The 2025 Chita Rivera Awards for outstanding choreography, featured dancers, and ensembles in shows and films that opened in the 2024-25 season, prior to Sunday, April 27, were presented tonight (May 19), beginning at 7:30 pm, in a ceremony at NYU Skirball. Co-hosted by Laura Bell Bundy, Kerry Butler, and Marissa Jaret Winokur (the stars of Hairspray), the event included appearances by presenters and performers Tituss Burgess, Donna Murphy, Bruce Vilanch, Liz Cho, Eva Noblezada, Nathan Lee Graham, Lorna Luft, Stephanie Pope, Nicole Fosse, Noah Fosse, Lee Roy Reams, Jasmine Amy Rogers, Vy Higginsen, Jelani Remy, Shoshana Bean, Kevin Csolak, Savion Glover, Khori Petinaud, and more, along with special performances from Boop! The Musical, Gypsy, Adrian Blake Enscoe and Cameron Johnson from Swept Away, co-hosts Bundy, Butler, and Winokur from their show Mama I’m A Big Girl Now, the Verdon Fosse Legacy, and The Sing Harlem Choir.
As was the case for the past two years, the category of Outstanding Dancer in a Broadway Show was gender-free, had twice as many nominees as the former gendered categories, and two winners received awards. The Off-Broadway awards were not in competitive categories, and, as was done last year, were chosen by the Awarding committee, presenting a special award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Choreography. As was previously announced, Tony Award-winning theater and dance icon Ben Vereen was honored with this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by Pippin and Wicked composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, with a tribute by singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor Usher, and choreographer David Neumann (Swept Away; Hadestown) received the Douglas and Ethel Watt Critics Choice Award, named for the longtime Daily News theater critic and his wife.
And the winners of the 2025 Chita Rivera Awards are:
BROADWAY
OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY IN A BROADWAY SHOW: Patricia Delgado/Justin Peck, Buena Vista Social Club
OUTSTANDING DANCER IN A BROADWAY SHOW: Kevin Csolak, Gypsy; and Robyn Hurder, Smash
OUTSTANDING ENSEMBLE IN A BROADWAY SHOW: Buena Vista Social Club
OFF-BROADWAY
SPECIAL RECOGNITION: Arturo Lyons and Omari Wiles, Cats: “The Jellicle Ball”
FILM & DOCUMENTARY
OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHY IN A FEATURE FILM: Sh’ma: A Story of Survival, Choreographer Suki John
OUTSTANDING DIRECTION OF A DANCE DOCUMENTARY: A Resilient Man, Director Stephane Carrel.
Congratulations to the winners for the recognition of their outstanding work! All proceeds from the ceremony benefit the creation of the Chita Rivera Training Scholarship by the NYC Dance Alliance Foundation College Scholarship Program, which awards college scholarships to talented teenagers.
The Chita Rivera Awards were presented on Monday, May 19, 2025, at 7:30 pm, at NYU Skirball, 566 LaGuardia Place, NYC.
