Bessie Awards

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. The awards honor exceptional choreography, performance, music composition and visual design in dance and allied art forms. Since 2010, the awards have been overseen by an independent steering committee in partnership with Dance/NYC and administered by Lucy Sexton. 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. ==Recipients==

Over 400 Bessie Awards have been presented since their founding. Notable recipients include: Choreographers • Arthur Aviles • LaTasha Barnes • Jérôme Bel • Beverly Schmidt Blossom • Camille A. Brown • Trisha Brown • Donald Byrd • Ann Carlson • Ping Chong • Saburo Teshigawara • Muna Tseng • Doug Varone • Johanna Boyce • Jawole Willa Jo Zollar • Robert Wilson • Christopher Williams • Mariana Valencia • Wim Vandekeybus Composers • David Byrne • James Baker • Anthony Davis • Peter Laurence Gordon • Julius Hemphill • Lenny Pickett • Dan Siegler • Hahn Rowe • David Van Tieghem Designers • 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 An archive of past recipients is available at the Bessies web site. ==References==