Dance Heritage Coalition Names 12 New Dance Treasures to List of 100

Twelve distinguished dance figures join the Dance Heritage Coalition's list of "America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures." These new honorees were nominated by a national survey and vote in 2012 and were confirmed by the Dance Heritage Coalition (DHC) Board of Directors. The 12 figures are celebrated online along with the initial list of 100 in an Online Exhibition of Dance Treasures, through a grant funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

"America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures: The First 100" was created by the DHC in 1999 from nominations submitted nationwide and vetted by a panel of experts; the Treasures formed the basis of the DHC's traveling exhibition curated by Norton Owen and Lynn Garafola, which visited seven locations from 2004 to 2009. With the closing of the touring exhibit in 2009, the commemorative materials have been expanded and collected on the DHC's website.http://danceheritage.org/treasures.html. A separate webpage is devoted to each of the Treasures, with essays, resource lists and curated visual materials. New pages for the 12 honorees have now been added to the online exhibition, which was launched in July 2012 and continues to grow.

Rosemary Candelario, assistant professor of dance at Texas Women's University, said, "The Dance Heritage Coalition's "100 Treasures" online exhibition is an invaluable resource for my undergraduate dance classes. The new essays, in particular, give students an excellent introduction to a variety of dance styles and artists, while the selected resources provide suggestions for those who want to learn more. Highly recommended!"

Nominations and votes were solicited in spring 2012 with the original intention of adding 10 new Treasures to the original 100. However, in recognition of extremely close voting and in honor of the year 2012, it was decided to bring the number up to 12. The honorees are:

Jacques d'Amboise
Jane Dudley
Garth Fagan
Frederic Franklin
Loïe Fuller
Carmen de Lavallade
Michael Jackson
John Martin
Sophie Maslow
Daniel Nagrin
The Rockettes
Maria Tallchief