Winners of the UK’s 2023 National Dance Awards announced
The Winners of the 2023 National Dance Awards were announced today at a ceremony at The Coronet Theatre in Notting Hill Gate – the second successive year that the event has been held in this atmospheric venue.
The awards – voted upon by the 60 dance critics who are members of the Critics’ Circle – are for performances seen between 1 January and 31 December 2023.
There was an international flavour to this year’s awards with five of the Award winners coming from the USA and another two from Japan (although both perform with The Royal Ballet).
The premier award, the De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement was presented to Iain Webb, formerly a dancer with The Royal Ballet, who has been artistic director of Sarasota Ballet since 2007. Sarasota Ballet is about to open a debut season at The Royal Opera House.
Continuing the American domination, Tiler Peck – principal dancer with New York City Ballet – won the Award for Outstanding Female Classical Performance for her season at Sadler’s Wells, entitled Turn it Out by Tiler Peck and Friends. In the same programme, William Forsythe‘s The Barre Project won the award for Best Classical Choreography. The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater also won two awards: the Stef Stefanou Award for Outstanding Company and Kyle Abraham won the Best Modern Choreography Award for Are You in Your Feelings?
Awards also went to two ballerinas at The Royal Ballet who originate from Japan: Fumi Kaneko won the Best Female Dancer Award; and Sae Maeda won the Emerging Artist Award. The Royal Ballet picked up a third award with William Bracewell winning the Dancing Times Award for Best Male Dancer.
Carlos Acosta won the Award for Outstanding Creative Contribution for the original concept that led to Black Sabbath – The Ballet for Birmingham Royal Ballet. Brandon Lawrence (then also of Birmingham Royal Ballet) won the Outstanding Male Classical Performance Award for his solo performance in Liebestod.
ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company scooped the Best Mid-Scale Company Award and The McOnie Company won the Best Independent Company Award.
Two British dancers won the Outstanding Modern Performance Awards – Jemima Brown won for her performance in Surge for Tom Dale Company; and Paris Fitzpatrick won for his performance as Romeo in Matthew Bourne’s Romeo + Juliet for New Adventures.
The Award for Best Dance Film went to the Yorke Dance Project for their film of Kenneth MacMillan’s Sea of Troubles and the Award for Best Short Dance Film went to Javier De Frutos for Whoever You Are.
The Winners of the 2023 National Dance Awards
DE VALOIS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
Iain Webb
STEF STEFANOU AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING COMPANY
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
DANCING TIMES AWARD FOR BEST MALE DANCER
William Bracewell
BEST FEMALE DANCER
Fumi Kaneko
[sponsored by Tendu]
BEST MID-SCALE COMPANY
ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company
[Sponsored by Level Law]
BEST INDEPENDENT COMPANY
The McOnie Company
[Sponsored by International Arts and Cultural Projects Ltd]
BEST CLASSICAL CHOREOGRAPHY
William Forsythe for The Barre Project
[Sponsored by The Ballet Association]
BEST MODERN CHOREOGRAPHY
Kyle Abraham for Are You in Your Feelings?
[Sponsored by Harlequin Floors]
EMERGING ARTIST AWARD
Sae Maeda
[Sponsored by The L&M Trust]
OUTSTANDING FEMALE MODERN PERFORMANCE
Jemima Brown in Surge
[Sponsored by Fern Potter]
OUTSTANDING MALE MODERN PERFORMANCE
Paris Fitzpatrick in Romeo + Juliet
[Sponsored by Danza & Danza International]
OUTSTANDING FEMALE CLASSICAL PERFORMANCE
Tiler Peck in Turn it Out
[Sponsored by Lee McLernon]
OUTSTANDING MALE CLASSICAL PERFORMANCE
Brandon Lawrence in Liebestod
[Sponsored by The London Ballet Circle]
OUTSTANDING CREATIVE CONTRIBUTION
Carlos Acosta for the concept of Black Sabbath – The Ballet
[Sponsored by Celeste Fenichel]
BEST DANCE FILM
Yorke Dance Project for Sea of Troubles
[Sponsored by Marquee TV]
BEST SHORT DANCE FILM
Javier De Frutos for WHOEVER YOU ARE
[Sponsored by Ballet Nights]
It was a great year for diversity in the awards. The winners came from a list of 70 nominations covering every dance genre and the nominees came from a record list of over 350 recommendations from the dance critics.
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 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.
