The winners of the 2023 National Dance Awards were announced at a ceremony at The Coronet Theatre in Notting Hill Gate, the first time the event has been held there.
The awards—voted by the 60 dance critics of the Critics’ Circle—are for performances seen during 2022. The winners came from a list of 70 nominations covering every dance genre and the nominees came from a record list of nearly 400 recommendations from the dance critics.
Musa Motha, a dancer with Rambert who has been performing in the latest edition of Britain’s Got Talent, won the Emerging Artist Award. The judges were completely split in the choice of winner in the Outstanding Creative Contribution category and so a joint award was made to the designer Bob Crowley and the Flamenco guitarist Paco Peña.
Speaking after the Awards Ceremony, the NDA Chair, Graham Watts OBE, said, “this was a fantastic year for Scotland and Spain, as Scottish Ballet took home a record three awards and two superb artists from Spain, Israel Galván and Paco Peña, also won. Paco is over 80 and it was a very good year for mature artists, since there were four performance-based nominees in the awards in their 60s, proving that you are never too old to dance.”
The winners are:
- Dancing Times Award for Best Male Dancer: Jeffrey Cirio (English National Ballet)
- Best Female Dancer: Laura Morera (The Royal Ballet)
- Stef Stefanou Award for Outstanding Company: Scottish Ballet
- Best Mid-Scale Company: Lost Dog
- Best Independent Company: Alleyne Dance
- Best Classical Choreography: Jessica Wright and Morgann Runacre-Temple (Jess and Morgs) for Coppélia (Scottish Ballet)
- Best Modern Choreography: Ben Duke for Ruination (Lost Dog)
- Emerging Artist Award: Musa Motha (Dancer, Rambert)
- Outstanding Female Modern Performance: Zeleidy Crespo in 100% Cuban (Acosta Danza)
- Outstanding Male Modern Performance: Israel Galván in La Consagración de la Primavera (Compañia Israel Galván)
- Outstanding Female Classical Performance: Constance Devernay-Laurence as Swanilda in Coppélia (Scottish Ballet)
- Outstanding Male Classical Performance: Marcelino Sambé as Pedro in Like Water for Chocolate (The Royal Ballet)
- Outstanding Creative Contribution: Bob Crowley (designer, for Like Water for Chocolate); Paco Peña (Director and Guitarist for Solera)
- The De Valois Award for Outstanding Contribution: Jonzi D