Jock Soto and Carmelita Tropicana to host Bessie Awards

Carmelita Tropicana
(photo: Uzi Parnes)

Jock Soto
(photo: Rosalie O'Connor)

The 2015 awards show of the New York Dance and Performance Awards (The Bessies) will be hosted by former New York City Ballet principal Jock Soto and performance artist and playwright Carmelita Tropicana at Harlem's legendary Apollo Theater on Monday, October 19.

Doors open at 6:30pm for red carpet and pre-show celebrations, and the awards show begins at 7:30pm with an illustrious lineup of presenters, including Marcelo Gomes, Rennie Harris, Linda Celeste Sims, Kyle Abraham, Liz Prince and Ivy Baldwin.

Bessie Award-winning artists Camille A. Brown, Lisa Nelson and Storyboard P, recipient of the 2015 Outstanding Emerging Choreographer Award, will perform.

The evening will also include special presentations to Steve Paxton, recipient of the 2015 Bessie for Lifetime Achievement in Dance, and Movement Research, for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance.

Get more information and your tickets for the 2015 Bessies celebration here.

The Apollo Theater 
253 West 125th Street, Manhattan
(directions)

PBS to broadcast award-winning "Water Flowing Together"

Did you miss Dance on Camera's screenings of Water Flowing Together, first-time filmmaker Gwendolen Cates's new documentary about the life, career and retirement of New York City Ballet's Jock Soto? This film is a feast. Cates goes for a collision of images that simply pop from the screen, and she incorporates a multitude of thoughtful and heartful perspectives from Soto and the people who love him and have worked beside him. You'll have another chance to see Water Flowing Together when PBS broadcasts the 60-minute version of this 77-minute film on Independent Lens on April 8. Check your local listings for the specific time.

For other InfiniteBody posts on Water Flowing Together, click here and here.

Winners of the 2008 Jury Prize at Dance Film Associations' 36th annual Dance on Camera Festival:

FLYING LESSON
Phil Harder, Rosanne Chamecki, Andrea Lerner, USA, 2007; 4:37 minutes
http://www.chameckilerner.org

WATER FLOWING TOGETHER
Gwendolen Cates, USA, 2007; 77 minutes
See trailer

Tobias reviews Cates film on Jock Soto

Jock Soto: Sightings
by Tobi Tobias, VoiceofDance.com

A documentary on NYCB's Jock Soto

Water Flowing Together, a portrait of ballet dancer Jock Soto by producer-director Gwendolen Cates, is sure to be one of the brightest jewels in the upcoming Dance on Camera Festival (January 2-6, 11, 18, 19), co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Dance Films Association. Speaking at a festival preview for educators from the New York City public school system last evening, Cates presented a trailer for her film, which explores Soto's illustrious 24-year career with the New York City Ballet, his Navajo-Puerto Rican family background and his open identity as a gay man. The 77-minute documentary--which bears the name of Soto's Navajo clan--is Cates's debut as a filmmaker and it promises to be a graceful entrance.

Along with DFA's artistic director Deirdre Towers, Cates announced screenings of Water Flowing Together at the New York State Theater (January 7) and the Walter Reade Theater (January 11 and 18). It will also be shown, in a shorter version, on PBS in April 2008. For further information about the Dance on Camera screenings and complete details about the festival--which includes everything from Russian ballet and Pina Bausch to hip hop and pop video, click here.

Read more about Gwendolen Cates here and about Soto and the film here.