Bessie Award nominees, two recipients announced

Lucy Sexton, Director of The Bessies
(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

In a press conference at the Gibney Dance Center, the New York Dance and Performance Awards (aka, The Bessies) announced two award recipients for 2013 and the slate of this year's nominees in various categories including outstanding performance, production and visual design. The awards ceremony returns to Harlem's famed Apollo Theater for the third year on Monday, October 7 (8pm).

Darrell Jones, winner
Juried Bessie Award
above and below
(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Darrell Jones

Third annual recipient of the Juried Bessie Award, selected by Ishamel Houston-Jones, Eiko Otake and Jason Samuels Smith and presented by NY State DanceForce member Paz Tanjuaquio, Director of Topaz Arts. The award includes residencies and performance opportunities through organizations in the NY State DanceForce network.

Joanna Kotze, winner,
Outstanding Emerging Choreographer
(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Joanna Kotze

2013 New York Dance and Performance Award for Outstanding Emerging Choreographer, presented by Beth Gill, the 2011 winner of this award. Kotze was nominated for her work It Happened It Had Happened It Is Happening It Will Happen (Danspace Project). Other nominees were Justin Peck for Year of the Rabbit (New York City Ballet), Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith for Tulip (Roulette) and Ephrat Asherie for A Single Ride (Dixon Place).

Lane Harwell, member,
Bessies Steering Committee
(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Beverly D'Anne, member,
Bessies Steering Committee
(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Paz Tanjuaquio, member,
Bessies Nominating Committee
(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Fatima Kafele, member,
Bessies Nominating Committee
(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Aaron Mattocks, nominee
Outstanding Performer
(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

The 2013 New York Dance and Performance Award

winners and nominees

Outstanding Performer

Shantala Shivalingappa in Shiva Ganga
Choreographed by Shantala Shivalingappa
Fall for Dance, City Center

Herman Cornejo
American Ballet Theatre
Works by Mark Morris, Twyla Tharp and Alexei Ratmansky
City Center and the Metropolitan Opera House

Aaron Mattocks
Works by David Gordon, Stephen Petronio, Jodi Melnick, Christopher Williams, Faye Driscoll, John Kelly, Dean Moss, Doug Elkins and more

Annique Roberts
Evidence Dance Company
Works by Ronald K. Brown

Charles "Lil Buck" Riley and Ron "Prime Tyme" Myles
Le Poisson Rouge

Kayo Seyama in BELL
Choreographed by Yasuko Yokoshi
New York Live Arts

David Wampach and Tamar Shelef in SACRE
Choreographed by David Wampach
The Invisible Dog Art Center as part of Performance Space 122’s COIL Festival

Jennifer Monson in Live Dancing Archive
Choreographed by Jennifer Monson
The Kitchen

Melissa Toogood in Interface, Choreographed by Rashaun Mitchell at
Baryshnikov Arts Center and The Spectators, Choreographed by Pam Tanowitz
at New York Live Arts

Sebastien Ramirez and Honji Wang in AP15
Choreographed by Sebastien Ramirez and Honji Wang
The Apollo Theater, Breakin’ Convention

Hari Krishnan in The Frog Princess
Choreographed by Hari Krishnan
La MaMa, La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival

Jaro Viňarský in Bastard (The Painted Bird Trilogy Cycle part I)
Choreographed by Pavel Zuštiak
La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival

Outstanding Emerging Choreographer

Justin Peck for Year of the Rabbit
New York City Ballet

Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith for Tulip
Roulette

Ephrat Asherie for A Single Ride
Dixon Place

Joanna Kotze for It Happened It Had Happened It Is Happening It Will Happen
Danspace Project

Outstanding Musical Composition/Sound Design

Omar Sosa for Miriam
Choreographed by Nora Chipaumire
BAM’s Fishman Space

Marty Beller for A Single Ride
Choreographed by Ephrat Asherie

Ant Hampton and Tim Etchells for The Quiet Volume
Created by Ant Hampton and Tim Etchells
Performance Space 122 and PEN World Voices Festival

Liam O Maonlai for Rian,
Choreographed by Michael Keegan-Dolan of Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre
Lincoln Center, White Light Festival

Outstanding Visual Design

Suzanne Bocanegra, costume design for Ich, Kurbisgeist
by Big Dance Theater at The Chocolate Factory

Pontus Lidberg, set and media design for Within (Labyrinth Within)
by Morphoses at The Joyce

Fleur Elise Noble, visual design with media for Two Dimension Life of Her
by Fleur Elise Noble at Under the Radar Festival, The Public Theater

Akiko Iwasaki, costume design for BELL
by Yasuko Yokoshi at New York Live Arts

Outstanding Revived Work

Dionysus in 69
Rude Mechs from a work by The Performance Group
New York Live Arts

State of Heads
Choreographed by Donna Uchizono
New York Live Arts

Scott, Queen of Marys
Choreographed by Doug Elkins
Baryshnikov Arts Center

D-Man in the Waters
Choreographed by Bill T. Jones
The Joyce

Outstanding Production

(performed in a large capacity venue of more than 400 seats)

Rian, Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre
Choreographed by Michael Keegan-Dolan
Lincoln Center, White Light Festival

Shostakovich Trilogy, American Ballet Theatre
Choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky
Metropolitan Opera House

The Legend of Apsara Mera, Royal Ballet of Cambodia
BAM’s Howard Gilman Opera House

Outstanding Production

(performed in a small capacity venue of less than 400 seats)

Then She Fell
Created and choreographed by Third Rail Projects
Kingsland Ward at St. Johns

Everything You See
Choreographed by Vicky Shick
Danspace Project

The Painted Bird Trilogy Cycle
Choreographed by Pavel Zuštiak and Palissimo
La MaMa, La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival

Outstanding Production

(of a work stretching the boundaries of a traditional form)

Paseo
Choreographed by Joanna Haigood
Dancing in the Streets

red, black, & GREEN: a blues
Choreographed by Marc Bamuthi Joseph
BAM’s Fishman Space

Mo(or)town/Redux
Choreographed by Doug Elkins
Baryshnikov Arts Center

Outstanding Production

(of a work at the forefront of contemporary dance 

and performance practices)

Watch It
Choreographed by Liz Santoro
Museum of Arts and Design

The People to Come
Choreographed by Yanira Castro
The Invisible Dog Art Center

Organ Player
Created by Narcissister
Abrons Arts Center

*****

Join the NY Dance and Performance League!

Support The Bessies by becoming a member of the NY Dance and Performance League with benefits:

--Nominate Selection Committee members.

--Receive invitations to discussions of all things Bessies and to the annual press conference

--Buy tickets to the awards show before they go on sale to the public.

Click here for information.