National Dance Awards

Posted on November 9, 2012

Nominations for the 13th National Dance Awards were announced today, at a reception held at The Place. The awards are for dance performances given between September 1, 2011 and August 31, 2012, and are chosen by the dance section of the Critics’ Circle.

Graham Watts, chairman of the dance section, said: “This year, we have had many nominations from over 30 active dance critics… collectively they have put forward over 250 dancers, choreographers and companies for consideration and so the final shortlists are already very much the elite of 2012.” The winners will be announced at a ceremony to be held at The Place on Monday, January 28, 2013.

The nominations are:

Dancing Times award for best male dancer

Jonathan Goddard (Rambert Dance Company and freelance)

Akram Khan (Akram Khan Company)

Vadim Muntagirov (English National Ballet)

Edward Watson (The Royal Ballet

Grishko award for best female dancer

Begoña Cao (English National Ballet)

Eve Mutso (Scottish Ballet)

Marianela Nuñez (The Royal Ballet)

Tamara Rojo (The Royal Ballet)

Stef Stefanou award for outstanding company

Merce Cunningham Dance Company

New Adventures

Royal Ballet of Flanders

Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch

Best classical choreography

David Bintley for Faster (Birmingham Royal Ballet)

Christopher Hampson for Storyville (Ballet Black)

Annabelle Lopez Ochoa for A Streetcar Named Desire (Scottish Ballet)

Alastair Marriott and Christopher Wheeldon for Trespass in Metamorphosis – Titian 2012 (The Royal Ballet)

Best modern choreography

Alexander Ekman for Cacti (Nederlands Dans Theater II)

Akram Khan for DESH (Akrma Khan Company)

Arthur Pita for The Metamorphosis

Kate Prince for Some Like It Hip Hop (ZooNation Dance Company)

Outstanding female performance (classical)

Yuhui Choe (The Royal Ballet)

Ksenia Ovsyanick (English National Ballet)

Beatriz Stix-Brunell (The Royal Ballet)

Jia Zhang (English National Ballet)

Outstanding male performance (classical)

Yonah Acosta (English National Ballet)

Paul Kay (The Royal Ballet)

Zdenek Konvalina (English National Ballet)

Dawid Trzensimiech (The Royal Ballet)

Outstanding female performance (modern)

Azzurra Ardovini (Phoenix Dance Theatre)

Teneisha Bonner (ZooNation Dance Company)

Wendy Houstoun

Hannah Kidd (Richard Alston Dance Company)

Outstanding male performance (modern)

Tommy Franzén (ZooNation Dance Company and Russell Maliphant Company)

Dane Hurst (Rambert Dance Company)

Christopher Marney (New Adventures)

Liam Riddick (Richard Alston Dance Company)

Best independent company

Ballet Black

Ballet Cymru

Rosie Kay Dance Company

Shobana Jeyasingh Dance

Dancing Times sponsors the best male dancer award. Grishko are overall event sponsors, and also sponsor the best female dancer award , which is given in memory of Richard Sherrington. Stef Stefanou sponsors the outstanding company and best modern company awards. The Ballet Association sponsors the award for best classical choreography. Lee McLernon sponsors the award for outstanding female performance (classical).

Details of all nominees can be found at www.criticscircle.org.uk from 5pm on November 9.

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.