<\/p>\n
ABOUT THE BESSIES<\/p>\n
The Bessies were established by David R. White in 1984 at Dance Theater workshop to recognize outstanding work in choreography, performance, music composition and visual design. Nominees are chosen by a Selection Committee comprised of artists, presenters, producers, and writers, which this year is comprised of Ronald Alexander, Elise Bernhardt, Diana Byer, Tymberly Canale, Alexis Convento, Leah Cox, Parijat Desai, Maura Donohue, Boo Froebel, Angela Fatou Gittens, Diane Grumet, Brinda Guha, Joseph Hall, Ire\u0301ne Hultman, Celia Ipiotis, Koosil-ja, Matthew Lopez, Matthew Lyons, Lydia Mokdessi, Harold Norris, Craig Peterson, Doug Post, Rajika Puri, Susan Reiter, Ali Rosa Salas, Walter Rutledge, George Emi\u0301lio Sanchez, Andrea Snyder, Carrie Stern, Risa Steinberg, Sally Sommer, Kay Takeda, Catherine Tharin, Muna Tseng, Eleanor K. Wallace, Martin Wechsler, Adrienne Westwood, and William Whitener.<\/p>\n
Responsible for setting policy and providing ongoing oversight, the 2018 Bessies Steering Committee is comprised of Cora Cahan, Beverly D\u2019Anne, Lane Harwell, Jeanne Linnes, Stanford Makishi, Nicky Paraiso, Carla Peterson, Paz Tanjuaquio, Laurie Uprichard, and Sylvia Waters.<\/p>\n
CITATIONS FOR RECIPIENTS OF 2018 BESSIE AWARDS<\/p>\n
2018 BESSIE JURIED AWARD
\nPresented in July 2018
\nKyle Marshall
\nFor exploring important ideas around race and sexuality in dances that embody rather than illustrate complicated issues. For drawing on a variety of movement styles to create accomplished, witty, and immensely engaging choreography.<\/p>\n
OUTSTANDING \u2018BREAKOUT\u2019 CHOREOGRAPHER
\nPresented in July 2018<\/p>\n
Mariana Valencia
\nFor seamlessly blending ethnography, memoir, and observation of cross-cultural identities in choreography that engages from start to finish. For a unique vision that uses humor and sadness, reality and imagination, to push dance and performance into new territory.<\/p>\n
2018 BESSIES ANGEL AWARD
\nDeborah Sale and Ted Striggles
\nFor a lifelong commitment to supporting dance
\nFor working to better the lives of dance artists on and off the stage
\nFor warmly gathering and connecting the dance-making community across decades<\/p>\n
OUTSTANDING PERFORMER<\/p>\n
Courtney Cook
\nFor bringing a powerhouse presence and a soulful strength to every performance
\nA riveting performer of searing vocal work and sensuous explosive movement, who brings her rich range of dance forms and unique theatrical power to the work of Urban Bush Women, Maria Bauman and Marguerite Hemmings.<\/p>\n
Germaine Acogny
\nFor her fierce, fearless embrace of the \u201csacrificial one\u201d in a reimagined Rite of Spring created especially for her. No longer doomed, she performs a powerful solo celebrating her heritages in dance, and women, and black women dancing.
\nin Mon \u00e9lue noire (My Black Chosen One): Sacre #2 by Olivier Dubois at BAM Fisher<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Dement
\nFor her cool, intelligent presence, exquisite dancing, and ability to move seamlessly between spoken text and virtuosic dance. For a brilliantly nuanced performance, comic and serious and continuously captivating as a 17th century woman and the narrator of the piece.
\nin 17C by Big Dance Theater
\nBAM Harvey<\/p>\n
Sara Mearns
\nSustained Achievement in the work of New York City Ballet, Isadora Duncan, Jodi Melnick, Wang Ramirez and Matthew Bourne
\nFor her work as a mesmerizing ballet dancer and insatiable dance explorer, known for consummate musicality, imagination, and theatricality. For an extraordinary season in which she boldly immersed herself in work by masters of hip hop, classic modern, experimental post modern, and theater ballet.<\/p>\n
OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION<\/p>\n
David Thomson for he his own mythical beast
\nPerformance Space New York
\nFor demolishing the idea of a \u2018neutral\u2019 body in a revelatory excavation of his own mythological identity as a dancer, performer, artist, man, person.
\nFor the team creation of an inexhaustible, ecstatic, sweaty swirl of voice and movement addressing race, gender, and the many selves contained within a body.<\/p>\n
Geoff Sobelle for HOME
\nBAM Harvey
\nFor exploring and exploding the relationship between house and home.
\nFor collaborating with a brilliant team using dance, illusion, live music, scenic engineering and audience interaction to create a moving, poignant and zany theatrical work.<\/p>\n
Nami Yamamoto for Headless Wolf
\nRoulette
\nFor an entertaining and profound journey through the range of human experience.
\nFor interweaving five distinctive performers, a puppet, and yards of paper into a total work of theater, a contemplation of birth and death and all in between.<\/p>\n
Marjani Fort\u00e9-Saunders for Memoirs of a . . . Unicorn
\nPresented by New York Live Arts at Collapsable Hole
\nFor an installation and performance that digs underground to mine memory and mythology
\nFor conjuring family, friends, and ancestors as she navigates a magical landscape, weaving intersecting tales into a collective memoir. <\/p>\n
OUTSTANDING REVIVAL<\/p>\n
40th Anniversary Retrospective
\nby Jane Comfort & Company
\nLa MaMa
\nFor a program highlighting four decades of illuminating work delving into politics, family, friendship, and pure dancing.
\nFor a pivotal exploration of language, music and movement in pieces addressing social issues in ways that continue to have impact in the current moment.<\/p>\n
OUTSTANDING SOUND DESIGN OR MUSIC COMPOSITION<\/p>\n
Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste
\nFor mobilizing the technologies of the age to conjure new worlds.
\nFor bringing forth hidden languages and primal presences via layered soundscapes in his own work and in collaborations with Jaamil Olowale Kosoko, Andr\u00e9 M. Zachery\/Renegade Performance Group, Jonathan Gonzalez, and Will Rawls.<\/p>\n
OUTSTANDING VISUAL DESIGN<\/p>\n
Mimi Lien (set), Meena Murugesan (media), Peiyi Wong (installation), Tu\u00e7e Yasak (lighting), and Richard Fort\u00e9 (set construction)
\nMemoirs of a . . . Unicorn by Marjani Fort\u00e9-Saunders
\nPresented by New York Live Arts at Collapsable Hole
\nFor creating a mythical, multi-sensory and immersive design in the industrial basement space of Collapsable Hole.
\nFor beautifully integrating all the visual elements in a way that heightened the emotional impact of the choreographer\u2019s journey through time and memory.<\/p>\n
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN DANCE<\/p>\n
Simone Forti
\nFor her revolutionary, fearless, and widely influential approach to movement, pushing the boundaries of what dance could be\u2014\u2013in her dance constructions and improvised work.
\nFor years of investigation into the human body in motion, finding poetry in gravitational forces, the movement of animals, and the natural world.<\/p>\n
SERVICE TO THE FIELD OF DANCE<\/p>\n
Marya Warshaw
\nFor her visionary work at the Brooklyn Arts Exchange creating a space for choreographers of all identities and backgrounds, and for students of all ages and incomes.
\nFor finding new and comprehensive ways to support the long process of creation through pioneering residencies and by fostering of a true home for dance artists and innovators.
\nRecent News<\/p>\n
2018 NY Dance and Performance Award Recipients
\n 2018 Bessies Angel Party
\n 2018 Bessies Cocktail Party and Press Conference
\n The Bessie Podcast is launched!
\n RECIPIENTS OF THE 2017 NY DANCE AND PERFORMANCE AWARDS<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CHEERING AUDIENCE OF OVER 800 RAISED A GLASS TO 2018 BESSIE WINNERS ANNOUNCED TONIGHT, OCTOBER 8, 2018 AT NYU SKIRBALL CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS The night remained forever young<\/p>\n