The 2016 Martha Hill Awards
On Monday November 21st at 6pm, the Martha Hill Awards Gala was once again held at the Manhattan Penthouse in New York City. This year the Lifetime Achievement Award recipients were Ann Hutchinson Guest and Deborah Jowitt; and the 2016 Mid-Career Award recipient was Fredrick Earl Mosley. The Young Professional Award went to Eric Parra and pianist Reed Hansen received a special citation for his many years as a dance accompanist.
Ann Hutchinson Guest, movement and dance researcher, is considered the preeminent world authority on dance notation, especially Labanotation. She wrote a history on the subject of dance notation, and her works have been translated into multiple languages. She is the co-founder of the Dance Notation Bureau, New York, 1940. She also founded the Language of Dance Centre (LODC) in London, England in 1967 as well as co-founding the Language of Dance Center USA in 1997. She has received two honorary doctorates, and in 1997 received the "Outstanding Contribution to Dance Research" award from the Congress on Research in Dance (CORD). In 1998 she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for Dance Studies.
Deborah Jowitt began to dance professionally in 1953, to show her own choreography in 1962, and to write a regular dance column for The Village Voice in 1967. Her articles on dance have been published in two collections: Dance Beat (1977) and The Dance in Mind (1985). Her third book, Time and the Dancing Image, won the de la Torre Bueno Prize for 1988. In 1997 she edited Meredith Monk for Johns Hopkins University Press. Her critical/historical writing has appeared in numerous journals and books, including Reinventing Dance in the 1960s, edited by Sally Banes. Her Jerome Robbins: His Life, His Theater, His Dancewas published by Simon and Schuster in 2004. She is presently at work on a critical biography of Martha Graham. Her awards include two Bessies from Dance Theater Workshop (1985 and 2008), an "Ernie" from Dance/USA (1998), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2002). The American Dance Guild honored her in 1991 and The Congress on Research in Dance in 2001. In addition to lecturing and giving workshops both in the United States and abroad, she taught in the Dance Department of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts until June, 2016.
Fredrick Earl Mosley is the founder and artistic director of Diversity of Dance, Inc. whose major focus is Earl Mosley's Institute of the Arts (EMIA) which offers residencies, workshops and intensives. Mosley performed with Ailey II, Gus Solomon's Dance and Ron Brown's Evidence. His choreographic credits include Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, Dallas Black Theater, American Dance Theater Studio Company and Edge Works Dance Theater. He has taught at universities throughout the US as well as in Tokyo and London. He was named Teacher of the Year by Dance Teacher magazine in 2005. Mosley is now on faculty at Montclair State University, The Ailey School, and the Joffrey School.
Eric Parra began his dance training at Montclair State University (MSU) where he will graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance in May 2017. While at MSU, he has had the opportunity to perform in the works of Larry Keigwin, José Limón and Sean Curran. Eric dances for Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance, Inc. where he has worked with world-renowned choreographers and teachers such as Germaul Barnes, Matthew Rushing and Clifton Brown. He has also danced for Maxine Steinman & Dancers as well as Chris Rudd's RudduR Dance.
Reed Hansen has accompanied the Martha Graham technique class at Juilliard for 56 years. A new film, Reed Hansen, The "Sacrosanct" Accompanist, which explores the relationship between dance instructor and dance class accompanist is now in the making.
2016 Gala Photos
Gala Photos by Tony Powell
Contributors
Friends Table
Jeanne Ruddy
Golden Benefactors
John & Jody Arnhold
Allen Maniker
Janis & Alan Menken Foundation
Patrons
Victoria Phillips
Elizabeth G. Radke
Sponsors
Neil Baldwin Andra Corvino Lynn Garafola
Kathleen Harty Gray Lawrence Reed Hansen Daniel Lewis
Dawn Lille Peggy Lyman Hayes Vernon Scott
Alice Tierstein Megan Williams
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Sponsors for Students
Dr. Helene Breazeale Margot Mink Colbert Ernesta Corvino
Carol Egan Beth Hoge Kathleen Isaac
Patricia Knowles Wendy Larrow
Allen Maniker Arthur Mitchell Yasuko Tokunaga
Ani Udovicki Lance Westergard Megan Williams
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Honorary Committee
Carolyn Adams, Deborah Wingert Arkin, Jody Gottfried Arnhold,
Tadej Brdnik, Jacqulyn Buglisi,Terese Capucilli, Candace Carpentor,
Steffen Coleman, Sean Curran, Tina Curran, Christine Dakin,
Carmen De Lavallade, Joan Finkelstein, Ana Marie Forsythe,
Joyce Herring, Linda Hodes, Lori Katterhenry, Elizabeth Keen,
Linda Kent, Peggy Lyman, Virginie Mecene, Pascal Rioult,
Jeanne Ruddy, Janet Mansfield Soares, Risa Steinberg