A well-known dancer and choreographer who regularly performed at the BEYA Gala as a veteran has passed away at the age of 67.

It has been reported by multiple sources that Hinton Battle, a three-time Tony Award winner, passed away on January 29, 2024, at the age of 67, following a long illness.  (The photo is from the “Hinton Battle” listing on Wiki at Fandom and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.)

Battle was well-known for his contribution to the annual BEYA STEM Conference, where he worked with choreographers to develop dance routines for the event’s award ceremonies.

Throughout his career, Battle won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical three times for his performances in “Sophisticated Ladies,” “The Tap Dance Kid,” and the original 1991 production of “Miss Saigon.”

Apart from his work in theatre, Battle also appeared in movies such as Dreamgirls and television shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

According to his IMDb listing, Battle was born on November 29, 1956, in Neubrücke, Germany. He was raised in Washington, D.C., and New York City, where his father served as a United States Army officer, and his mother was a homemaker.

Battle’s talent was evident from a young age, and he began studying ballet at the Jones-Haywood School of Ballet when he was nine years old. He later received a scholarship to The School of American Ballet, where he studied under George Balanchine until the age of fifteen.

Battle made his Broadway debut on October 21, 1974, in the new musical “The Wiz,” where he starred as the Scarecrow