2003 Dance Magazine Awards. .

The forty-sixth DANCE MAGAZINE AWARDS, held on April 21 in New York City, honor five outstanding members of the dance community for their contributions to the field. Recipients are: William Forsythe, Susan Jaffe, Charles and Stephanie Reinhart, and Jock Soto. The awards are selected by an internal committee chaired by noted critic Clive Barnes. Roslyne Stern, publisher emeritus of DANCE MAGAZINE, is chair of the awards event. A list of prior recipients and more detailed biographies are available at www.dancemagazine.com.

WILLIAM FORSYTHE

Choreographer William Forsythe's work has profoundly affected the contemporary dance repertoire. As an American working in the European scene, he has integrated a demanding language of dance into an intensely modern aesthetic that is exciting to dancers and audiences. [] Originally from New York, Forsythe trained at Jacksonville University in Florida, studied and performed with The Joffrey Ballet before joining the Stuttgart Ballet in 1973, where he was principal choreographer from 1977 to 1979. He began freelance choreography in 1980 and has directed Ballett Frankfurt since 1984. Called a genius of the '80s, Forsythe choreographed more than thirty-five ballets in fifteen years. A classicist, but using his now signature approach, which is intensely musical, intellectual, and adds many other disciplines to the dance, Forsythe has explored limits of tradition and body mechanics. Several of his ballets have become the new standards of companies throughout the world. Forsythe has announced that he is leaving Frankfurt in 2004.

SUSAN JAFFE

Susan Jaffe joined American Ballet Theatre in 1980 at the invitation of Mikhail Baryshnikov and became one of the leading ballerinas of our time. Born in Washington, D.C., she began her dance training there and performed with the Maryland Youth Ballet before joining ABT II in 1978. In a mythic rise, she was plucked from the corps for the 1980 season opening night to dance opposite recently defected Russian Alexander Godunov in a pas de deux from Le Corsaire. She was promoted to soloist in 1981 and to principal in 1983. [] Jaffe is seen as representative of an entire generation of new ballerinas, having mastered equally the classical and contemporary repertoires. But beyond technique, she consistently invested her roles with an elegance and sweetness--or wickedness, as needed--that conveyed a real humanity to her audiences. [] After twenty-two critically praised years with American Ballet Theatre, Jaffe retired from performing in 2002; she now teaches and acts as advisor to the chairman and the president of the Board of Governing Trustees at ABT. She hosts Dance New York, the weekly TV show co-produced by DANCE MAGAZINE and WNYE-TV Channel 25. [] Jaffe has chosen writer Elizabeth Kaye as her presenter.

CHARLES AND STEPHANIE REINHART

Charles L. and Stephanie Reinhart excelled--Charles as a manager of modern dance companies and Stephanie as an arts administrator for the National Endowment for the Arts, and both as seekers of little-known companies in far corners of the world. But as co-directors of the American Dance Festival and as co-artistic directors for dance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, they brought those organizations, and their audiences, to new heights of understanding of dance. [] A graduate of Rutgers University, Charles served as a military historian in Korea 1952-54, and later studied foreign policy at University of Copenhagen. In the 1960s, he worked with the State Department's Cultural Presentation Program, and later, with the NEA. In 1968, he became director of ADF, and for 1974, added the directorship of Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. In 1996, he became co-artistic director for dance with Stephanie, whose credits included an honors degree from the University of Wisconsin, a fellowship from George Washington University; Harvard's Summer Institute in Arts Administration, and almost ten years with the NEA. The Reinharts received a 2002 Emmy as co-executive producers of Free to Dance: The African-American Presence in Modern Dance. [] This is the first time a DANCE MAGAZINE Award has been presented posthumously (see page 85).

JOCK SOTO

A member of New York City Ballet since he was 16, Jock Soto was promoted to principal dancer with the company in 1985. Half Navajo and half Puerto Rican, Soto was born in New Mexico and raised in Arizona, where he began his ballet education from local teachers at age 5. The sight of Edward Villella dancing "Rubies" in a television production of Jewels was his inspiration to begin dancing, and he came to the School of American Ballet at age 12 to further develop his talents. These days, Soto not only performs full seasons but teaches both boys' and men's classes at SAB. With his compact, muscular body, Soto has become a role model of possibilities for a whole generation of male dancers. The ultimate dependable partner, he is also known for his sensitivity and responsiveness to those with whom he dances. [] Mr. Soto will be presented his award by former New York City Ballet principal dancer Heather Watts.