The Bessies Steering Committee
The Steering Committee is responsible for setting policy and providing oversight of the Bessie Awards throughout the year.
Charmaine Warren
Mother/Wife/Performer/Curator/
Producer DanceAfrica & Associate Producer BAM
Craig Peterson
President and CEO, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council
george emilio sanchez
Performance Artist, Writer and Social & Indigenous Justice activist
Nicky Paraiso
Actor, musician, writer, performance artist and curator; Director of Programming for The Club at La MaMa; Curator, La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival
maura nguyen donohue
Director, MFA in Dance, Hunter College – Writer, Performer, Choreographer, Installation artist (she/they/bruh/mom)
Paz Tanjuaquio (chair)
Choreographer, Performer, and Co-Founding Director of TOPAZ ARTS, Inc.
Stanford Makishi
Vice President & Artistic Director, Dance Programs, New York City Center
Tiffany Rea-Fisher
Artistic Director EMEREGE125, Bryant Park Dance Curator, Teacher, Community Organizer
Yvonne H. Chow
Director of Operations & Education Director, H+ | The Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory
Curator of Works & Principal Dancer, H+ | Theatre of the Mind®
Founder, House of Chow® {Asian Division of H+}
The Bessies Selection Committee
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 email the committee via the button “Email The Bessie Committee.”
ALEX SMITH
Alex Smith, Jr. was born in Montgomery, AL. His parents, both veterans of the Montgomery bus boycott, migrated to Brooklyn, NY when he was 3 years old. Smith is the Executive Chairman of Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center (THPAC) since 1995. Under Smith’s continuing tenure, over 300 artists have been presented in performance including: Ron Brown, Camille Brown, George Faison, Louis Johnson, Marlies Yearby, Fred Benjamin, Urban Bush Women, and Philadanco, among many others; seven new programming formats have been added; At present, Smith is spearheading the production of a documentary on THPAC’s 47 years on the dance scene On October 18, 2016 Smith was the recipient of Bessie Award for outstanding service to the field of dance. Smith is also a graphic designer and visual artist.
Anabella Lenzu
Originally from Argentina, Anabella Lenzu is a dancer, choreographer, scholar & educator with over 30 years of experience working in Argentina, Chile, Italy, and the USA. Lenzu directs her own company, Anabella Lenzu/DanceDrama, which since 2006 has presented 400 performances, created 15 choreographic works and performed at 100 venues, presenting thought provoking and historically conscious dance-theater in NYC. As a choreographer, she has been commissioned all over the world for opera, TV programs, theatre productions, and by many dance companies. She has produced and directed several award-winning short dance films and screened her work in over 200 festivals both nationally and internationally. www.AnabellaLenzu.com
Celia Ipiotis
CELIA IPIOTIS is the creator, producer and moderator of the nationally recognized education TV series EYE ON DANCE (EOD) and curator of the EYE ON DANCE Archive. Singled out for her expertise, Ms. Ipiotis lectured and served on college faculties including Hunter College, Rutgers University, Harvard Summer Dance Program, Wright State University, OSU, Antioch College, NYU, Marymount Manhattan, Aegina Arts Center. A panelist on local, state and national performing arts selection panels; Ipiotis advised, WNET’s Dance In America, and led arts forums at institutions like BAM, Lincoln Center and Harlem Stage.
A former dancer, choreographer, dance company director and videographer, Ipiotis oversees restoration of the EOD Legacy Archive recently designated “an irreplaceable national dance treasure” and “a core dance archive for universities.” Along with videodance artist Jeff Bush, Ipiotis created the award-winning videodance library. After receiving her BFA in Dance at OSU and MA in Arts Media Studies at New School, Ipiotis secured choreographic fellowships, and held artist-in-residence positions throughout the USA. Invited to join the Bessie Awards nominating committee, Ipiotis is a member of the Columbia University Dance Scholars Seminars, Drama Desk, and served as a Research Fellow at Jacob’s Pillow. Ms. Ipiotis also manages the on-line cultural journal EYE ON THE ARTS and produces lectures coupled with EYE ON DANCE 30 – minute programs that interface with course curricula and current events.
Duke Dang
Starting as a paid intern in 2003, Duke Dang is now the executive director of Works & Process, a performing arts organization that champions creative process from studio-to-stage with a commitment to providing artists with living wage fees. Works & Process partners with 12 residency centers across 7 counties and presents in New York City at the Guggenheim, Lincoln Center, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and serves as dance curator for SummerStage. Annually Works & Process presents over 70 performances and produces over 250 days of fully-funded residencies, in total supporting over 500 artists. During his tenure, the organization’s budget has tripled, and a board designated endowment fund and cash reserve were created. Works & Process programs have frequently been selected “Best of” by The New York Times and commissioned works have been honored with a Bessie Award. Swiftly responding to the pandemic, in March 2020 Works & Process launched WPA Virtual Commissions, supporting over 300 artists and 85 virtual works described by The New York Times as “one of the most powerful artistic responses yet to the Covid-19 crisis.” During spring and summer 2020, Works & Process pioneered and produced the field’s first bubble residencies, where artists could safely gather to create and perform together. The residencies resulted in the first permitted live outdoor performances during the pandemic in New York, taking place in August 2020 at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park. Many of these bubble residencies culminated in filmed video performances, as part of the Works & Process at Lincoln Center initiative and were featured in the Works & Process produced and NY Emmy-nominated docuseries Isolation to Creation, which was licensed and broadcast on WNET’s All Arts and nationally on PBS. On March 20, 2021, Works & Process re-opened the first permitted indoor performances in New York State, which took place in the rotunda of the Guggenheim. In 2020 and 2021, Duke was nominated for the Association for Performing Arts Professionals’ William Dawson Award for Programmatic Excellence and Sustained Achievement in Programming. In 2021 Works & Process was honored with the Dance Magazine Chairman’s Award. Duke was born at a UN refugee camp, and grew up with the assistance of Section 8 housing vouchers, food stamps, welfare, while attending Head Start. As an inaugural Gates Millennium Scholar, he earned his B.A. in Art History at Boston University, where he studied abroad in Australia, Brazil, England, India, and South Africa. At New York University he earned his M.A. in Performing Arts Administration. Prior to Works & Process, Duke worked at the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Glimmerglass Festival, Sydney Theatre Company, and Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 2013, Duke with his husband, co-founded and continue to serve on the steering committee of the Hudson Valley Dance Festival, benefitting Dancers Responding to AIDS a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Now in its 11th year, the event has raised over $1 million dollar to support social service organizations in the Hudson Valley and nationally.
Farren Wood
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.
Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte
Gian Marco Riccardo Lo Forte (he/they) is a Gay immigrant and cultural organizer based in NYC. A creative director, writer, filmmaker, and curator of interdisciplinary LGBTQ works, he is the Artistic Director of Pioneers Go East Collective. Since 2012, he has created works developed in NYC at BAM, BRIC ARTS MEDIA, Judson Church, La MaMa, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, Center for Performance Research, Exponential Festival, JACK, Governors Island/ LMCC, Goethe Institut; and Upstate NY at Lumberyard, and Collar Works. A NYSCA, NEA, Bel Geddes Design Award, and Foundation for Contemporary Arts recipient, his creative and curatorial practice has been highlighted by The New York Times, New York Magazine’s Pick, The New Yorker’s Pick, CULTUREBOT, and interviews published in Forbes and The Brooklyn Rail
Gregory English
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.
Hannah Garner
Hannah Garner (she/her), named ‘25 to Watch’ by Dance Magazine (2020), is a white, queer, non-disabled, cis NYC based dancer and dance-maker. She graduated summa cum laude from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Performance and Composition and a minor in Arts Management. Since then, Hannah has worked with Doug Varone, Raja Feather Kelly, Sue Bernhard, Rovaco Dance, and Megan Williams, at theaters including The Joyce Theater, New York City Center, Park Avenue Armory, and New York Live Arts. Her work as 2nd Best Dance Company “tackles topics like death and queer identity through rigorous, inventive movement and wit” (Dance Magazine). 2nd Best has been commissioned by GroundWorks DanceTheater, Gibney’s ‘dance-mobile’ series, Triskelion Arts, Kizuna Dance, GALLIM x CreateArt, musical artists (Snail Mail, Frankie Cosmos, and Half Waif), the Hartt School, Bard College, and SUNY Purchase, among others. Through this work Hannah and her collaborators seek beauty in failure, explore limits of the body, and find solace in the humor of being human. In addition to her performing work, Hannah finds a creative home in teaching: she is currently on the dance faculty of SUNY Purchase and Gibney, and held a guest faculty position at Bard College. Hannah is also heavily influenced by the weather and how the trains are running.
Ivan Talijančić
Ivan Talijancic is a time-based artist and cultural producer, working at the intersection of theater, dance, film, installation art, new media, journalism, curatorial work and education in New York and around the globe. As a co-founder of the multidisciplinary art group WaxFactory, his work has been presented at numerous venues and festivals worldwide. Ivan teaches extensively in the US and abroad, most recently as a visiting professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s John Wells Directing Program. He is the artistic director of CPP/Contemporary Performance Practice summer intensive in Croatia, and a member of The Bessies selection committee. He holds an MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts.
Lynn Schwab
Lynn Schwab lives in New York City and is presently on faculty at Steps on Broadway and The American Tap Dance Foundation. She is the Co-Director and choreographer for Tap It Out, the out-of-doors event of the New York City Tap Festival, and she teaches and performs at festivals and workshops throughout the U.S.A., Europe, Brazil, Japan and Taiwan.
Kate Thomas
Kate Thomas, Artistic Director of Ballet Neo creates ballets that encompass sophisticated motifs of intimacy and loneliness, classical narratives, and refined responses to experimental music. Her company, Ballet Neo, performs regularly in venues such as the 92St Y, Ailey Citigroup Theater, Downtown Dance Festival, Manhattan Movement and Arts, and Dancers Responding to Aids. Thomas collaborated with Grammy Award winner, violinist, and composer Mark O’Connor on The Appalachian Suites Project, Flowers of Darkness. The company produced biannual New York City seasons at Manhattan Movement and Arts. This year, Thomas launched Ballet Neo Young Professionals, a summer dance intensive and apprenticeship program.
Thomas was the Director of The School at Steps, a Division of Steps on Broadway. She restructured the academic year curriculum-based program into three divisions: Young Dancers, Technique, and Pre-Professional. She created all Summer Programs for the School.Thomas teaches Advanced Ballet Repertory. Dedicated to dance education, Thomas developed an approach to movement for young children for many studios and pre-schools throughout the city. Thomas founded B.Muse Inc., a not-for-profit corporation, providing dance programs, lecture demonstrations, and performances to schools in Harlem, the South Bronx, and Upper Manhattan.
Nami Yamamoto
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.
PeiJu Chien-Pott
PeiJu Chien-Pott, an internationally acclaimed award-winning contemporary dance artist and choreographer from Taiwan, celebrated particularly for her work as a Principal Dancer for the Martha Graham Dance Company. Described as “one of the greatest living modern dancers” and “”the most dramatically daring and physically chameleon-esque Graham dancer of her generation””, Ms. Chien-Pott has interpreted the iconic lead roles of Martha Graham’s repertoire. She holds a BFA in Dance from Taipei National University of the Arts, where she is honored with “Outstanding Alumni Award”. Ms Chien-Pott has received many prestigious international recognitions, including Bessie award for “Outstanding Performance”, POSITANO PREMIA LA DANZA “LEONIDE MASSINE” for “Best Female Contemporary Dancer”, an honoree of the ”Women’s History Month” by Hudson County, named “Best Performers” in 2014, 2017 by Dance Magazine, Capri International Dance Award 2018. Ms. Chien-Pott is selected as a young influencer in Performing Arts by The Generation T List of Asia Tatler in 2018, 2019 and as “Ten Outstanding Young Persons” of Taiwan by Junior Chamber International. She was named one of the “Best Dance of 2021” in Richard Move’s “Herstory of the Universe” by the New York Times.
Her recent choreography includes “REBIRTH” in collaboration with renowned sculpture Kang Mu-Xiang for Taipei 101, “ISLAND” created during the pandemic commissioned by the Iron Rose Festival of Taiwan, “UNITY” completed for the late choreographer Nai-Ni Chen premiered at the New York Live Arts and “SPLIT” commissioned by Periapsis Music and Dance, and she was one of the collaborating choreographers for the evening length work The Threads Project #1 “Universal Dialogues” of Buglisi Dance Theater premiered at the Chelsea Factory. She has recently premiered her work “Lion in the City”, a hip hop Chinese Lion Dance for Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company’s Lunar New Year program celebrating the Year of the Water Rabbit. Ms Chien-Pott’s appearance in a short film NALA, directed by British filmmaker and choreographer Darshan Singh Bhuller, has received ten international film awards. Ms. Chien-Pott awarded a 2023 Choreography Fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. She is a faculty at The Ailey School and Martha Graham School.
Porshia A. Derival
Porshia A. Derival (she/her/hers) is a first-generation Caribbean American who was born in New York City. (Brooklyn). She started her professional dance career while still a young child, and because of the tremendous potential that her dance teacher saw in her, she was single-handedly chosen out of her class to continue her studies and hone her leadership abilities at H+. She was appointed executive director of H+ | The Hip-Hop Dance Conservatory in 2012. Since being hired, she has attentively overseen the organization’s creative affiliations with corporations which include Coca-Cola, Target, Scotch Porter, and many others. In conjunction with her legendary contributions to H+, she also represents H+ at the UN Economic and Social Council, sits on the selection committee for the New York Dance and Performance Awards/The Bessies and was the honorary host for the 2022 Bessies Reception, is a member of the Board of Trustees for Ladies of Hip-Hop, and is the NYC ambassador for the #SHE_BUILDS Global Initiative. Porshia has shared her expansive knowledge of dance and leadership in numerous publications like, “Dance Perspectives” by Stephanie Smith in 2015, and “Own Your Vulnerability” by Elizabeth Barry in 2016. Her goal as a Haitian-Trinidadian woman is to guarantee Black women throughout the Hip-Hop dance discipline a place where they can be authentically themselves. to act, live, and love unencumbered by restraint, fear, or criticism from others.
Rakia Seaborn
A native of Detroit, MI, Rakia Seaborn is a writer, choreographer, educator and performer whose work has appeared at JACK, Dixon Place, La Mama E.T.C., The Tank, AUNTS, chashama and Brooklyn Studios for Dance. Seaborn has worked with Kathy Westwater, Dianne McIntyre, Rashaun Mitchell, Jodi Melnick, and Meta-Phys Ed. She graduated from Oberlin College in 2007, earning a Bachelors of Art in Dance with a concentration in Choreography, and in 2014, she gained an MFA in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College. Seaborn teaches Movement for Trinity College’s Experimental Performing Arts Program at La Mama, Etc. She will join the Dance Faculty at Sarah Lawrence College in Spring 2024. She is a 2018 Mertz Gilmore Late Stage Creative Stipend recipient. Seaborn’s latest work, A RUIN had its world premiere at JACK in May of 2022.
Ronald K. Alexander
Ronald K. Alexander is an independent arts consultant, dance educator, and choreographer. He has performed with the following ballet companies: the National Ballet of Canada, the Iranian National Ballet, the Frankfurt and Hamburg Ballet Companies, and the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in New York City. He has choreographed for numerous schools, colleges and dance companies including the Hamburg Ballet, Clark Center for the Performing Arts, The Ailey School, the Harlem School of the Arts, Boys and Girls Harbor Conservatory, the Alpha- Omega Theatrical Dance Company, and the Nanette Bearden Dance Company among others.
He has been on faculty at the following schools, Clark Center for the Performing Arts, 92 Street Y, the Ailey School, Boys and Girls Club, The Joffrey School, NY, The Dance Theater of Harlem School, the French Academy of Ballet, among others.
From 1994-2002, Ronald K. was a certified dance instructor with the New York City Department of Education. He has held administrative and artistic positions in the following public, private and not-for-profit venues: Chairman of the Dance Department of the Harlem School of the Arts, New York, NY (1987-92) under Betty Allen; Academic Principal of the High School for Contemporary Arts, Bronx, NY (2003-05); and School Director of Dance at the Dance Theatre of Harlem (2005-07) under Arthur Mitchell. He has studied the Vaganova Ballet technique under John White, and the New York City Ballet Workout under New York City Ballet.
Mr. Alexander has an MFA in Dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, and a certificate in School Supervision and Administration from the City College of New York. He has served as the Academic Principal of the Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts (2008-2011) as well as a faculty member. Mr. Alexander was the subject of Five Teachers, Five Venues, a 2011 article in Dance Teacher Magazine. He is the former Director of Education at the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Youth Arts Academy (2015-2019) in Brooklyn, NY. He currently teaches ballet at the Ailey School and Peridance Center in New York, NY and Concepts Dance Academy in South Orange, New Jersey. Also, he is a recent recipient of the 2022 Dance Teacher Award by Dance Teacher Magazine.
Shalewa Mackall
Shalewa Mackall has more than 30 years of experience teaching, performing, and creating in traditional and contemporary African Diaspora dance forms. She has performed with Ballethnic, Giwayen Mata, Maimouna Keita, Ronald K. Brown/ Evidence, Harambee, and Rashida Bumbray/ Dance Diaspora. Mackall founded Movement for the Urban Village Dance Company/MUV (2006 Brooklyn Arts Council Community Arts Regrant Award Winner) and presented her choreography at BRIC, Kumble Theater, Joyce SOHO, BAM/Fisher, Judson Church, SummerStage, and many other local and regional venues. Mackall is currently developing interdisciplinary performance projects joining movement and poetry. Her poetry has been published in Infinite Constellations, an anthology edited by Khadijah Queen and K. Ibura, as well as Obsidian, Peregrine Journal, Mom Egg Review, African Writer Magazine, The 50in50 Project in New York and Los Angeles, and the 2019 Visible Poetry Project. Mackall has developed her craft as a 2019 Poets House Emerging Poets Fellow, four-time VONA alumna, The Watering Hole Fellow, at Tin House, and in Cave Canem workshops. Mackall currently teaches dance and Black Studies at Saint Ann’s School, in Brooklyn where she also leads the Interdisciplinary Studies Program. She is a member of the Bessies Nomination Committee and is active in ACRE-PISAB.
William Isaac
William Isaac, award winning Artistic Director, Choreographer and Dancer, was born on the island nation of Antigua. His project-based company Kymera Dance is dedicated to making new work in the artistic discipline of dance, collaboration within other arts & entertainment fields and the development of future dance artists.
Yoko Murakami
Yoko Murakami (she/her) was born in Tokyo, Japan and currently based in New York City. Yoko creates movement-based work in forms of site-specific installations and experimental film. She enjoys creating works for spaces that are not traditionally designed for performance and is interested in finding new ways to activate and question the way we interact with our environments. She has presented her creations in spaces like Ace Hotel (New York, NY), Triskelion Arts (Brooklyn, NY), TheaterLab (New York, NY), Da Da Da Gallery (Seattle, WA), Eshk Salon and Room Salon (Brooklyn, NY), Aileyan Accessories (Brooklyn, NY). Her new venture into experimental film has led to her works being selected and screened in festivals in Seoul, Moscow, Naples, Belfort, Cyprus, Mexico City, and Lincoln Center in NYC, just in 2022.
Yoshiko Chuma
Yoshiko Chuma (conceptual artist, choreographer/artistic director of The School of Hard Knocks) has been a firebrand in the postmodern dance scene in New York City since the 1980s. She has consistently produced thought-provoking work that is neither dance nor theater nor film nor any other predetermined category.
zavé martohardjono
zavé martohardjono is a 2022 Bessie-nominated performer and multidisciplinary artist working in dance, film, and installation. A queer, trans, Indonesian-American artist, zavé was born in Canada and lives on unceded Lenapehoking aka Brooklyn, NY. Their works dwell in ancestral mythologies, contend with the political histories our bodies carry, and dream up more just futures. zavé has been written about in the New York Times, BOMB Magazine, CultureBot, and Hyperallergic. They have been presented at the 92Y, BAAD!, Boston Center for the Arts, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Center for Performance Research, El Museo del Barrio, Gibney Center, HERE Arts, Issue Project Room, The Kennedy Center, and Storm King Art Center. zavé has exhibited at the Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, Asian Arts Initiative, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Bronx River Art Center Gallery, Gallerie RATS 9, Glasgow Center for Contemporary Arts, Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery at Concordia University, SOMArts Gallery and Winslow Garage. Find their work at zavemartohardjono.com