Rosie Perez and Roberta Flack are set to present Emmy Award-winning "High School Musical" director and choreographer Kenny Ortega with the Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award. The 7:30 PM gala is held at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College.
Broadway veteran Lee Roy Reams directs the evening that features performances by Evidence Dance Company and a tribute to both Ortega and Reams. Reams is scheduled to perform with dancers who once performed with Fred Astaire.
Also set to appear are Marge Champion, Sandy Duncan, Carol Lawrence, Charlotte d'Amboise, Cheryl Burke and Sondra Lee.
The 2010 Astaire Award nominees follow:
Stage Categories Choreographers
Bill T. Jones (Fela!)
Twyla Tharp (Come Fly Away)
Sergio Trujillo (Memphis)
Marcia Milgrom Dodge (Ragtime)
Steven Hoggett (American Idiot)
Male Dancers
Charlie Neshyba-Hodges (Come Fly Away)
Keith Roberts (Come Fly Away)
John Selya (Come Fly Away)
Maksim Chmerkovskiy (Burn the Floor)
Memphis Male Ensemble (Brad Bass, Kevin Covert, Bryan Fenkart, Rhett George, John Jellison, John Eric Parker, Jermaine R. Rembert, Ephraim Sykes, Cary Tedder, Daniel J Watts, Charlie Williams, James Brown III, Tyron Jackson)
Female Dancers
Karine Plantadit (Come Fly Away)
Laura Mead (Come Fly Away)
Holley Farmer (Come Fly Away)
Savannah Wise (Ragtime)
Nicole Chantal de Weever (Fela!)
Fela! Female Ensemble (Hettie Vyrine Barnhill, Lauren de Veaux, Elasea Douglas, Rujeko Dumbutshena, Catherine Foster, Shaneeka Harrell, Chanon Judson, Shakira Marshall, Afi McClendon, Jill Vallery, Iris Wilson, Aimee Graham Wodobode)
Film Categories
Choreographer (Fictional Film)
Marguerite Derricks "Fame"
Rob Marshal and John Deluca "Nine"
Lula Washington "Avatar"
Director (Documentary Dance Film)
Kenny Ortega "This is It"
Frederick Wiseman "La Danse, Le Ballet de l'Opera de Paris"
Ruedi Gerber "Breath Made Visible"
Adam Del Deo and James D. Stern "Every Little Step"
The award was established with the cooperation of Fred Astaire to honor him and his sister, Adele, who starred with her brother in ten Broadway musicals between 1917 and 1931.
Tickets and further information are available by visiting FredandAdeleAstaireAwards.
