The Bessies Announce 2022 Nominees and Honorees For Lifetime Achievement and Service to the Field Of Dance

The NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, New York City's premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, announced the nominees for the 2022 Bessie Awards at a virtual press conference hosted by Gibney. The Bessies also announced that renowned choreographer and dancer Nai-Ni Chen will be posthumously honored with the 2022 award for Lifetime Achievement in Dance. Christine Jowers, founding editor of the online publication The Dance Enthusiast, will receive the 2022 Service to the Field of Dance Award. (The list of nominations follows below.)

The organization will host a Bessie Awards Reception on Friday, December 16, 2022. Produced by H+ | TOTEM Productions, this fundraising reception will be held at Chelsea Factory, 547 West 26th Street, in Manhattan, and will also be streamed live. Tickets for the in-person event will start at $38 to commemorate the 38th year, available at limited capacity. Tickets for the livestream will be available by donation. Tickets will be available beginning November 1.

Nominations are made by the Bessie Awards Selection Committee, an independent committee of approximately 20 dance industry professionals. Works presented between June 1, 2021 and May 31, 2022 were eligible for consideration. Award categories include Outstanding Choreographer/ Creator, Outstanding Revival, Outstanding Performer, Outstanding Sound Design or Music Composition, and Outstanding Visual Design.

Bessies Executive Director Heather Robles said: "Artists are vital to the health of our society. We honor their process, labor, creative dedication, and service with this year's nominations."

About the Honorees

Nai-Ni Chen (1958-2021) was a unique artist whose work crossed many cultural boundaries. Each of her dances reflected her personal vision as an immigrant and as an American female artist with deep roots in Asian culture. From this perspective, she created dances that reflected current issues with global influences. Many of her works were developed in collaboration with renowned artists in different disciplines and cultures. Musical collaborators included the Ahn Trio, Glen Velez, Joan La Barbara, Kenji Bunch, Huang Ruo, Jason Kao Hwang, Tao Chen, Tan Dun, Gerald Chenoweth, the New Asia Chamber Music Society, and the Chinese Music Ensemble of New York. Award-winning designers and visual artists with whom she worked include Myung Hee Cho, Jay Moorthy, AC Hickox, costume designer Karen Young, Angel Tsai, and, most recently, Javier Valencia from SoHarlem. With the help of her manager Joanne Rile, Chen's work has been presented in 42 states and 10 countries to millions of people worldwide.

Christine Jowers is the founding editor of the nonprofit, independent arts journalism site The Dance Enthusiast. For 15 years, she has covered the NYC dance scene as a videographer, writer, and speaker. She has discovered and mentored new dance writers, provided a place for experienced journalists to share their work, and created space for artists to write firsthand of their efforts. Believing that everyone, not only critics and academics, should be part of the documented dance conversation, Jowers created a venue where audiences could contribute their thoughts on performance. Her work promoting dance literacy has been funded by Dance USA, through the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, and the Lower Manhattan Community Council, under the auspices of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts. Jowers credits her passion for arts and community to her Caribbean ancestry and upbringing.

The 2022 Bessie Awards Nominations

Outstanding Choreographer/Creator:

Kyle Abraham

An Untitled Love

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Sidra Bell

SUSPENDED ANIMATION

New York City Ballet Fall Fashion Gala at David H. Koch Theater

Camille A. Brown

Fire Shut Up in My Bones

The Metropolitan Opera

Leslie Cuyjet

Blur

The Shed

Indigenous Enterprise

Indigenous Liberation

The Joyce Theater

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

Deep Blue Sea

Park Avenue Armory

Rashaad Newsome

Assembly

Park Avenue Armory

Okwui Okpokwasili and Peter Born

On the way, undone

Crossing the Line Festival 2021 at Weeksville Heritage Center

Eiko Otake

The Duet Project: Distance is Malleable

NYU Skirball

Anna Sperber

Bow Echo

Presented by XO Projects Inc. at Old American Can Factory

Raúl Tamez

On Limón Dance Company

Migrant Mother

The Joyce Theater

Sasha Waltz

In C

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Outstanding Performer:

Soledad Barrio

Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca

By Soledad Barrio

The Joyce Theater

Krudxs Cubensi

Queer Hip Hop Cypher

Park Avenue Armory

Kayla Farrish

December 8th

By Kayla Farrish in collaboration with Belinda McGuire

The Eva Yaa Asantewaa Solo for Solo Showing

Gibney

Carla Forte, Ildiko Toth, Joanna Lesnierowska, Ermira Goro, Rosalynde LeBlanc, and Colleen Thomas

Light and Desire

By Colleen Thomas

New York Live Arts

Antonio Granjero

Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca

By Soledad Barrio

The Joyce Theater

Lloyd Knight

With Martha Graham Dance Company

Treading

By Elisa Monté

The Joyce Theater

zavé martohardjono

TERRITORY: The Island Remembers

By zavé martohardjono in collaboration with x, Ube Halaya, Raha Behnam, Marielys Burgos Meléndez, Julia Santoli, Katherine De La Cruz, Jordan Reed, Theresee Tull, Proteo Media + Performance

Gibney

Nikolai McKenzie

A Jamaican Battyboy in America

By Arthur Aviles

Hemispheric Institute at NYU and BAAD!

Doron Perk

Grandfather Visit

By Doron Perk

Presented through LABA: Laboratory for Jewish Culture at the 14th Street Y

Antonio Ramos

Puro Teatro

By luciana achugar

The Chocolate Factory Theater

Yesenia Selier

Queer Hip Hop Cypher

Park Avenue Armory

Shannon Tyo

As "Afong Moy"

The Chinese Lady

By Lloyd Suh

Directed by Ralph B. Peña

The Barrington Stage Company and Ma-Yi Theater Company Production

The Public Theater

Outstanding Revival:

A Jamaican Battyboy in America

Performed by Nikolai McKenzie

Original production in 1996 by Arthur Aviles

Hemispheric Institute at NYU & BAAD!

L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato

Performed by Mark Morris Dance Group

Original production in 1988 by Mark Morris

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Set and Reset/Reset

Performed by Candoco Dance Company

Original production in 1983 by Trisha Brown

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Treading

Performed by Martha Graham Dance Company

Original production in 1982 by Elisa Monté

The Joyce Theater

Outstanding Sound Design or Musical Composition:

Marc Álvarez (arrangement)

Carmen

By Johan Inger

Performed by Compañia Nacional de Danza

The Joyce Theater

Donald Eaton, Jerome Hunter, Abdel R. Salaam, Kweku Sumbry, and K. Osei Williams

TERRESTRIAL WOMBS

By Abdel R. Salaam

Presented at DanceAfrica

Brooklyn Academy of Music

Efrain Rozas

Puro Teatro

By luciana achugar

The Chocolate Factory Theater

Kwami Winfield

STELLAR

Virtual Performance

By Kyle Marshall

Baryshnikov Arts Center

Outstanding Visual Design:

Elizabeth Diller - DS+R, Peter Nigrini, and Robert Wierzel

Visual Environment, Video Projection, and Lighting Design

Deep Blue Sea

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

Park Avenue Armory

Indigenous Enterprise

Projection, Costume Design, and Lighting Design

Indigenous Liberation

By Indigenous Enterprise

The Joyce Theater

Andrew Jordan and Joe Levasseur

Costume Design and Lighting Design

Narcissus

By Christopher Williams

New York Live Arts

New Affiliates - Ivi Diamantopoulou, Jaffer Kolb and Rashaad Newsome Studio with Truman T. Brown Jr. and Howie B., Kimberly Jones, Randy Rosenthal

Set Design and Costume Design

Assembly

By Rashaad Newsome

Park Avenue Armory

Outstanding Breakout Choreographer:

Flex Kingdom: Jabari Gooding, Obinnaya Williams, and Diamond DuBose

Sun Kim

Princess Lockerooo

Angie Pittman

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