From the glam of old Hollywood to the hip-hop
of New York streets, dance in all its magic was
celebrated with gusto at the 2010 Fred & Adele
Astaire Award last night at the beautifully
appointed Gerald W. Lynch at John Jay College,
an ideal venue for dance. The Douglas Watt
Lifetime Achievement Award named for the late
esteemed critic and co-founder of the Awards was
presented to the legendary director and
choreographer Kenny Ortega of “This is it” and
“High School Musical” fame by Grammy winner
Roberta Flack. The gracious host for the evening
was Ben Vereen who also performed with award
winning actor and director Lee Roy Reams.
The two hour + show featured numerous
show-stoppers and magical moments: Reams dancing
with a stream of leading ladies including Carol
Lawrence, Sondra Lee, Mercedes Ellington and
Melanie La Patin; touching tributes to their
fathers by Ava Astaire and Patricia Watt; a
marvelous dance salute to Michael Jackson
choreographed by Bronwen Carson; performances by
cast members of “Fela”, “Come Fly Away”,
“Ragtime” and “Memphis”; Ronald K. Brown’s
acclaimed Evidence, A Dance Company performing
“Exotica” to commemorate their 25th Anniversary;
“Dancing With The Stars” Cheryl Burke, Tony
Dovolani and Maksim Chmerkovskiy and Peta Roby.
The exuberant youngsters from The Art of Dance
and GEO amazed with their talent and
athleticism; a brilliant finale “Puttin’ on The
Ritz” choreographed by Tricia Brouk drew the
audience to its feet and the delightful banter
between two show business legends Kenny Ortega
and Roberta Flack was a delight. All of this
and so much more made this one of the most
unforgettable nights at the theater.
Among those applauding wildly were acclaimed
actor & director Bob Balaban, award winning
choreographer Patricia Birch, Tony award winning
director Jerry Mitchell, Reginald Van Lee with
Joyce Mullins-Jackson, Jean Shafiroff, Caroline
Lieberman, “Real Housewives of New York” star
Sonja Morgan, Lauren and Bob Roberts, Roberta
Silbert, Alexander Dube.
Awards for excellence in dance on stage went
to
Choreographer
Bill T. Jones - Fela
Male Dancer
Charlie Neshyba-Hodges - Come Fly Away
Female Dancers
Nicole Chantal de Weever & the Female Ensemble –
Fela (Hettie Vyrine Barnhill, Lauren de Veaux,
Elasea Douglas, Rujeko Dumbutshena, Catherine
Foster, Shaneeka Harrrell, Chanon Judson, Shakira
Marshall, Afi McClendon, Jill Vallery, Iris
Wilson, Aimee Graham Wodobode )
Awards for excellence in dance on film went
to:
Choreographer (Fictional Film):
Marguerite Derricks – Fame
Director (Documentary Dance Film):
Adam Del Deo and James D. Stern - Every
Little Step
The evening was directed by Lee Roy Reams and
produced by Patricia Watt. Co-director and
Choreographic Consultant was Joe Lanteri.
Associate Producer and Choreographer for the
Michael Jackson Tribute was Bronwen Carson.
Writer was Randall David Cook and Finale
Choreographer was Tricia Brouk.
The Nominating Committee for the 2010 Fred
and Adele Astaire Awards was comprised of: Anna
Kisselgoff, former Chief Dance Critic, New York
Times; Wendy Perron, Editor in Chief of Dance
Magazine, Sylviane Gold, freelance dance
columnist for Dance Magazine, The New York
Times, Newsday and Damian Woetzel, former lead
dancer of the New York City Ballet, Artistic
Director of The Vail Institute
Honorary Chairs for the Awards Gala were Roberta
Flack, The Countess Luann DeLesseps, and Bruce
Michael; Gala
Co-chairs were Robin Cofer, Carolyn Kendall
Buchter, Sara Ann Johnson, Joe Lanteri and
Cassandra Seidenfeld-Lyster.