Marge Champion and Ted Chapin to Be Honored with 2013 Astaire Awards

On Monday, June 3 at 7:30pm at New York University's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, the 31st Annual Fred & Adele Astaire Awards will honor dance legend Marge Champion with its Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award and Ted Chapin with a brand new award, Outstanding Achievement in the Preservation of Musical Theatre. 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 and The New Yorker).

Select tickets are also now available to the public, if bought by 4/30 they are $375, $150 & $60, after 4/30 tickets are priced at $425, $200 & $75; tickets can currently be purchased online at www.FredandAdeleAstaireAwards.com and the nominees for this year's awards will be announced at an invite-only cocktail reception on Monday, May 6 at Lillie's Times Square (249 West 49th Street).

American dancer, actress & choreographer Marge Champion was has appeared on Broadway (Follies, 3 for Tonight!), on TV (The Marge & Gower Champion Show, Fame) & on the silver screen (Show Boat, Lovely to Look At). She and her husband Gower Champion were a leading dance duo in the 1940s and 1950s.

Theodore S. Chapin is President & Executive Director of Rodgers & Hammerstein: An Imagem Company, which encompasses a music publishing company; a concert rental library; and a theatrical licensing branch that collectively represent more than 12,000 songs, 900 concert pieces, 200 writers, and 100 musicals. He is past-Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the American Theatre Wing and was chairman of the Advisory Committee for New York City Center's Encores! series from its inception.

The Astaire Awards are presented each year by Patricia Watt (the daughter of Douglas Watt). The awards will also feature direction from Joe Lanteri, who is the Executive Director of the New York City Dance Alliance and also a teacher at the Juilliard School.

The Astaire Awards categories are Outstanding Male Dancer in a Broadway Show, Outstanding Female Dancer in a Broadway Show, Outstanding Choreographer for a Broadway Show, Outstanding Choreographer for Film, and Outstanding Director for Dance Documentary. Each year The Astaire Awards also gives a special 'Adele Astaire Scholarship' to a young up and coming dancer and the Event Chairs are Carolyn Kendall Buchter, Alix Michel and Scarlett Pildes.

The 31st Annual Fred & Adele Astaire Awards will take place on Monday, June 3 at 7:30pm at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at New York University (566 LaGuardia Place). Select tickets are available to the public, if bought by 4/30 they are $375, $150 & $60, after 4/30 tickets are priced at $425, $200 & $75 and can be purchased online at www.FredandAdeleAstaireAwards.com.

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.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos