nia love, an associate professor at Florida State University’s School of Dance and an alumna of the university, has received her third Bessie Award for her work “UNDERcurrents.” The Bessie Awards, established in 1984, are regarded as the highest honor in independent dance and are often referred to as the “Oscars of dance.” Love was previously recognized with a Bessie Award for Outstanding Musical Composition for her production “g1(host):lostatsea” in 2019.
“UNDERcurrents” is described as a multimedia performance installation that examines the connection between the history of transatlantic slavery and contemporary memories. According to The Bessies’ official announcement, love was honored “for a transporting experience, taking the audience through an immersive and sensory journey of live performance and projected visuals. Historical research and personal memories are woven together to pose questions to the audience — with urgency and compassion.”
Reflecting on her recognition, love said: “It is a powerful affirmation. The awards aren’t why you do the work, but you are hoping that within the work that you do, you will be acknowledged.”
James Frazier, dean of the College of Fine Arts at Florida State University, commented on love’s achievement: “We are proud to celebrate nia love on the occasion of her recent Bessie Award. nia has spent her adult life working primarily as an independent artist based in New York City, no small feat in the field of dance, and her career exemplifies a sustained, uncompromising commitment to making art. We are honored to claim her both as a distinguished member of our School of Dance faculty and as an alum whose creative practice continues to shape and challenge the field.”
Frazier added: “nia has spent her adult life working primarily as an independent artist based in New York City, no small feat in the field of dance, and her career exemplifies a sustained, uncompromising commitment to making art.”
The development process for “UNDERcurrents” included several years of research conducted by love throughout Tallahassee and along Florida’s Gulf Coast near Cape San Blas. Love drew from personal experiences such as earning a deep-sea diving license in 2019; she recorded much of this project in Tobago before capturing additional footage along Florida’s coast.
A significant part of this project took place during love’s 2022 residency at Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography (MANCC), which is housed within FSU’s School of Dance. During this residency at MANCC—as a choreographic fellow—love collaborated with two students from FSU’s College of Communication and Information on collecting 360° and underwater video footage used in “UNDERcurrents.”
Love explained: “‘UNDERcurrents pivots on this fundamental query: what remains of the Middle Passage as force, gesture and affect?’ Through thematic elements such as water and doors,” she continued,“the project conjures multiple registers of our living in continual rupture.”
The location where some footage was captured holds personal meaning for love; it is near where she spread ashes belonging to her father Ed Love—a sculptor who also served as an FSU Visual Arts professor—after his death in 1999.
“MANCC allowed me to take the work that I had done before… and start thinking about these ghostly clues that were left from my father’s passing,” said love.“Coming to the ocean became this alchemy of sorts that helped re-ignite some things I feel like my father passed on to me.”
Since returning as faculty at FSU in 2024 after earning her Master’s degree there decades earlier,love integrates research into classroom teaching.She describes this approach:“My teaching philosophy is like a tabernacle;I see students not just learners but young artists & collaborators.”
Looking ahead,love is preparing another phase for this body-of-work.A large-scale exhibition titled “Floating Metal: UNDERcurrents In My Father’s Garden” will open August 2026 at FSU Museum Of Fine Arts.It will include three galleries featuring dialogue between performance works by love & visual artworks by Ed Love.
More information about FSU School Of Dance can be found at https://dance.fsu.edu/.
