January

February

March

• Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker! | Liverpool Empire | 1-5 March 

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

• AISHA AND ABHAYA (2020) (RAMBERT/ROYAL BALLET)
• AUTODANCE (2017) (GOTEBORGS OPERANS DANSKOMPANI, SWEDEN)
• BEDROOM FOLK (2015) (NDT1) (BALLET BC)  - seen online
• BERTOLINA (2006) (BATSHEVA DANCE COMPANY)
• BILL (2010) (BATSHEVA DANCE COMPANY) (BALLET BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA)
• CORPS DE WALK (2011) (CARTE BLANCHE, NORWAY)
• FAUNES (2021) (PARIS OPERA BALLET)
• FEELINGS (2016) (NDT2)
• HALF LIFE (ROYAL SWEDISH BALLET) (STAATSBALLET BERLIN)
• HOUSE (2011) (BATSHEVA DANCE COMPANY)
• KILLER PIG (2009)(CARTE BLANCHE,NORWAY) (RAMBERT 2)
• LOVE CHAPTER 2 (2016) (L-E-V)
• LOVE CHAPTER 3: THE BRUTAL JOURNEY OF THE HEART(2019) (L-E-V)
• MAKAROVA KABISA (2008) (BATSHEVA DANCE COMPANY)
• OCD LOVE (2015) (L-E-V)
• OCCUPATION (2020) (TANZMAINZ)
• PLAFOMA (2012) (TANZCOMPAGNIE OLDENBURG, GERMANY)
• PROCESS DAY (2014) (SCOTTISH DANCE THEATRE, UK)
• PROMISE (2021) (TANSMAINZ)
• R A K M D L G D (L-E-V) (2019)
• SAABA (2021) (GOTEBORGS OPERANS DANSKOMPANI, SWEDEN)
• SALT WOMB (2016) (NDT1)
• SARA (2013) (NDT2)
• SOUL CHAIN (2018) (TANZMAINZ)
• STRONG (2019) (STAATSBALLETT BERLIN) - seen online
• THE LOOK (2019) (BATSHEVA DANCE COMPANY, ISRAEL)
• TOO BEAUCOUP (2011) (HUBBARD STREET DANCE CHICAGO, USA)
• UNTITLED BLACK (2012) (GOTEBORGS OPERANS DANSKOMPANI, SWEDEN) - seen online
• USED TO BE BLONDE (NATIONAL YOUTH DANCE COMPANY, UK) (2018)

Half Life | Berlin Staatsballett

Killer Pig | Rambert2

Parts of Love @ Bold Tendencies | L-E-V

January

February

March

• Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby | Rambert | The Lowry [Lyric Theatre] | 14-18 March 

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November 

December

The HOME website has always proved somewhat frustrating because you 1) Can't access a simple list of what's on in date order: you need to keep reloading the page and scrolling through (unless I'm doing it wrong), and 2) Can't filter shows by genre so if the name or company is unfamiliar you have to look at the image and read the text to try to establish whether something is actually dance or not - or some other artform.

Now, increasingly,  The Lowry has too many categories to search through when looking for dance ad dance-related shows: Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Contemporary Dance, Dance, Other Dance, Rambert, Circus (and they also have Physical Theatre and Contemporary sections) and not every show is accurately categorised against whatever 'grouping' they might fall into. 

This all contributes to the illusion that there is even less on than you might hope. 

Sort it out. 

NATIONAL DANCE AWARDS 2022 #NDA22

Full list of nominees: winners in bold. 

DANCING TIMES AWARD FOR BEST MALE DANCER

Jeffrey Cirio (English National Ballet)

Francesco Gabriele Frola (English National Ballet)

Brandon Lawrence (Birmingham Royal Ballet)

Vadim Muntagirov (The Royal Ballet)

Edward Watson (The Royal Ballet)

BEST FEMALE DANCER

(sponsored by Tendu)

Momoko Hirata (Birmingham Royal Ballet)

Marianela Nuñez (The Royal Ballet)

Natalia Osipova (The Royal Ballet)

Cira Robinson (Ballet Black)

Erina Takahashi (English National Ballet)

STEF STEFANOU AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING COMPANY

English National Ballet

New Adventures

Northern Ballet

Rambert

The Royal Ballet

BEST MID-SCALE COMPANY

Ballet Black

Ballet Cymru

Hofesh Shechter Company

Motionhouse

Scottish Dance Theatre

BEST INDEPENDENT COMPANY

Amina Khayyam Dance Company

Far From The Norm

Impermanence

Rhiannon Faith Company

Yorke Dance Project

BEST CLASSICAL CHOREOGRAPHY

(sponsored by The Ballet Association)

Gene Kelly & Christopher Hampson for Starstruck (Scottish Ballet)

Wayne McGregor for The Dante Project (The Royal Ballet)

Mthuthuzeli November for The Waiting Game (Ballet Black)

Arielle Smith for Jolly Folly (English National Ballet)

Valentino Zucchetti for Anemoi (The Royal Ballet)

BEST MODERN CHOREOGRAPHY

(sponsored by Harlequin Floors)

Miguel Altunaga for City of a Thousand Trades (Birmingham Royal Ballet)

Matthew Bourne for The Midnight Bell (New Adventures)

Robert Cohan for Afternoon Conversations with Dancers (Yorke Dance

Project)

Dimitris Papaioannou for Transverse Orientation (Dance Umbrella/Sadler’s

Wells)

Botis Seva for BLKDG (Far From The Norm)

EMERGING ARTIST AWARD

(sponsored by The L&M Trust)

Nafisah Baba (Freelance Dance Artist)

Lanre Malaolu (Performer, Choreographer and Writer)

Bruno Micchiardi (Soloist, Scottish Ballet)

Gina Storm-Jensen (Soloist, The Royal Ballet)

Emily Suzuki (Artist, English National Ballet)

OUTSTANDING FEMALE MODERN PERFORMANCE

Cordelia Braithwaite as Clara in Nutcracker! (New Adventures)

Sutton Foster as Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes (Anything Goes/The

Barbican)

Rosie Kay in Absolute Solo 2 (Rosie Kay Dance Company)

Michela Meazza in the The Midnight Bell (New Adventures)

Yolande Yorke-Edgell in Lamentation (Yorke Dance Project)

OUTSTANDING MALE MODERN PERFORMANCE

Dan Daw in The Dan Daw Show (Dan Daw Creative Projects)

Paris Fitzpatrick in The Midnight Bell (New Adventures)

Akram Khan in Xenos (Akram Khan Company)

James Vu Anh Pham in Outwitting the Devil (Akram Khan Company)

Richard Winsor in The Midnight Bell (New Adventures)

OUTSTANDING FEMALE CLASSICAL PERFORMANCE

(sponsored by Lee McLernon)

Antoinette Brooks-Daw as Morgan in Merlin (Northern Ballet)

Alessandra Ferri in L’Heure exquise (The Royal Ballet/AF Dance/Ravenna Festival)

Marianela Nuñez in the title role as Giselle (The Royal Ballet)

Natalia Osipova in the title role as Giselle (The Royal Ballet)

Beatriz Stix-Brunel in After the Rain (The Royal Ballet)

OUTSTANDING MALE CLASSICAL PERFORMANCE

(sponsored by London Ballet Circle)

Jeffrey Cirio in the title role as Creature (English National Ballet)

Vadim Muntagirov in the title role as Apollo (The Royal Ballet)

Tyrone Singleton as Romeo in Radio and Juliet (Birmingham Royal Ballet)

Joseph Sissens in The Statement (The Royal Ballet)

Edward Watson as Dante in The Dante Project (The Royal Ballet)

OUTSTANDING CREATIVE CONTRIBUTION

Thomas Adès (Composer, for The Dante Project)

Rickard Berg (Composer, for Coppélia, KVN Dance)

Lez Brotherston (Designer, for The Midnight Bell)

Tacita Dean (Designer, for The Dante Project)

Logela Multimedia (Digital Imagery in the work of Motionhouse)

BEST DANCE FILM

Kyle Abraham/New York City Ballet for When We Fell

Rhiannon Faith/Rhiannon Faith Company for DROWNTOWN

William Forsythe/CLI Studios for The Barre Project

Gene Kelly & Christopher Hampson/Scottish Ballet for Starstruck

Jo Strømgren/Rambert for Rooms

DE VALOIS AWARD

John Ashford  

English National Ballet announces Aaron Watkin as new artistic director 

The 52-year-old Canadian will succeed Tamara Rojo in August 2023 and arrives after 16 years as artistic director of Semperoper Ballett in Dresden.

Watkin is expected to continue to develop ENB along the path started by Tamara Rojo, who has spent the past decade improving and modernising the company - retaining classical work at the heart of the company while bringing in choreographers to create new contemporary work on the company. 

Watkin's greatest challenge  - especially after 16 years working in Germany's well-funded arts sector - is likely to be the UK's much less generous, penny-pinching approach to arts funding - not to mention a dwindling audience for dance following years of under-funding, neglect and outright vandalism by our Conservative overlords.

The Palace Theatre has SOLD OUT English National Ballet's Swan Lake - 5-8 October.

I'm not completely sure of the significance of this but I can't remember the last time I saw dance at The Lowry in any of their three theatres and it being close to full - let alone sold out.

 And The Lowry appear - in my opinion - to be losing sense in which of their three theatres to even programme dance. They have several times put shows in The Lyric this year that would clearly have been more appropriate to The Quays, while failing to draw a significant audience for Rambert (for example) - once so reliable but a company that has made the mistake of improving and modernising to the extent that it seems to have cost them the mainstream dance audience - or the mainstream dance audience has evaporated. (Which one can only ascribe to more than a decade of Conservative attacks on culture on multiple fronts.)

Ironically Rambert may have just brought themselves back to (more) mainstream prominence by shamelessly creating a show based on Peaky Blinders - Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby After years of minor adjustments to their name they have even cannily badged themselves as Rambert Dance for this production instead of the current RAMBERT. 

Swan Lake is the most reliable ballet to programme - it combines a story that retains its ability to enchant (but is easy to follow and still retains huge affective power), spectacle and a score that is never less than delightful and full of strong melody and drama. 

But this surely also indicates that there is an appetite for entertaining, well-produced, quality work by established, top-quality companies - that is marketed strongly. This seems so obvious that I can't believe I'm even saying the words. 

So why is dance in such dire straights? Are Swan Lake (and probably Romeo & Juliet, Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker) and Matthew Bourne the last defiant bastions? Or is this Little England securing what is rightfully theirs - proper British ballet for proper British people?

Or - as I have long believed - do Manchester audiences (broadly-speaking) not mix their venues? The Lowry audience go to The Lowry. The ATG audience go to the Palace and the Opera House. And the HOME audience go to HOME (where Hofesh Shechter does pretty well). 

So this selling out of Swan Lake is simply the ATG audience going to see their once-every 12-18 months ballet show?

The interesting thing will be how MIF's Factory International - which finally opens in summer 2023 - shakes things up - or fails to find that elusive audience that clearly isn't necessarily going anywhere else. 

INVENT TOMORROW TOGETHER

At Factory International, we have a year-round programme of events for you. It could be theatre, dance, music, exhibition, performance or a combination. A twist on the familiar, or a leap into the unknown. 

We’re putting art in the heart of Manchester; within reach of everyone. 

The UK Theatre Awards 2022 took take place at London's historic Guildhall on Sunday 23 October 2022.

The UK Theatre Awards are the only nationwide awards to celebrate the outstanding achievements of regional and national theatre. 

There is only dance-specific award:

Achievement in Dance

Will Tuckett’s Then or Now for Ballet Black, exquisitely melding poetry, dance, light and sound into an intimate work that gently touches big themes of our times

The dancers of Rambert for their ability to inhabit any choreographer’s vision, as a company of unique, versatile, incredibly skilled performers

Dan Daw for The Dan Daw Show, a kinky, joyful, unapologetic and vulnerable celebration of oneself and one’s body

The Winners were Rambert

also:

Northern Ballet were nominated in the Excellence in Touring category. 

The dance companies below were given NPO status and funding as part of the 2023-26 Investment Programme:

• Amina Khayyam Dance Co
• Blink Dance Theatre
• CoDa Dance Company
• Company of Others
• DanceSyndrome
• FRONTLINEdance
• Gary Clarke Company Ltd
• Humanhood
• Impact Dance Foundation
• IRIE! dance theatre
• Jaivant Patel Company CIC
• Just Us Dance Theatre Company
• Kala The Arts
• Magpie Dance
• Nupur Arts Dance Academy
• Pagrav Company Limited
• Rhiannon Faith Company
• Second Hand Dance
• Seeta Patel Dance Ltd
• Southpaw Dance Productions
• Surface Area Dance Theatre CIC
• Tech Styles Dance LTD

Companies that have increased funding:

• ACE Dance & Music
• Balbir Singh Dance Company
• Ballet Black
• Boy Blue
• Company Chameleon
• Corali
• Jasmin Vardimon Company
• Northern Ballet
• Phoenix Dance Theatre
• RJC Dance
• Serendipity
• Stopgap Dance Company
• TIN Arts

Companies that have reduced funding (hard to see this as anything but an attack on national touring):

• Dance Consortium
• English National Ballet
• Rambert
• Sadler's Wells

Companies that have lost NPO status:  there isn't a list for this so picking up who the casualties are from the news of the companies' own social media channels:

• Autin Dance Theatre
• Mark Bruce Dance Company

Pre-Covid, at this point in the year I would look at the 25-30 dance shows I had seen during the year and pick out my top ten favourites. Sometimes I would need to add a 'best of the rest' list because I'd seen so much I rated and enjoyed.

This year I have seen twelve shows. Twelve. 

There are reasons for this. The pandemic delivered a blow to the live entertainment industry across the board from which it has yet to fully recover. Some areas have recovered faster and stronger than others but dance and theatre are still less active and performing to smaller audiences generally. Especially dance. 

Recent ACE funding decisions have delivered fresh blows the impact of which are not yet known - but many companies face real-terms cuts to funding or the loss of their NPO status entirely.

Personally, I am less willing to travel to see dance so I have missed things in previous years I would likely have seen, in Chester, Liverpool and Huddersfield (mostly). I still went to London a couple of times. Like many people I feel differently to before in enclosed and organised spaces leading to off-putting anxiety (and sometimes full-blown panic attacks, although these have lessened over time). Some of the ways I have tackled anxiety are by avoiding shows that are long (+90 mins) or without an interval, changing where I sit in theatres - front and centre now tends to be more middle and end of row (especially an empty row) - and not booking shows that look like they might be less interesting to me personally or companies I don't especially feel the need to see again. I know this is unhelpful to those companies who need audiences so badly right now but there it is. 

The Days | Theo Clinkard | The Lowry [Studio] | April 

A conceptually simple but unexpectedly-moving duet that unfussily created a powerful emotional narrative, punched home with some clever musical choices and tenderly-measured performances from Maria Nurmela and Ville Oinonen and two locally-recruited older performers.

Le Pain | Jean-Daniel Broussé | The Lowry [Studio] | April 

The cirque content in this show from JD of Nikki and JD fame is relatively low so it is more of a mixed media physical theatre piece with lots of humour, film, dance, some acro - and bread-making. It is a beautifully-constructed piece, full of warmth and humour and charisma from a performer who literally embodies all those qualities - plus some really good bread. 

Dance | Rambert | The Lowry [Lyric Theatre] | May 

This was a triple bill featuring the marvellous Eye Candy by Imre van Opstal and Marne van Opstal - shown as part of the summer livestream but much more impactful and (good) strange on stage - a new Ben Duke commission (Cerberus) - which was terrific - and a piece by Alonzo King created in 2000 for Alvin Ailey (Following the Subtle Current Upstream). The third piece was less to my taste but I had been so blown away by Eye Candy and Cerberus that it still seemed like a very strong programme.

Double Murder (Clowns/The Fix) | Hofesh Shechter Company | HOME | June

I have seen Clowns so many times (twice on stage and more times than I can count online) that I was not especially excited to see it again (especially with so many recent personnel changes in the company). But I was wrong. Clowns is terrific: poetic, exciting, shocking, funny, sexy and thought-provoking. New piece The Fix was unexpectedly simple and different: "a response to global pandemic, loneliness and isolation that settles on hope and hugs as the answer" [the Guardian]. I found it deeply moving and at the end as I stood in the front row while dancer Frédéric Despierre hugged me it felt everything I needed at that moment. 

Dark in the House | L-E-V Dance Company | Sharon Eyal & Gai Behar | Bold Tendencies, Peckham Rye, London | July

Apparently Sharon Eyal had planned to restage 2011's House - which has never been seen in the UK - for this new three-day residency. Instead she reworked elements of House, OCD Love and Wet (2022) - which was created as part of their This Is Not A Love Show - A Series of Dance Performances at Kraftwerk Berlin in January into a site-specific new work. 

The result - soundtracked by Ori Lichtik for the first part and DJ Koreless for the second - was a hypnotic exploration of Eyal's strange/beautiful, precise, extreme, spiky, languid, not-quite-robotic choreography performed in near-darkness (Part 1) or floods of red, green and pink (Part 2). Having been slightly underwhelmed by Love Chapter 3's oddly light-hearted tone at Sadler's Wells in May, this dark, alien beauty - which I saw twice on consecutive nights - made me fall in love with Eyal's work all over again. 

Bold Tendencies is such a fantastic venue - the top two floors of a no-longer-in-use multi-storey carpark - and the smaller audience these performances are designed for - they also promoted her 2021 residency in Selfridge's loading bay - gives these shows a very special atmosphere and sense of excitement. 

Kin | Gecko | HOME | September

Gecko are a physical theatre company with strong dance unpinning their work and their new show Kin - which is on the highly-topical subject of migration - is particularly strong on dance content. Anyone who likes Hofesh Shechter would enjoy this as it shares much of the same DNA. Dark, comic, intelligent and impactful: visually dynamic and wonderfully creative. A really fantastic show that they will continue to tour (and refine) in 2023. 

Ballet and heavy metal may not be an obvious pairing, but that's the mash-up fans will be getting when Black Sabbath - The Ballet opens later this year.

The brainchild of Birmingham Royal Ballet director Carlos Acosta and the band's Tony Iommi, the ballet will premiere in Birmingham in September.

It will feature eight Black Sabbath tracks plus new music inspired by them.

Iommi told Radio 4's Today he hopes the "rags to riches" tale will attract "both our fans and ballet fans".

Acosta told the programme he had been a big fan of the band since a friend introduced him to their music around the year 2000.

BBC News 

I'm not sure if this is terrible idea (the Sabbath tracks will be reorchestrated for the Royal Ballet Sinfonia) but Black Sabbath - The Ballet is a terrible name. Why not just Black Sabbath?

https://www.brb.org.uk/shows/black-sabbath

This full-evening ballet promises to be a unique undertaking with three composers and three choreographers, led by renowned Choreographer Pontus Lidberg (whose work has been performed by the Swedish Royal Ballet and the Paris Opera Ballet) and Composer Chris Austin (whose work includes orchestrating the White Stripes music for Wayne McGregor’s Chroma) working alongside award-winning writer Richard Thomas (Jerry Springer, The Opera) to create an extraordinary metal symphony over three acts. Black Sabbath themselves have been closely involved in developing this unique collaboration.

Three composers and three choreographers sounds to me like a hot mess. But we'll see. Pontus Lidberg is a potentially interesting choice. 

The company have also recently announced the launch of BRB2.

BRB2 is a new initiative where BRB pro-actively seeks out some of the best young ballet graduates from around the world to join a two-year performance programme, providing vital employment for the next generation of exceptional ballet dancers (aged 18-22) to transition from training into jobs at BRB or other leading ballet companies, impacting the dance sector worldwide. 

This fundamentally seems like a terrific idea but it seems a shame that the programme for their inaugural tour is an Acosta-selected (naturally, it is literally his job) mixed bag of (mostly) classical set pieces - pas de deux etc. There looks to be around ten pieces in the programme, which is a horrible idea (in my opinion). A curate's egg, anyone? 

Neither show is coming to Manchester / Salford, by the way. 

The director of a leading German ballet company has been sacked from his post and is being investigated by police after allegedly smearing a critic’s face with his dog’s excrement at the premiere of his new show after she described one of his productions as “boring” and “disjointed”.

Marco Goecke confronted Wiebke Hüster, the ballet critic of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), in the interval of his latest show on Sunday night.

He attacked her verbally before producing a bag of dog faeces from his pocket and rubbing the contents in her face, the FAZ and the critic said.

German ballet director ‘smeared dog faeces on critic’s face’ after bad review [the Guardian]

German ballet director offers no apology over dog faeces incident [the Guardian]

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

 Olivier Awards 2023: nominations in dance categories

Best new dance production

Light of Passage by Crystal Pite at Royal Opera House

Pasionaria by La Veronal at Sadler’s Wells

Traplord by Ivan Michael Blackstock at 180 Studios (The Strand) - WINNER

Triptych (The Missing Door, The Lost Room and The Hidden Floor) by Peeping Tom at Barbican theatre

Outstanding achievement in dance

Manuel Liñán for his choreography of ¡Viva! at Sadler’s Wells

Dickson Mbi for his choreography of Enowate at Sadler’s Wells - WINNER

(My review for the Reviews Hub - https://www.thereviewshub.com/dickson-mbi-enowate-the-lowry-salford/)

Raquel Meseguer Zafe for her dramaturgy of Ruination by Lost Dog at Royal Opera House – Linbury theatre

Catrina Nisbett for her performance in Family Honour by Spoken Movement at Sadler’s Wells

 The 23rd National Dance Awards

#NDA23

Announcement of Nominations

The Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle is pleased to announce the short-listed nominations for the National Dance Awards (#NDA23).

The qualifying period for performances was between 1st January and 31st December 2022.

The short-listed nominees are taken from nominations made by the members of the Dance section of the Critics’ Circle.

In total there were 387 companies, choreographers, performers and other creative artists nominated (up from 355 in 2021), from which the short-listed nominees are:

DANCING TIMES AWARD FOR BEST MALE DANCER

William Bracewell (The Royal Ballet)

Jeffrey Cirio (English National Ballet)

Francesco Gabriele Frola (English National Ballet)

Jonathan Goddard (Freelance artist)

Brandon Lawrence (Birmingham Royal Ballet)

BEST FEMALE DANCER

Francesca Hayward (The Royal Ballet)

Momoko Hirata (Birmingham Royal Ballet)

Fumi Kaneko (The Royal Ballet)

Katja Khaniukova (English National Ballet)

Laura Morera (The Royal Ballet)

STEF STEFANOU AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING COMPANY

Birmingham Royal Ballet

English National Ballet

Nederlands Dans Theater 2 (NDT2)

Scottish Ballet

The Royal Ballet

BEST MID-SCALE COMPANY

Acosta Danza

Ballet Black

Lost Dog

Mark Bruce Company

National Dance Company Wales

BEST INDEPENDENT COMPANY

Alleyne Dance

Burrows & Fargion

Matsena Productions

Rhiannon Faith Company

Thick and Tight

BEST CLASSICAL CHOREOGRAPHY

William Forsythe for Forsythe Evening (English National Ballet)

Jess and Morgs for Coppélia (Scottish Ballet)

Crystal Pite for Light of Passage (The Royal Ballet)

Alexei Ratmansky for Giselle (The United Ballet of Ukraine)

Christopher Wheeldon for Like Water for Chocolate (The Royal Ballet)

BEST MODERN CHOREOGRAPHY

Ivan Blackstock for Traplord (Sadler’s Wells x 180 Studios/ The Factory/Altruviolet)

Ben Duke for Cerberus (Rambert)

Ben Duke for Ruination (Lost Dog)

Aakash Odedra and Hu Shenyuan for Samsara (Aakash Odedra Company)

Benoit Swan Pouffer for Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby (Rambert)

EMERGING ARTIST AWARD

Musa Motha (Dancer, Rambert)

Jake Roxander (Dancer, ABT Studio Company/ABT)

Beatrice Parma (Soloist, Birmingham Royal Ballet)

tyroneisaacstuart (Dancer and Musical Artist)

Rhys Antoni Yeomans (Dancer, English National Ballet)

OUTSTANDING FEMALE MODERN PERFORMANCE

Anique Ayiboe as The Chosen One in Rite of Spring (École des Sables))

Jemima Brown as Clorinda in Clorinda Agonistes (Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company)

Zeleidy Crespo in 100% Cuban (Acosta Danza)

Naya Lovell as Grace in Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby (Rambert)

Zizi Strallen as Lana in The Car Man (New Adventures)

OUTSTANDING MALE MODERN PERFORMANCE

Jean-Daniel Broussé as Hades in Ruination (Lost Dog)

Israel Galván in La Consagración de la Primavera (Compañia Israel Galván)

Musa Motha as Barney in Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby (Rambert)

Guillaume Quéau as Thomas Shelby in Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby (Rambert)

Hu Shenyuan in Samsara (Aakash Odedra Company)

OUTSTANDING FEMALE CLASSICAL PERFORMANCE

Constance Devernay-Laurence as Swanilda in Coppélia (Scottish Ballet)

Francesca Hayward as Tita in Like Water for Chocolate (The Royal Ballet)

Fumi Kaneko as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake (The Royal Ballet)

Marianela Nuñez as Natalia Petrovna in A Month in the Country (The Royal Ballet)

Maria Pagés in An Ode to Time (Compañia Maria Pagés/Flamenco Festival)

OUTSTANDING MALE CLASSICAL PERFORMANCE

Manuel Liñán in Viva! (Compañia Manuel Liñán/ Flamenco Festival)

Bruno Micchiardi as Coppelius in Coppélia (Scottish Ballet)

Vadim Muntagirov as Crown Prince Rudolf in Mayerling (The Royal Ballet)

Marcelino Sambé as Pedro in Like Water for Chocolate (The Royal Ballet)

Joseph Taylor in the title role of Casanova (Northern Ballet)

OUTSTANDING CREATIVE CONTRIBUTION

Bob Crowley (Designer, for Like Water for Chocolate)

Roman Gian Arthur (Composer, for Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby)

Mikael Karlsson (Composer, for Hotel)

Paco Peña (Director and Guitarist, for Solera)

Joby Talbot (Composer, for Like Water for Chocolate)

The winners will be announced at a live lunchtime ceremony to be held at The Coronet Theatre on Monday, 5th June . The Critics’ Circle is grateful to Anda Winters and the team at Coronet Theatre for their unstinting support.

The event will also play host to the De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement for which there are no prior nominations.

Although there was a wide spread of nominations covering a record 28 separate companies, The Royal Ballet once again tops the list with a total of 14 nominations (down from 17 in 2021), followed by English National Ballet and Rambert (7 each), Birmingham Royal Ballet (5) and Scottish Ballet (4).

In terms of individual productions, The Royal Ballet’s Like Water for Chocolate and Rambert’s Peaky Blinders: The Redemption of Thomas Shelby top the list with five nominations each.

Announcing the nominations, the Deputy Chair of the National Dance Awards, Debra Craine, said: “There is a rich assortment of dance amongst this year’s nominees. Although ballet still gathers the biggest share of nominations, there is a strong contingent from contemporary dance and flamenco.”

The Chair of the National Dance Awards, Graham Watts OBE, added: “This has proved to be another strong set of nominations as we got back to a full year of live theatre and dance. The dance critics will have a very difficult job choosing from these outstanding nominees, any one of which would be a worthy winner.”

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

The National Dance Awards will be sponsored this year by Stef Stefanou, Harlequin Floors, Tendu, the Ballet Association, London Ballet Circle, The L&M Trust, Lee McLernon, Danza&Danza International, Celeste Fenichel, Assis Carreiro and others to be announced.

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 providing such a rich variety of choice.

https://criticscircle.org.uk/national-dance-awards-2022-announcement-of-nominees/

COMMENT: Despite the blather from the Chair and Deputy Chair of the National Dance Awards 2022 was hardly an amazing year for dance as reflected in the fact that almost everything that was on has garnered a nomination (more or less). As usual, apart from nominations for Scottish Ballet (who only leave Scotland to visit London these days) the nominations are almost comically London-centric - although a handful of things did actually tour (let alone come to Manchester). I confess I couldn't muster the energy for Samsara, avoid Acosta Danza where possible, and have yet to see the appeal of Thick and Tight. 

Of the few shows nominated that I actually saw, Ben Duke's Cerberus for Rambert was terrific. And I'm very pleased to see a nomination for the delightful Jean-Daniel Broussé - who is ostensibly a circus performer - for Lost Dog's Ruination, which had great reviews but only showed at the Linbury Studio.

Much like the world of dance I am slowly emerging from my post-Covid funk but let's not pretend 2022 was a great year for dance - despite Rambert's (hopefully short-lived) swing to popularism and the enduring quality of the leading ballet companies. Let's hope there isn't always a need to pad out nominations with flamenco and to remember that there is amazing original and creative dance being made and performed out there - even if not in the UK. And spare a thought for nominees Mark Bruce Company - who were dropped from the ACE portfolio this year. 

Photo: Hugo Glendinning

Delia Barker, Chair of the Board of Trustees said today: “We are delighted to make this announcement today of the appointment of Marcus Jarrell Willis. This is an exciting time for Phoenix as we are at the beginning of a new chapter for the company. Marcus’ appointment is key to a different way of working, nurturing and providing opportunities for talented individuals who may otherwise face barriers to securing leadership opportunities. Marcus’s depth of experience and his commitment to involving our many diverse communities, especially young people, match our ambition to create pathways for the development of artistic talent, particularly those from Black and other global majority communities. I am truly excited about what Marcus will bring to Phoenix, but also the role he will play in aiding Phoenix Dance Theatre to redefine leadership paths and development opportunities in the dance industry.”

Phoenix seem to have been through a period of instability and change since the departure of Sharon Watson - and many companies have especially struggled to cope with the challenges of Covid, a changing cultural climate and an increasingly hostile arts funding environment. Hopefully this does indeed mark a positive new era of creativity and stability for a company that used to be a favourite. 

Former dancers have said there is a long-running "toxic" culture of body-shaming and bullying at two of the UK's most prestigious ballet schools.

The BBC has spoken to more than 50 ex-students of the Royal Ballet School and Elmhurst Ballet School who attended between 2004 and 2022.

Many described developing eating disorders, while some said they had been left with mental health problems.

Both schools dispute the accounts given to the BBC.

[Read on]

BBC News

BBC iPlayer - Panorama - The Dark Side of Ballet Schools 

It is with great sadness that Greenwich Dance today announces it has entered redundancy consultation with all staff as it prepares to cease operations ahead of its forthcoming closure on 31 December 2023.

The Board’s decision to wind down the organisation comes following the Royal Borough of Greenwich’s shock decision in January this year to completely remove its longstanding Voluntary and Community Sector funding and an unsuccessful National Portfolio Organisation (NPO) application to Arts Council England in 2022.

Both significant developments have led to a major destabilisation of an already fragile funding situation, resulting in the loss of further Royal Borough of Greenwich project funds. Furthermore, a succession of nine Arts Council England National Lottery Project Fund applications have been rejected, the most recent of which likely due to the Government’s levelling up agenda.

Over the last year, Greenwich Dance has worked tirelessly to seek different funding models to support its work with artists and communities and protect its staff. Despite success in attracting funding from Trusts and Foundations including the National Lottery Community Fund, City Bridge Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, and Esmèe Fairbairn Foundation, and a successful community crowdfunder raising £10,000 towards space hire for its Dance for Wellbeing class programme, without support for its core costs Greenwich Dance is unable to continue operating.

In the five years since the organisation was removed from Arts Council England’s National Portfolio, Greenwich Dance has successfully navigated huge challenges and an incredibly unstable funding climate. During this period Greenwich Dance has brought in over £1.8m worth of funding for high quality dance-based activity in the local community, with almost half (£0.88m) of that being generated through successful relationships with 16 Trusts and Foundations. Since 2019 its in-person performances and workshops have seen over 43,000 attendances and its successful manoeuvre to digital work has received a further 115,000+ views and downloads.

January

• Nutcracker in Havana | Acosta Danza | The Lowry [Lyric Theatre] | 27-28 January

The Nutcracker, set in Havana, choreographed by Carlos Acosta, to a new version of the Tchaikovsky score. 

February

March

• Cinderella | Birmingham Royal Ballet | The Lowry [Lyric Theatre] | 6-8 March

Best theatre choreographer

Fabian Aloise for Sunset Boulevard at the Savoy Theatre

Ellen Kane and Hannes Langolf for Dear England at  the National Theatre – Olivier & Prince Edward Theatre

Arlene Phillips with James Cousins for Guys & Dolls at the Bridge Theatre

Mark Smith for The Little Big Things at @sohoplace

Susan Stroman for Crazy For You at the Gillian Lynne Theatre

Outstanding achievement in dance

Isabela Coracy for her performance in NINA: By Whatever Means, part of Ballet Black: Pioneers at the Barbican Theatre

Jonzi D for his artistic direction of Breakin’ Convention 2023 International Festival Of Hip Hop Dance Theatre at Sadler’s Wells

Rhiannon Faith for her community focussed conception of Lay Down Your Burdens at The Pit at Barbican

Best new dance production

Broken Chord by Gregory Maqoma & Thuthuka Sibisi at Sadler’s Wells

The Rite Of Spring by Seeta Patel at Sadler’s Wells

La Ruta by Gabriela Carrizo, part of Nederlands Dans Theater - NDT 1 at Sadler’s Wells

Time Spell by Michelle Dorrance, Jillian Meyers & Tiler Peck, part of Turn It Out With Tiler Peck & Friends at Sadler’s Wells

On a personal note, as I went to see it and thought it was terrific: Sunset Boulevard leads the nominations for this year’s Olivier Awards, with a combined 11 nods.

Matthew joined the company in 2021 and will remain in post until the end of 2024, working on an exciting programme that goes into development during the spring/summer, and on the Company’s autumn touring. The tour will include Matthew’s latest work ‘AUGUST’ which will premiere alongside ‘Skinners’ by Australian/Javanese choreographer Melanie Lane. This winter he will also co-direct a new collaboration with Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru called Dawns y Ceirw with Steffan Donnelly.

National Dance Company Wales will take the opportunity to review the executive leadership structure and will begin the recruitment process from May, announcing a permanent appointment in the Autumn of 2024.

[I've not seen National Dance Company Wales since 2019 (pre-pandemic) partly because in the more than a decade I have been watching dance they have only played in the Manchester area once (at The Lowry). They regularly visit the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield - where I have seen them five times - but I'm less inclined to make that journey these days.]

The original London City Ballet company closed in 1996 having formerly been the resident company of Sadler’s Wells, and internationally recognised as one of the world’s leading dance collectives, with Diana, Princess of Wales as the Royal Patron. It was sensitively reformed in 2023 after a 30 year hiatus, under the Artistic Direction of Christopher Marney. Marney recently acquired the rights to the name having been introduced to dance as a child by seeing the company.

The company will be comprised of world-class international dancers and will present a blend of ballet and contemporary dance, revisiting works from the company archive - most of which are now rarely seen - and newly-commissioned work from current and contemporary choreographers.

London City Ballet have announced their first programme and initial 2024 tour dates. The first programme - Resurgence - comprises a one-act Kenneth MacMillan ballet Ballade (1972) and his Concerto Pas de Deux (1966), a revival of Ashley Page's Larina Waltz, (1993) alongside a new commission from Arielle Smith and Christopher Marney's Eve, first shown in 2022.

https://londoncityballet.com/ 

The company are scheduled to appear in Bath, Cambridge, Cheltenham, York and Sadler's Wells, with more venues to be announced. See link for details.