Lee Roy Reams to Announce 2011 Astaire Award Nominations on April 26

The nominations for the 2011 Fred and Adele Astaire Awards, honoring the best in dance and choreography on stage and in film, will be announced on Tuesday, April 26 by actor Lee Roy Reams.

The ceremony be held on Sunday, May 15 at NYU’s Skriball Center for the Arts. Joe Lanteri will direct the event. Brian Stokes Mitchell, Bebe Neuwirth, and Len Cariou are among the stars expected to be presenters.

The awards are presented by Ava Astaire in tribute to her father and aunt and Patricia Watt in tribute to her father Douglas Watt, who was the renowned drama, dance and music critic and a founder of the awards in 1982.

This year’s Nominating Committee Chair is Sylviane Gold. Committee members include Reams, as well as Anna Kisselgoff, Damian Woetzel, Wendy Perron, Manny and Lani Azenberg, Donna McKechnie, Wendy Federman, Barbara and Buddy Freitag, Michael Riedel, Marge Champion, Margaret Selby, Melinda Atwood, Bryan Bantry, Adam Zotovich, Andy Sandberg, and Bruce Michael.

As previously reported, legendary dancer and choreographer Jacques D’Amboise will be honored with the Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award.

For more information, visit theastaireawards.org.