Finalists of English National Ballet’s Emerging Dancer competition at the London Coliseum in June

On Monday 11 June 2018, English National Ballet‘s Emerging Dancer competition will be held at the London Coliseum for the first time.

Emerging Dancer is a key part of English National Ballet’s commitment to developing and nurturing talent within the company and through this annual event, English National Ballet recognises the excellence of its artists.

Six of the company’s most promising dancers are selected by their peers to perform in front of an eminent panel of judges, before one receives the 2018 Emerging Dancer Award.

The recipients of the People’s Choice Award, selected by members of the public, and the Corps de Ballet Award, acknowledging the work on and off-stage of a member of the Corps de Ballet, will also be revealed.

Last year’s joint Emerging Dancer Award winners, Aitor Arrieta and Rina Kanehara, have since been promoted to Soloist and Junior Soloist respectively and have gone on to perform principal roles in Nutcracker, Akram Khan‘s Giselle, La Sylphide and Song of the Earth.

The 2018 finalists are: Precious Adams, Fernando Carratalá Coloma, Giorgio Garrett, Daniel McCormick, Francesca Velicu and Connie Vowles.

Precious Adams

Trained at the National Ballet School of Canada; Academy Princess Grace Monte Carlo, Monaco; and Bolshoi Ballet Academy, Moscow, Adams joined English National Ballet following her double prize win at the Prix de Lausanne in 2014.

She was promoted to First Artist in 2017 and has danced with the company in works including William Forsythe‘s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, Pina Bausch‘s Le sacre du printemps, Song of the Earth, and recently in Elite Syncopationsat the Royal Opera House as part of ‘Kenneth MacMillan: A National Celebration’.

Fernando Carratalá Coloma

Fernando Carratalá Coloma joined English National Ballet in 2017 as an Artist of the Company, having previously danced with Victor Ullate Ballet in Spain.

Since joining the company, he has performed the principal roles of Nutcracker, and as the Messenger of Death in Song of the Earth.

Giorgio Garrett

Garrett trained at Palma’s Conservatoire of Music and Dance and at the Royal Ballet School. He joined English National Ballet as an Artist of the Company in 2016 from The National Ballet of Canada.

In 2011, Giorgio was awarded the ‘Encouragement and Potential Award’ at Young British Dancer of the Year, followed by the ‘Commendation Award’ in 2012. Giorgio has danced with English National Ballet in works including Akram Khan’s Giselle, Romeo & Juliet, Nutcracker,Song of the Earth and La Sylphide in which he danced the role of Gurn.

Daniel McCormick

Having trained with Ballet San Jose School, San Francisco Ballet School and Houston Ballet School, McCormick danced with Houston Ballet before joining English National Ballet in 2017 as an Artist of the Company.

While with the company, he has danced in productions including Song of the Earth, La Sylphide and Nutcracker in which he danced the Spanish divertissement.

Francesca Velicu

Velicu trained at the Choreography High School Floria Capsali, Bucharest and at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy before dancing with Romanian National Ballet. She was awarded second place at the 2013 Youth America Grand Prix in the Junior Category and was a Gold Medal winner at the 2012 World Ballet Competition.

Since joining English National Ballet in 2016 she has been promoted to First Artist in 2017 and has performed as The Chosen One in Pina Bausch’s Le sacre du printemps, as Effy in La Sylphide and as Clara in Nutcracker.

Connie Vowles

Vowles joined English National Ballet as an Artist of the Company in 2016. Having previously trained at the Royal Ballet School she joined The Royal Ballet on their US tour and Birmingham Royal Ballet on their tour of Swan Lake.

Since joining the company, Vowles has danced in Romeo & Juliet; La Sylphide, as a Lead Sylph; and in Nutcracker as Louise/Mirliton and as a Lead Snowflake. In 2017, she performed in Space for Everyone, an original short film made in collaboration with English National Ballet, the V&A, and Boiler Room.

English National Ballet – Emerging Dancer 

London Coliseum, Monday 11 June 2018
Performance at 7.30pm
Tickets: £12 – £35

Box office: 020 7845 9300 and www.ballet.org.uk/emerging

Gramilano Editor

Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.

Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.

He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.