Bessie Awards
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The New York Dance and Performance Awards, informally known as the Bessie Awards in honor of Bessie Schonberg, are awarded annually for innovative achievement in dance and related performances, particularly so-called "downtown" performances. The awards were established in 1983 and "celebrate the unique creative voices of performing artists while providing the dance and performance community with an occasion to gather together in sorrow, in frustration, in anger, but ultimately in celebration." [1]. They honor exceptional choreography, performance, music composition, visual design and others areas of dance and performance. The awards are determined by the Bessie Awards Committee, which consists of dance presenters, producers, journalists, critics and academics, and are given in no fixed categories.
The annual award ceremony is presented by Danspace Project and Dance Theater Workshop, generally at the Joyce Theatre in the Chelsea area of Manhattan in New York City.
Over 400 Bessies Awards have been presented since their founding, including:
- Choreographers: Trisha Brown, Donald Byrd, Ann Carlson, Ping Chong, Garth Fagan, Molissa Fenley, William Forsythe, Guillermo Gomez-Pena, David Gordon, Bill Irwin, Bill T. Jones, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Alonzo King, Meredith Monk, Mark Morris, Steve Paxton, Doug Varone and Robert Wilson
- Composers: David Byrne, Anthony Davis, Peter Laurence Gordon, Julius Hemphill, Lenny Pickett and Hahn Rowe
- Designers: Charles Atlas, Power Boothe, Beverly Emmons, Stan Pressner, Philip Sandström, Jennifer Tipton
