Tony Award nominees Laura Osnes, Tony Yazbeck, and Norm Lewis took the stage at the National Dance Institute in celebration of Jacques d'Amboise鈥檚 85th birthday.
The November 18 event, directed by Tony nominee Terrence Mann, honored the dance legend, who worked closely with George Balanchine at the New York City Ballet and founded the non-profit arts education organization National Dance Institute.
For the past four decades, NDI has been teaching children in New York City public schools to dance for free. The program currently serves over 40 NYC schools, impacting the lives of 60,000 children and their communities globally.
A host of Broadway alums spoke about the impact d'Amboise has had on their personal and professional lives, including New York City Ballet dancer Robert Fairchild, who received a Tony nomination for his Broadway bow in An American in Paris.
"You were such a champion for me and then comes the world premiere [of An American in Paris] and you flew all the way to Paris," he told the audience. "I always thought I wanted to be like Gene Kelly, but I just didn鈥檛 know you yet."
Fairchild's dance partner Sterling Hyltin also revealed how the ballet master has impacted her life.
"I鈥檓 wearing this sweater tonight because you gave it to me the very first time I came here to NDI," she said. "I want you to know that I warm up for every New York City Ballet performance I鈥檝e done for the past 10 years wearing this," she continued. "You have shared all of my performances with me."
The evening also featured segments from the children of NDI, who performed a traditional "clog dance," which d鈥橝mboise taught to people in 1999 while hiking the Appalachian Trail.
"Along the way I taught it to everyone: prisoners in jail in Vermont, the Falcon football team in Georgia. Everyone," d鈥橝mboise explained.
Director Terrence Mann, d鈥橝mboise's son-in-law and a Tony Award nominee for Pippin, Beauty and the Beast, and Les Mis茅rables, told 半岛体育 that every person he asked to be involved in the gala event immediately said yes.
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