Marya Warshaw’s Acceptance Speech at the 2018 NY Dance and Performance Bessie Awards
So... I guess if I get another Bessie in twenty years Dean and I will be out here again and he will look like he does right now and I will……..!
Service to the field is huge for me and I hope it is for you. I think of myself as a cultural practitioner, but in truth I see, analyze and commit as a dancer, who are the world’s best multi-taskers and who think from all sides of their brains, hearts and bodies. Dancers and dance makers have been and are NOW radical people who step forward to question and to change with a deep knowledge of daily practice and in their embodiment are aligned with all other radical change-makers. Dance is love, dance is fierce, dance is sublime dance is questioning dance is queer and ridiculous and sexy and bewildering and breathtaking and boring AND I am incredibly grateful to have been serving it (and some of you) for more than forty years.
In the audience tonight are some of the people who by their example or partnership and always their friendship have helped shape what I know about service. When I was 11 or 12, I tried a dance class at a local Y taught by June Finch. I loved it and wanted to go but couldn’t get there; my Mom worked full time and I and I had no transportation. June went way beyond the scope of teaching a weekly class to get me there every week and became my guide and advocate through my teen years. Just a few years ago I learned that Aileen Passloff was the force behind awarding ME - a largely untrained , at least not traditionally 17 year old, a full scholarship to Bard College which literally made it possible for me to go there. She continues to be a mentor and a guide. Sue Bodine is here, who was my partner in developing our first venue on the LES, Chichicastenago and so is Joanna Brotman, one of my first students and a force of her own as a dance practitioner. Along the way... the New Dance Group Studio, Charles Weidman on 29th St & seeing Merce’s Rainforest in 1968 . And with all of who I am I want to acknowledge every single one of BAX’s AIRs and space Grantees since 1991 who have shared their lives and work, their aspirations, their disappointments, have pushed me and I have learned from and who I love so much.
Lastly, we have lives and without the people who love us, life is rough and on some days whether it’s a lack of kindness, unjust lawmakers and policies, or overwhelm at the state of our country its even rougher. Tonight I am taking the opportunity to say thank you for the love, for the kindness and for always hanging in there to my dearest partner Jane-Cole Raftery AND to my amazing BAX FAMILY WHO ARE ALSO HERE TONIGHT!!
Let’s take care of each other and RESIST RESIST RESIST- VOTE VOTE VOTE… that’s paying it forward and that’s service.
