Nigel Lythgoe and Adam Shankman, judges on Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance held the third annual “Celebration of Dance” Gala on Saturday, July 27 to benefit the Dizzy Feet Foundation and The Music Center at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles.
The Dizzy Feet Foundation created in 2009 to increase dance education and support dance funds in the United States by foundersLythgoe and Shankman, along with Carrie Ann Inaba and Katie Holmes.
“It’s not about becoming the next Baryshnikov, it’s literally about coming together, having a community, understanding creativity, developing self-confidence,” Shankman said according to Variety. “You don’t get that when you’re studying history or sitting in front of a computer.”
Other Dizzy Feet Foundation board members that helped to host the gala included Stephen “tWitch” Boss from So You Think You Can Dance Derek Hough from Dancing With the Stars, and actress Summer Glau from Hawaii Five-Oaccording to Broadway World.
Guests at the event included Paula Abdul, Wayne Brady Darren Criss, Cat Deeley, Jenna Elfman, Anna Kendrick, Jane Lynch, and Jenna Ushkowitz who enjoyed performances from dance crews such as LXD and Travis Wall’s Shaping Sound, and talent from So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing With the Stars, the Step Up, films, and Philadanco.
They gala included everything from classical ballet to dubstep, but “twerking” did not make it among the dances at the show, as an half-joking announcement was made prior to its start that there was “no twerking allowed.”
American actress, dancer, and singer Chita Rivera was presented with the DFF Inspiration Award by Christina Applegate, who has held her own connections to the dance world since she was a child.
President of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, Erik Feig and the founder of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Arthur Mitchell, were also honored at the gala, respectively receiving the DFF Impact Award and the Gene Kelly Legacy Award.
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