Purchase College Dance Alumna Tamisha Guy Awarded Prestigious Fellowship

Tamisha Guy will receive a dance fellowship to support her work with Abraham.In.Motion, a modern dance company founded and under the artistic direction of alumnus Kyle Abraham. Abraham, who is being honored with a special project award this year, first received the Princess Grace award in 2010.

A native of Trinidad and Tobago now residing in Brooklyn, Tamisha Guy began her formal dance training at Ballet Tech, the New York City Public School for Dance under the direction of Eliot Feld. Later she attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, and Purchase College as a double major in dance and arts management. Upon graduating Guy danced with the Martha Graham Dance Company and later joined Kyle Abraham/Abraham.in.Motion in 2014. She was named one of 2016’s “25 to Watch,” by Dance Magazine.

Tamisha Guy credits her teachers at Purchase for preparing her physically and mentally for a career as a dancer. She said, the teachers “shared knowledge not only in the classroom, but were open about their experiences in their professional careers… They shared that one's journey may not be easy but as long as you are passionate and muster up the will to keep pushing when things get tough, you will be able to sustain a career in dance.”

She continued, “Being a Princess Grace Award recipient is a dream come true and I feel so blessed to have received such an honor. I will continue to share my craft and to work even harder to contribute to an art form that continues to give me so much.”

Nelly van Bommel, Director of the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, said, “We congratulate Tamisha Guy on her selection as a recipient for this prestigious award. Tamisha was a true role model for her peers when she was a student in the Conservatory of Dance. We look forward to continuing to celebrate her success.”

"We are thrilled to welcome this year's incredibly talented Award winners into the Princess Grace Foundation-USA family," said Executive Director Toby Boshak. "Each year we enthusiastically support a passionate new group of emerging talents who will one day be at the forefront of the arts. We look forward to watching them grow as artists.”

The awards will be presented at the Princess Grace Foundation's Annual Gala, to be held October 24 in New York City in the presence of the Prince and Princess of Monaco.

About the Awards

The Princess Grace Foundation-USA is a non-profit, publicly-supported foundation, headquartered in New York City and founded 34 years ago by Prince Rainier III of Monaco to honor his wife, Princess Grace's [Kelly] legacy. The Foundation's mission is dedicated to identifying and assisting emerging talent in theater, dance, and film by awarding grants in the form of scholarships, apprenticeships, and fellowships. Since the Foundation's inception, nearly 800 recipients have been awarded more than $13 million.

Since the awards began more than thirty years ago, honorees have included prominent artists such as Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner, Tony Award-winning director Anna D. Shapiro (August Osage County), Emmy Award-winning director Cary Fukunaga (True Detective), and Alvin Ailey Artistic Director Robert Battle.

About Purchase College–SUNY

Purchase College, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) network of 64 universities and colleges, was founded in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. His aspiration for Purchase was to create a dynamic campus that combined conservatory training in the visual and performing arts with programs in the liberal arts and sciences, in order to inspire an appreciation for both intellectual and artistic talents in all students. Today, Purchase College–SUNY is a community of students, faculty, and friends where open-minded engagement with the creative process leads to a lifetime of intellectual growth and professional opportunity. For more information about the College, visit www.purchase.edu