The committee of The New York Dance and Performance Awards (The Bessies) has announced that the dance historian Nancy Reynolds will be honored with the 2013 Bessie Award for Outstanding Service to the Field of Dance. The ceremony, at which several surprise awardees will also be recognized, includes live performance and will take place on Monday, October 7, 2013, at 8:00pm at the Apollo Theater in New York City.

Nancy Reynolds danced with the New York City Ballet for five years and then began a new career as an editor and author. Her books include Repertory in Review: Forty Years of the New York City Ballet, The Dance Catalog, In Performance, and Choreography by George Balanchine: a Catalogue of Works, for which she was research director. She was also research director for Balanchine, a two-part documentary for PBS and was an editor of the multi-volume International Encyclopedia of Dance (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998). Her book No Fixed Points: Dance in the Twentieth Century, a comprehensive history (co-authored with Malcolm McCormick), was published by Yale University Press in 2003.

Since becoming director of research for The George Balanchine Foundation in 1994, Ms. Reynolds has created and directed several documentation and preservation projects, chief among them The George Balanchine Foundation Video Archives. She was also editorial director of the electronic version of the Balanchine Catalogue, an interactive database of his entire output.

"Nancy's innovative video project, filming original dancers from Balanchine's work as they coach younger performers, ensures that the deep body memory of that choreography can be passed on. Her project is a gift to the world and we are honored to be able to present an award that celebrates her dedication to dance history and preservation," said Lucy Sexton, Director of the New York Dance and Performance Awards.

The Bessies are named after the beloved and highly influential dance educator Bessie Schonberg, who taught and mentored generations of dancers for over six decades.