AFTER MIDNIGHT Tops Winners at 32nd Annual Astaire Awards

The 32nd Annual Fred & Adele Astaire Awards were held on Monday, June 2 at 7:30pm at NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. The winners for the evening were Dormeshia Sumbry Edwards (After Midnight) & Karine Plantadit (AfterMidnight) a tie for Outstanding Female Dancer in a Broadway Show; Jared Grimes (After Midnight) for Outstanding Male Dancer in a Broadway Show; and Warren Carlyle (After Midnight) for Outstanding Choreographer for a Broadway Show.

Presenters included Tony Award-winners Hal Prince, Bebe Neuwirth, Susan Stroman & Karen Ziemba, Emmy Award-winner Valerie Harper, Scandal's Joe Morton, Dancing with the Stars' Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Boardwalk Empire'sStephen DeRosa, Sandy Duncan & Don Correia. This year also honored 5-time Tony Award nominee and 2-time Emmy Award-winning veteran choreographer Pat Birch with its Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award & legendary dancer and dance instructor Luigi with a special award.

The Astaire Awards is the only awards show to honor excellence in dance and choreography on Broadway and in film and were first started in 1982 by the late Fred Astaire and the late Douglas Watt (a critic and writer for the NY Daily News andThe New Yorker, his 100th birthday would be this year). Each year The Astaire Awards are presented each year by Patricia Watt (the daughter of Douglas Watt).

This year's nominees were:

Outstanding Male Dancer in a Broadway Show: Julius Chisholm (After Midnight), Nick Cordero (Bullets Over Broadway),Virgil Gadson (After Midnight), , Neil Patrick Harris (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), James Monroe Iglehart (Aladdin),Andy Karl (Rocky) & Desmond Richardson (After Midnight).

Outstanding Female Dancer in a Broadway Show: Krystal Joy Brown (Big Fish), Dormeshia Sumbry Edwards (AfterMidnight), Karine Plantadit (After Midnight), Gayle Rankin (Cabaret), Monique Smith (After Midnight), Heléne Yorke(Bullets Over Broadway) & Karen Ziemba (Bullets Over Broadway).

Outstanding Choreographer for a Broadway Show: Casey Nicholaw (Aladdin), Susan Stroman (Big Fish & Bullets Over Broadway), Warren Carlyle (After Midnight), Steven Hoggett and Kelly Devine (Rocky), Josh Prince (Beautiful), Peggy Hickey (A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder) & Rob Marshall (Cabaret).

NYU SKIRBALL CENTER: The Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts is the premier venue for the presentation of cultural and performing arts events for New York University and lower Manhattan. Led by executive producer Jay Oliva (President Emeritus, NYU) and senior director Michael Harrington, the programs of the Skirball Center reflect NYU's mission as an international center of scholarship, defined by excellence and innovation and shaped by an intellectually rich and diverse environment. A vital aspect of the Center's mission is to build young adult audiences for the future of live performance. www.nyuskirball.org.