Dance building reaches awards finals

Posted on September 1, 2011

The new Leeds home for Northern Ballet and Phoenix Dance Theatre has reached the finals of the 2011 National Lottery Awards. Public voting for the awards opens on Friday, September 2.

Voting opens on Friday, September 2 for the National Lottery Awards 2011, and closes at noon on September 26. Winners will receive £2,000 to spend on the project, and will be celebrated in an awards ceremony, to be broadcast on national television later this year. To vote for Northern Ballet and Phoenix Dance Theatre, call 0844 836 9674 or see www.lotterygoodcauses.org/awards.

The Leeds building houses Northern Ballet, Phoenix Dance Theatre and the schools of both companies (which train more than 300 young people). It also holds classes for further and higher education students from local universities. The building has seven dance studios, a studio theatre, wardrobe facilities, a health suite, meeting rooms and offices. It is nominated in the Best Arts Project category, alongside mac in Birmingham, Razed Roof: Inclusion Through Practice and The Smiling Sessions. Most categories have three finalists; the closely-fought Best Arts Project category has four, due to a tie in the semi-final round of voting. The awards recognise the difference that Lottery-funded projects have made to local communities.

Photograph: Jonathan Taylor

Zoe Anderson

Zoë was born in Edinburgh, and saw her first dance performances at the Festival there. She is the dance critic of The Independent, and has also written for The Independent on Sunday, The Scotsman and Dancing Times. In 2002, she received her doctorate from the University of York for a thesis on “Nationhood and epic romance: Ariosto, Sidney, Spenser”. She is the author of The Royal Ballet: 75 Years and The Ballet Lover’s Companion.