DANCE TREASURES

BALTIMORE DANCE TREASURES

THE DANCE TREASURE AWARD IS A RECOGNITION OF A LIFETIME OF DEDICATION, ARTISTIC EXCELLENCE
AND TIRELESS SERVICE AND CONTRIBUTION TO DANCE THROUGHOUT THE
BALTIMORE METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY.

2023

Ava Denise Fields was born and bred in Baltimore City, graduating from Forest Park High School and Morgan State University. She began her dance training at The Peabody Institute and quickly moved on to becoming a member of the internationally renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in New York City.

Following her years performing on global stages, Ava enlisted in the Army and continued her dance activity while traveling around the world. Experiencing new dance styles and techniques, she trained with both the Korean Dance Theatre and the Moscow Dance Theatre. Upon returning to the States, Ave knew she wanted to share the art of dance with young people in her hometown. She soon founded The Ava Fields Dance Company exposing young people throughout her community to dance regardless of the ability to pay annual fees. A trailblazer in dance, Ava was one of the first to take dance into church services developing dance ministries that today are a fixture in most African American churches of all denominations.

Shirley Duncan is a native Baltimorean graduating from Douglas Senior High School in 1966, studying Therapeutic Recreation at the Community College of Baltimore and employed by Baltimore City’s Recreation and Parks Department for 23 years. Following her years with Rec & Parks, her entrepreneurial side emerged, and she opened the Park Hill Child Care Center.

Shirley’s foray into the arts began in1985 when she developed the first Cultural Arts Program for the Recreation and Parks Department and sponsored the Northwestern Cultural Arts Program in 1990. Later in the 90s, Shirley began teaching Line Dance classes for youth. Eventually, she reconnected and fell in love with the old school swing dance style known as Hand Dance and in 1997, she became a certified dance instructor of the Smooth and EZ Dance Institute in Washington DC. From there, she and her dance partner Lewis Neal, competed in numerous swing dance competitions throughout the DMV gaining great notoriety and winning honors in various competitions including the North Atlantic Championship for Hand Dance, “World’s Greatest Hand Dance Competition," and the National Hand Dance Competition, Department of Veterans Administration/National Creative Festival.

In 1994, Shirley Duncan founded the Charm City Dancers, a hand dance and line dance team. She then co-founded the New Baltimore Hand Dance Association (NBHDA), an affiliate of the National Hand Dance Association.

Mark Sissman is the recently retired President of Healthy Neighborhoods, Inc., a Baltimore community development organization that provides strategies and capital to increase home values. Previously, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Hippodrome Foundation, and the Baltimore Center for the Performing Arts, presenter at the Morris Mechanic Theatre, Sissman, in addition to spearheading the $77 million fundraising effort for the latter, simultaneously played a major role in the founding of Dance Baltimore.
Sissman has held several leadership positions throughout his distinguished career, always dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for city residents. He served for fourteen years as President of the Enterprise Social Investment Corporation and just prior was a Senior Vice President at Bank of America. Mr. Sissman was the Deputy Housing Commissioner for the City of Baltimore in the early 80s. He served as the President of the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning and on the Board of the House of Ruth, a shelter for battered women. Mr. Sissman is an attorney and served as Chairman of the Maryland Credit Assurance Review Committee, the Advisory Board of the Housing Development Reporter, the Board of the Empower Baltimore Management Corporation, and the Board of the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

2017

STEPHANIE POWELL
is the Artistic Director of the Stephanie Powell DanseEnsemble Glory to God Arts Ministry and Director of Baltimore DanceTech Inc., She was on the faculty of the Baltimore School for the Arts for over 20 years and is currently teaching at Carver Center for the Arts and Technology and Goucher College. Ms Powell has also served nationally as the ballet and modern dance instructor for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dallas Black Dance Theater, Cirque du Soleil, The Lion King and The Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Theatre. As a guest choreographer, her works can be seen in the repertories of the Jacksonville University, Northern Illinois University, The Ballet Theater of Maryland, Towson University, and University of Alabama at Birmingham Ms Powell was guest artist and choreographer for the Berkeley Ballet.

Dancers trained by Ms. Powell can be seen in The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Lines Ballet, Boston Ballet, Culberg Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and The Julliard School, to name a few. Her students can also be seen on Broadway in recent years in The Lion King, The Color Purple, Movin ’ Out, Evita, Motown and Cirque de Soleil.

2017

MARIA "The Storydancer" BROOM
Performer. Instructor. Choreographer. Educator. Maria Broom has covered all the bases in dance. She has performed in, choreographed and/or directed productions of Pippin’, Once on This Island, Jungle Book and Hair in the US and abroad. Founding the multigenerational dance company, The Dance Bringers in Baltimore in the early 80s, Maria was able to bring her wealth of dance history and knowledge to men and women of varying backgrounds and create a model for dance, unique at the time, where everybody dances young, old, trained, untrained In her dance career, Maria Broom has been a Guest Instructor at the University of Hawaii, Johns Hopkins University, Vanderbilt University, Maryland Institute College of Art, and others additionally providing workshops throughout the United States, and in Germany, Hawaii, Uganda, Ghana, Poland, and India Currently, Maria is on the theater faculty at the Baltimore School for the Arts, guest instructor for Peabody Preparatory and Center Stage, and for many years, host for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's Music Box series In 2004.

Maria Broom received Maryland’s Governor's Arts Award for Individual Artist

2006

DR. IANTHA TUCKER
Morgan State University
A Morgan State University alumnus, Dr. Iantha Tucker was on staff in the Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance since 1976. Obtaining both her Bachelor of Science and Masters of Science at MSU and finally a PhD. at New York University, Dr. Tucker began her MSU tenure serving not only as the primary dance instructor in the department but also serving as the artistic director and principle choreographer for the Modern Dance Ensemble at MSU.

A noted dance historian on Black Dance, Dr. Tucker has been recognized for her achievements in dance education. She is the co-writer of the State of Maryland Curriculum Framework for Dance in Public Education and a member of the Maryland State Department of Education Task Force for the Arts in Education and the recipient of the Fulbright Hayes Fellowship (1991) and studied dance in Africa.

2013

EDWARD TERRY
Arena Players/ Tapsichore

The late Ed Terry was adjunct professor of fine arts at Baltimore City Community College from 2000 through 2007, where he taught tap as a percussive art. He was also on the dance faculty at Flair Studio in Catonsville from 1990 through 2008. The Founder of Tapsichore, Baltimore’s senior tap ensemble (ages 50 – 76), his choreography has been seen at Artscape, Ageless Grace, Dance Baltimore’s annual concert for dancers over 40, and the 2012 Innovations in Aging Expo and Conference at the National Harbor. He has held master classes in tap at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum, Morgan State University, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Johns Hopkins University, and Arena Players, Inc.

2005

EVA ANDERSON
Eva Anderson Dancers
Eva Anderson began her dance training on a full dance scholarship at Bard College. She completed her BA in dance at Adelphi University in New York, and earned an MA in Education as well. In addition to studying modern dance techniques with followers of Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham, she studied ballet with instructors associated with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and African dance with Olatunji, the noted Nigerian dancer and drummer. She previously taught dance at Adelphi University, Goucher College, and Howard Community College. Mrs. Anderson was awarded the Maryland State Choreographers Fellowship in 1982 and again in 1986.

Eva Anderson choreographed the dance scenes in Barry Levinson's movie “Avalon” and her history can be read in a published book entitled Women of Achievement in Maryland History (2003). She has received the Howie Award, Torch Bearer from the Coalition of 100 Black Women, a Special Salute from Great Blacks in Wax, the Distinguished Black Marylanders Award from Towson University, and an award from the Pierians, Incorporated.

LESTER HOLMES

Lester Holmes came to the Baltimore area in 1993 to take over The Wally Saunders Dance Studio until 2000. Prior to 2000, Holmes had a successful career in New York City performing on and off-Broadway, on television and in nightclub. He began his teaching career in NYC in 1982 and was on the dance faculty of the well-known Broadway Dance Center. He left BDC to teach and choreograph in Italy for almost four years. Once in Baltimore, Holmes taught at Essex Community College, Howard Community College, The Peabody Preparatory, St. Timothy's School, Towson University and Goucher College. Returning to NYC in 2011, Holmes continues to teach workshops and master classes and choreograph in various schools, studios and theaters.

2005

DR. CHRYSTELLE BOND
Goucher College
Chrystelle Bond, retired Professor of Dance and Founding Chair of the Dance Department, Goucher College is a dancer, researcher-reconstructor, teacher, and author, who received her dance training in Baltimore and New York.

As co-founder and director of Choregraphie Antique, The Dance History Ensemble of Goucher, her reconstructions have been performed at the Smithsonian, Colonial Williamsburg and St. Mark’s Dance Place, New York City. Her work has been performed with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and The Peabody Ragtime Ensemble. She has performed and lectured at George Washington University, Roehampton Institute in London, and Middlesex University in London. Professor Bond has received Goucher's Distinguished Faculty Award in 1984; the Elizabeth Conolly Todd Distinguished Professorship in 1985 through 1990; and the Distinguished Service Award from the Maryland Council for Dance in 1994. Her publications include "Dance In Baltimore 1780-1814", Dance Perspectives 1976. She served as the dance critic for the Baltimore Sun for 14 years.