For the 2024 Martha Hill Dance Fund, now in its 23rd year of continuing Hill’s legacy, Joan Myers Brown will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award, along with Jim May, while Ronald K. Brown will receive a mid-career award along with Jacqulyn Buglisi. This year’s gala will be held on Monday, February 26, and will be hosted by Norton Owen.
Martha Hill, the fund’s namesake, was the founding director of the dance programs/departments at New York University’s School of Education (teaching dance in the Physical Education Department starting in 1930 and initiating the graduate program in dance education in 1938), Bennington College (1932), and the Juilliard School (1951), as well as the summer festivals of the Bennington School of the Dance (1934) and Connecticut College School of the Dance (1948), precursors to the American Dance Festival. Hill was the moving force behind the scenes of 20th-century American concert dance and dance education, and tied the two together in a lasting relationship that continues today to the betterment of both.
The fund ensures access to Hill’s work through published materials, film, digital archives, and other projects established in her name, while continually influencing the world of dance and performance.
The fund’s president, Vernon Scott, wrote, “This year’s awardees are true pioneers—establishing their own companies and advancing the art form on their own terms [and] each [embodies] the best qualities of Miss Hill and her legacy as performer, teacher, and nurturer.”
Joan Myers Brown is the founder of the Philadelphia School of Dance and the Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO). Myers Brown’s award will be presented by Robert Garland, artistic director of Dance Theatre of Harlem.
Ronald K. Brown founded EVIDENCE, A Dance Company in 1985. He has worked with Mary Anthony and Jennifer Muller, among others, and has set works on Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ailey II, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Ballet Hispánico, and many more. Brown’s award will be presented by Arcell Cabuag, associate artistic director of EVIDENCE.
Myers Brown and Brown often speak of sharing the same last name, and although they are not blood relatives, their love for each other is palpable. I chatted with them over Zoom about receiving the award. This is an excerpt from our conversation.
AmNews: Did either of you know about the Martha Hill Awards before this invitation?
Joan Myers Brown (JMB): I did, but I haven’t been to one since (2002) when Doris Herring received it.
Ronald K. Brown (RKB): I went last year, when Diane McIntyre and Diane Byer (founder and artistic director of the New York Theatre Ballet/NYTB) got one.
AmNews: And did either of you know Martha Hill?
JMB: I knew of her, and because Herring documented so many things she told me about her and asked me to attend.
RKB: The same here. I know of her.
AmNews: What is the gala like then?
JMB: Well, at that time, it was just a luncheon and speeches, but it’s been many years, so they probably gussied it up a little.
RKB: It was a sweet dinner, a reunion; seeing old friends. Kind of a history lesson, too, because I didn’t know much about NYTB, but it was great to see the information come across on the screen.
JMB: Coming from Philly, there are people I’ll see that I haven’t seen who know of me or I’ve been on panels with. It’s another opportunity to make an appearance in New York. It’s been many, many years since I personally have done anything there.
AmNews: How did you find out that you would be honored?
JMB: I stopped taking awards, but Vernon Scott called me and although there isn’t a check…you know, Obama didn’t give me a check. I don’t need to sell tickets for people. I don’t need to show up for other people., and if it doesn’t benefit me, I just say I don’t need any more awards. But when I got the call, I said, okay….I didn’t see who else was being honored until recently, and when I saw that I was going to be with my son—I was going to be there.
RKB: I think Vernon Scott reached out to Arcell and they wanted to know if I’d be in town to accept the award. We checked and I will be in town. Then I saw the other people being honored, and was like, right—it is a great honor.
AmNews: What were your thoughts when you found out that both of you were being honored?
JMB: I’ve been a major representative for Ron for years; I waved a flag for him and tried to help him. I appreciated his work and what he did for me. So, me and Ron, that’s special.
RKB: The same thing. It’s great to be honored, but when you see who else is going to be there, you go, oh, we’re going to be there in the same room together? How am I in the same room as Joan Myers Brown?
JMB: When you have a romance going, it’s easy. I love him, and he loves me. And I know it.
RKB: And there we go!
AmNews: Scott says, “…they each embody the best qualities of Ms. Hill and her legacy as performer, teacher, and nurturer.” What do you say to that?
JMB: Well, they can’t talk about me being a performer ’cause you know how long ago that was, and the fact that I didn’t get to be the dancer that I wanted to be. Performing was always second to me. I don’t want to be on nobody’s stage, trying to dance at 92 years old!
RKB: Excuse me, mama.
JMB: Yeah, babe?
RKB: I’ve seen the pictures. A beautiful dancer in pointe shoes!
JMB: Yeah, but that was back in the day. I wanted to be a ballet dancer and I took a job. I’ve been teaching for 80 years and the school is 63 years old. I was teaching when I was 17 and I’ve always felt that Ron is a nurturer ’cause he’s just an all-around ballpark player. I try to nurture because so many of our kids come without ethics, without knowing how to be good people. They think if they get their leg up, that’s all they have to do, but you want people who are committed to your institution and who believe in what you do and want to help you further your goals and your art form.
RKB: I performed text in our last show, because it was required for the piece, but I haven’t been on a stage dancing for quite a while, which is fine. I love to dance and I love to teach and for our 40th anniversary next year, I hope to perform a duet with Arcell that I choreographed for his 20th anniversary. If God has his way, I’ll be dancing. It is also such a blessing to nurture the next generation of all the ages. It’s really a beautiful opportunity to lift people up. I love it so much.
JMB: Well, I’ve got a direct line to God and I’ll make sure that he gets it, so that’ll happen!
RKB: Thank you. I appreciate that.
JMB: I think it’s just amazing that regardless of what happened, Ron’s a wonderful teacher. He sits down and teaches his movement terminology without moving. His creativity and his style and his movement translates to dancers, and that’s a blessing.
RKB: I do get up sometimes. I say to the company, I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I’m about to stand up. Last season, I got up, coached them in rhythms, and [got] them to move. With these recent challenges, I became a teacher to myself again, which has been another blessing.
JMB: What I do is more coaching than teaching now. We have four companies, and each group has to be handled differently. It’s more important who is teaching who, and I encourage them how to teach.
AmNews: What are you looking forward to at the gala?
JMB: Well, it’s always an honor to be recognized within the field and with comrades, but to share it with someone that you love and care about is very special for me.
RJB: One of my favorite mantras is work for the sake of the work and not for the sake of the goal, because you do that and then the blessings come and you’re like, Oh, wow. And this award feels like that. I’m just out here doing my thing and then you’re recognized. It’s really humbling because I’m just trying to do what God told me to do.
Ronald K. Brown will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the American Dance Guild Performance Festival at the Ailey Citigroup Theater.
This year’s theme is “Leaps Beyond Bounds.” The four-night program (Feb. 22–25) celebrating the Guild’s 68th anniversary will also honor the late choreographer Joan Miller (Lifetime Achievement Award), and Celia Ipiotis/Eye on Dance (Distinguished Service in Dance— Lifetime Achievement Award). The American Dance Guild has served the dance field in many capacities for more than 60 years, including sponsoring conferences, festivals, and publications.
For more information about the performances, visit https://www.americandanceguild.org/
Honoree Jacqulyn Buglisi co-founded the Buglisi Dance Theatre in 1993 after a career as a principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company. Terese Capucilli will present Buglisi with her award.
Jim May was a disciple of Anna Sokolow for 35 years and co-artistic director of her dance company, Players’ Project, since 1990. He has performed with Danny Lewis, Eliot Feld, Kathryn Posin, the José Limón Dance Company, and as a soloist for Kazuko Hirabayashi. May’s award will be presented by Daniel Lewis.
For more information about the Martha Hill gala, visit https://www.marthahilldance.org/.
Philadanco! returned to the Joyce for their 32nd season (Feb. 6-12) in an evening of dance titled “Intangible” that includes Nijawwon K. Matthews’s “From Dystopia to Our Declaration,” Christopher Rudd’s “Mating Season,” Ray Mercer’s “Balance of Power,” and Tommie-Waheed Evans’s “Somewhere Between Heaven and Earth,” made in collaboration with the Philadanco dancers. This was their first season at the Joyce since 2018. For more information about the performances, visit https://www.joyce.org/performances/55//philadanco.