PHOTO CALL: 2008 Fred & Adele Astaire Awards

By Matthew Blank
June 3, 2008

The Fred & Adele Astaire Awards Gala was held June 2 in the Manhattan Center's Grand Ballroom.

This year's honorees included Cry Baby's Spencer Liff (Best Male Dancer on Broadway), In the Heights' Karen Olivo (Best Female Dancer on Broadway), Cry Baby choreographer Rob Ashford (Best Choreography on Broadway) and "Step up 2: The Streets" choreographers Dave Scott, Hi–Hat and Jamal Sims (Best Choreography in Film).

Nine-time Tony Award winner Tommy Tune was presented with the first-ever Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award. Among his many credits, the director-choreographer-actor helped create such Broadway shows as Nine, My One & Only, A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, The Will Rogers Follies and Grand Hotel.

With Lee Roy Reams directing the evening's entertainment, the event also boasted appearances by Savion Glover, former Astaire dancing partners Jane Powell and Arlene Dahl, singer-songwriter Sylvia Tosun and vocalist Anna Bergman.

First presented as The Astaire Awards in 1982, the ceremony returned this year following a three-year hiatus having been renamed in order "to reflect the original intent of the awards creators in honoring the famed brother and sister team."

The committee in charge of selecting the "nominees from the best of Broadway and film performances and choreography this season" comprised National Dance Institute founder Jacques D'Amboise, New York Post senior theatre & dance critic Clive Barnes, former New York Times chief dance critic Anna Kisselgoff, Dance Magazine's editor-in-chief Wendy Perron, theatre columnist Sylviane Gold and Newsday chief theatre critic Linda Winer.

Previous honorees for choreography include include George Balanchine, Michael Bennett, Patricia Birch, Wayne Cilento, Graciela Daniele, Bob Fosse, Peter Martins, Ann Reinking, Jerome Robbins, Susan Stroman and Tommy Tune.

Here is a look at some of those in attendance at the Monday evening event:

Presenter Brooke Shields		Award winner Karen Olivo

Karen Mason		Award winner Spencer Liff with Elan McAllister

Daughter Ava Astaire McKenzie		Kathleen Marshall

Marge Champion and Carol Lawrence		Priscilla Lopez and Lee Roy Reams

Honoree Tommy Tune, Liliane Montevecchi and Lee Roy Reams

In the Heights' Priscilla Lopez, Karen Olivo and Janet Dacal

All photos by Aubrey Reuben