Category: News

The Dance Magazine/Harkness Promise Awards offer a $5,000 grant and 40 hours of rehearsal space each year to two innovative choreographers in their first decade of professional presentation of their work. These awards, presented in collaboration with Dance Magazine and conferred publicly at the Dance Magazine Awards ceremony—to be held this year on December 8th, 2025 at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy in Los Angeles—are generously supported by the Harkness Foundation for Dance. We are pleased to announce that our 2025 Harkness Promise Awardees are Annie Rigney and Micaela Taylor.

Annie Rigney  

Annie Rigney is a New York based dancer, choreographer, educator, and Ilan Lev Method therapist. Her choreographic interest and movement research lies in the intersection between extreme physicality and healing. Annie danced with the Batsheva Ensemble, Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak Dance Company, and in Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More. Her work has been commissioned by institutions including the Martha Graham Dance Company, NYU Tisch, SUNY Purchase, Ailey/Fordham BFA Program, the University of the Arts, and Resilience Dance Company and presented at venues including the Joyce Theater and 92NY. Annie is a 2025 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow and was the 2023-24 Artist in Residence at the 92NY, a recipient of the Moving Women Residency from Gallim Dance, and a 2023 CUNY Dance Initiative Space Grant. She is an adjunct professor at the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program and an alumnus of the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase.

https://www.annierigney.com

Micaela Taylor

Micaela Taylor is a dancer, choreographer, and the Artistic Director & Founder of the TL Collective. Trained in hip-hop and ballet, she has created her own dance genre called Expand Practice, exuding emotion from the core and creating varied physical shapes and textures as expressions of one’s authentic self. Her quirky style of exaggerated facial expressions, gesture, and athletic theatricality sets her work apart. Taylor created her own technique and is building The TL Collective from the ground up. She received the Inaugural Springboard EMERGE Choreographic Award, was named in Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” in 2019, and graced the cover of Dance Magazine in April 2020.  Taylor has been commissioned to choreograph by Ballet BC, NDT 2, Rambert Dance Company, The Getty Museum, BODYTRAFFIC, Gibney Dance Company, Carlos Acosta’s Acosta Danza, alongside commercial work including music videos and campaigns for various brands and artists. Upcoming commissions include Paris Opera Ballet, English National Ballet, and currently choreographing for her first Vegas show produced by FiveCurrents productions, “Bob Marley Hope Road” premiering this summer at Mandala Bay Hotel and Resort.

https://dancemagazine.com/micaela-taylor

The Harkness Promise Awards, now in their fifth year, supported by the net proceeds from the Dance Magazine Awards ceremony, honor dance artists in the first decade of their choreographic career with an unrestricted $5,000 grant, 40 hours of studio space, and no requirement for a product. We are pleased to announce our 2023 Harkness Promise Awardees: BAYE & ASA/Amadi ‘Baye’ Washington & Sam ‘Asa’ Pratt, and Omar Román De Jesús/BOCA TUYA.

BAYE & ASA, selected as one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” for 2022, is a company creating movement art projects directed & choreographed by Amadi ‘Baye’ Washington & Sam ‘Asa’ Pratt. They grew up together in New York City, and that shared educational history is the mother of their work. Hip Hop & African dance languages are the foundation of their technique. The rhythms of these techniques inform the way they energetically confront contemporary dance & theater. They use their choreography to create political metaphors, interrogate systemic inequities, and contemporize ancient allegories; building theatrical contexts that celebrate, implicate, and condemn the characters onstage. Their dance work has been presented at The Joyce Theater, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, Pioneer Works, The 92nd Street Y, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Jacob’s Pillow, ODC, Blacklight Summit, Gibney Dance Center, Thread Artist Space in Senegal, Future Dance Festival, Southampton Arts Center, Westbeth, and Battery Dance Festival, while their film work has won numerous awards and has been presented internationally.

Omar Román De Jesús (Bayamón, Puerto Rico) is a Queer Puertorriqueño choreographer and director of NYC-based dance company BOCA TUYA, dedicated to creating visibility for emerging LatinX/a/o leaders in the arts. He is the inaugural Baryshnikov Arts Center Fellow at Kaatsbaan, a 2022 Princess Grace Award Winner in Choreography, a 2022 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Choreography, a 2022 Palm Desert Choreography Festival Grand Prize Winner, and a 2020 Recipient of The Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellowship at Jacob’s Pillow. His work has been commissioned by the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Ballet Hispánico, Ballet Collective, Limón 2, MOVE/NYC, Bruce Wood Dance, Jacob Jonas The Company, Joffrey Ballet Concert Group, Whim W’him, Parsons Dance, and several universities and arts high schools. Over the past five years, he has toured internationally and has presented work domestically in New York, Georgia, Washington, Pennsylvania, California. Most recently, “Papagayos,” commissioned for Ballet Hispánico, premiered at New York City Center and was presented by the 2023 American Dance Festival.

The Harkness Promise Awards, which offer a $5,000 grant and 40 hours of rehearsal space for innovative young choreographers in the first decade of professional work, will go to Kayla Farrish and Johnnie Cruise Mercer. This award, conferred in partnership with the Harkness Foundation for Dance, is funded by net proceeds from the Dance Magazine Awards ceremony.

Kayla Farrish/Decent Structures Arts is an emerging company combining filmmaking, storytelling, dance theater performance, and sound score. The company has been commissioned by ODC Theater, Gibney, Little Island, Louis Armstrong House Museum, Danspace, Pepatian/BAAD! and beyond. Her residencies include Gallim, Gibney, BAC, Keshet MSE, BAX, Petronio, among others. In 2021, she created “Broken Record” with Brandon Coleman (Little Island), co-directed Melanie Charles Y’ll D’nt Care Abt Black Women Film, Saul Williams’/NYLA Motherboard Suites solo, Roster with Melanie Charles (Four/Four), and Martyr’s Fiction Feature Film. She has received recognition like: Bessie- Outstanding Production, Top 2021 Performances, Sundance Uprise Grant and others. In 2022, she collaborates with various artists and festivals.. Kayla is currently a rehearsal director at Sleep NoMore NYC and adjunct faculty at NYU Tisch.

A 2021 Princess Grace Award Recipient in Choreography, Johnnie Cruise Mercer is a queer- black think-maker; a choreographer, educator, impresario, and social entrepreneur based in New York City. In 2021, Johnnie was nominated for two Bessies NYC Dance and Performance Awards: Outstanding Breakthrough Choreographer, and Outstanding Production (for his choreography/direction on _AShadow Prince. As an educator, he facilitates within the New York Public School system through The Leadership Program, a mentorship-based organization that uses art to foster/cultivate leadership qualities. Johnnie is the founding producer and company director of TheRedProject/NYC (TRPNYC), a multi-disciplinary ensemble of artists dedicated to the study of movement philosophy and its use towards building communal spaces for black/other process, documentation, and investigation.

Press Release (PDF) >

The Harkness Promise Awards, which offer a $5,000 grant and 40 hours of rehearsal space for innovative choreographers in their first decade of professional work, is funded by net proceeds from the Dance Magazine Awards ceremony.

Alethea Pace is a Bronx-based multidisciplinary choreographer and performer. A former Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre company member, her work has been supported by BAAD!, Dancing While Black, Pregones Theater, New Dance Alliance, New York Live Arts and the 92Y. She is committed to creating work in and with her community that is rooted in social justice, born out of resilience and made in spite of the obstacles facing artists (and people) of color.

Yin Yue, artistic director of YY Dance Company, has taught her signature FoCo Technique around the world. Her company has toured to Germany and China, and presented at SummerStage, BAM Fisher, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival Inside/Out and many other venues in the U.S. As a choreographer, Yue has received commissions from Martha Graham Dance Company, Philadelphia Ballet, Limón Dance Company, Gibney Company, BalletX, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Hubbard Street 2 and many others.

Press Release (PDF) > 

Kyle Marshall and Marjani Forté-Saunders

The Harkness Promise Awards, which offer a $5,000 grant, 40 hours of rehearsal space and ongoing mentorship for innovative young choreographers in their first decade of presenting professional work, will go to Kyle Marshall and Marjani Forté-Saunders. These awards, given in partnership with the Harkness Foundation for Dance, are funded by net proceeds from the Dance Magazine Awards ceremony.

Marshall has presented his company Kyle Marshall Choreography at BAM New Wave Festival, Jacob’s Pillow Inside/Out, Joe’s Pub, and NYC Summerstage. Forté-Saunders, a former member of Urban Bush Women, is currently collaborating with her partner, composer Everett Asis Saunders, as 7NMS; the pair also directs ART & POWER, an emerging platform for artists, writers, scientists, spiritualists and scholars, dedicated to Black purpose and innovation.

Check out Dance Magazine’s December issue to learn more about each of these incredible artists. A ceremony to celebrate them will take place virtually on Monday, December 7, with performances and presentations for each honoree. For ticket information, visit dancemediafoundation.org.

Press Release (PDF) > 

BOBBI JENE SMITH

Hailing from Centerville, Iowa, Bobbi Jene Smith is an alumna of the Juilliard School, North Carolina School of the Arts, and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. From 2005-2014 she was a member of the Batsheva Dance Company under the artistic direction of Ohad Naharin. The 2017 film Bobbi Jene, which followed Smith’s trajectory of leaving Batsheva to create her own work, swept the Tribeca Film Festival documentary category. Her choreography has been presented by numerous dance companies, colleges and festivals in the U.S. and abroad. Smith’s film and video work includes Annihilation, MA, and Yossi. She stars in and choreographed the upcoming feature films Mari and Aviva. Smith has been a certified GAGA teacher for the past 13 years and has taught Ohad Naharin’s repertory in schools and universities worldwide. She regularly teaches at the Juilliard School, NYU and UArts.

CALEB TEICHER

Caleb Teicher is a NYC-based dancer and choreographer specializing in American jazz dance traditions. He is a 2019 New York City Center Choreographic Fellow, a 2019 Bessie Award nominee in three categories, a 2019 recipient of NEFA’s National Dance Project Production Grant, one of Dance Magazine’s 2012 “25 to Watch”, and a 2011 Bessie Award Winner for Outstanding Individual Performance. Teicher began his career as a founding member of Dorrance Dance and also danced with The Chase Brock Experience, The Bang Group, Syncopated City Dance Company, and many others. Since founding Caleb Teicher & Company in 2015, Teicher’s creative work includes engagements and commissions from The Joyce Theater, New York City Center, Works & Process @ The Guggenheim, The Kennedy Center (with Ben Folds & the National Symphony Orchestra), Regina Spektor’s residency on Broadway, and touring in the US and abroad. He teaches at tap and jazz festivals.

Press Release (PDF)  >

Press Release (PDF) >

The Harkness Foundation for Dance mourns the passing of our longtime Chairman and dear friend Bill Perlmuth, whose dedication to supporting the dance field over many decades made a significant impact on countless dance organizations.  Mr. Perlmuth was of counsel to the law firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP since 1997, a partner from 1962-1996, and a member of the firm’s Executive Committee from 1976 to 1994. He was previously with Cravath, Swaine & Moore and was a member of New York State and City Bar Associations. Mr. Perlmuth received his LL.B from Columbia University Law School where he was a Stone Scholar, Columbia Law Review Editor, and a member of Kent Court and Phi Delta Phi. He received his A.B. from Wilkes College. In addition to the Harkness Foundation, Mr. Perlmuth was a Trustee of the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases (Chairman of the Board 1996-2007); NYU Langone Medical Center; Wilkes University; School of American Ballet; Brooklyn Academy of Music; New York City Center; The Aeroflex Foundation; and The Weininger Foundation. Our deepest condolences to his wife Patty and his daughters Lyn and Diane and their families. He will be profoundly missed.

Dance Magazine is pleased to announce that the annual Dance Magazine Awards, the most prestigious awards event in dance, will make the Harkness Foundation for Dance the beneficiary of the proceeds from the event, which will be held on Monday, December 4, at the Ailey Citigroup Theater (405 West 55th Street) in Manhattan. The Harkness Foundation for Dance, a leading donor to dance, will in turn designate the proceeds to a newly created award to assist choreographers in their first decade of professional work.

”I am thrilled that we are able, in partnership with the Harkness Foundation, to provide tangible support to the dance community. I could think of no better way to leverage the power of Dance Magazine, now celebrating its 90th anniversary.” — Frederic M. Seegal, owner and CEO, Dance Media Publications, LLC

The Dance Magazine Awards recognize outstanding men and women whose contributions have left a lasting impact on dance. The tradition dates back to 1954. The new Harkness Promise Award seeks to shine a light on the other end of the spectrum, recognizing emerging young artists for the promise of their artistic work, and also for their innovative thinking about how to be an effective artist-citizen who positively impacts dance and the broader community through performance, education, organization, activism or other means.

The Harkness Promise Award will include a $5,000 unrestricted grant, up to 40 hours of studio space within the grant year, and ongoing consulting and mentorship with Joan Finkelstein, the foundation’s executive director. A performance project may result from this support, but is not a condition of the award. The first recipient(s) will be announced in the fall of 2018.

“The Harkness Foundation for Dance is honored to partner with the dance field’s indisputable magazine of record, Dance Magazine. The Foundation is excited about this new initiative, which will extend our ability to support the future of the dance field.” — Joan Finkelstein, Executive Director, The Harkness Foundation for Dance

The winners of the 60th annual Dance Magazine Awards will be announced in the October 2017 issue of Dance Magazine. To facilitate the success of the awards event and fundraising for the Harkness Promise Award, a gala committee is in formation.

About Dance Magazine: For 90 years, Dance Magazine has provided insight and practical information, as well as news, interviews and beautiful, original photography. Dance Magazine illuminates the art form on a global scale, often breaking ground with fiercely personal accounts of life as a dancer. Dance Magazine is published by Dance Media Publications, LLC, whose properties also include: Dance Spirit®, Dance Teacher®, Pointe® and Dance Retailer NewsTM, plus associated websites and apps.

About The Harkness Foundation for Dance: The Harkness Foundation for Dance is a private grant-making foundation dedicated to invigorating and supporting the dance art form, predominantly in New York City. Since 1959, the Harkness name has been synonymous with dance philanthropy. The Foundation carries forward the lifelong dedication to the dance art form of the great American dance patron Rebekah Harkness. Over many decades, this support has taken the form of funding, rehearsal and theater space, technical assistance, and guidance—an unrivaled legacy that has touched countless dance artists and companies in all dance styles and genres. With a broad focus that spans dance creation, presentation, education, medicine and other vital services to the dance field, from 1986 to the present the Harkness Foundation has contributed over $30 million to more than 560 organizations across the industry.