RNZB finalist for UK Awards
Written by
Royal New Zealand Ballet have been shortlisted for a top international dance award.
The Company is a finalist for Outstanding Company in the prestigious UK National Dance Awards 2011, alongside English National Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet and Richard Alston Dance Company.
“We are absolutely blown away by this nomination,” says RNZB Managing Director Amanda Skoog.
Royal New Zealand Ballet have been shortlisted for a top international dance award.
The Company is a finalist for Outstanding Company in the prestigious UK National Dance Awards 2011, alongside English National Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet and Richard Alston Dance Company.
“We are absolutely blown away by this nomination,” says RNZB Managing Director Amanda Skoog.
“We had a fantastically successful tour to the UK and France in July and getting this nod from the critics themselves is the icing on the cake.”
RNZB performed seven shows to packed audiences in Cardiff, London, Nottingham, Bradford and Sisteron during the two week tour of the triple bill From Here to There which featured Jorma Elo’s Plan to A, Andrew Simmons’ A Song in the Dark and Javier De Frutos’ Banderillero.
“Royal New Zealand Ballet is a textbook case of how a small company can defy the definitions that size usually brings,” wrote the Evening Standard.
Former RNZB dancer Andrew Simmons, of Christchurch, is a finalist in the Best Classical Choreography section for his piece A Song in the Dark, commissioned by the RNZB in 2009.
The National Dance Awards have been organised by the Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle in each year since 2000 and they celebrate the vigour and variety of Britain’s thriving dance culture. They are the only awards given by the body of professional dance critics in the UK and are presented by the Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle, which brings together more than 50 dance writers and critics.
The awards will be held in London on 23 January, 2012. RNZB Managing Director, Amanda Skoog will be travelling to London for the Awards ceremony courtesy of Qantas.
For more information on the awards see:
From Here To There 2011
Plan to A, is choreographed by Jorma Elo - the 2010 winner of the prestigious Benois de la Danse prize for best choreography. Influenced by his experience of working with some of the world’s most respected and ground-breaking choreographers, it will be the first time one of Elo’s major works has been performed in the UK.
A Song in the Dark, is by New Zealand’s own Andrew Simmons, a former RNZB company member and up-and-coming choreographer who is now based in Europe. Set to the music of Philip Glass, it is inspired by themes of love and missed opportunities.
Banderillero, is choreographed and designed by Javier De Frutos. Banderillero is the follow-up to the Olivier Award-nominated and Critic’s Circle Dance Award-winning Milagros (2004) and takes its name from the bullfighter that teases the bull.