ABT’s Yoon Jung Seo among the honoured artists at the 16th Clive Barnes Awards

ByGramilano Reading Time: 3 minutes
Yoon Jung Seo (ABT)
16th Clive Barnes Awards - Yoon Jung Seo (ABT)

Lauren Lovette, Charlotte Landreau and Kanon Sugino perform at the Martha Graham Dance Center on 19 October, where Mira Nadon presents the dance awards and Marina Harss receives the media and journalism prize.

‘s Yoon Jung Seo is one of three dancers named Honored Artists in Dance at this year’s Clive Barnes Awards, alongside Patrick Gamble of and India Hobbs of GALLIM Dance. The 16th annual ceremony takes place on Monday 19 October at 6.15pm at the Martha Graham Dance Center in New York.

The awards recognise performances given in New York City between June 2025 and July 2026. The honoured artists are Jasmine Amy Rogers for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Ben Levi Ross for Ragtime and Sam Tutty for Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York). The dance writer Marina Harss will receive the Clive Barnes Award for Achievement in Media and Journalism.

Patrick Gamble (Paul Taylor Dance Company)
Patrick Gamble (Paul Taylor Dance Company)

Former winners on stage

The ceremony also brings back Clive Barnes Award alumni to perform. Lauren Lovette, who won the dance award in 2012, returns as resident choreographer of Paul Taylor Dance Company, having been a principal dancer with . Kanon Sugino of Doug Varone and Dancers, a 2024 Honored Artist in Dance, and Anna Zavelson, who won the 2023 theatre award for The Light in the Piazza, complete the alumni line-up. They are joined by Charlotte Landreau, a former principal dancer with Martha Graham Dance Company.

Hosts and presenters

Budd Mishkin hosts the evening. Mira Nadon, a principal dancer with New York City Ballet and a Clive Barnes Award winner in 2021, will present the dance awards. The stage and screen actor Jay O. Sanders presents the theatre awards, while the award-winning writer Amanda Vaill will hand Harss her prize.

India Hobbs (GALLIM)
India Hobbs (GALLIM)

Remembering Clive Barnes

The Clive Barnes Foundation was set up in 2009 to honour the critical work and personal generosity of Clive Barnes and Valerie Taylor Barnes. The foundation recalls Barnes as “caring and generous to his colleagues and friends; always ready to advise and listen”, and says that many letters of condolence after his death spoke of his practical help, especially to young people.

In that spirit, its annual awards aim to give “recognition, encouragement, and financial support” to talented young professionals, one in dance and one in theatre. The honoured artists are chosen at live performances by a panel of experts in each field.

A silent auction is already open for bidding, with lots including prime seats at the Metropolitan Opera, Manhattan Theatre Club and leading New York dance companies. A cocktail reception follows the ceremony.

The 16th Annual Clive Barnes Awards
Monday 19 October 2026, 6.15pm, Martha Graham Dance Center
11th floor of the Paramount Building, 1501 Broadway at 43rd Street, New York City.
All tickets $25
Book here. Silent auction. More information at cvbarnesfoundation.org.

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Graham Spicer, aka 'Gramilano', is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.

Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.

He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.

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