If I’d had my wits about me, here is how I would have wrapped up a very moving evening at the Dance Magazine Awards Monday night:

I want to thank Janie Taylor, Daniel Ulbricht and the other dancers of NYCB for that breathtaking, haunting performance of Balanchine’s The Unanswered Question in tribute to Allegra Kent.

Kudos to the two dancers from Cedar Lake, who danced the duet from Ohad Naharin’s Mabul and made such achingly real contact between a man and a woman. And Ohad, in his acceptance speech, with his made-up advice from critics, was beyond brilliant.

Sara Rudner is a genius of spontaneity, which you all just witnessed. I have loved her dancing my whole adult life. And I thank Carolyn Brown for her exquisite introduction to Sara. (And if you didn’t get enough of Sara, see Carolyn’s film of her from the 1970s at www.dancemagazine.com).

I thank Jason Samuels Smith and friends for their pure, contagious joy on an 8-ft. x 8-ft. floor—after just jamming in the Green Room, to the awe of those of us sitting around.

So thank you for coming, everyone, and I'll see you next year.