De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement Richard Sherrington Award for Best Female Dancer Dancing Times Award for Best Male Dancer Best Choreography (Classical) Best Choreography (Modern) Patron's Award Artsworld Presentations Award for Best Foreign Dance Company Spotlight Award, Female Artist (Modern) Spotlight Award, Male Artist (Modern) Spotlight Award, Female Artist (Classical) Spotlight Award, Male Artist (Classical) Dance Europe Award for Outstanding Company   The 2008 winner is Kate Coyne The nominations for 2008 were: Kate Coyne, Ana Luján Sánchez and Malgorzata Dzierzon More information about each artist is given below: Kate Coyne (Michael Clark Company and freelance) Born in London, Coyne trained at the Royal Ballet School and London School of Contemporary Dance, from where she graduated into London Contemporary Dance Theatre under the directorship of Robert Cohan. Later she joined Rambert and from there went on to pursue a freelance career. A strikingly tall and imposing dancer, she has regularly been the soloist of choice for choreographers such as Lloyd Newson and Michael Clark, who have used her classical rigour and superb control to dramatic effect. She has featured in Clark’s work since 1997, and last year played a prominent part in the success of his Stravinsky Project. Ana Luján Sánchez (Phoenix Dance Theatre) Ana Luján Sánchez was awarded the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for Outstanding Contemporary Female Artist in 2003 for her performances with Rambert Dance Company. She is now nominated for her recent performances in a number of roles with Phoenix Dance Theatre. Sánchez is a petite dynamo: feisty and intense who draws the eye whenever she is on stage. Her wittily pointed movements in Paseillo and gutsy commitment in Los Picadores (both by Javier De Frutos) in London and on tour were remarkable for their contrasting qualities of technique and dramatic content. Malgorzata Dzierzon (Rambert Dance Company) Polish-born Malgorzata Dzierzon (known as Gosia) started her career as a dancer in ballet companies. She danced with the Royal Danish Ballet, then with Peter Schaufuss’s company. She moved into contemporary dance with Singapore Dance Theatre and the Gothenburg Ballet in Sweden, where she performed works by de Frutos, Duato and Tankard. She contributed to choreographic workshops with the Gothenburg company and with Rambert, which she joined in 2006. She attracted particular attention in the pas de deux in Doug Varone’s Scribblings and in her featured role in Siobhan Davies’s Carnival of the Animals. Picture credits Ana Luján Sánchez © Rambert Dance Company, Kate Coyne © Stephanie Berger, Ana Luján Sánchez © Steven Castledine, Malgorzata Dzierzon © Carl Fox. All text is © copyright of the Critics' Circle / National Dance Awards.