The Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle is pleased to announce the nominations for the 17th National Dance Awards, which are as follows:

DANCING TIMES AWARD FOR BEST MALE DANCER
Tobias BATLEY (Northern Ballet)
Alexander CAMPBELL (The Royal Ballet)
Chase JOHNSEY (Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo)
Vadim MUNTAGIROV (The Royal Ballet)
Liam RIDDICK (Richard Alston Dance Company)

GRISHKO AWARD FOR BEST FEMALE DANCER
Francesca HAYWARD (The Royal Ballet)
Ekaterina KRYSANOVA (Bolshoi Ballet)
Laura MORERA (The Royal Ballet)
Tamara ROJO (English National Ballet)
Zenaida YANOWSKY (The Royal Ballet)

STEF STEFANOU AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING COMPANY
Bolshoi Ballet
English National Ballet
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
Northern Ballet
Scottish Ballet

BEST INDEPENDENT COMPANY
Ballet Cymru
DeNada Dance Theatre
Gary Clarke Company
Protein Dance
Sweetshop Revolution

BEST CLASSICAL CHOREOGRAPHY
[sponsored by The Ballet Association]
Anabelle LOPEZ OCHOA – ‘Broken Wings’ (for English National Ballet)
Jean-Christophe MAILLOT – ‘Taming Of The Shrew’ (for Bolshoi Ballet)
Cathy MARSTON – ‘Jane Eyre’ (for Northern Ballet)
Will TUCKETT – ‘Elizabeth’ (for The Royal Ballet)
Jonathan WATKINS – ‘1984’ (for Northern Ballet

BEST MODERN CHOREOGRAPHY
Kim BRANDSTRUP – ‘Transfigured Night’ (for Rambert)
Javier De FRUTOS – ‘Anatomy of a Passing Cloud’ (for Royal New Zealand Ballet)
Akram KHAN – ‘Until the Lions’ (for Akram Khan Company)
Russell MALIPHANT – ‘Spiral Pass’ (for Bayerische Staatsballett Munich & Russell Maliphant Company)
Crystal PITE – ‘Betroffenheit’ (for Kidd Pivot/Electric Company Theatre)

EMERGING ARTIST AWARD
[Sponsored by The L&M Trust]
Reece CLARKE (First Artist, The Royal Ballet)
Julie CUNNINGHAM (Freelance Choreographer)
Tierney HEAP (Soloist, The Royal Ballet)
Kateryna KHANIUKOVA (Junior Soloist, English National Ballet)
Vidya PATEL (Guest artist, Richard Alston Dance Company)

OUTSTANDING FEMALE PERFORMANCE (MODERN)
Ching-Ying CHIEN (in ‘UNTIL THE LIONS’ for Akram Khan Company)
Marivi DA SILVA (in ‘YOUNG MAN’ for Denada Dance Theatre)
Christine Joy RITTER (in ‘UNTIL THE LIONS’ for Akram Khan Company)
Hannah KIDD (as Penelope in ‘THE ODYSSEY’ for Mark Bruce Company)
Vidya PATEL (as Princess Maria Barbara in ‘AN ITALIAN IN MADRID’ for Richard Alston Dance Company)

OUTSTANDING MALE PERFORMANCE (MODERN)
Miguel ALTUNAGA (in ‘TRANSFIGURED NIGHT’ for Rambert)
Daniel COLLINS (as Jekyll in ‘JEKYLL & HYDE’ for The Old Vic/The Mconie Company)
Akram KHAN (in ‘UNTIL THE LIONS’ for Akram Khan Company)
Liam RIDDICK (as Prince Ferdinand in ‘AN ITALIAN IN MADRID’ for Richard Alston Dance Company)
Jonathon YOUNG (in ‘BETROFFENHEIT’ for Kidd Pivot/Electric Company Theatre

OUTSTANDING FEMALE PERFORMANCE (CLASSICAL)
[Sponsored by Lee McLernon]
Francesca HAYWARD (in ‘RHAPSODY’ for The Royal Ballet)
Ekaterina KRYSANOVA (as Katherina in ‘TAMING OF THE SHREW’ for Bolshoi Ballet)
Martha LEEBOLT (as Julia in ‘1984’ for Northern Ballet)
Tamara ROJO (as Frida Kahlo in ‘BROKEN WINGS’ for English National Ballet)
Zenaida YANOWSKY (in the title role as ‘ELIZABETH’ for The Royal Ballet)

OUTSTANDING MALE PERFORMANCE (CLASSICAL)
[Sponsored by The Office for Architectural Culture]
Tobias BATLEY (as Winston Smith in ‘1984’ for Northern Ballet)
Cesar CORRALES (as Ali in ‘LE CORSAIRE’ for English National Ballet)
Chase JOHNSEY (in the title role as ‘PAQUITA’ for Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo)
Vladislav LANTRATOV (as Petruchio in ‘TAMING OF THE SHREW’ for Bolshoi Ballet)
Irek MUKHAMEDOV (as Diego Rivera in ‘BROKEN WINGS’ for English National Ballet)

The winners will be announced at a lunchtime ceremony to be held in Central London on Monday, 6th February 2017.

Once again the event will also play host to the De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement and the Dance UK Industry Award, given in memory of Jane Attenborough, for both of which there are no prior nominations.

The National Dance Awards have been organised by the Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle in each year of this Millennium and they celebrate the vigour and variety of Britain’s thriving dance culture. They are the only awards given by the body of professional dance critics in the UK. They are presented by the Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle, which brings together some 60 dance writers and critics.

In announcing the awards, the chairman of the Dance Section, Graham Watts OBE, said:

“Once again, these short-listed nominees come from a long list of over 400 dancers, choreographers and companies nominated from across the membership of the Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle.

This year is an especially bumper year for ballet with The Royal Ballet topping the list of companies with ten nominations, followed by English National Ballet (7), Northern Ballet (6) and the Bolshoi Ballet (5).

The Akram Khan Company gains four nominations for Until The Lions making it the most nominated production, closely followed by Northern Ballet’s 1984, the Bolshoi’s Taming of the Shrew, Richard Alston Dance Company’s An Italian in Madrid and ENB’s Broken Wings; all with three nominations, each. Other productions with more than one nomination are: The Royal Ballet’s Elizabeth, Betroffenheit for Kidd Pivot and the Electric Company Theatre and Rambert’s Transfigured Night.

For the first time ever, a nomination in a Best Male Performance category is for dancing as a ballerina, with Chase Johnsey of “The Trocks” nominated for his performance as Paquita [Johnsey is also nominated in the Best Male Dancer category].

The Emerging Artist category includes a nomination for the Kathak dancer, Vidya Patel, who was a finalist in last year’s BBC Young Dancer of the Year competition. Patel is also nominated in the category of Outstanding Female Performance (Modern) for her role as Princess Maria Barbara in Richard Alston’s An Italian in Madrid. At the other end of the experiential spectrum, Irek Mukhamedov – at 56 – is nominated in the category for Outstanding Male Performance (Classical) for his portrayal of Diego Rivera in Broken Wings. The ENB director and lead principal dancer, Tamara Rojo, also picks up two personal nominations as well as one for her company.

The Awards Committee wishes to express grateful thanks to our sponsors, without whom the event would not be possible; to the body of dance critics across the UK for giving their time to ensure the best possible list of nominees; and, above all, the companies, choreographers and performers for giving us such a rich variety of choice”.

Notes:

To qualify for the NDA in 2016 performances will have been given between 1st September 2015 and 31st August 2016.

The Committee for the NDA in 2015 is: Zoe Anderson, Katie Columbus, Debra Craine, Mike Dixon, Gerald Dowler, Maggie Foyer, Jonathan Gray, Luke Jennings, Emma Kauldhar, Josephine Leask, Judith Mackrell, Bruce Marriott, Neil Norman, Graham Watts and Lyndsey Winship.