Neil Patrick Harris, Andy Karl, Karen Ziemba, Susan Stroman and More Nominated for 2014 Astaire Awards; Ceremony Set for 6/2 at NYU

The nominees have been announced for the 32nd Annual Fred & Adele Astaire Awards, which will be held on Monday, June 2 at 7:30pm at NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Select tickets are available to the public priced at $425, $200 & $75; tickets can currently be purchased online at www.TheAstaireAwards.org.

Here are the 2014 nominees...

Outstanding Male Dancer in a Broadway Show:

Julius Chisholm (After Midnight)
Nick Cordero (Bullets Over Broadway)
Virgil Gadson (After Midnight)
Jared Grimes (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 (After Midnight)
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)

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, his 100th birthday would be this year). This year will also honor 5-time Tony Award nominee and 2-time Emmy Award-winning veteran choreographer Pat Birch with its Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award and legendary dancer and dance instructor Luigi with the Outstanding Achievement in the Preservation of Musical Theatre Award.

American choreographer and director Pat Birch began her career as a dancer in Broadway musicals, including Brigadoon, Goldilocks, and West Side Story and she has performed as a soloist with Martha Graham and Agnes de Mille. She earned Tony Award nominations for her choreography of the original Broadway productions of Grease, Over Here!, Pacific Overtures, Music Is and Parade, has directed and choreographed music videos for Cyndi Lauper, the Rolling Stones, and Carly Simon and also choreographed numbers on Saturday Night Live for six years.

Born Eugene Louis Faccuito in Steubenville, Ohio and nicknamed Luigi from Gene Kelly, as a dancer he appeared in over 40 films including An American in Paris, Annie Get Your Gun, On the Town, Singin' in the Rain, The Band Wagon and White Christmas. The exercise routine he created for his own rehabilitation after a devastating accident became the world's first complete technique for learning jazz dance. His students have included Liza Minnelli, Ben Vereen, Tony Roberts and Susan Stroman.

Each year The Astaire Awards also gives a special 'Adele Astaire Scholarship' to a young up and coming dancer and the awards are presented each year by Patricia Watt (the daughter of Douglas Watt).

The 32nd Annual Fred & Adele Astaire Awards will take place on Monday, June 2 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, priced at $425, $200 & $75 and can be purchased online at www.TheAstaireAwards.org.

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