# Bessie Awards > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bessie_Awards > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Bessie_Awards.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Awards > Source revision: 1290801196 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 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](/source/Dance_Theater_Workshop) and named in honor of [Bessie Schonberg](/source/Bessie_Schonberg), an influential mid-20th-century teacher of modern dance and former head of the dance department at [Sarah Lawrence College](/source/Sarah_Lawrence_College).[1] The awards honor exceptional choreography, performance, music composition and visual design in dance and allied art forms.[2] Nominees and award winners are chosen by the Bessie Selection Committee, which consists of dancers, dance presenters, producers, choreographers, journalists, critics and academics.[3] Since 2010, the awards have been overseen by an independent steering committee in partnership with Dance/NYC and administered by [Lucy Sexton](/source/Lucy_Sexton).[2] 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.[4] ## Recipients Over 400 Bessie Awards have been presented since their founding. Notable recipients include: **[Choreographers](/source/Choreographer)** - [Arthur Aviles](/source/Arthur_Aviles) - [LaTasha Barnes](/source/LaTasha_Barnes)[5] - [Jérôme Bel](/source/J%C3%A9r%C3%B4me_Bel) - [Beverly Schmidt Blossom](/source/Beverly_Schmidt_Blossom) - [Camille A. Brown](/source/Camille_A._Brown) - [Trisha Brown](/source/Trisha_Brown) - [Donald Byrd](/source/Donald_Byrd_(choreographer)) - [Ann Carlson](/source/Ann_Carlson_(dancer)) - [Ping Chong](/source/Ping_Chong)[6] - [Yoshiko Chuma](/source/Yoshiko_Chuma) - Leslie Cuyjet - [Garth Fagan](/source/Garth_Fagan) - [Molissa Fenley](/source/Molissa_Fenley) - [William Forsythe](/source/William_Forsythe_(dancer)) - Beth Gill - [Guillermo Gómez-Peña](/source/Guillermo_G%C3%B3mez-Pe%C3%B1a) - [Joe Goode](/source/Joe_Goode_(choreographer)) - [David Gordon](/source/David_Gordon_(choreographer)) - [Bill Irwin](/source/Bill_Irwin) - [Bill T. Jones](/source/Bill_T._Jones) - [Lisa Jones](/source/Lisa_Jones) - [Carl Hancock Rux](/source/Carl_Hancock_Rux) - [Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker](/source/Anne_Teresa_de_Keersmaeker) - [Alonzo King](/source/Alonzo_King) - [Stephan Koplowitz](/source/Stephan_Koplowitz) - [Édouard Lock](/source/%C3%89douard_Lock) - [Meredith Monk](/source/Meredith_Monk) - [Mark Morris](/source/Mark_Morris_(choreographer)) - [Tere O'Connor](/source/Tere_O'Connor) - [Stephen Petronio](/source/Stephen_Petronio) - [Inbal Pinto](/source/Inbal_Pinto) - [Joya Powell](/source/Joya_Powell) - [Angelin Preljocaj](/source/Angelin_Preljocaj) - [David Roussève](/source/David_Rouss%C3%A8ve) - [Pam Tanowitz](/source/Pam_Tanowitz) - [Raúl Tamez](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ra%C3%BAl_Tamez&action=edit&redlink=1)[7] - [Saburo Teshigawara](/source/Saburo_Teshigawara) - [Muna Tseng](/source/Muna_Tseng)[6] - [Doug Varone](/source/Doug_Varone) - Johanna Boyce - [Jawole Willa Jo Zollar](/source/Jawole_Willa_Jo_Zollar) - [Robert Wilson](/source/Robert_Wilson_(director)) - Christopher Williams - [Mariana Valencia](/source/Mariana_Valencia) - [Wim Vandekeybus](/source/Wim_Vandekeybus) **[Composers](/source/Composer)** - [David Byrne](/source/David_Byrne_(musician)) - [James Baker](/source/James_Baker_(composer)) - [Anthony Davis](/source/Anthony_Davis_(composer)) - [Peter Laurence Gordon](/source/Peter_Laurence_Gordon) - [Julius Hemphill](/source/Julius_Hemphill) - [Lenny Pickett](/source/Lenny_Pickett) - [Dan Siegler](/source/Dan_Siegler) - [Hahn Rowe](/source/Hahn_Rowe) - [David Van Tieghem](/source/David_Van_Tieghem) **Designers** - [Charles Atlas](/source/Charles_Atlas_(artist)) - [Powers Boothe](/source/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](/source/Jennifer_Tipton) - [Philip Trevino](/source/Philip_Trevino) - Casper Stracke & [Benton C Bainbridge](/source/Benton_C_Bainbridge) An archive of past recipients is available at the Bessies web site.[8] ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Dunning, Jennifer (20 August 1984). ["'Bessies' to Be Awarded Sept. 13 for Achievement in Dance"](https://www.nytimes.com/1984/08/20/arts/bessies-to-be-awarded-sept-13-for-achievements-in-dance.html). *New York Times*. Retrieved 17 October 2017. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-about_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-about_2-1) ["About the Bessies"](http://bessies.org/about/). *The Bessies*. Retrieved 17 October 2017. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Kourlas, Gia (10 September 2010). ["Bessies Are Back After a Hiatus, Primed for a Major Makeover"](https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/arts/dance/11bessies.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. Retrieved 18 August 2012. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Kourlas, Gia (10 August 2012). ["Classifications in the Science of an Art"](https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/12/arts/dance/bessies-new-categories-limit-definitions-of-dance.html). *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. Retrieved 15 August 2013. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Thompson, Candice (16 November 2023). ["LaTasha Barnes looks for the roots linking Black dance styles"](https://andscape.com/features/latasha-barnes-looks-for-the-roots-linking-black-dance-styles/). *Andscape*. Retrieved 2024-03-11. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-PingTseng_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-PingTseng_6-1) Anderson, Jack (27 September 1999). ["Dance and Performance Art Awards"](https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/27/arts/dance-and-performance-art-awards.html). *The New York Times*. Retrieved 19 January 2018. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["At Bessie Awards, Joy and Diversity, and Gathering in Person"](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/17/arts/dance/bessie-awards.html). December 17, 2022. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** ["Award Archive"](http://bessies.org/archive/). *The Bessies*. Retrieved 17 October 2017. ## External links - [The Bessie Awards Web site](http://bessies.org/) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Bessie Awards](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Awards) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bessie_Awards?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.