William Whitener News

In celebration of 75 years of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library, From the Horse's Mouth will dedicate its next theater/dance performance event to the history of this storied institution and the establishment of its international dance archive. Rare film footage, videos and multimedia will enhance this edition of From the Horse's Mouth and its unique blend of movement and storytelling.

In celebration of 75 years of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library, From the Horse's Mouth will dedicate its next theater/dance performance event to the history of this storied institution and the establishment of its international dance archive. Rare film footage, videos and multimedia will enhance this edition of From the Horse's Mouth and its unique blend of movement and storytelling.

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.

Miami City Ballet announces the addition of ten talented dancers to the Company roster for the 2019-20 season as well as four promotions, resulting in Miami City Ballet's biggest roster with 53 dancers.

New York Theatre Ballet (Diana Byer, Founder and Artistic Director) announces its return to Danspace Project for their fifth season with their REP program (March 14-16), this year featuring Sir Richard Alston's The Seasons, Matthew Nash's The Elements of Style, and Merce Cunningham's Scramble (1967). As the "small but mighty" (The New York Times) company gears up to celebrate its 40th Anniversary, they are also pleased to announce that Sir Richard Alston-a choreographer who has spent "half century in the rigorous pursuit of purity in movement" (The Guardian), and who was knighted in this New Year's Honours-has accepted the post of Resident Choreographer for the next two seasons.

New York Theatre Ballet announces the spring REP program and company news from Founder & Artistic Director Diana Byer on the cusp of celebrating NYTB's 40th Anniversary.

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)

As a way of introducing myself as the new DANCE REVIEWER for Broadway World L. A., I am reporting on an historic event in which I participated at St. Luke's Theatre on March 26th, 2018 in NYC: the 40th-year anniversary and reunion of the cast members of the opening of Tony Award-Winning Bob Fosse's DANCIN' on Broadway at The Broadhurst Theatre on March 27, 1978.

Tony Award-winning actress BEBE NEUWIRTH will host the 40th Anniversary and reunion of the original cast of Bob Fosse's DANCIN' on March 26th at 7 PM at St. Luke's Theatre, 308 West 46th Street, NYC. The evening, presented by Dancers Over 40, will feature members of the original Broadway cast as well as others that joined the show during the run. Ms. Neuwirth appeared in DANCIN' during the final four months of the Broadway engagement.

New York Theatre Ballet will return to Tarboro, North Carolina on March 22, 2018 at 7:30pm to perform in the Edgecombe Community College Performing Arts Series, bringing a program of mixed repertoire. NYTB has performed in the series annually for the past five years. Sponsored by the Furman Mathewson Trust of Edgecombe County Memorial Library, the performance is free, but reservations are required.

Legendary ballet costume designer HOLLY HYNES and costume and scenic designer ZACK BROWN are among the 2018 TDF/Irene Sharaff Award recipients which were just announced by TDF, the not-for-profit service organization for the performing arts. Ms. Hynes was selected to receive the 2018 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design and Mr. Brown will receive the Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design. The awards are presented through TDF's Costume Collection. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Friday, April 20, at 6:30pm, at the Edison Ballroom (240 West 47th Street).

New York Theatre Ballet will return to Tarboro, North Carolina on March 22, 2018 at 7:30pm to perform in the Edgecombe Community College Performing Arts Series, bringing a program of mixed repertoire. NYTB has performed in the series annually for the past five years. Sponsored by the Furman Mathewson Trust of Edgecombe County Memorial Library, the performance is free, but reservations are required.

DANCIN' opened on Broadway on March 27, 1978 and ran for four years, and was Bob Fosse's only all-dancing and all-singing musical. To mark this historic event, Dancers Over 40 will assemble a spectacular 'once-in-a-lifetime' panel of original cast members almost exactly to the day of their 1978 debut - March 26, 2018, 7pm at St. Luke's Theater, 308 West 46th Street.

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.

Celebrating its 13th year, The Kaplan New Work Series opens Cincinnati Ballet's groundbreaking 2017-2018 Season September 14-24 at the Aronoff Center's Jarson-Kaplan Theater. The series offers an up-close experience with a variety of exciting world premieres by today's most innovative choreographers.