Dance/NYC Honors CATS: THE JELLICLE BALL Co-Choreographers at Annual Gala

On Wednesday, October 21, Dance/NYC celebrated another year of dance advocacy at the NEW YORKERS FOR DANCE event, the organization’s annual celebration in support of its work advancing equity and opportunity across the New York City dance field.

Dance/NYC presented the 2026 NEW YORKERS FOR DANCE Award to Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles, Tony Award-winning Co-Choreographers of Broadway’s CATS: The Jellicle Ball, in recognition of their extraordinary leadership in bringing ballroom culture to new audiences, while preserving its integrity and championing the community from which it comes.

The event featured music by DJ Ali Coleman, a New York City-based DJ, producer, and cultural organizer whose connection to DJ culture grew out of early disco, block parties, and club spaces. Pop-up installations came from Bengali-American director, choreographer, educator, and iconoclast Ishita Mili(IMGE), French-Vietnamese dance artist, curator, and educator Mai Lê Hô (LayeRhythm), and Home & Abroad BK Drumming Group, a Brooklyn-based, multi-genre Afrocentric dance and drum collective.

NEW YORKERS FOR DANCE was created to bring Dance/NYC’s advocacy to the dance floor, drawing on a long history of dance floors as spaces where communities gather, create culture, find belonging, and build collective power. From ballroom and club culture to street and social dance traditions, movement has long created spaces for communities to come together on their own terms. By gathering artists, advocates, funders, policymakers, and neighbors in that tradition, Dance/NYC is creating space not only to celebrate the field but to strengthen the relationships and collective investment needed to sustain it.

During her opening remarks, Raquel Du Toit, Executive Director of Dance/NYC, welcomed attendees and reflected on the organization’s evolving role and vision for the future: ‘Dance/NYC has always existed to serve this field. But this year, we’ve begun building toward our next chapter through Collective Motion, our five-year strategic plan… We want to advance fairer wages and working standards, tackle questions like portable benefits, deepen our investment in the field through grantmaking, and expand the ways we educate and equip the dancers, workers, and organizations who make this City what it is.’

“Dance is never just about a movement. It’s about lineage, identity, community, and what we can build together.” said Brinda Guha, Advancement & Program Manager, Dance/NYC. ‘At Dance/NYC, we believe the future of dance depends on recognizing not only the art that moves us, but the people and cultural histories that sustain it. Arturo and Omari embody that vision.’

Award recipient Omari Wiles spoke of fellow honoree Arturo Lyons as ‘one of my inspirations and motivations in the ballroom community’ and ‘a lifetime achievement.’ He continued, ‘This is not just an award for us; this is the award for NYC dance culture-for all the dancers that constantly wake up every dance floor. What we do is so special, and what we hold in New York City… there’s no place like this place.’

Those who were unable to attend can still support Dance/NYC’s work by making a gift at Dance.NYC/NYFD. Every contribution helps build a New York City where dance can thrive, where arts workers are paid fairly, spaces are accessible, and communities across all five boroughs have room to create.

Learn more about Dance/NYC at Dance.NYC.

Dance/NYC champions the New York City metropolitan area dance sector by fostering a more just, equitable, and inclusive landscape where dance workers and organizations can thrive. Rooted in research, Dance/NYC engages in advocacy, regranting, and knowledge sharing to establish dance as a valued form of cultural expression and a common good. Through this work, Dance/NYC strengthens the ecosystem, expands access to resources, and supports the leadership of historically under-resourced communities across the field. Dance/NYC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. EIN: 46-0830780.