{{Short description|Award for contemporary dance}} The '''New York Dance and Performance Awards''', also known as the '''Bessie Awards''', are awarded annually for exceptional achievement by independent dance artists presenting their work in New York City. The broad categories of the awards are: choreography, performance, music composition and visual design. The Bessie Awards were established in 1983.
==History and description== The Bessie Awards were established in 1983 by [[Dance Theater Workshop]] and named in honor of [[Bessie Schonberg]], an influential mid-20th-century teacher of modern dance and former head of the dance department at [[Sarah Lawrence College]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Dunning|first1=Jennifer|title='Bessies' to Be Awarded Sept. 13 for Achievement in Dance|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/20/arts/bessies-to-be-awarded-sept-13-for-achievements-in-dance.html|access-date=17 October 2017|work=New York Times|date=20 August 1984}}</ref> The awards honor exceptional choreography, performance, music composition and visual design in dance and allied art forms.<ref name=about /> Nominees and award winners are chosen by the Bessie Selection Committee, which consists of dancers, dance presenters, producers, choreographers, journalists, critics and academics.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/arts/dance/11bessies.html |title=Bessies Are Back After a Hiatus, Primed for a Major Makeover |work= [[The New York Times]]|date=10 September 2010| first= Gia| last= Kourlas| access-date= 18 August 2012}}</ref>
Since 2010, the awards have been overseen by an independent steering committee in partnership with Dance/NYC and administered by [[Lucy Sexton]].<ref name="about">{{cite web|title=About the Bessies|url=http://bessies.org/about/|website=The Bessies|access-date=17 October 2017}}</ref> In their current iteration, the awards encompass a broader range of dance genres and supporting art forms than in the past, and offer an annual commission to an emerging artist.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/arts/dance/bessies-new-categories-limit-definitions-of-dance.html |title=Classifications in the Science of an Art |work= [[The New York Times]]| date= 10 August 2012| first=Gia|last=Kourlas|access-date=15 August 2013}}</ref>
==Recipients== Over 400 Bessie Awards have been presented since their founding. Notable recipients include:
'''[[Choreographer]]s''' {{div col|colwidth=15em}} * [[Arthur Aviles]] * [[LaTasha Barnes]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thompson |first=Candice |date=16 November 2023 |title=LaTasha Barnes looks for the roots linking Black dance styles |url=https://andscape.com/features/latasha-barnes-looks-for-the-roots-linking-black-dance-styles/ |access-date=2024-03-11 |website=Andscape}}</ref> * [[Jérôme Bel]] * [[Beverly Schmidt Blossom]] * [[Camille A. Brown]] * [[Trisha Brown]] * [[Donald Byrd (choreographer)|Donald Byrd]] * [[Ann Carlson (dancer)|Ann Carlson]] * [[Ping Chong]]<ref name="PingTseng" /> * [[Yoshiko Chuma]] * Leslie Cuyjet * [[Garth Fagan]] * [[Molissa Fenley]] * [[William Forsythe (dancer)|William Forsythe]] * Beth Gill * [[Guillermo Gómez-Peña]] * [[Joe Goode (choreographer)|Joe Goode]] * [[David Gordon (choreographer)|David Gordon]] * [[Bill Irwin]] * [[Bill T. Jones]] * [[Lisa Jones]] * [[Carl Hancock Rux]] * [[Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker]] * [[Alonzo King]] * [[Stephan Koplowitz]] * [[Édouard Lock]] * [[Meredith Monk]] * [[Mark Morris (choreographer)|Mark Morris]] * [[Tere O'Connor]] * [[Stephen Petronio]] * [[Inbal Pinto]] * [[Joya Powell]] * [[Angelin Preljocaj]] * [[David Roussève]] * [[Pam Tanowitz]] * [[Raúl Tamez]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/17/arts/dance/bessie-awards.html|title=At Bessie Awards, Joy and Diversity, and Gathering in Person|date=December 17, 2022}}</ref> * [[Saburo Teshigawara]] * [[Muna Tseng]]<ref name="PingTseng">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/27/arts/dance-and-performance-art-awards.html|title=Dance and Performance Art Awards|work=The New York Times|date=27 September 1999|first=Jack|last=Anderson|access-date=19 January 2018}}</ref> * [[Doug Varone]] * Johanna Boyce * [[Jawole Willa Jo Zollar]] * [[Robert Wilson (director)|Robert Wilson]] * Christopher Williams * [[Mariana Valencia]] * [[Wim Vandekeybus]] {{div col end}}
'''[[Composer]]s'''
{{div col|colwidth=15em}} *[[David Byrne (musician)|David Byrne]] * [[James Baker (composer)|James Baker]] * [[Anthony Davis (composer)|Anthony Davis]] * [[Peter Laurence Gordon]] * [[Julius Hemphill]] * [[Lenny Pickett]] * [[Dan Siegler]] * [[Hahn Rowe]] * [[David Van Tieghem]] {{div col end}}
'''Designers'''
{{div col|colwidth=15em}} *[[Charles Atlas (artist)|Charles Atlas]] * [[Powers Boothe]] * Kyle Chepulis * Beverly Emmons * David Ferri * Kathryn Kaufmann * Peter Ksander * Mark Lancaster * Susanne Poulin * Stan Pressner * Philip Sandström * Howard S. Thies * [[Jennifer Tipton]] * [[Philip Trevino]] *Casper Stracke & [[Benton C Bainbridge]]{{div col end}}
An archive of past recipients is available at the Bessies web site.<ref>{{cite web|title=Award Archive|url=http://bessies.org/archive/|website=The Bessies|access-date=17 October 2017}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://bessies.org/ The Bessie Awards Web site]
[[Category:American dance awards]] [[Category:Dance in New York City]] [[Category:Bessie Award winners| ]] [[Category:Awards established in 1983]] [[Category:1983 establishments in New York City]]