Outstanding Production:
Kyle Abraham
When We Fell
New York City Ballet at the David H. Koch Theater
In a haunting experience, the camera and dance conspire to produce a ballet that exists in the solitude of exquisite simplicity and restrained ardor. Abraham’s “When We Fell” harnesses ballet’s eloquence in a personalized frame of patience that toys with the elasticity of time and form. Shot in black and white on the promenade of the David H. Koch Theater and completed on the stage, Abraham and Helfant co-direct the exquisite film and momentous work of art.
Kyle Abraham and Taylor Stanley
Ces noms que nous portons
New York City Ballet and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
This masterful solo, created collaboratively during the earliest months of the global pandemic and nation-wide George Floyd protests, finds strength in its simplicity. Unfiltered and exposed, Abraham and Stanley draw artistic and emotional power from their personal truths, intention, and an authentic expression of identity. This dance marks time on the artists’ terms.
Stefanie Batten Bland
Kolonial
Baryshnikov Arts Center
This work impressively marries artistic vision, actualized creation, and filming. It is a melding of choreography, sound, set, costumes, lighting, and make-up into a compelling futuristic production.
mayfield brooks
Whale Fall
Abrons Arts Center
brooks invokes the forces of death and living, and circulates them into a design that is unassuming. For the “whale fall,” the bare and rough space becomes an organism, where brooks’ thought process and spiritual instinct oscillate and undulate. As if practicing animism, brooks makes matters alive. Soul is breathed into them. This time-based work is highly original and is a necessary work today more than ever.
*Ayodele Casel
Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic
The Joyce Theater
For a brilliant, tuneful invention aligning music, performers, lighting, and filming. For reminding us and revitalizing the power of connections between rhythm, music, song, and people. For truly creating magic with, and beyond, virtuosity.
Janessa Clark
Communion
Janessa Clark and HERE Art Center
Through ephemeral duets, Clark found a graceful way of lifting the dance field and giving it hope during the heart of the pandemic, by inviting dancers from across the US and beyond to collaborate remotely, thus transcending lockdowns, closures and the inability to rehearse and perform in person and publicly.
Johnnie Cruise Mercer
_AShadowPrince
Presented through Stephen Petronio Company’s Bloodlines(future) program
This site-specific work shows great choreographic intelligence and adaptability from Mercer, an emerging artistic force. All the elements collaborate together into a total work that is compelling, refreshing, and richly spiritual.
*Israel Galván
Maestro de Barra
The Joyce Theater
Filmed in his neighborhood Spanish bar, Galván masterfully syncopates flamenco rhythms against everyday sounds of fish searing in a pan, soccer games blaring, or tables being set. In this “tongue in cheek” piece, traditional flamenco is wittily flipped on its heels in a deliciously engaging production that laces ballet and modern dance into Andalusian traditions. Galván’s “Maestro de Barra” is an exhilaratingly joyous piece that bets on hope for the future of dance and humanity.
*Indigenous Enterprise
Indigenous Enterprise: Powwow Style
The Joyce Theater
With stunning views of both suburban and urban landscapes, “Indigenous Enterprise: Powwow Style” brings to life a dynamic range of traditional American dances from various tribes. For reminding us that powwows are essential for gathering, sharing, celebrating and preserving the rich heritage of Native American People. For presenting the authenticity of each style, offering insight into the original connection that exists between humanity and nature’s elements, and for speaking boldly to the pure necessity of the arts beyond entertainment.
Eiko Otake
A Body in a Cemetery
Pioneer Works and Green-Wood Cemetery
Pioneer Works and Green-Wood Cemetery
This work is a vivid, grounded, tangible, and powerful vision. It is simultaneously timeless, and specific to the mourning of the pandemic era. It is a masterful and caring integration of performer, natural materials, and site with respect for lives that have danced and moved before us.
Mariana Valencia
brownout
Baryshnikov Arts Center
Utterly personal, the effervescently cerebral narrative about the in-between time — when energy is not at full capacity, when we are not at full capacity and yet not extinguished— generates multiple realities of existence. Performed inside the rustic Hudson Hall, Valencia’s work is an unforgettable solo of inventiveness, intellectual curiosity and inspired wit.
*Saul Williams, Bill T. Jones, Maria Bauman, Kayla Farrish, Marjani Forté-Saunders, d. Sabela grimes, Jasmine Hearn, and Shamel Pitts
The Motherboard Suite
New York Live Arts
“The Motherboard Suite” is a dynamic collaboration of musicians and choreographers who use their embodied artistry to activate the space in this transformative work. In this creative exploration, time, space, and personal stories are interrogated through multiple lenses, including technology – ancient and contemporary, race and othering, exploitation and activism. The spoken word and the embodiment of text are the conjurers of the then, now and next iterations of who we become.
Outstanding Revival:
*State of Darkness
By Molissa Fenley
The Joyce Theater
For a searing interrogation of The Rite of Spring, Fenley’s “State of Darkness” excavates the legendary score’s surging rhythms and chilling pockets of dissonance through the expansively economic interpretations of her original solo by seven supremely gifted dance artists.
Watermotor
By Trisha Brown
Trisha Brown Dance Company
The Joyce Theater
Bringing back Watermotor allows us into the experience with renewed attention and commitment to the timelessness of Brown’s work. The form is there inside Marc Crousillat, in his maturity, but also inside Brown’s limitless energy on detail and precision. The work lives on and is timeless. The resurgence of Watermotor allows us to experience it through a new lens. We breathe back in the energy of Brown flying into space with accuracy and energized spirit.
Outstanding Breakout Choreographer:
*Hope Boykin
An immensely multi-talented and multifaceted dancer, choreographer, and educator, Boykin is more than a force of nature. Boykin is a writer who infuses text in her work. In a particular piece, she had singers and dancers together; voices and movement together to create many dimensions. She is a force to be reckoned with in terms of her accomplishments and accolades in the world of dance and theater.
Johnnie Cruise Mercer
Mercer has been honing his artistic voice over the past five or six years. He is a crusader for pushing boundaries while committed to creating community. His work shows no bounds. He is courageous, well-researched, and incredibly passionate. There is growth and deeper knowledge in every project.
Maleek Washington
For his ability to cross genres from dancer, actor, and choreographer, Washington is one of the most respected and beloved talents of this decade. His choreographic talents have been displayed at the White House, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and at Jacob’s Pillow. He has an endearing “down-to-earth” persona and gracious gratitude to the Higher Power.
André M. Zachery
By creating innovative ways of integrating Caribbean culture both physically and visually while drawing on classical and contemporary styles of movement, Zachery has a deep commitment to Black narratives and celebrating the diaspora as a whole. His constant engagement in the dance studio, academic classroom, and digital space, effortlessly seep into the work, creating a full world for both his performers and audience members.
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Outstanding Performer:
*LaTasha Barnes
Sustained Achievement
Barnes is celebrated globally for her musicality, athleticism and joyful presence. “Your Favorite Dancer’s Favorite Dancer;” this is how Barnes is referred to within the dance community. With a performance history that includes Caleb Teicher & Company, Dorrance Dance, Ephrat Asherie Dance, Ladies of Hip-Hop, Passion Fruit Dance Company, and numerous wins in Lindy Hop, house dance, and hip-hop battles, Barnes is as popular as she is versatile. She is an amazing dancer telling a beautiful and captivating story.
Isabella Boylston
Sustained Achievement with American Ballet Theatre
Whether dancing alongside fellow ABT principal James Whiteside, taking on the digital duet “Neo” by Artist-in-Residence Alexei Ratmansky, or performing highly acclaimed roles in “La Bayadere”, Kitri in “Don Quixote” and Columbine in “Harlequinade”, Boylston is definitely a ballet dancer of and for the 21st century. She is a principal dancer of the highest rank.
Marc Crousillat
Watermotor by Trisha Brown
The Joyce Theater
Crousillat encompasses a sense of self, maturity, and deep understanding and care for Trisha Brown’s logic, energy, and spirit in a high-stakes, historical performance.
*d. Sabela grimes
The Motherboard Suite, We get what you deserve
New York Live Arts
In “The Motherboard Suite”, grimes brings the Africanist presence into the performance space. Upon entering the performance conversation, grimes invokes Africanist ancestral synergy that becomes the vessel (and activist) at the crossroads that interrupts and transmutes the dire premonitions repeated in William’s haunting poetic verse. grimes’ every movement is a declaration of power and agency that reverberates with resistance and liberation. Their skillful use of a fusion of contemporary and traditional African-derived dance forms reunites Orishas from across the oceans and centuries via the brilliant technology of the human body and spirit.
*Jasmine Hearn
The Motherboard Suite, Order of Time
New York Live Arts
While each choreographer is invited to explore “the intersection of technology and race, exploitation and mystical anarchy, where hackers are artists and activists,” Hearn takes the investigation to another realm. Hearn’s performance throughout the work is both ethereal and grounded, skillfully capturing the viewer in the juxtaposition of effort and ease, comfort and discomfort in the discovery of a dynamic sweet spot – somewhere along the journey. In “The Motherboard Suite”, Hearn brings multi-dimensional artistic tools to bear, including a choreographic practice based on an interdisciplinary approach to multiple dance forms, the use of embodied and verbal language, and being a receptive thought-partner and collaborator.
Princess Lockerooo
Sustained Achievement
For Lockerooo’s dedication to musicality, embodying self-empowerment, embracing sensuality, and championing the art of Waacking, an original freestyle dance that encourages confidence, self-love, and acceptance, and made popular during the disco era by the LGBTQ community. For creating dynamic and impactful performance experiences through multimedia as well as sharing the love of dance with many around the world.
Sara Mearns
State of Darkness by Molissa Fenley
The Joyce Theater
For enabling sound to become the body’s instinct. For finding and exposing freedom in a dance of neverending complexity and virtuosity. Mearns bridges dance and music so they are never autonomous, but rather pulse together with unearthed value.
Anjali Mehta
Descent by Anjali Mehta
The Artivist’s Studio and Lion Party Films
For being introspective and demonstrating her intentions with captivating dance and turbulent emotions, steering our focus on to the crisis of the immigrant artists.
*Annique Roberts
Sustained Achievement with Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE
Roberts is an absolute force in our dance community. Her years of true grit and rigor with Ronald K. Brown/Evidence is profound. She has helped shape the form of the company while also maintaining the mission and philosophy of the group through superb guidance and leadership. She is an astounding performer, one who not only conveys the steps, but embodies every ounce of the work’s philosophy. The work doesn’t define her, but she has defined the work through connection, steadfast rigor, and clear work ethic. Roberts is celebrated for the dignity brought to the work, but also the ability to explore, teach, and share this work in communities throughout the world.
Nicholas Sciscione
Love Me Tender by Stephen Petronio
The Joyce Theater
There is a muscular strength and immediacy in this dance which belies the softness of the ballad accompaniment. Sciscione dances with precision and purpose. He simultaneously portrays grace and conflict, which showcase his powerful ability. As he raises his feet from the floor in a jump, the mind of the viewer takes flight.
Michael Trusnovec
State of Darkness by Molissa Fenley
The Joyce Theater
Trusnovec captures the strength, power, and vulnerability that Fenley choreographed on herself so many years ago. In this exhaustive work, his ability to master the movement and bring it back to life is exceptional.
Huiwang Zhang
OUR LABYRINTH by Lee Mingwei/Bill T. Jones
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Zhang shows incredible virtuosity through patience and task. Zhang imbues commitment with focus, and connects time together through sensitized and accumulated gestures.
Outstanding Visual Design:
Kyle Abraham (Director), Ryan Marie Helfant (Director & Director of Photography), Eric K. Yue (Director of Photography), and Esteban Pedraza (Editor)
When We Fell by Kyle Abraham
New York City Ballet at the David H. Koch Theater
For outstanding attention to light and texture that generates lasting and impactful images. For a collaboration that enacted beautiful choicemaking, creating lenses for a piece in tune with the hauntingly spacious time of 2020.
Royal Osiris Karaoke Ensemble (Tei Blow and Sean McElroy) & John Blalock
Visuals
The Sprezzaturameron by Tei Blow and Sean McElroy
Baryshnikov Arts Center
Creating a cohesive virtual world, visually and aurally, Blow, McElroy, and Blalock form an apocalyptic universe that coincides with current events and political atmospheres. The imagery, digital scenography, and filming techniques help question established power authorities and forms, with exemplary precision. The sound and score further the viewer’s experience through immersion that makes one feel the work’s themes.
Conrad Quesen (installation) and Shane Ballard (costumes)
Kolonial by Stefanie Batten Bland
Baryshnikov Arts Center
With the use of light and shadow, this work is both visually apocalyptic and futuristic. Plastic sheeting becomes a barrier, keeping humanity separate and sterile. Amber lighting later changes the scenery and material to an ocean and sand with the performers moving in this reinvented texture to find one another and new meaning. Visually haunting and hopeful.
*Fritzlyn Hector (Director), Catalin Stelian (Director of Photography, Cinematography, Editor), Kofi Assane Opare (Cinematography), and Kweku Amantey Opare (Editor)
Steel Standing by Fritzlyn Hector
DanceAfrica 2021
Brooklyn Academy of Music
On a stark palette of grey and white warehouses and heavy machinery, come vivid splashes of red costumes, hair, and warehouse piping. The bold color is significant to the daring of the dancers and knowledge of their fierceness. Flames are sparked not only in front of the camera, but in the heart of the viewer. The superb videography captures all the heat of the work. It is impossible not to feel the burn.
Outstanding Music Composition / Sound Design
Monstah Black
For _AShadowPrince by Johnnie Cruise Mercer
Presented through Stephen Petronio Company’s Bloodlines(future) program
Black has superb compositional layering and supportive structural development. They bring a highly personal voice to a sensitive and honest collaboration with the choreographer.
*Pedro León and Manu Prieto
For Maestro de Barra by Israel Galván
The Joyce Theater
This work is a meticulous percussion of foot and hand, tapas plate and fork, pinball machine and bathroom door. Leon and Prieto marry the music of the ballet barre with shoe taps in a tapas bar. There is brilliant invention in singing a menu and a soccer loss as dance music. With the shoosh of a searing grill and precise sharpness of a knife on a cutting board, they serve up delectable audible courses, a true feast for the ears.
Arturo O’Farrill (pianist/composer), Crystal Monee Hall (singer/songwriter), Annastasia Victory (music director and composer), and Senfu Stoney (percussionist)
For Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic by Ayodele Casel
The Joyce Theater
Musicians speak to one another in their music. The conversations in this work are spirited and exquisitely mindful of one another. They listen to the percussion of the tappers and return with their own profound musical words. No one speaks over the other, instead reminding the viewer of the importance of listening and of gathering in heartfelt exchange.
Saul Williams
For The Motherboard Suite
New York Live Arts
Spoken word blends with haunting sounds to provide the perfect impact on the audience. Williams provides depth and purpose in intonation to give lilt, immediacy, and profoundness to the dancers in this work of historical significance and futuristic warning.