Missy Elliott will receive the Icon Award at the upcoming Gala of the Stars, with Janet Jackson set to present the honor on October 22 at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. The ceremony supports Dancers Against Cancer, an organization that helps dancers, choreographers and their families manage cancer-related financial strain.
It is a particularly fitting handoff. Jackson received the same award at the prior year’s gala, and Elliott’s body of work has long treated dance as more than decoration around a song. Her records, videos and live appearances have given choreography a central storytelling role, helping make movement inseparable from the way audiences remember her music.
The gala’s Icon Award recognition places that relationship in focus: not simply Elliott’s status as a Hip-Hop star, but the continuing influence of her artistic approach on dancers and performers across generations.
“Missy Elliott represents everything the Icon Award celebrates,” Dancers Against Cancer CEO and Gala of the Stars executive producer Noah Lands said in a statement. “Her groundbreaking artistry has inspired generations of performers, and having Janet Jackson, last year’s honoree, present her with this award makes the moment even more special.”
A benefit centered on the dance community
Gala of the Stars is a fundraising event, and its purpose gives the award added context. Dancers Against Cancer provides assistance to people in the dance field and their families facing the financial pressures that can accompany cancer. Those pressures can affect working performers as well as choreographers, whose livelihoods are closely tied to their ability to rehearse, teach, create and travel.
In this setting, an “Icon Award” does not function solely as a career milestone. It also connects a major pop and Hip-Hop artist to a community of movers, teachers and creators whose labor is often visible onstage but less often discussed as a profession requiring material support.
The organization said its previous gala raised $717,218. The October 22 event continues that fundraising work while also recognizing several figures whose careers intersect with the broad culture of dance.
- Missy Elliott: Icon Award recipient.
- Janet Jackson: presenter and the previous year’s Icon Award recipient.
- Toni Basil: Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.
- Vincent Paterson: Vanguard Award recipient.
- Maksim Chmerkovskiy: host.
- Chloé Arnold’s Syncopated Ladies: scheduled performers.
That lineup underlines the event’s cross-generational scope. The awards recognize careers with different connections to dance, while the performance program keeps the night tied to active movement-making rather than treating dance only as legacy.
Why Elliott’s work belongs in a dance conversation
Elliott’s influence is frequently discussed through her sound, songwriting and the visual imagination of her videos. The gala’s choice highlights another essential part of that picture: how strongly her work has created space for dancers.
In music-video terms, choreography can do several jobs at once. It can establish rhythm visually, give a song an instantly recognizable image, introduce a performer’s character, or turn a surreal concept into something with a physical pulse. Elliott’s work is closely associated with visual worlds where the dancers are not background scenery. Their timing, poses and group formations help deliver the song’s energy and its sense of play.
That distinction matters because audiences often recall a music video through movement as much as through lyrics or melody. A dance step, an entrance, a sharply timed transition or a particular formation can become part of the work’s cultural memory. The music remains the anchor, but choreography provides a shared vocabulary for people encountering the song again years later.
Elliott’s 2019 MTV Video Music Awards appearance offered a clear example of that continuing connection. For a medley, she recreated several visual environments associated with her best-known videos. Alyson Stoner returned for “Work It,” linking the performance to the dancer audiences remembered from the original video. Jackson was among the artists who paid tribute to Elliott that night.
The return of a performer from a video was more than nostalgia. It demonstrated how a song’s visual identity can endure through the people who embodied it. When a dancer returns to a role that viewers associate with a particular era or video, the choreography becomes a living archive: it is recalled not only through recordings but through the artist and dancer returning to the stage together.
Janet Jackson’s presentation carries personal weight
Jackson presenting Elliott with the award is also rooted in a relationship that predates this gala. After Elliott released Supa Dupa Fly in 1997, Jackson was among the established artists who contacted her.
Elliott later shared that she initially thought Jackson’s quiet voice on the phone was a prank from a friend and ended the call. Once her manager told her that Jackson really would be calling, Elliott realized what had happened and reacted with alarm at having hung up on her.
The anecdote is funny, but it also captures the disbelief that can accompany an early career breakthrough: a new artist suddenly hears from a person whose stature feels too large to be real. Over time, that unexpected call became part of a friendship that extended beyond professional admiration and collaboration.
In June 2022, Elliott described a visit from Jackson after the two had spoken about how much Elliott missed seeing friends during the pandemic. Jackson flew from London and spent two days with her. Elliott characterized the time as laughter-filled and restorative, a visit she needed.
That history changes the texture of an awards presentation. The moment will still be formal in the sense that it takes place at a gala and recognizes a major achievement. But the person delivering the award is not merely another famous name selected for the stage. She is a fellow honoree, a collaborator and a longtime friend whose support dates back to Elliott’s early ascent.
The significance of an award passed from one honoree to another
Jackson’s role creates a symbolic continuity between consecutive Icon Award recipients. Last year’s recipient will recognize this year’s, connecting two artists whose work has had a durable relationship with dance-led pop performance.
That does not mean their artistic identities are interchangeable. Rather, the presentation recognizes a shared understanding that movement can be a core part of music’s impact. In both cases, the idea of a performance extends beyond vocal delivery or recording credits. Dance, costuming, camera language, staging and the performers around the lead artist all help turn a track into a lasting visual event.
For the benefit’s audience, that connection is especially meaningful. Dancers can be crucial to the creation of memorable music moments, yet awards coverage can sometimes concentrate entirely on the recording artist. An event dedicated to support within the dance field has reason to spotlight an artist whose career has repeatedly placed dancers and choreography at the center of the frame.
What audiences can expect from the October 22 gala
The known details are straightforward: the Gala of the Stars takes place October 22 at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, and Jackson will present Elliott with the Icon Award. Chmerkovskiy will host, while Syncopated Ladies are among the scheduled performers. Basil and Paterson will also receive honors.
No performance by Elliott or Jackson has been specified, so the award presentation itself is the confirmed focal point for their appearance together. That is enough to make the ceremony notable, given the personal history between the two artists and the alignment between Elliott’s visual-musical legacy and the benefit’s mission.
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Elliott’s honor is ultimately a recognition of influence that can be heard and seen. Her music helped create memorable performance spaces for dancers, while her videos established images and movement that still resonate in live tributes. With Jackson handing over the award, the gala will frame that influence through both friendship and the shared language of choreography.
