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.