Honoring Broadway, Off-Broadway, and film’s most outstanding dancers and choreographers, the 2016 Fred and Adele Astaire Award nominees were announced by New York Post columnist Michael Riedel May 2 at the Friar’s Club in New York City. Twenty productions in the 2015–16 season met the awards’ eligibility requirements and were considered by a panel of experts upholding the gold standard of excellence in dance.
The 2016 winners, listed below, will be celebrated at a gala May 16 at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. This marks the first year since the Fred and Adele Astaire Awards’ inception in 1982 that Off-Broadway work is being recognized, with an inaugural committee comprised of chair Andy Sandberg, Jonathan Herzog, Michael Milton, Nikki Feirt Atkins, Judith Jamison, and Lee Roy Reams.
The Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to Jamison, artistic director emeritus of the renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; Nigel Lythgoe, executive producer of the popular reality show “So You Think You Can Dance,” will receive the award for Outstanding Contribution to the Field of Dance; actor Maurice Hines, appearing Off-Broadway this season in his show, “Tappin’ Through Life,” will receive a special recognition for Outstanding Body of Work in Dance; and Dr. Joan Fallon, founder and CEO of biotech company Curemark, will accept a special achievement award for her work in the field of autism-related disorders.
See the full list of this year’s nominees below. Visit www.theastaireawards.org for more information.
BEST FEMALE DANCER
Mara Davi, Dames at Sea
Deanna Doyle, Tuck Everlasting
Sandra Mae Frank, Spring Awakening
Jane Krakowski, She Loves Me
Eloise Kropp, Dames at Sea
Ana Villafañe, On Your Feet!
Adrienne Warren, Shuffle Along
BEST MALE DANCER
Phillip Attmore, Shuffle Along
Alex Brightman, School of Rock
Daveed Diggs, Hamilton
Carlos Gonzalez, On Your Feet!
Curtis Holland, Shuffle Along
Kendrick Jones, Shuffle Along
Luis Salgado, On Your Feet!
BEST CHOREOGRAPHER
Andy Blankenbuehler, Hamilton
Warren Carlyle, She Loves Me
Savion Glover, Shuffle Along
Lorin Latarro, Waitress
Spencer Liff, Spring Awakening
Casey Nicholaw, Tuck Everlasting
Sergio Trujillo, On Your Feet!
Josh Rhodes, Bright Star
Hofesh Shechter, Fiddler on the Roof
Randy Skinner, Dames at Sea
OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE IN A BROADWAY SHOW
Bright Star
Dames at Sea
Fiddler on the Roof
Hamilton
On Your Feet!
School of Rock: The Musical
She Loves Me
Shuffle Along
Spring Awakening
OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY IN FILM
Luke Broadlick, Teresa Espinosa, Alison Faulk & Channing Tatum, Magic Mike XXL
Christopher Gattelli, Hail, Caesar!
Aakomon Jones, Pitch Perfect 2
Joey Pizzi, Lucky Stiff
Fatima Robinson & Charm Jordan, Dance Camp
Dave Scott, High Strung
OUTSTANDING FEMALE DANCER OFF-BROADWAY
Yesenia Ayala, Trip Of Love
Leslie Kritzer, The Robber Bridegroom
Rumi Oyama, Sayonara
Jaime Lynn Verazin, Standard Time
Ellen Zolezzi, Cagney
OUTSTANDING MALE DANCER OFF-BROADWAY
Jeremy Benton, Cagney
Dave Thomas Brown, The Legend Of Georgia McBride
Robert Creighton, Cagney
Cory Lingner, Once Upon A Mattress
Matt McGrath, The Legend Of Georgia McBride
OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY OFF-BROADWAY
Joshua Bergasse, Cagney
Martha Clarke, Angel Reapers
Connor Gallagher, The Robber Bridegroom
Paul McGill, The Legend Of Georgia McBride
James Ortiz, Claire Karpen & Will Gallacher, The Woodsman
Sergio Trujillo & Darrell Grand Moultrie, Invisible Thread
Inspired by this post? Check out our dance audition listings!
