The Critics’ Circle announces the nominations for the 26th National Dance Awards
The Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle has announced the short-listed nominations for the National Dance Awards (#NDA26).
The qualifying period for performances was between 1 January and 31 December 2025, and the shortlisted nominees were selected from recommendations made by members of the Dance section of the Critics’ Circle.
In total, 379 companies, choreographers, performers, and other creative artists were nominated in 2025 (up from 365 in 2024); the shortlisted nominees are given below.
Once again, The Royal Ballet tops the bill in terms of nominations with a total of 14 on the short-list. English National Ballet and London City Ballet have four nominations each, followed by Company Wayne McGregor, New Adventures, Northern Ballet and Scottish Ballet each with three. There are ten nominations for overseas companies visiting the UK in 2025.
The Critics’ Circle – 26th National Dance Awards nominations
BEST MALE DANCER
Harry Alexander
Matthew Ball
William Bracewell
Gareth Haw
Joseph Taylor
BEST FEMALE DANCER
Rebecca Bassett-Graham
Cordelia Braithwaite
Lauren Cuthbertson
Sangeun Lee
Marianela Núñez
STEF STEFANOU AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING COMPANY
English National Ballet
Lyon Opera Ballet
National Ballet of Japan
New Adventures
The Royal Ballet
BEST MIDSCALE COMPANY
balletLORENT
Company Wayne McGregor
National Dance Company Wales
Phoenix Dance Theatre
Scottish Dance Theatre
BEST INDEPENDENT COMPANY
London City Ballet
Russell Maliphant Dance Company
Protein Dance
Thick & Tight
Yorke Dance Project
BEST CLASSICAL CHOREOGRAPHY
Sophie Laplane for Mary, Queen of Scots
Manuel Liñán for Muerta de Amor
Cathy Marston for Against the Tide
Mthuthuzeli November for Fools
Alexei Ratmansky for Pictures at an Exhibition
BEST MODERN CHOREOGRAPHY
Kyle Abraham for An Untitled Love
Kim Brandstrup for Breaking Bach
Crystal Pite/Simon McBurney for Figures in Extinction
Russell Maliphant for In a Landscape
Noé Soulier for In the Fall
EMERGING ARTIST AWARD
Liam Francis (as choreographer)
Kayla Mak (as dancer)
Marco Masciari (as dancer)
Georgia Tegou (as choreographer)
Arthur Wille (as dancer)
OUTSTANDING FEMALE MODERN PERFORMANCE
Rebecca Bassett-Graham in Deepstaria
Cordelia Braithwaite as Victoria Page in The Red Shoes
Ching-Ying Chien in Thikra
María del Mar Suárez/La Chachi in Random Taranto
Latoya Mokoena in the title role in Salomé
OUTSTANDING MALE MODERN PERFORMANCE
Phillip Attmore as Jerry Travers in Top Hat
Paris Fitzpatrick as Jimmy in Quadrophenia
Conor Kerrigan as Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders
Edward Watson as George in A Single Man
Malachi Welch as Bob Cratchit in Ebony Scrooge
OUTSTANDING FEMALE CLASSICAL PERFORMANCE
Sara Baras in Vuela
Lauren Cuthbertson as Tatiana in Onegin
Yu Kurihara in the title role as Cinderella
Roseanna Leney in the title role as Mary, Queen of Scots
Marianela Nuñez in Symphony in C
OUTSTANDING MALE CLASSICAL PERFORMANCE
Matthew Ball in Against the Tide
William Bracewell in Against the Tide
Ryoichi Hirano in the title role as Onegin
Harvey Littlefield as Younger Elizabeth in Mary, Queen of Scots
Joseph Taylor as Rochester in Jane Eyre
OUTSTANDING CREATIVE CONTRIBUTION
Jamiel Devernay-Laurence (Producer)
Chloe Lamford (Set Design)
Fabiana Piccioli (Lighting Design)
Maria Seletskaja (Conductor)
Vasko Vassiliev (Violinist)
The nominees for Best Dance Film and Best Short Dance Film will be announced in early May.
The winners of all NDAs will be announced at a ceremony to be held on Monday, 15 June at The Coronet Theatre, and the event will also play host to the De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement, for which there are no prior nominations.
Announcing the nominations, the Chair of the National Dance Awards, Graham Watts, said,
It’s pleasing that once again there is significant diversity to the award nominations with flamenco, contemporary, musical theatre and south Asian dance all represented, although ballet continues to dominate. There are several nominations for overseas companies with A.I.M. by Kyle Abraham, American Ballet Theatre, Ballet Flamenco Sara Baras, La Chachi, Compañia Manuel Liñán, the National Ballet of Japan, Joburg Ballet, Lyon Opera Ballet, Trisha Brown Dance Company and Nederlands Dans Theater amongst the nominees.”
The National Dance Awards have been organised by the Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle 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 Committee: Debra Craine (Deputy Chair), Sarah Crompton, Rachel Elderkin, Maggie Foyer, Jonathan Gray, Lynette Halewood, Donald Hutera, Josephine Leask, Bruce Marriott, Emily May, David Mead, Graham Watts OBE (Chair), Deborah Weiss (Secretary) and Lyndsey Winship.
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.
