The 2012 BAM Blog Awards

Best case for not taking the stairs at BAM:
an elevator ride with Brazilian dance troupe Grupo Corpo

Usually on the BAM blog, we resist the urge to play favorites. But because nothing is quite so seductive as that august literary genre, the end-of-year best-of list, we've recently had a hard time keeping our opinions to ourselves. (Read our list of memorable 2012 movie moments here, and last year's winners here). Here, then, is another impeccably reasoned, utterly objective critical assessment of the past year—the 2012 BAM Blog Awards, commemorating  our favorite stage (and a few more screen) moments from 2012.

Best headbanging: Hofesh Shechter Company

Best tipsy tweeting: the audience at Roman Tragedies

Best case for suspenders making a fashion comeback: Einstein on the Beach

Best self-burial in anticipation of the apocalypse: the dancers in ELSEWHERE

Best crowd surfing: St. Vincent at Crossing Brooklyn Ferry

Best inflatable seating: Coco Fusco's Brooklyn Bred show

Best Sting cameo in a BAM Rose Cinemas film: Dune; runner up: Quadrophenia

Best can-can charting the history of the French Revolution: The Civilians' Paris Commune

Best avant-garde use of the Star Wars theme: Batsheva Dance Company's Hora

Best unabashed earnestness: Ian and Chad

Best performance by light bulbs in a supporting role: Tie between ECLIPSE and All That Fall

Best remix of Sun Ra's "Enlightenment": Jeremy Ellis (Shuffle Culture); runner up: Jennifer Miller (Brooklyn Bred)

Best dreams left unrealized due to insufficient footwear: Jonathan Pryce's "Davies" in The Caretaker

Best diva past her prime: Rufus Wainwright's Prima Donna

Best dairy-soaked freakout: Possession

Best cast of thousands: Ernst Lubitsch's The Loves of Pharaoh

Best simultaneous singing and push-ups: Theo Bleckmann in Phil Kline's Out Cold/Zippo Songs

Best incest: a tie between The Color Wheel and The Unspeakable Act (BAMcinématek)

Best appearance by a lifesaving device: a tie between the parachute in And lose the name of the action and the net in Faust: A Love Story

Best performance by a foreclosed house in a supporting role: the house in HOUSE/DIVIDED

Best performance by a robot in a lead role: the robot in Cie 111's Sans Objet

A heartfelt congrats to all the winners!