The New York Dance and Performance Awards, informally known as the Bessie Awards in honor of Bessie Schonberg, are awarded annually for innovative achievement in dance and related performances, particularly so-called "downtown" performances. The awards were established in 1983 and "celebrate the unique creative voices of performing artists while providing the dance and performance community with an occasion to gather together in sorrow, in frustration, in anger, but ultimately in celebration." . They honor exceptional choreography, performance, music composition, visual design and others areas of dance and performance. The awards are determined by the Bessie Awards Committee, which consists of dance presenters, producers, journalists, critics and academics, and are given in no fixed categories.
Beginning in 2010, the annual award ceremony will be presented by Dance/NYC at Symphony Space. From 1983 to 2008, it was presented by Danspace Project and Dance Theater Workshop, generally at the Joyce Theatre in the Chelsea area of Manhattan in New York City.
Over 400 Bessies Awards have been presented since their founding, including:
- Choreographers: Arthur Aviles, Beverly Schmidt Blossom, Trisha Brown, Donald Byrd, Ann Carlson, Nora Chipaumire, Ping Chong, Yoshiko Chuma, Garth Fagan, Molissa Fenley, William Forsythe, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, David Gordon, Bill Irwin, Bill T. Jones, Lisa Jones, Carl Hancock Rux. Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Alonzo King, Benoît Lachambre, Édouard Lock, Meredith Monk, Mark Morris, Tere O'Connor, Steve Paxton, Angelin Preljocaj, Pam Tanowitz, Doug Varone, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Robert Wilson, and Beth Gill.
- Composers: David Byrne, James Baker, Anthony Davis, Peter Laurence Gordon, Julius Hemphill, Lenny Pickett, Dan Siegler and Hahn Rowe
- Designers: Charles Atlas, Power Boothe, Beverly Emmons, David Ferri, Kathryn Kaufmann, Mark Lancaster, Susanne Poulin, Stan Pressner, Philip Sandström, Jennifer Tipton, Philip Treviño