THE MARTHA HILL DANCE FUND ANNOUNCES THE 2009 AWARD RECIPIENTS
- Beverly Blossom, 2009 Martha Hill Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
Monday November 30, 6 to 9 PM
The Cathedral, 504 West 41 Street, NYC
Official website: www.marthahilldance.org
The Martha Hill Dance Fund, founded in 2001 to honor and perpetuate Martha Hill’s commitment to dance education and performance, is proud to announce recipients of the 2009 Awards. Each of the three honorees has nurtured the dance field in deep and meaningful ways.
This year’s honorees:
Lifetime Achievement Award - BEVERLY BLOSSOM, a founding and longtime member of the Alwin Nikolais Dance Company and doyenne of the art of solo dance.
Mid-Career Award – VIRGINIA JOHNSON, former principal dancer with Dance Theatre of Harlem, former editor of Pointe Magazine, and current artistic director of Dance Theatre of Harlem.
Special Ciatation – HORTENSE LIEBERTHAL ZERA, longtime dance teacher who studied with and assisted Martha Hill and other dance pioneers.
More About the Honorees:
BEVERLY BLOSSOM (Dancer/Choreographer) was a principal dancer with the Alwin Nikolais Dance Theatre from 1953 to 1963. She went on to produce concerts of her choreography in New York, garnering rave reviews and grants from the NEA, NYSCA, and other organizations. Ms. Blossom was called “a rare performer” by Jennifer Dunning in The New York Times, who further described the artist: “A zany, hilarious goof of a clown, Miss Blossom is also a tragic figure of great dignity, bringing an audience to tears and laughter as her dances ravel and unravel, simultaneously, before one’s eyes.” (1985) A Professor at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana from 1967 to 1990, Ms. Blossom continued to perform at many venues, including Jacob’s Pillow, and in NYC, where she also was awarded a “Bessie” in 1993. Currently a Professor Emeritus from the U of Illinois, since her retirement she has been choreographing, performing and teaching. She currently lives and works in Chicago, in the South Loop.
VIRGINIA JOHNSON, former Editor-in-Chief of Pointe magazine, was a founding member and 28-year member of Dance Theater of Harlem, where she danced principal roles in Swan Lake, Giselle, Les Biches, Concerto Barocco, Agon, Fall River Legend, A Streetcar Named Desire, and many others. She has traveled worldwide as a dancer, teacher, choreographer, and lecturer. Her honors include a Young Achiever Award from the National Council of Women, Outstanding Young Woman of America, a Dance Magazine Award, a Pen and Brush Achievement Award, and, in her hometown of Washington D.C., a Performing Arts Society’s Pola Nirenska Dance Award. As a choreographer she created works for Goucher College, Dancers Responding to AIDS, Harlem Festival of the Arts, Thelma Hill P.A. Center, and Marymount Manhattan College, where she was also an adjunct professor. In 2008 Johnson returned to Dance Theater of Harlem, where she will bring her artistry and vision to the position of Artistic Director.
HORTENSE LIEBERTHAL ZERA graduated from NYU’s School of Education in 1936 with a degree in physical education. She focused her studies in dance under the directorship of Martha Hill, subsequently becoming assistant to Ms. Hill and Bessie Schoenberg at the historic summer festival at The Bennington School of the Dance from 1936 to 41. Mrs. Zera taught at the New Dance Group, and taught dance, sports, and health education in the New York City public schools until her retirement.
MARTHA HILL (1900-1995) was an early member of the Martha Graham Dance Company and became a revered figure in the dance world as the first director of The Juilliard School Dance Department, 1951-85, where she mentored and inspired countless young dancers. The Fund seeks to honor and perpetuate Martha Hill’s commitment to dance education and performance internationally by giving monetary awards for demonstrated leadership in dance. A secondary goal is to preserve the legacy of Martha Hill through archives, published materials, film/video, and other projects established in her name.
The first Martha Hill Lifetime Achievement Award was given to
Alfredo Corvino 2001
Doris Hering and May O’Donnell 2002
Francis Mason 2003
Donald McKayle and Doris Rudko 2004
Ruth E. Grauert 2005
Mary Anthony 2006
Pearl Lang 2007
Ethel Winter 2008
For the Martha Hill Dance Fund Limited:
Hudas Liff, President
Vernon Scott and Hortense Zera, Vice Presidents
David K. Manion, Chairman
Elizabeth McPherson, Secretary
Ernesta Corvino, Treasurer
Board Members: Andra Corvino, Henning Rubsam, Ani Udovicki, Sylvia Waters
For more information on the martha Hill Dance Awards please visit www.marthahilldance.org
Topics: Alfredo Corvino, Ani Udovicki, Bessie, Bessie Schoenberg, Beverly Blossom, Dance Theater of Harlem, David K. Manion, Donald McKayle, Doris Hering, Doris Rudko, Elizabeth McPherson, Ernesta Corvino, Ethel Winter, Francis Mason, Goucher College, Harlem Festival of the Arts, Henning Rübsam, Hortonese Lieberthal Zera, Jacob's Pillow, Jennifer Dunning, Mark Anthony, Martha Graham Dance Company, Martha Hill Dance Fund, Marymount Manhattan, May O'Donnell, New Dance Group, Outstanding Young Woman of America, Pearl Lang, Pen and Brush Achievement Award, Performing Arts Society Pola Nirenska Dance Award, Ruth Grauert, Sylvia Waters, The Bennington School of Dance, Vernon Scott, Virginia Johnson
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