The 2019 Booth Award
Honoring Ishmael Houston-Jones

Ishmael Houston-Jones: choreographer, author, performer, teacher, and curator. His improvised dance and text work has been performed in New York, across the US, and in Europe, Canada, Australia, and Latin America. He and Fred Holland shared a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award for Cowboys, Dreams and Ladders. He was awarded his second “Bessie” Award for the revival of THEM, his 1985/86 collaboration with writer Dennis Cooper and composer Chris Cochrane. He curated Platform 2012: Parallels and Platform 2016: Lost & Found, both at Danspace Project. He has received a 2016 Herb Alpert, a 2015 Doris Duke Impact and a 2013 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Artists Awards. In 2017 he received a third “Bessie” for Variations on Themes from Lost and Found: Scenes from a Life and Other Works by John Bernd.

We also have amazing performances from Yvonne Meier, mayfield brooks, Dan Safer, Emily Wexler, Madison Krekel, Alex Rodabaugh, and Alvaro Gonzalez Dupuy, accompanied by warm remarks from Janet Werther, Margit Edwards, and Judy Hussie-Taylor. The Q&A is moderated by Professor Jean Graham-Jones. Thanks to everyone who came together to celebrate Ishmael Houston-Jones’ immeasurable impact on performance and dance in this city.