24th Annual "Bessie" Awards at Spiegelworld, September 15

DANCE THEATER WORKSHOP
DANSPACE PROJECT
AND THE JOYCE THEATER
with the 2007-2008 BESSIES COMMITTEE
present The 24th Annual
NEW YORK DANCE AND PERFORMANCE AWARDS

The Bessies ’08: The SpiegelParty
Hosted by
Terry Dean Bartlett and Katie Workum

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2008
at SPIEGELWORLD

Known as The Bessies (in honor of master teacher Bessie Schönberg), the awards honor exceptional artistic achievements in dance and related performance during the 2007-2008 performance season.

The award ceremony will take place on Monday, September 15, 2008 at Spiegelworld (Pier 17, South Street Seaport), beginning at 5:30pm. The presentation of the first group of awards begins at 7:00pm.

The $15 admission to The Bessies includes one free drink.

Tickets can be purchased beginning Tuesday, September 2, 2008 by visiting the Dance Theater Workshop box office Monday-Friday 5:00pm to 9:00pm, Saturday-Sunday 12:00pm to 8:00pm or by calling 212-924-0077.

The Bessie Awards recognize the unique and exemplary creative voices of performing artists while providing the dance and performance community with an occasion to gather together in celebration. This year, along with a new location, the co-producers welcome a more freely-structured event with a festive and exhilarating atmosphere.

The “flamboyant … yet sophisticated” (NYC Dance Journal) Terry Dean Bartlett and Katie Workum will host the award ceremony, which has been called, “…a pitch-perfect marvel of style, order, and infectious wit” (The Village Voice). The presentation of awards honoring exceptional artistic achievements in fields of choreography, visual design, performance, installation and new media, and music composition will be interspersed with several site-specific presentations, including an excerpt of Adrienne Truscott's genesis, no!; a live performance by the alt-bluegrass ensemble The Dang-It Bobbys; and music by DJ Crazy Cuban (aka Alberto Denis).

"The Bessies ceremonies are invariably an eclectic and outspoken celebration of the downtown performing community." Amy Hersh, Backstage

Past award recipients include: choreographers/creators Pina Bausch, Trisha Brown, Ann Carlson, Ping Chong, Chuck Davis, Garth Fagan, Molissa Fenley, William Forsythe, Guillermo Gomez-Peña, David Gordon, Bill Irwin, Bill T. Jones, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Bebe Miller, Meredith Monk, Mark Morris, Steve Paxton, Gus Solomons jr. and Reggie Wilson; performers Rob Besserer, Peter Boal, Carmen de Lavallade, Paul Matteson, Desmond Richardson, Sara Rudner, Valda Setterfield, Kate Valk, Lisa Viola, and Shelly Washington; visual designers Terry Allen, Charles Atlas, Power Boothe, Janie Geiser and Martin Puryear; lighting designers Beverly Emmons, Roma Flowers, Michael Mazzola, Stan Pressner, Philip Sandström, and Jennifer Tipton; and composers David Byrne, Anthony Davis, Peter Gordon, Jeff Halpern, Philip Hamilton, Julius Hemphill, Lenny Pickett and Edwina Lee Tyler.

THE 2007-2008 BESSIES COMMITTEE*

Nolini Barretto, Producer, Sitelines Series, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council
Barbara Bryan, Executive Director, Movement Research
Lili Chopra, Performing Arts Director, French Institute Alliance Française
Rachel Cooper, Director, Cultural Programs and Performing Arts, Asia Society
Boo Froebel, Associate Producer, Lincoln Center Festival
Vallejo Gantner, Artistic Director, Performance Space 122
Stephen Greco, Executive Director, Dance Theater Workshop (committee chair)
Trajal Harrell, Choreographer and Editor, Movement Research Performance Journal
Judy Hussie-Taylor, Executive Director, Danspace Project (Co-Producer)
Iréne Hultman, Choreographer
Denise Jefferson, Director, The Ailey School
Isabel Lewis, Choreographer
Brad Learmonth, Director of Programming, Harlem Stage
Brian McCormick, Journalist
Nicky Paraiso, Curator for Performance - The Club, La MaMa ETC
David Parker, Artistic Director, The Bang Group
Carla Peterson, Artistic Director, Dance Theater Workshop (Co-Producer)
Martin Wechsler, Director of Programming, The Joyce Theater (Co-Producer)
Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody blog; Producer and Host, Body and Soul podcast

*Positions held by Bessie Committee Member through the 2007-2008 season

Terry Dean Bartlett came to New York from Montana in 1996. Upon arrival, Bartlett joined STREB and worked for eleven years with the company as Associate Artistic Director, Rehearsal Director, Costume Designer, Sound Designer, Master Instructor, Technical Liaison, Rigger, Choreographer, and Performer. In 1999, along with fellow STREB dancer Lisa LeAnn Dalton, Bartlett started the “Lisa LeAnn & Terry Dean put on DANCESHOW!” series in the back room of Galapagos Artspace. In 2003, Katie Workum replaced Dalton as co-producer and she and Bartlett created DANCEOFF!. The series was first presented at Joe's Pub; it moved to Symphony Space, and subsequently, on to a regular spot at P.S. 122. Additional presentations include special DANCEOFF! productions for Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, The FI:AF Crossing the Line Festival, and sold-out houses at the the Tanz Im August Festival in 2007 in Berlin. Bartlett has been a featured aerialist in Cirque du Soleil's Midnight Sun, the GQ Men of the Year Awards, and Broadway Bares. Beyond DANCEOFF!, Workum and Bartlett have appeared together in a commercial for Levi's, at DRA's Fire Island Dance Festival, and as part of Absinthe.

Katie Workum works as a dancer and choreographer in New York City. Her choreography has been shown throughout the city at venues, including Dance Theater Workshop, The Joyce Theater, Joyce SoHo, P.S. 122, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Joe’s Pub, The Kitchen, and Symphony Space. In October 2008, Workum will present Carlisle, a commission from Dance New Amsterdam with funding from the New York State Council of the Arts. She and Terry Dean Bartlett curate DANCEOFF!, a dance variety show presented at P.S. 122 and other venues. Most recently, the pair presented DANCEOFF! at the TanzImAugust Festival in Berlin. As a dancer, Workum has worked with David Neumann, Stacy Dawson, Ken Nintzel, Sharon Fogarty, Sarah East Johnson, Elizabeth Streb, Jenny Seastone Stern, and Julia Jonas. She currently dances for Ivy Baldwin Dance.