An Evening At The Astaire Awards
Last night I got all dressed up—er, stayed in my nicer-than-normal work attire, actually—to attend the 30th annual Fred and Adele Astaire Awards at New York University’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts.
Now, awards shows are usually fun because you get little glimpses of dancers: those performing backup at the MTV Video Music Awards, the ones in the opening act at the Academy Awards, and maybe a dancer or two making moves at the Grammys. But the Astaire Awards are all about dancers and choreographers.
So naturally, between the people watching (Newsies choreographer Christopher Gattelli! New York City Dance Alliance executive director Joe Lanteri! “Smash” choreographer Josh Bergasse! A real housewife!) and the performances (oh, Fosse, Fosse, Fosse—which is fun to say, as presenter Chita Rivera pointed out), this evening was oh-so-entertaining.
Here are a few of my favorite moments from last night’s Astaire Awards:
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Luke Spring. This kid is dynamite, and you’re going to see much more of him in upcoming issues of Dance Spirit. Promise. Little Luke is just 9 years old, but he’s got a smile the size of Jupiter and the fastest tapping feet I’ve seen in a long time. Luke isn’t just a good tap dancer for his age—Luke is good. Period. He opened the show with a solo performance and the crowd was in awe. Luke is going to be a star. In fact, he already kind of is. -
The New York City Dance Alliance boys performing “Seize the Day” from
Newsies. This season’s huge Broadway hit scored a whopping 11 nominations last night (though, sadly, no wins). Naturally it would have been nice if the cast could be there to perform—but the show must go on, and Newsies had a show of its own last night. Leave it to choreographer Christopher Gattelli and NYCDA head honcho Joe Lanteri to save the day. Joe put out a call for young men and Christopher brought them in—a crew of 14–18 year olds from all over the country—for a two-day “Newsies bootcamp.” The result? A show-stopping performance from the rising generation of dancers. Considering they had just learned the piece, these young men pulled it off exceptionally well. -
The
Fosse veterans swiveling their hips to “Dancin’ Man,” “I Gotcha” and “Bye Bye Blackbird.” I will never get sick of that sultry style, and getting to see the iconic moves performed by dancers who trained directly under Bob Fosse is pretty special. Bravo! -
Chita Rivera presenting the Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award to Liza Minnelli.
It was so endearing hearing the wonderful stories everyone shared about the fabulous Ms. Minnelli. Close friends Tony Danza, Marvin Hamlisch and Mikhail Baryshnikov (!!!) joined Chita onstage to talk about what a wonderful performer and friend Liza is. It was heartwarming and, frankly, pretty awesome.
Here’s the full list of last night’s winners:
Outstanding Female Dancer in a Broadway Musical:
Lisa Nicole Wilkerson (Porgy & Bess)
Outstanding Male Dancer in a Broadway Musical:
Leslie Odom, Jr. (Leap of Faith)
Outstanding Choreographer for a Broadway Musical:
Ron Brown (Leap of Faith)
Outstanding Feature Film Choreography:
The Artist
Outstanding Dance Documentary:
Pina
Congratulations to all!
