Scotland and Japan triumph at the 2025 National Dance Awards

It proved a good year for dance in Scotland as three of the 2025 National Dance Awards headed north of the border. As they celebrate their 40th anniversary, Dundee-based Scottish Dance Theatre won the the Best Mid-Scale Company Award for the first time, while Scottish Ballet’s Mary, Queen of Scots was doubly triumphant with wins for its choreographer, Sophie Laplane, and for Roseanna Leney’s performance in the title role

The Ambassador of Japan, Hiroshi Suzuki, presented the Stef Stefanou Award for Outstanding Company to Miyako Yoshida, artistic director of the National Ballet of Japan, for the company’s tour to the Royal Opera House in August 2025, where they performed Giselle. Collecting her award, Yoshida recalled her many happy years dancing in England with Birmingham Royal Ballet and The Royal Ballet.

Also from Japan, The Royal Ballet’s Ryoichi Hirano received the Outstanding Male Classical Performance Award for his portrayal of the title role in Onegin.

The winners were announced at a ceremony at the Coronet Theatre, London on June 15, hosted by broadcaster and journalist Samira Ahmed. This year marks the 26th anniversary of the awards, which are voted upon by the 60 dance critics who are members of the Critics’ Circle, and are for performances seen in the United Kingdom between 1st January and 31st December 2025.

The premier, lifetime award, the De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement, was presented by leading dance critic, Sarah Crompton, to Russell Maliphant, marking an extraordinary career as one of the UK’s leading contemporary choreographers and performers. In introducing the award, critic Sarah Crompton referred to the choreographer’s ability to create dance that exists on the edge of light.

In addition to Hirano’s success, The Royal Ballet took both Awards for Best Dancer, with William Bracewell and Lauren Cuthbertson the winners. For both, it was their third National Dance Award.

La Fée Électricité, featuring another Royal Ballet dancer, Viola Pantuso dancing in the streets of Paris, won the award for Best Short Film. Wayne McGregor’s immersive film experience, On the Other Earth, staged at Stone Nest in London’s West End, won the award for Best Dance Film.

It will probably come as no surprise to most to discover that London City Ballet won the Best Independent Company Award (for choreographers and companies not in receipt of Arts Council or equivalent funding) for the second successive year. Kim Brandstrup won his second Best Modern Choreography Award, for Breaking Bach, having won previously in 2016 for Transfigured Night.

Having had a noted career as a dancer, Liam Francis took home his first National Dance Award, but as a choreographer in the Emerging Artist category. English National Ballet’s music director, Maria Seletskaja, won the Award for Outstanding Creative Contribution.

The two awards for Modern Performance went to Cordelia Braithwaite for her performance as Victoria Page in Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes and Paris Fitzpatrick for his role as Jimmy in Quadrophenia; his second National Dance Award, having also won in 2023. In his acceptance speech, Fitzpatrick paid tribute to the show’s choreographer, Paul Roberts, who passed away last year.

The winners came from a shortlists of 75 nominations covering every dance genre, which were themselves a result of a record 379 recommendations from the dance critics.

Announcing the awards, chair of the National Dance Awards, Graham Watts, said, “What a wonderful year for dance in the UK! All the recommendations were good enough to be nominated; and every nominee would have been a deserving winner. It is especially pleasing to see deserved recognition for Scottish Ballet and Scottish Dance Theatre, and for the National Ballet of Japan with its first tour to the UK bringing it recognition as the Outstanding Company in 2025.”

The winners in full

De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement
Russell Maliphant

Dancing Times Award for Best Male Dancer
William Bracewell

Best Female Dancer
Lauren Cuthbertson

Stef Stefanou Award for Outstanding Company
National Ballet of Japan

Best Mid-Scale Company
Scottish Dance Theatre

Best Independent Company
London City Ballet

Best Classical Choreography
Sophie Laplane for Mary, Queen of Scots (Scottish Ballet)

Best Modern Choreography
Kim Brandstrup for Breaking Bach (Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and a company of independent dancers at the Edinburgh International Festival)

Emerging Artist Award
Liam Francis

Outstanding Female Modern Performance
Cordelia Braithwaite in The Red Shoes (Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures)

Outstanding Male Modern Performance
Paris Fitzpatrick in Quadrophenia

Outstanding Female Classical Performance
Roseanna Leney in Mary, Queen of Scots (Scottish Ballet)

Outstanding Male Classical Performance
Ryoichi Hirano in Onegin (The Royal Ballet)

Outstanding Creative Contribution
Maria Seletskaja (Music director, English National Ballet)

Best Dance Film
On the Other Earth (directed and choreographed by Wayne McGregor)

Best Short Dance Film
La Fée Électricité (written and directed by Cottia Thorowgood)