Taglioni nominations

Posted on August 22, 2014

Northern Ballet’s Kenneth Tindall and Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) conductor Philip Ellis are among the nominees for the first Taglioni Awards, created to honour extraordinary achievement in ballet.

Named for the 19th-century ballerina Marie Taglioni,the awards are presented by the Malakhov Foundation, set up by ballet star Vladimir Malakhov in January 2014. This non-profit organisation aims to support dancers in areas of need, such as grants for education, training, medical needs and maintenance.

Kenneth Tindall is nominated for best young choreographer, alongside Jean Philippe Dury and Natalia Horecna. Northern Ballet is also nominated for best company, alongside the Paris Opéra Ballet and the Hamburg Ballett.

Philip Ellis (pictured), who has conducted almost every BRB production since 1990, has also guest conducted at The Royal Ballet, the ballet of La Scala, English National Ballet, Semperoper Ballet, the Paris Opéra Ballet, the Mikhailovsky Ballet and more. The other conductors nominated in this category are the Bayerisches Staatsballett’s Myron Romanul and Pavel Bubelnikov of the Mariinsky and Mikhailovsky companies.

The nominees for best production are Leonid Jacobson Company’s Classical Miniatures, Mats Ek’s Julia and Romeo and Wayne McGregor’s Raven Girl. Thierry Malandain, Marco Goecke and Ina Christel Johannessen are nominated for best choreographer. The best director nominees are Martin Schläpfer, Thomas Edur and Gil Roman.

Alban Lendorf, Roberto Bolle and Nicolas Le Riche are nominated for best male dancer, with Alina Cojocaru, Olga Esina and Bernice Coppieters nominated for best female dancer. The nominees in the young male dancer category are Xander Parish, François Alu and Davide Dato, with Emma Barrowman, Yulia Stepanova and Ida Praetorius nominated for best young female dancer.

Frederick Ashton dominates the best DVD category, with nominations for Opus Arte’s Ashton Celebration and for ICA Classics’ reissue of the 1962 film of La Fille mal gardée. Arthaus Musik’s DVD of Heinz  Spoerli’s Dance and Quartet is also nominated. Bob Ringwood, Keso Dekker and Marina Abramovic are nominated for the best designer award. The Royal Danish Ballet wins the Lifetime Award.

The winners will be chosen by a jury of expert specialist journalists, and announced at a gala in Berlin on September 27.

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.