Ballet leads the way in the National Dance Awards nominations

The nominations for the 17th National Dance Awards (covering the period September 2015-August 2016) are out.

Organised by the Dance Section of the Critics Circle, the body of professional dance critics in the UK, they again celebrate the vigour and diversity of Britain’s thriving dance culture. Having said that, ballet featured particularly strongly this year with ten nominations for The Royal Ballet, seven for English National Ballet, six for Northern Ballet and five for the visiting Bolshoi.

Among the contemporary nominations, the Akram Khan Company gains four for Until The Lions, including for best contemporary performance for all three dancers: Khan, Chien Ching-ying and Christine Joy Ritter, making it the most nominated production. There are also three nominations for Richard Alston Dance Company’s An Italian in Madrid.

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 for English National Ballet. ENB director and lead principal dancer, Tamara Rojo, also picks up two personal nominations as well as one for her company.

The nominations

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 Dance Company)
Javier de Frutos – Anatomy of a Passing Cloud (for The Royal New Zealand Ballet)
Akram Khan – Until the Lions (for Akram Khan Company)
Russell Maliphant – Spiral Pass  (for Bayerisches Staatsballett)
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)
Katja Khaniukova (junior soloist, English National Ballet)
Vidya Patel (guest artist, Richard Alston Dance Company)

Outstanding Female Performance (Modern)
Chien Ching-ying (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 Dance Company)
Daniel Collins (as Jekyll in Jekyll & Hyde for the McOnie Company/Old Vic)
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 of 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.

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.