MARIA HASSABI AND RALPH LEMON AMONG WINNERS OF 2016 BESSIES, AKA THE NEW YORK DANCE AND PERFORMANCE AWARDS
The 2016 Bessies, aka the New York Dance and Performance Awards, were announced on Tuesday, October 18 at a ceremony at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House in New York. The Bessies were established in 1983 in honor of dancer and teacher Bessie Schonberg. This year’s event was produced with Dance/NYC and presented in partnership with the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Tap dance innovator Brenda Bufalino received the 2016 Bessie for Lifetime Achievement in Dance. An award for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance was given to The Jerome Robbins Dance Division of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Alex Smith, executive chairman of the Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center, was also given an award for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance. And Eiko Otake received a Special Citation for her series of performances “A Body in Places,” 2014–2016, presented and produced by Danspace Project, one of which Lauren O’Neill-Butler wrote about for artforum.com in 2015.
This year’s other honorees are as follows.
Outstanding Production
– Souleymane Badolo for Yimbégré at BAM Fisher
– Pat Graney for Girl Gods at Peak Performances at Montclair State University
– Maria Hassabi for PLASTIC at MoMA
– Ralph Lemon for Scaffold Room at The Kitchen
Outstanding Performer
– Ephrat Asherie for her body of work
– Kazunori Kumagai for Live at the Blue Note
– Molly Lieber for her body of work
– Jamar Roberts for Sustained Achievement with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Outstanding Musical Composition/Sound Design
– Dan Trueman in collaboration with Sō Percussion and Mobius Percussion for There Might Be Others by Rebecca Lazier at New York Live Arts
Outstanding Visual Design
–Holly Batt for Pat Graney’s Girl Gods at Peak Performances at Montclair State University
Three awards were previously presented in July at the Bessies press conference: The 2016 Bessie for Outstanding Revival was given to Rainbow ’Round My Shoulder by Donald McKayle, performed by Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, and produced by Paul Taylor American Modern Dance at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center; the 2016 Emerging Choreographer Award went to Joya Powell; and the 2016 Juried Bessie Award, overseen by Bill T. Jones, Yoshiko Chuma, and Liz Gerring, went to Pam Tanowitz.
