David R. White News

The New York Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, will celebrate these honorees at the 2023 Bessies Angel Party on October 11.

The New York Dance and Performance Awards, the Bessies, has 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. Check out a complete list of 2023 awards here!

The New York Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, New York City's premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, has 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.

The NY Dance and Performance Awards, the Bessies, New York City's premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, have announced the 2022 award recipients at the 38th annual Bessie Awards. Porshia A. Derival, Executive Director of H+ | TOTEM Productions, hosted this year's event, which was held at Chelsea Factory. A complete list of the 2022 awards follows below.

The Steering Committee of the NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, announced today that Lucy Sexton, who has served as Executive Director of The Bessies since 2009, is stepping down to expand her work in cultural advocacy with New Yorkers for Culture & Arts and to pursue new creative projects. She will continue in an advisory role until the end of January 2020. Michele Thompson joins the organization as Interim Executive Director.

The NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, New York City's premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, announced today that Obie and Bessie Award winner Justin Vivian Bond, hailed by The New Yorker as “the best cabaret artist of their generation,' will host the 2019 awards ceremony. The performers and award presenters were also revealed.

The NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, New York City's premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, announced today the recipients of two special awards.

The NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, New York City's premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, celebrates a landmark 35th anniversary this year. Today, the nominees for the 2019 Bessie Awards, along with the recipients of the 2019 Juried Bessie Award and 2019 Outstanding Breakout Choreographer Award, were announced and celebrated at the Bessies press conference. (The list of nominations follows.)

The NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, announces partnerships with Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC) and the American Dance Festival (ADF), and renews partnerships with the CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI) and the New York State DanceForce, creating new platforms of support and professional opportunities for Bessie artists.

On January 6th, 2019, Yoko Shioya, Artistic Director of the Japan Society, was awarded the 2019 Bessies Presenter Award for Outstanding Curating, an annual honor bestowed by The NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies in recognition of achievement of the work of a presenter or curator of programming performed in the New York City area. The recipient is chosen jointly by the Bessies Selection and Bessies Steering Committees.

The NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, announced today that Yoko Shioya, Artistic Director of the Japan Society, is the recipient of the 2019 Bessies Presenter Award for Outstanding Curating. Ms. Shioya will receive the award at the Bessies Presenters Gathering on Sunday, January 6, 2019 (5:00-7:00pm), at La MaMa La Galleria, 47 Great Jones Street, New York, NY 10003

The night remained forever young at this year's Bessies, what with live performances, videos, tearful and grinning thank you's, hugs and cheers for the new slew of winners, and a costume sashay thrown into wild mix of celebration that took place tonight, October 8, at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts.  As a prelude to the goings-on inside, impromptu dance performances, including Simone Forti's "Huddle," took place outside.  Ayodele Casel and Shernita Anderson hosted the evening.

Glasses clinked and cheers crowded the air as this year's 43 Bessie nominees were announced and celebrated today, July 11, at a cocktail party/press conference at Gibney 280, along with the winners of 2018 Juried Bessie Award and the 2018 NY Dance and Performance Award for Outstanding "Breakout" Choreographer.  (See attached for list of selected nominees)

The Pope's Choir from Rome will kick-off their much-anticipated U.S. National Tour at the Atlanta's Fox Theatre on July 3 at 7 p.m. The Atlanta-based Georgia Boy Choir will open the evening with a special performance.

The NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, have announced that Joseph V. Melillo, Executive Producer of the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), is the recipient of the 2018 Bessies Presenter Award for Outstanding Curating.

The NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, New York City's premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, announced the complete list of the 2017 award recipients tonight at the 33rd annual Bessie Awards ceremony. Awards were presented in the categories of Outstanding Production, Outstanding Revival, Outstanding Performer, Outstanding Music Composition/Sound Design, and Outstanding Visual Design, with additional awards presented for Lifetime Achievement in Dance and Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance. The full list of 2017 Bessie Award recipients follows.

The NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, New York City's premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, announce the lineup of special guests for the 33rd annual Bessie Awards. The ceremony, hosted by performance artist/entertainer Shernita Anderson and American Ballet Theatre principal dancer James Whiteside, will be held on Monday, October 9, at 7:30pm, at NYU's Skirball Center for the Arts. Doors open at 6:30pm for red carpet and pre-show celebrations.

The NY Dance and Performance Awards, The Bessies, New York City's premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, announced today that Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, choreographer and founding artistic director of Urban Bush Women, will be the recipient of the 2017 NY Dance and Performance Award for Lifetime Achievement in Dance, and writer Eva Yaa Asantewaa will receive this year's award for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance.

The SCHONBERG (BOSTON) FELLOWS is a pilot mentored residency initiative that connects The Yard to the professional dance community of Boston, created in partnership (and appreciation) with the Arts and Culture Program of The Boston Foundation, the city's community trust. The Yard´s Chloe Jones and David R. White have curated the 2017 group of artists, looking both at early choreographic achievement and future creative potential. Peter DiMuro, McKersin Previlus, and the duo of Claire Johannes and Jordan Jamil Ahmed are the first wave of dedicated artists to take the plunge. Old friend and acclaimed David Parker, the Boston-bred choreographer/singer/percussive dancer who leads The Bang Group (TapTheYard; Nut/Cracked), is the mentoring ghost in the machine.

In collaboration with The Yard for the second year in a row, H.O.W. Journal invites you to Twigs, Trees, and Trailblazers, a festive benefit fundraiser event and celebration of HOW Journal's Issue 13. H.O.W. Journal was founded in 2006 and is an art and literary journal that publishes an eclectic mix of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and visual art of prominent and upcoming writers with an effort to raise money for needy children throughout the world. This year, H.O.W. Journal marries dance with literature and honors fearless women throughout history. The event includes dance pieces by Alison Manning and Jesse Keller Jason´s company, DanceTheYard, and readings by acclaimed writers Daphne Merkin, Amy Kurzweil, Victoria Redel, John Reed, and Tiphanie Yanique.