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The 2008 winner is English National Ballet
The nominations for 2008 were:
English National Ballet, Guangdong Acrobatic Troupe and New Adventures
More information about each company is given below:
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English National Ballet
English National Ballet has gone from strength to strength under Wayne Eagling's artistic leadership. The dancers, many of them new, have carried out tours of both full-evening ballet staples and varied mixed bills. Their presence in London increased after the customary Christmas season at the Coliseum (including Michael Corder's new The Snow Queen), with Strictly Gershwin at the Royal Albert Hall (with regular guests Agnes Oaks and Thomas Edur outstanding in The Man I Love). The summer brought a welcome, albeit brief, return to the Royal Festival Hall, the triple bill including Eagling's deeply felt creation Resolution, to Mahler songs.
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Guangdong Acrobatic Troupe
An outstanding, not to say mind-boggling troupe of acrobats, the Guangdong company turned to ballet as the inspiration for its extraordinary production of Swan Lake. Jugglers and gymnasts, aerialists and pole-balancers learned to perform their skills in time to Tchaikovsky’s score, the female corps on pointe or on rollerskates. Most remarkable of all, Wu Zhengdan (Odette) retrained as a ballet dancer, perfectly poised on pointe in arabesque on her partner’s head, hand or biceps. Undeniably exceptional.
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New Adventures
Matthew Bourne's Adventures in Motion Pictures became simply New Adventures in 2002, the year of Play Without Words at the National Theatre. The company became a resident associate of Sadler's Wells in 2006. The dancers always collaborate in the productions, and they are invariably strongly committed. The latest "adventure", premiered at the Edinburgh Festival, is Dorian Gray, loosely based on Oscar Wilde's brilliant novel. Bourne was particularly bold in transposing the narrative from page to stage: Dorian becomes a model for a perfume, the painter a photographer, with a sex change for Lord Henry and Sybil Vane. A strong theatrical instinct has always been one of Bourne's greatest assets, and the new work has its full share of drama. Terry Davies provided the music and Lez Brotherston the clever designs. As always, the cast, led by Richard Winsor, Aaron Sillis and Michela Meazza, gave their all.
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Picture credits
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo © Sascha Vaughn,
English National Ballet © Michael Garner,
Guangdong Acrobatic Troupe © Guangdong Acrobatic Troupe,
New Adventures © James Morgan.
All text is © copyright of the Critics' Circle / National Dance Awards. |
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