The Dance Teacher Awards provide an integral opportunity to recognize dance educators making a mark in their communities. Over the past 20 years, the long list of awardees has grown to include luminaries ranging from Judith Jamison to Stephanie and Bo Spassoff to Earl Mosley to Katherine Dunham. This year, we’re excited to add five more names to that group.
After reviewing hundreds of public nominations, the 2023 DT Awards selection committee has chosen:
- Awardee of Distinction: Ana Marie Forsythe, chair of The Ailey School’s Horton department, former director of the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program at The Ailey School, and an internationally recognized master teacher of the Lester Horton technique.
- Sheila Barker, jazz dance faculty member at Broadway Dance Center and Marymount Manhattan College and co-founder and director of the summer intensive program Success America.
- Hilary Cartwright, former soloist and ballet mistress with The Royal Ballet, former associate director of Royal Winnipeg Ballet, co-founder of New York’s White Cloud Studio; trained the first Gyrotonic teachers and developed Yoga Narada.
- Irene Dowd, faculty member at the Juilliard School and Hollins University, teacher of dance, composition, functional and kinesthetic anatomy, and neuromuscular re-education, and the author of Taking Root to Fly.
- Caridad Martinez, former principal dancer with the National Ballet of Cuba; taught Cuban ballet methodology at ABT’s JKO School; directed the Ballet and Curriculum Training Program at Ballet Hispánico; directed the Brooklyn Ballet School and Conservatory.
There’s so much more to share about these incredible educators and their impact, and we’ll do so in the weeks leading up to the awards ceremony. In the meantime, please save the date for the 2023 Dance Teacher Awards, which will take place at 6 pm on August 10 at the Sheen Center for Thought & Culture in New York City. Tickets are available for purchase here.
Congratulations to the 2023 awardees!