In its first in-person ceremony since 2019, the New York Dance and Performance Awards, better known as the Bessies, honored dancers, choreographers and performers on Friday night at the Chelsea Factory in Manhattan. At the awards show — portions were streamed — the mood was celebratory as the dance community reveled in gathering together in person.
To accommodate visually impaired viewers and attendees, all who took the stage described their identity and outfits, which resulted in giddy proclamations of national origin and lively litanies of vintage pumps, vegan leather and fabulous turbans.
Hosted by Porshia A. Derival, the executive director of the hip-hop organization H+, the ceremony recognized performers across genres in a year that saw a robust rebuilding of the dance calendar after several seasons slowed down by the pandemic. The winners of this year’s outstanding performers awards showed the diverse range of talent in 2022’s dance offerings.
There were four winners (out of 12 nominees) honored in each of two main categories: outstanding performer and outstanding choreographer/creator.
The performer awards went to Soledad Barrio for her achievements in flamenco; Kayla Farrish for her dancing in “December 8th,” which she choreographed in collaboration with Belinda McGuire; Nikolai McKenzie Ben Rema for their role in Arthur Avilés’s “A Jamaican Battyboy in America”; and Antonio Ramos for his performance in Luciana Achugar’s “Puro Teatro.”
The choreographer winners were Leslie Cuyjet for “Blur,” Anna Sperber for “Bow Echo,” Raúl Tamez for “Migrant Mother,” and Bill T. Jones, Janet Wong and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company for “Deep Blue Sea.”
In the ceremony’s emotional memorial segment, the 2022 Lifetime Achievement in Dance was bestowed posthumously on the choreographer and dancer Nai-Ni Chen, who was known for fusing Eastern dance forms with contemporary movement. The program also featured a performance of Chen’s work “Crosscurrent,” by Rio Kikuchi and Esteban Santamaria.
Abigail Yager, who accepted the award for best outstanding revival for Trisha Brown’s “Set and Reset/Reset” on behalf of Candoco — a British company made up of both disabled and non-disabled dancers — said that part of what made the Bessies meaningful was that they recognized the many artists involved in the development of outstanding works, while also pointing “to the expansiveness of this community.”
The ceremony, she added, “bears witness to the rightful inclusion and immense beauty of those dancers whose physicality defies convention and expectation within the dance world.”
A full list of winners and nominees can be found at bessies.org.
