The 2026 Martha Hill Awards Gala
On Monday, February 2, 2026, 6pm
at
The Manhattan Penthouse
80 Fifth Avenue
New York City
we will honor Phyllis Lamhut and Joan Finkelstein
with
The Lifetime Achievement Award
and
Dante Puleio and David Hamilton Thomson
with
The Mid-Career Award
If you are not already on our mailing list, please join HERE
You have the option of being one of our High Tier Donors
Your name will be included in our Gala Program
The tiers are as follows:
Platinum Table for ten guests @ $5000
Golden Table for ten guests @ $3000
Benefactor @ $2000 per person
Patron @ $800 per person
Sponsor @ $400 per person
Or you can purchase a general ticket:
Donor @ $225 per person*
*ATTENTION
On January 26th the price of this ticket goes up to
$250
Please also consider sponsoring a student's attendance:
Students @ $150 each
If you are unable to attend but would still like to support the gala,
any amount is appreciated. Just click the button
on the top right of this page.
For all tickets and donations, go HERE
or DOWNLOAD THIS FORM, fill it out and mail it with your check
payable to The Martha Hill Dance Fund
to
MHDF Donations
c/o Corvino
14 Little Fox Lane
Norwalk CT 06850
More detailed information will be sent to you via email as we get closer to the event!
Our Gala features an Open Bar and a Three Course Meal
If you would like to purchase an ad to be placed in the Gala Program, go HERE*
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The 2026 Awardees
Lifetime Achievement
Phyllis Lamhut, choreographer of 100+ works, principal dancer for 20 years with Nikolais Dance Theater and Murray Louis Dance Company, performed globally on stages, television, and National Endowment for the Arts Dance Touring and Artists in Education programs. Phyllis Lamhut Dance Company was formed in 1970. She directed National Association of Regional Ballet Craft of Choreography Conference; National Canadian Composer/Choreographer Seminar; Dance and Music Workshop, Israel; Venice Biennale Move Man project; Carlisle Project New Impulses; and was Choreography Advisor/Editor for Joyce-Soho Residency. She is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, awards from NYS Council on the Arts and NY Foundation for the Arts, Mary Flagler Charitable Trust, and Meet the Composer/Choreography Project. The National Endowment for the Arts awarded her 16 Choreography Fellowships. She was on the NYU Tisch School of the Arts faculty 1987-2022. In 2013, she was Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Bieneke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching from American Dance Festival. She has received Lifetime Achievement Awadrs from American Dance Guild (2022) and Mark DeGarmo Dance (2023).
Ms. Lamhut's presenter TBA
Lifetime Achievement
Joan Finkelstein (EdD, Dance Education Leadership & Policy: Teachers College, Columbia University; MFA, BFA: NYU Tisch Dance) has been executive director of the Harkness Foundation for Dance since 2014. She has performed in modern, contemporary ballet, and Afro-Haitian companies and on Broadway; choreographed for ballet and modern companies; and taught children, teens, and adults nationwide. As director of the 92Y Harkness Dance Center (1992-2004), she supervised classes, workshops, performance festivals, space grants, lectures, weekly social dances, and the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) which was founded during her tenure. While director of dance for the NYC Department of Education (2004-2014) she spearheaded the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Dance, PreK-12 dance standards; citywide student dance assessments; and 75 professional development workshops for DOE dance teachers. She supervised the dance portion of the USDOE-funded arts assessment research project ARTS ACHIEVE in 20 elementary, middle and high schools. Joan served on the dance writing teams for the 2014 National Core Arts Standards and the 2017 New York State Learning Standards for the Arts. She was a BESSIES NY Dance & Performance Committee member for 16 years, and since 2025 serves on the Dance Magazine Awards Committee.
Ms. Finkelstein's presenter will be Jody Gottfried Arnhold
Dante Puleio , a widely respected former member of the Limón Dance Company for more than a decade, is the sixth Artistic Director in the Company’s 75-year history, a position that originated with Doris Humphrey. After a diverse performing career with the Limón Dance Company, touring national and international musical theatre productions, television and film, he received his MFA from University of California, Irvine. His research focuses on contextualizing mid 20th century dance for the contemporary artist and audience. He is committed to implementing that research by celebrating José Limón's historical legacy and reimagining his intention and vision to reflect the rapidly shifting 21st century landscape.
Mr. Puleio's presenter will be Kurt A. Douglas
Mid-Career
David HamiltonThomson is an interdisciplinary artist who has worked extensively across the fields of dance, music, performance, and theater for over 40 years, working and collaborating with a wide range of artists including Bebe Miller, Trisha Brown (1987-1993), Ralph Lemon, Sekou Sundiata, Marina Abramović, Yvonne Rainer, Maria Hassabi, Okwui Okpokwasili, Peter Born and Matthew Barney among many others. Thomson’s work has been recognized with awards and fellowships from United States Artists[Ford], New York Foundation for the Arts, Yaddo, MacDowell, Rauschenberg, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the Alpert Award. He was honored with a Bessie for Sustained Achievement (2001) and for Outstanding Production for he his own mythical beast (2018).
Thomson initiated the Artist Sustainability Project with Kate Watson-Wallace in 2017, as an ongoing platform that seeks to expand the discourse and ideas of financial, artistic, and personal empowerment in the arts community. In 2024, he and Emily Waters developed YoungArts’ Artist Resource Collective (ARC), a financial wellness and professional development program.
Mr. Thomson's presenter will be Judy Hussie-Taylor
Mid-Career
Guest Host
A founding member of Dance Theatre of Harlem, Virginia Johnson was one of its principal ballerinas over a career that spanned nearly 30 years. After retiring in 1997, Ms. Johnson went on to found Pointe Magazine and was editor-in chief for 10 years. A native of Washington, D.C., Ms. Johnson began her training with Therrell Smith. She studied with Mary Day at the Washington School of Ballet and graduated from the Academy of the Washington School of Ballet. She went on to be a University Scholar in the School of the Arts at New York University before joining Dance Theatre of Harlem. Virginia Johnson is universally recognized as one of the great ballerinas of her generation and is perhaps best known for her performances in the ballets Giselle, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Fall River Legend. She has received such honors as a Young Achiever Award from the National Council of Women, Outstanding Young Woman of America Award, the Dance Magazine Award, a Pen and Brush Achievement Award, the Washington Performing Arts Society’s 2008-2009 Pola Nirenska Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2009 Martha Hill Fund Mid-Career Award.
High Tier Donors
(in formation)
Platinum Table
Joan Finkelstein Jeanne Ruddy
________________________________________
Golden Table
Andra and Ernesta Corvino Dante Puleio
________________________________________
Patron
_________________________________________
Sponsor
Dian Dong Chen Laura Colby Daniel Lewis Janet Mansfield Soares
Elizabeth McPherson Megan Williams
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Sponsors for Students
Dian Dong Chen Ernesta Corvino Vernon Scott
Honorary Committee
(in formation)
Peter Born
David Dorfman
Kurt A. Douglas
Danni Gee
Bill T. Jones
Heidi Latsky
Jim May
Okwui Okpokwasili
Eric Parra
Annie B. Parson
Michelle Preston
Yvonne Rainer
David Roussève
Risa Steinberg
Doug Varone