This week, the 30 interviews that were filmed backstage by #SKYNOVA during the New York Dance & Performance Awards (a.k.a. The Bessies) will begin airing on skynova.tv (complete schedule below).

These interviews include a stellar line-up of guests from a Who’s Who of the New York City dance community and beyond.  Sydney Skybetter and I were incredibly fortunate to speak with each of them — thank you, dance community! We also had a great deal of help pulling off the four straight hours of interviews and made a special video to try and thank everyone who was a part of the evening.

Later in November, we’ll be releasing new episodes with the artistic and executive leadership teams of Ballet Hispanico and Parsons Dance, and have a few more exciting episodes in the mix.  For upcoming episode information, and to submit questions for guests on the show, please follow #SKYNOVA on Twitter.

Stay tuned to the “Backstage at The Bessies” playlist on skynova.tv this week for the following videos:

Monday, November 8

1. Martin Wechsler (Director of Programming, The Joyce Theater)
2. Brian McCormick (The New School, Nicholas Leichter Dance)
3. Rashaun Mitchell & Dylan Crossman (Merce Cunningham Dance Company)
4. Norton Owen (Director of Preservation, Jacob’s Pillow Dance) & Peter Kyle (Peter Kyle Dance)
5. Dick Caples (Executive Director, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company)

Tuesday, November 9

1. Kate Weare (Kate Weare Company) & Gregory Dolbashian (The Dash Ensemble)
2. Marc Kirschner (Founder, TenduTV)
3. Nejla Y. Yatkin (NY2Dance)
4. Alton Murray (Arts & Culture Partnerships, ConEd)
5. Nel Shelby (Nel Shelby Productions)

Wednesday, November 10

1. Joan Finkelstein (Director of Dance Programs, New York City Department of Education)
2. Leah Kraus (Mertz Gilmore Foundation)
3. Alberto Dennis (Queens Academy of Arts & Design)
4. Faye Driscoll
5. Okwui Okpokwasili & Peter Born

Thursday, November 11

1. Virginia Johnson (Artistic Director, Dance Theatre of Harlem)
2. Yanira Castro (Yanira Castro + Company)
3. Pam Tanowitz (Pam Tanowitz Dance)
4. David Leventhal (Mark Morris Dance Group) & Heather Olson (Tere O’Connor Dance)
5. Keith Henessy (Circo Zero)

Friday, November 12

1. Alex Escalante
2. Miguel Gutierrez
3. Carla Peterson (Artistic Director, Dance Theater Workshop)
4. Yvonne Meier
5. Big Dance Theater

Monday, November 15

1. Christy Bolingbroke (Director of Marketing, Mark Morris Dance Group)
2. Lane Harwell (Director, Dance/NYC)
3. Kyle Abraham (Abraham.In.Motion)
4. Julia Kelly & Justina Gaddy (D/NYC Youth Advisory Committee Members)

[Photo by ChristopherDuggan.com]