NEW YORK CITY: The 2016 winners of the Fred and Adele Astaire Awards, which honor outstanding dance and choreography onstage and screen, were announced on May 16 at a ceremony at New York University’s Skirball Center. For the first time, the awards also recognized excellence in dance, movement, and choreography in Off-Broadway productions.

Established in 1982, the Fred and Adele Astaire Awards honor the siblings who performed in 10 Broadway musicals together between the years of 1917 and 1931. The awards benefit the Douglas Watt Family Fund for the Performing Arts, a public charity that provides dance/movement therapy services to students in New York City District 75 Public Schools.

The 2016 Broadway and Off-Broadway winners are as follows:

Best Female Dancer: Jane Krakowski, She Loves Me

Best Male Dancer: Phillip Attmore, Shuffle Along

Best Choreographer (three-way tie): Andy Blankenbuehler, Hamilton; Savion Glover, Shuffle Along; Sergio Trujillo, On Your Feet

Outstanding Ensemble in a Broadway Show: Shuffle Along

Outstanding Choreography in Film: Dave Scott, High Strung 

Oustanding Female Dancer Off-Broadway: Rumi Oyama, Sayonara

Outstanding Male Dancer Off-Broadway: Robert Creighton, Cagney

Outstanding Choreography Off-Broadway (tie): Connor Gallagher, The Robber Bridegroom; Paul McGill, The Legend Of Georgia McBride 

Special honors were also presented at the ceremony. Judith Jamison, the artistic director emeritus of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, was presented the Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement Award.

Nigel Lythgoe, executive producer of So You Think You Can Dance, received an award for outstanding contribution to the field of dance.

Broadway director, choreographer, and actor Maurice Hines received an award for outstanding body of work in the field of dance.

Dr. Joan Fallon, the founder and CEO of Curemark, received a special achievement in the field of autism and related disorders.