South Bank Sky Arts Awards 2011

Posted on January 25, 2011

Akram Khan’s Gnosis has won the South Bank Sky Arts Award for dance.

Presented at Sadler’s Wells, Gnosis was inspired by the Mahabharata story of Queen Ghandari, and featured live musicians including the taiko drummer Yoshie Sunahata. The other nominees were Liam Scarlett’s Asphodel Meadows, created for The Royal Ballet, and Hofesh Shechter’s Political Mother.

Tacita Dean won in the visual arts category for Craneway Event, her study of choreographer Merce Cunningham in rehearsal. The Royal Ballet’s Brian Maloney was nominated for the Times Breakthrough Award, which went to the band Everything Everything.

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.