In what is the best year yet for diversity, the nominations for the 2023 National Dance Awards (for performances between January 1 and December 31, 2023) are spread across a record 29 separate companies (up one from 2022).
In total, the members of the dance section of the Critics’ Circle (the UK association for performing arts critics) put forward 311 companies, choreographers, performers and other creative artists.
The Royal Ballet once again tops the list with a total of 11 nominations (down from 14 in 2022), followed by Birmingham Royal Ballet and New Adventures (five each) and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Flamenco Festival and Tiler Peck and Friends (four each).
Photo Johan Persson
Flamenco, South Asian dance, dance theatre and musical theatre are well represented alongside the usual plethora of nominees from ballet and contemporary dance.
The winners will be announced at a live lunchtime ceremony to be held at The Coronet Theatre, London on Monday, June 3.
The event will also play host to the De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement for which there are no prior nominations.
The shortlisted nominees are:
Dancing Times Award for Best Male Dancer
William Bracewell
Paris Fitzpatrick
Francesco Gabriele Frola
Brandon Lawrence
Vadim Muntagirov
Best Female Dancer
Sara Baras
Jemima Brown
Fumi Kaneko
Tiler Peck
Aishwarya Raut
Photo Sofia Wittert
Stef Stefanou Award for Outstanding Company
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
Birmingham Royal Ballet
Nederlands Dans Theater
New Adventures
The Royal Ballet
Best Mid-scale Company
Acosta Danza
Ballet Black
Ockham’s Razor
Scottish Dance Theatre
ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company
in Nina, By Whatever Means by Mthuthuzeli November
Photo Bill Cooper
Best Independent Company
Drew McOnie Company
Pett|Clausen-Knight
Russell Maliphant Dance Company
Seeta Patel Dance
Tiler Peck & Friends
Best Classical Choreography
Sara Baras for Alma for Compañia Sara Baras/The Flamenco Festival
David Dawson for Four Last Songs for English National Ballet
William Forsythe for The Barre Project for Tiler Peck & Friends
Wayne McGregor for Untitled, 2023 for The Royal Ballet
Seeta Patel for The Rite of Spring for Seeta Patel Dance
Photo CLI Studios
Best Modern Choreography
Kyle Abrahams for Are you in Your Feelings? for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre
Drew McOnie for Nutcracker for Drew McOnie Company
Kristen McNally for The Limit at The Royal Opera House
Crystal Pite and Simon McBurney for Figures in Extinction (1.0) for Nederlands Dans Theater
Pam Tanowitz for Song of Songs for Pam Tanowitz Dance
Emerging Artist Award
Nicole-Lily Baisden, musical theatre artist
Jordan James Bridge, dancer and choreographer
Eric Pinto Cata, artist, Birmingham Royal Ballet
Joshua Junker, choreographer, The Royal Ballet
Sae Maeda, soloist, The Royal Ballet
Photo Johan Persson
Outstanding Female Modern Performance
Cordelia Braithwaite as Juliet in Romeo + Juliet for New Adventures
Jemima Brown in Surge for Tom Dale Company
Aditi Mangaldas in Forbidden for Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company
Dada Masilo as the Chosen One in The Sacrifice for Dance Consortium
Constance Stamatiou in Cry for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre
Outstanding Male Modern Performance
Harry Alexander in how did we get here? for Julie Cunningham & Company
Paris Fitzpatrick as Romeo in Romeo + Juliet for New Adventures
Yannick Lebrun in Dancing Spirit for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre
Liam Mower as Edward Scissorhands for New Adventures
Charlie Stemp as Bobby Child in Crazy for You
in Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet
Photo Johan Persson
Outstanding Female Classical Performance
Sara Baras in Alma for Compañía Sara Baras in the Flamenco Festival
Isabela Coracy as Nina Simone in NINA: By Whatever Means for Ballet Black
Mercedes de Cordoba in Si, Quiero in the Flamenco Festival
Fumi Kaneko as Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty for The Royal Ballet
Tiler Peck in Turn it Out for Tiler Peck and Friends
Outstanding Male Classical Performance
Gareth Haw in Four Last Songs for English National Ballet
Ryoichi Hirano as Espada in Don Quixote for The Royal Ballet
Brandon Lawrence in Liebestod for Birmingham Royal Ballet
Sooraj Subramaniam in The Rite of Spring for Seeta Patel Dance
Joseph Taylor as Gatsby in The Great Gatsby for Northern Ballet
Photo Johan Persson
Outstanding Creative Contribution
Carlos Acosta for the concept of Black Sabbath – The Ballet for Birmingham Royal Ballet
Cormac Begley, musician/concertina player in MÁM for Teaċ Damsa
Ravi Deepres, visual artist for UniVerse: A Dark Crystal Odyssey for Studio Wayne McGregor
Cassie Kinoshi, composer for Nutcracker for Drew McOnie Company, and England on Fire for the BalletBoyz
Kate Shipway, pianist at The Royal Opera House
Best Dance Film
Best Short Dance Film
The nominees in these categories will be announced at the beginning of May.