New York Hilton Midtown, New York, New York.
August 10, 2025.
After six years, the prestigious A.C.E. Awards came back! Hundreds of choreographers submitted, but only 17 were chosen to perform their work at Dance Teacher Summit. Known to be the competition to jumpstart a choreographer’s career, the top finalists win funding to create their own full-length productions. The judges for the night were Nan Giordano, Luther Brown, Tessandra Chavez, Jeff Thacker and Justin Peck.
Opening the night was a hard-hitting piece with a pedestrian flair by Camille Spence. This piece was titled “Energy Compromised” and had a story lined around one lantern that was passed from dancer to dancer.
This piece was followed by “The Deep Freeze” from Tommy Tibball. Dancers wore matching leotards and knee pads, creating clean lines and showcasing stunning technique. This was a personal favorite because of the strong unity among the nine dancers and artistic partnering. Tibball ended up tying for second runner-up.
Changing the mood, Maryann Chavez choreographed the next piece, “Otto”. The thing I noticed most was the clean shapes and subtlety of one dancer being left on stage at the end.
Bella Mills’s piece came next, bringing smiles to all faces in the audience. A fun, groovy dance with jazzy musicality. This seemed to be a crowd favorite.
“Prague” came next, choreographed by Jessie Javies. Red lights shadowed the stage with smooth movement. I enjoyed the pace of the choreography, slow enough to appreciate each step.
Changing up the style from the contemporary pieces was a tap piece titled “Eleanor Rigby” by Sydney Burris. This was an instrumental piece with each dancer creating their own rhythms with their feet.
Sofia Sanchez’s piece was up next, “Inner Light”. The dancers were stunning with their flexibility and lines, and all held a light up ball prop that changed colors with different sections of the choreography.
The next number was high energy, thrashy, and performative. “Money Talks” by Nikki Charest seemed to be another audience favorite. The colorful costumes livened up the room and ended with a strong ending of the dancers hanging off the front of the stage.
“Uncle Ace” by Kamryn Funk was the cleanest routine of the evening, in my opinion. It looked super well-rehearsed with fluid floor work and sharp hitting dynamics.
Next was my favorite of the night and shockingly not a top three pick. “Fever Therapy” from Hannah Weinmaster was innovative, funny and intriguing to watch. The dancers came out in business attire and sunglasses and performed quirky, repetitive movements getting a couple chuckles from the audience.
This was followed by Jessica Brewster’s “By the Claw”. This crab-inspired piece was fun with standout costumes, big smiles from the dancers and snapper hand instruments.
Tying for second runner-up with this next piece, “Alone, Together” choreographed by Madi Hicks. This large, 24-dancer group was powerful. The moments when all dancers were synchronized was breathtaking. Hicks had a special solo moment adding emotion to the performance.
The second tap piece of the evening was titled “If I Only Had More Time” by Charles Renato. This piece was interesting with skirtography from the grey dresses that the dancers wore. Renato made an emotional appearance at the end of the performance, walking to center and dropping a rose on the floor.
The following routine was the winner of the A.C.E. Awards and $15,000 to use toward producing her own show. Courtney Barclay choreographed “Here Comes the River”. This stole the attention of the audience with breathy, circular choreography. The piece ended with the audience whispering, “That’s the winner.”
Jason Williams with “The Experience” was up next. The fiercest jazz routine of the evening and placing first runner-up. The audience was clapping along and cheering. The choreography emphasized small movements, including the bodies completely still with only the lips moving to the words of the song. This was done with enough confidence showing that you don’t always need big flashy moments.
“Colors In Divide” by Theresa Stone followed that routine and was full of love, community and support. It started with groups of dancers in different colored costumes fighting against other color groups but ending with the colors intertwined and dancers holding hands with one another.
Closing out the A.C.E. Awards was a creative routine in a blackout. Azuki Umeda choreographed “Give It Up, Nothing Matters” in a way where a dancer held a light on them and the audience could only see what was lit up.
It was a beautiful evening of dance celebrating amazing works of choreography. Congrats to all the choreographers and dancers involved. The judges had a hard decision and long deliberation when deciding the top of the evening. For the first time ever, they gave a tie to the second runner-up. A special congratulations to Tommy Tibball, Madi Hicks, Jason Williams and Courtney Barclay with their winnings for placing and receiving money to produce their own shows.
By Abby DeReamer of Dance Informa.
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