UK 2012 National Dance Awards

David Mead

Each year the Dance Section of the Critics Circle, the national body for arts critics in the UK, organises the National Dance Awards in celebration of Britain’s vibrant and diverse dance culture.

The nominations for the 13th National Dance Awards, covering performances in the 2011-2012 season (from September 2011 to August 2012) were announced at a reception at The Place on November 9.

Those nominations are compiled from names put forward by the membership of the Dance Section, all active dance critics who are watching and reviewing dance throughout the country. Chairman of the section, Graham Watts, said that this year over 250 dancers, choreographers and companies were put forward for consideration, a reflection surely of the vigour and variety of Britain’s dance culture.

The shortlist very much represents the elite of 2012. The Best Company category (as with all sections, open to visiting as well as home companies) is especially strong this year. There’s also a lot of strength in the Independent Company category, where nominations are for companies performing generally in small and mid-scale venues.

In addition to awards in the categories listed, the Critics’ Circle will present the De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement, given to an individual for lifetime achievement or a specific major contribution to dance over the past year. Nominations for this category are not released.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony to be held in The Robin Howard Theatre at The Place on Monday, January 28, 2013.

The Nominations

Dancing Times Award for Best Male Dancer
Jonathan Goddard (Rambert Dance Company, Goddard-Nixon & freelance)
Akram Khan (Akram Khan Company)
Vadim Muntagirov (English National Ballet)
Edward Watson (The Royal Ballet)

Grishko Award for Best Female Dancer
Begoña Cao (English National Ballet)
Eve Mutso (Scottish Ballet)
Marianela Nuñez (The Royal Ballet)
Tamara Rojo (The Royal Ballet)

Stef Stefanou Award for Outstanding Company
Merce Cunningham Dance Company
New Adventures
Royal Ballet Flanders
Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch

Best Classical Choreography
David Bintley (“Faster” for Birmingham Royal Ballet)
Christopher Hampson (“Storyville” for Ballet Black)
Annabelle Lopez Ochoa (“A Streetcar Named Desire” for Scottish Ballet)
Alastair Marriott & Christopher Wheeldon (“Trespass” for The Royal Ballet)

Best Modern Choreography
Alexander Ekman (“Cacti” for NDT2)
Akram Khan (“Desh” for Akram Khan Company)
Arthur Pita (“The Metamorphosis”)
Kate Prince (“Some Like it Hip Hop” for Zoonation)

Outstanding Female Performance (Classical)
Yuhui Choe (The Royal Ballet)
Ksenia Ovsyanick (English National Ballet)
Beatriz Stix-Brunell (The Royal Ballet)
Jia Zhang (English National Ballet)

Outstanding male performance (classical)
Yonah Acosta (English National Ballet)
Paul Kay (The Royal Ballet)
Zdenek Konvalina (English National Ballet)
Dawid Trzensimiech (The Royal Ballet)

Outstanding Female Performance (Modern)
Azzurra Ardovini (Phoenix Dance Theatre)
Teneisha Bonner (Zoonation)
Wendy Houstoun
Hannah Kidd (Richard Alston Dance Company)

Outstanding Male Performance (Modern)
Tommy Franzén (Zoonation & Russell Maliphant Company)
Dane Hurst (Rambert Dance Company)
Christopher Marney (New Adventures)
Liam Riddick (Richard Alston Dance Company)

Best Independent Company
Ballet Black
Ballet Cymru
Rosie Kay Dance Company
Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company

The 13th NATIONAL DANCE AWARDS WINNERS

The presentation of the UK Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards for 2012 took place in London at The Place’s Robin Howard Dance Theatre on Monday January 28.

The awards are decided by the 60 members of the Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle after an extensive round of nominations and voting. To be eligible, performances had to take place in the UK between 1st September 2011 and 31st August 2012. It was a very strong year in some categories and deciding who to vote for was not easy.

The award winners are:

DANCING TIMES AWARD FOR BEST MALE DANCER: AKRAM KHAN

GRISHKO AWARD FOR BEST FEMALE DANCER: MARIANELA NUÑEZ

STEF STEFANOU AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING COMPANY: ROYAL BALLET FLANDERS

BEST CLASSICAL CHOREOGRAPHY: ANNABELLE LOPEZ OCHOA (for A Streetcar Named Desire)

BEST MODERN CHOREOGRAPHY: ARTHUR PITA (for The Metamorphosis)

OUTSTANDING FEMALE PERFORMANCE (CLASSICAL): KSENIA OVSYANICK

OUTSTANDING MALE PERFORMANCE (CLASSICAL): ZDENEK KONVALINA

DANCERS PRO AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING MODERN PERFORMANCE (FEMALE): TENEISHA BONNER

DANCERS PRO AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING MODERN PERFORMANCE (MALE): TOMMY FRANZÉN

GRISHKO AWARD FOR BEST INDEPENDENT COMPANY: BALLET BLACK

DE VALOIS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT: ROBERT COHAN

JANE ATTENBOROUGH DANCE UK INDUSTRY AWARD: JEANETTE SIDDALL

The full list of dancers, choreographers and companies nominated can be found on the previous post and at http://www.criticscircle.org.uk.

Chairman of the Awards committee, Graham Watts OBE, dedicated the 2012 awards to the memories of late colleagues Charles Hedges, John Percival and Freda Pitt, all of whom have died since the last awards. In the year of the Centenary of the Critics’ Circle, the combined years of membership for these three critics totalled a century. He also conveyed the best wishes of the UK dance critics, award nominees and guests to Bolshoi Ballet director Sergei Filin, recently injured in the well-publicised and well-discussed assault.

How do they judge or do they just pick their favourites?

Good question annr. Essentially, it works pretty much like the Oscars or any other awards that are voted for by a membership.

The members of the Dance Section of the Critics' Circle (effectively the 50-60 practicing professional dance critics in the UK) are invited to make nominations. We have to base these on performances attended between 1 September and 31 August. So for the above awards, the dates were 1 September 2011 to 31 August 2012. The awards are open to foreign companies and dancers, but the performances must have been in the UK.

From the nominations, a shortlist of three or four in each category is drawn up. The members then vote on these. Again, voting must be based on performances seen, not reputation or favourites. You do not have to vote in each section. If you have not seen any of the nominations perform, any of the pieces nominated or do not think the nominations worthy of a vote, you abstain in that category.

If there is a criticism of the system, it is that it produces very London-centric results. That is (unfortunately in my opinion) pretty much unavaoidable given that most critics are based in London, and that, therefore, most performances seen are in London. of course, many visiting companies only dance in London. It is easy to say that critics should travel more, but it is usually impossible to get home after shows more than 50 or so miles away, and newspapers and magazines will not pay for overnight accommodation. Furthermore, most professional critics are freelance, and the payment for copy will rarely cover stay-over expenses. I'm based up in the Midlands but even I see more in London than elsewhere. Smaller companies that tour away from the capital tend to lose out in particular.