Dance like no one is watching.

This comes from a quote that goes: "Work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt and dance like no one is watching."

Sometimes it takes a special circumstance for a group of words to actually have a poignant meaning to you. My mom recently gave me this advice-to dance like nobody is watching-and, really, this is the best advice I have ever gotten in my life. It is so easy to get caught up in the "what other people think of you while you dance" factor-especially when you go to Broadway dance calls regularly. After a while, you realize that if you go back to your roots, and start dancing for the fun of it, you start to get booked on jobs because people can sense your honesty. People who do what they love want to surround themselves with people who do what they love.

On May 10, 1899, Mrs. Austerlitz gave birth to a little baby named Fred in Omaha, Nebraska.  Seven years and one name change later, little Fred Austerlitz hit the stage as Fred Astaire, partnering his older sister Adele in a popular brother-sister act that would endure until Adele's marriage in 1932.  Although modern audiences know Fred Astaire for his on-screen partnering of Ginger Rogers, he was equally (and in some cases even more) suited to dance with hats, canes, coat racks, firecrackers, sports equipment and animated mice.

Here's Fred in one of my favorite numbers, though some of you may like the clip after the jump more.

The star-studded No, No, Nanette opens tonight to conclude this season's City Center Encores!  The show features the classic tap dancing style of choreographer Randy Skinner and is bursting with big name starpower.  Rosie O'Donnell headlines a loaded cast that includes Sandy Duncan, Mara Davi, Tony winner Beth Leavel, and a slew of the finest tap dancers in town.  No, No, Nanette is part of City Center's Great American Musicals in Concert and has a brief run from May 8 - 12.  

Check out cast interviews and highlights from the show on this weeks Broadway Beat

Renowned dancer, choreographer, and director Tommy Tune, a nine-time Tony Award winner, will receive the first Douglas Watt Lifetime Achievement award at the 2008 Fred & Adele Astaire Awards on June 2 in NYC. Actress Brooke Shields will present the prize at a gala in the Grand Ballroom of the Manhattan Center Studios to benefit the Auditory Oral School of New York, a non-profit organization which specializes in teaching deaf and hard-of-hearing children.

Tickets to this special event, which honors excellence in dance on stage and in film, are available for a limited time.

For details and ticket information, read more after the jump.

Last weekend, I had the honor of judging the USASF Worlds dance team competition held at Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida. The top teams from across the country and around the globe competed in divisions of pom, jazz and hip hop for the chance to be considered the best of the best. Dancers attended from 30 countries, including China, Germany, Chile, Mexico, Italy, Japan and the Ukraine.

Before I go off on the rants that have been simmering in my head, I want to mention something pertaining to a person in my last blog. I said that Eva Yaa Asantewaa's dance podcast, The Great Dance Audio Podcast is wonderful, but I said that I was sad that I didn't hear more from this podcast because of its quality content.

Kathleen Marshall is such an inspiration. I love when I walk into a room to audition for someone, and not only are they expressing viv and talent, but also intelligence and intense focus. I auditioned as a dancer for the Broadway tour of Grease yesterday, and I was lucky enough to have been in the presence of all of these qualities. It is so great to walk away from an audition feeling like you have grown even if you don't get the job because of a person in that room who inspires you.