2025

Donald Byrd

Frances Chung

Mandy Moore

Kenny Ortega

Lula Washington

Brenda Way and Kimi Okada

Chairman’s Award: Debbie Allen

Posthumous Awards: Stephen “tWitch” Boss, Janet Collins, Lester Horton, and Michael Peters

Harkness Promise Awards: Annie Rigney and Micaela Taylor

2024

George Faison

Joanna Haigood

Liz Lerman

Mavis Staines

Shen Wei

Chairman’s Award: Mikhail Baryshnikov

Posthumous Awards: Carmen Amaya, Talley Beatty, Michaela Mabinty DePrince, ‘Iolani Luahine, Raven Wilkinson, and Yuriko

2023

Antoine Hunter

Alicia Graf Mack

Norton Owen

Bijayini Satpathy

Maria Torres

Chairman’s Award: Jody Gottfried Arnhold

Harkness Promise Awards: Amadi “Baye” Washington and Sam “Asa” Pratt of Baye & Asa, and Omar Román De Jesús

Posthumous Awards: Syvilla Fort, Gregory Hines, Pearl Primus, and Helen Tamiris

2022

Kyle Abraham

Lucinda Childs

Herman Cornejo

Brenda Dixon-Gottschild

Dianne McIntyre

Chairman’s Award: Jim Herbert

Harkness Promise Awards: Johnnie Cruise Mercer and Kayla Farrish

2021

Robert Battle

Andy Blankenbuehler

Dormeshia

Akram Khan

Tamara Rojo

Chairman’s Award: Works & Process

Special Citation: Dr. Wendy Ziecheck

Harkness Promise Awards: Alethea Pace and Yin Yue

2020

Carlos Acosta

Debbie Allen

Camille A. Brown

Alonzo King

Laurieann Gibson

Chairman’s Award: Darren Walker

Harkness Promise Awards: Marjani Forté-Saunders and Kyle Marshall

2019

Masazumi Chaya

Angel Corella

David Gordon and Valda Setterfield

Sara Mearns

Chairman’s Award: Linda Shelton

Harkness Promise Awards: Bobbi Jene Smith and Caleb Teicher

2018

Ronald K. Brown

Lourdes Lopez

Crystal Pite

Michael Trusnovec

Leadership Award: Nigel Redden

Harkness Promise Awards: Ephrat “Bounce” Asherie and Raja Feather Kelly

2017

Rennie Harris

Marika Molnar

Linda Celeste Sims

Diana Vishneva

2016

Carolyn Adams

Lynn Garafola

Lar Lubovitch

Tiler Peck

2015

Soledad Barrio

Marcelo Gomes

Karen Kain

David Vaughan

Jawole Willa Jo Zollar

2014

Brenda Bufalino and Tony Waag

Misty Copeland

Luigi

Wayne McGregor

Larissa Saveliev

2013

Martha Clarke

Mats Ek

Philip Glass

Yuan Yuan Tan

Patricia Wilde

2012

Julie Kent

Anna Kisselgoff

Renee Robinson

Dianne Walker

2011

Dr. William Hamilton

Alexei Ratmansky

Kathleen Marshall

Yvonne Rainer

Jenifer Ringer

2010

Deborah Jowitt

Pilobolus Dance Theatre

Irina Kolpakova

Matthew Rushing

2009

Allegra Kent

Ohad Naharin

Sara Rudner

Jason Samuels Smith

2008

Pina Bausch

Lawrence Rhodes

Ethan Stiefel

Sylvia Waters

2007

Bettie de Jong

Bebe Neuwirth

Desmond Richardson

Wendy Whelan

2006

Todd Bolender

Eiko & Koma

David Howard

Gelsey Kirkland

Joan Myers Brown

2005

Clive Barnes

Alessandra Ferri

Donald McKayle

Jimmy Slyde

Christopher Wheeldon

2004

Jose Manuel Carreño

Chuck Davis

Anna Halprin

Chita Rivera

2003

William Forsythe

Susan Jaffe

Jock Soto

Charles and Stephanie Reinhart

2002

Nina Ananiashvili

Frank Andersen

Jack Mitchell

Tina Ramirez

2001

Terese Capucilli

Michael M. Kaiser

Susan Stroman

Damian Woetzel

2000

David Parsons

Ann Reinking

Ben Stevenson

1999

Barbara Horgan for the Balanchine Trust

Al Pischl for Dance Horizons

Jacques d’Amboise

Martin Fredmann

Kevin McKenzie

1998

Jeraldyne Blunden

Julio Bocca

Suki Schorer

Dame Ninette de Valois

1997

Claude Bessy

Anna-Marie Holmes and Bruce Marks

Dudley Williams

Hernando Cortez & Dancers Responding to AIDS

1996

Peter Boal

Savion Glover

Francia Russell and Kent Stowell

Ann Barzel*

1995

Susan Marshall

Carla Maxwell

Fayard and Harold Nicholas

1994

Christine Dakin

Kate Johnson

Jirí Kylián

1993

Bill T. Jones

Pierre Dulaine and Yvonne Marceau

Beatriz Rodriguez

1992

Darci Kistler

Meredith Monk

Helgi Tomasson

1991

Virginia Johnson

Mark Morris

Jennifer Tipton

1990

Garth Fagan

Eliot Feld

Hanya Holm

1988

“Dancing for Life”

Moscelyne Larkin and Roman Jasinski

P. W. Manchester

Kyra Nichols

1987

Merrill Ashley

Trisha Brown

Liz Thompson

David White

Doris Hering*

1985

Charles “Honi” Coles

Richard Cragun

Frederic Franklin

Heather Watts

Walter Sorell*

1984

Alexandra Danilova

Robert Irving

Donald Saddler

Tommy Tune

Dance Masters of America, Inc.*

1983

Jeannot Cerrone

John Neumeier

Michael Smuin

Martine van Hamel

1982

Fernando Bujones

Laura Dean

Arnold Spohr

Lee Theodore

1981

Selma Jeanne Cohen

Sir Anton Dolin

Twyla Tharp

Stanley Williams

1980

Patricia McBride

Ruth Page

Paul Taylor

Herbert Ross and Nora Kaye*

1979

Aaron Copland

Jorge Donn

Erick Hawkins

1978

Mikhail Baryshnikov

Raoul Gelabert

Bella Lewitzky

1977

Murray Louis

Natalia Makarova

Peter Martins

1976

Michael Bennett

Suzanne Farrell

E. Virginia Williams

1975

Alvin Ailey

Cynthia Gregory

Arthur Mitchell

1974

Gerald Arpino

Maurice Béjart

Antony Tudor

1973

The Christensen Brothers (Lew, Harold, Willam)

Rudolf Nureyev

1972

Anthony Dowell

Judith Jamison

1969

Sir Frederick Ashton

Carolyn Brown

Ted Shawn

1968

Erik Bruhn

Katherine Dunham

Carla Fracci

1967

Eugene Loring

Alwin Nikolais

Violette Verdy

1966

Carmen de Lavallade

Sol Hurok

Wesleyan University Press

1965

Edwin Denby

Margaret H’Doubler

Maya Plisetskaya

1964

John Butler

Peter Gennaro

Edward Villella

1963

Gower Champion

Robert Joffrey

Pauline Koner

1962

Isadora Bennett

Margot Fonteyn

Bob Fosse

1961

Melissa Hayden

Anna Sokolow

Gwen Verdon

1960

Merce Cunningham

Igor Moiseyev

Maria Tallchief

1959

Dorothy Alexander

Fred Astaire

George Balanchine

1958

Alicia Alonso

Doris Humphrey

Gene Kelly

Igor Youskevitch

1957

Lucia Chase

José Limón

Alicia Markova

Jerome Robbins

1956

Agnes de Mille

Martha Graham

1955

Jack Cole

Gene Nelson

Moira Shearer

1954

Dance on TV: “Adventure” (CBS)

Tony Charmoli (NBC)

Max Liebman (NBC)

“Omnibus” (CBS)

*Special award