The shortlist of nominations have been announced by the Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle for their annual National Dance Awards.
Billed as the 2023 awards, although announced in 2024, the qualifying period for performances was between 1 January and 31 December 2023.
National Dance Awards – Shortlisted nominations
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
Outstanding Company: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – Birmingham Royal Ballet – Nederlands Dans Theater – New Adventures – The Royal Ballet
Best Midscale Company: Acosta Danza – Ballet Black – Ockham’s Razor – Scottish Dance Theatre – ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company
Best Independent Company: Drew McOnie Company – Pett I Clausen-Knight – Russell Maliphant Dance Company – Seeta Patel Dance – Tiler Peck and Friends
Best Classical Choreography: Sara Baras for Alma in the Flamenco Festival – David Dawson for Four Last Songs by English National Ballet – William Forsythe for The Barre Project by Tiler Peck and Friends – Wayne McGregor for Untitled, 2023 by The Royal Ballet – Seeta Patel for The Rite of Spring by Seeta Patel Dance
Best Modern Choreography: Kyle Abraham for Are you in Your Feelings? by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – Drew McOnie for Nutcracker by the Drew McOnie Company – Kristen McNally for The Limit at The Royal Opera House – Crystal Pite/Simon McBurney for Figures in Extinction (1.0) by Nederlands Dans Theater – Pam Tanowitz for Song of Songs by Pam Tanowitz Dance
Outstanding Male Classical Performance: Gareth Haw in Four Last Songs by English National Ballet – Ryoichi Hirano as Espada in Don Quixote by The Royal Ballet – Brandon Lawrence in Liebestod by Birmingham Royal Ballet – Sooraj Subramaniam in The Rite of Spring by Seeta Patel Dance – Joseph Taylor as Gatsby in The Great Gatsby by Northern Ballet
Outstanding Female Classical Performance: Sara Baras for Alma in the Flamenco Festival – Isabela Coracy as Nina Simone in Nina, By Whatever Means by Ballet Black – Mercedes de Cordoba for Si, Quiero in the Flamenco Festival – Fumi Kaneko as Princess Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty by The Royal Ballet – Tiler Peck for Turn it Out by Tiler Peck and Friends
Outstanding Male Modern Performance: Harry Alexander in how did we get here? by Julie Cunningham & Company – Paris Fitzpatrick as Romeo in Romeo + Juliet by New Adventures – Yannick Lebrun in Dancing Spirit by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater – Liam Mower as Edward Scissorhands by New Adventures – Charlie Stemp as Bobby Child in Crazy For You
Outstanding Female Modern Performance: Cordelia Braithwaite as Juliet in Romeo + Juliet by New Adventures – Jemima Brown in Surge by Tom Dale Company – Aditi Mangaldas in Forbidden by 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 Theater
Emerging Artist: Nicole-Lily Baisden, musical theatre artist – Jordan James Bridge, dancer and choreographer – Eric Pinto Cata, artist at Birmingham Royal Ballet – Joshua Junker, choreographer – Sae Maeda, soloist at The Royal Ballet
Outstanding Creative Contribution: Carlos Acosta for the concept of Black Sabbath – The Ballet – Cormac Begley, musician/concertina player in MAM by Teac Damsa – Ravi Deepres, visual artist for UniVerse: A Dark Crystal Odyssey for Studio Wayne McGregor – Cassie Kinoshi – composer Nutcracker for Drew McOnie Company and England on Fire for the Balletboyz – Kate Shipway, pianist for her work at The Royal Ballet.
Best Dance Film and Best Short Dance Film nominations announced at the beginning of May.