Chita Rivera Awards for Dance and Choreography
Established in 1982 under the name the Fred and Adele Astaire Awards, the citations were renamed in 2017 to honor 10-time Tony Award-nominated actor Chita Rivera.
The Chita Rivera Awards for Dance and Choreography, informally known as The Chitas, honor excellence in dance and choreography in both stage and screen productions. Presented annually at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, the awards celebrate outstanding achievements in Broadway and Off-Broadway theatre as well as in film.
Established in 1982 as The Astaire Awards, the honors were originally created to recognize the legacy of Fred Astaire and his sister Adele, who were celebrated for their influential work on the Broadway stage. In 2017, the awards were renamed in honor of two-time Tony Award-winning dance icon Chita Rivera.
The Chita Rivera Awards are presented by the New York City Dance Alliance, and the event is publicized by long-standing Broadway press agency Keith Sherman & Associates.
History
The Chita Rivera Awards for Dance and Choreography honor excellence in dance and choreography across theatre and film productions, with awards presented based on each eligible season. In addition to competitive categories, several discretionary, non-competitive honors are also bestowed, including a Lifetime Achievement Award and an award for Outstanding Contribution to Musical Theatre and Film.
Proceeds from the Chita Rivera Awards benefit the NYC Dance Alliance Foundation’s College Scholarship Program, which provides financial support to talented young dancers pursuing higher education. Since its inception, the Foundation has awarded over $5 million in scholarships to more than 500 students attending 50 of the nation's leading college dance programs.
Originally established in 1982 as the Astaire Awards, the honors were created in collaboration with Fred Astaire to celebrate both his legacy and that of his sister, Adele Astaire.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Chita Rivera Awards for Dance and Choreography” as established in 1982 under the name the Fred and Adele Astaire Awards, the citations were renamed in 2017 to honor 10-time Tony Award-nominated actor Chita Rivera. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as established in 1982 under the name the Fred and Adele Astaire Awards, the citations were renamed in 2017 to honor 10-time Tony Award-nominated actor Chita Rivera. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q20715675. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1982 and 2017.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Chita Rivera Awards for Dance and Choreography”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Chita Rivera Awards for Dance and Choreography primary sources, Chita Rivera Awards for Dance and Choreography archive and Chita research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Chita Rivera Awards for Dance and Choreography”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Chita Rivera Awards for Dance and Choreography” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.