The organization is incorporated in the State of New York as ‘The New York City Bessie Awards, Inc.’, a not-for-profit corporation, and does business as ‘The Bessies’.
The organization lifts its temporary pause and is ready to view dance works from January 2027.
Charles Vincent Burwell – President & Treasurer
Aziza Bowser – Vice President
Sangeeta Yesley – Board Chair
PeiJu Chien-Pott Secretary
Anabella Lenzu – Board Member
Alex Smith – Board Member
Celia Ipiotis – Board Member
Duke Dang – Board Member
Kate Thomas – Board Member
Robert Schaffer – Board Member
William Isaac – Board Member
Dave Archuletta – Board Member
The Bessie Selection Committee is responsible for choosing work to be awarded from the season. If you wish to invite the Selection Committee to your show, please fill in this form (link coming soon).
Farren Wood
Gregory English
Nami Yamamoto
Suzzanne Ponomarenko
Tyler Ashley
Farren Wood is a South African/Australian arts manager, creative professional and fierce community advocate. An inherent and culturally inherited love of storytelling has seen her dedicate her career to either telling the story or cultivating a place and space for stories to be told. Farren has worked as an actor, writer, performer, producer, event and artist manager. She currently serves as the Manager of Programs and Community Engagement at 651 ARTS.
Gregory English is a performing arts administrator in New York City focusing on cultivating, advocating and supporting emerging dance artists. Gregory was a scholarship student in the professional program at both The Ailey and Joffrey Ballet schools, then later worked with Complexions Contemporary Ballet artistic directors Desmond Richardson and Dwight Rhoden, the Washington National Opera, Peridance Ensemble and a host of other dance companies and notable choreographers. To further support the arts after a career onstage, Gregory attended and received an M.A. in Arts Administration from Baruch college and applies this knowledge to support dance-making. Gregory has worked as a Curatorial Associate at The Joyce Theater under the leadership of programming director Danni Gee and currently works for Bill T. Jones New York Live Arts as Operations Manager. Gregory has also been an AGMA (The American Guild of Musical Artists) union member since 1999.
Nami Yamamoto, from Matsuyama, Japan, holds an MA in Dance Education from New York University and a BA in Physical Education from Ehime University. Nami is a Bessie awardee (The New York Dance and Performance Award) for the outstanding production of Headless Wolf which was presented at Roulette in 2017. Her work has been funded by Creative Capital, Jim Henson Foundation, Creative Engagement by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, City Artist Corps, Foundation for Contemporary Arts and others. She has been nurtured and inspired by her residency experience at Movement Research, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, New Dance Alliance, Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography, Gibney DiP Resident Artist, CPR – Center for Performance Research and most recently Baryshnikov Arts Center. She has taught dance workshop/master class at various places such as, Ohio State University, UC Irvine, Long Island University, Florida State University, University of Penang, Malaysian Dance Festival, and Contemporary Dance Festival Free Dance in Ukraine.
Nami enjoys teaching dance at NYC public schools through Dance Makers Program at Movement Research and Together in Dance. She has been a faculty member at New School and Lehman College. She is currently a core member of Artists of Color Council at Movement Research.
