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English National Ballet: Emerging Dancer Competition 2017, London)


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We were at the afternoon tech rehearsals for the competition later in the evening, of the English National Ballet's annual 'Emerging Dancer', held at Sadlers Wells, 2017.  There was a tie, between Rina Kanehara and Aitor Arrieta for the winner's title.

Also announced, were the winners of the Corps de Ballet Award, which went to Sarah Kundi (huzzah!), and the People's Choice Award, voted for by members of the public, which went to Georgia Bould

 

Here are a few photos from the afternoon

 

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Esmerelda pdd: Rina Kanehara, Aitor Arrieta
© Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr


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La Sylphide pdd: Madison Keesler, Guilherme Menezes
© Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr


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Paquita grand pas: Isabelle Brouwers, Emilio Pavan
© Dave Morgan. Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr


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Set from DanceTabs: ENB - Emerging Dancer 2017
Courtesy of DanceTabs / Flickr

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Great to see this live streamed last night.

Flight Mode was adorable, and I will certainly be watching flight safety procedures with different eyes going forward!

I was a little late for the first PDD so I don't have a complete picture. I found it very enjoyable, however, how Rina Kanehara and Aitor Arrieta turned up the speed towards the end of their PDD. Also, I just loved the Don Quixote PDD and thought that I should see the full ballet at the next opportunity. It was good to see Saving Albrecht again, too.

Fingers crossed next year's event will be live streamed, too.

 

 

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Flight Mode was the highlight for me too, I do hope it shows up elsewhere as it would make perfect gala fare, I wasn't aware that Sebastian Kloborg was a choreographer as well as being an outstanding dancer.  Personally I would have handed Mr Menezes the prize on the basis of this performance, his ability to engage with his audience marks him out as something special.  Based solely on their classical contributions, it was hard to choose between the contestants this year, but certainly Ms Kanehara has been an attention stealer since she joined the company.

 

Last year's winner, Cesar Corrales danced a jaw dropping Don Q. pas de deux, such a shame ENB no longer has this ballet in its rep, they used to dance it so well.

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Thoroughly enjoyed this last night; I always go as I like the atmosphere at this event, with pretty much the whole company turning up to holler for their friends.  I had predicted a different result before the night but then thought Rina might get it based on the performances, so at least I was half right.  The DQ was excellent - fireworks from Cesar and what I thought was a very polished performance from Katya.  Not sure about Cesar's emerging 'hero hair', but it seems to become de rigueur as fame develops!

 

As a footnote, I spotted a much-missed Begoña Cao near the bar during the interval - she looked absolutely radiant and must be very near her happy event.  

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I thought it was a wonderful evening, especially from the comfort of my own home. My only gripe was the poor lighting, which seems to be a constant complaint with performances at Sadlers Wells. It was sad that so little of Mr Menezes excellent La Sylphide ppd was visible in the gloom....his feet looked wonderful in the brief instances they were visible. 

Like everyone else I loved Flight Mode and was sorry that he also didn't get a prize.

 

I am absolutely thrilled for Georgia Bould. I sat next to her Grandma in the Coliseum when Georgia was still waiting to hear if she had been taken into the company. She was telling me how hard Georgia worked and of her determination to succeed, but above all, how proud she was of her granddaughter. I startled the husband by squealing with delight when it was announced Georgia had won the People's Choice award. Somewhere in Wolverhampton is a Grandma absolutely bursting with pride today!

 

Once again it is hat's off to Tamara. Sharing the evening online with a wider audience, her elegant presentation, her articulate and interesting comments and, above all, her obvious love she has for her company of dancers, can only help widen interest in the art we all love.  I find her truly admirable.

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  • John Mallinson changed the title to English National Ballet: Emerging Dancer Competition 2017, London)

Same here Mummykool!! And I can't wait till they get their brand new building.

 

I do understand the squealing bit!! It is amazing when you see a young person you know suddenly performing really well and the audience giving them a round of applause in mid performance....experienced earlier this year!! 

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And the official press release:

 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

 

English National Ballet Announces Winners of Emerging Dancer 2017

 

English National Ballet is pleased to announce the joint winners of the 2017 Emerging Dancer Award are Rina Kanehara and Aitor Arrieta. 

 

Having performed together in the Esmeralda pas de deux, Kanehara also danced Raimondo Rebeck’s Blind Dreams set to music by Philip Glass while Arrieta performed SelF, a new piece by Aleix Mañe. They were announced live on stage at Sadler’s Wells last night (Thursday 25 May 2017) by Artistic Director of English National Ballet Tamara Rojo, and live streamed to audiences across the world, achieving over 47,000 views. 

 

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Of winning the 2017 Emerging Dancer Award, Rina Kanehara said: “I’m so pleased to win this award. Performing with Aitor has been amazing, we are great friends and have had lots of fun working on this together. I’m thrilled to be sharing this award with him."

 

Aitor Arrieta added: “I am so honoured to have won this award. This was the first time I have danced Esmeralda and I really enjoyed performing it with my friend Rina to the audience at Sadler’s Wells and viewers online."  

 

The evening also saw Sarah Kundi named as the recipient of the Corps de Ballet Award, acknowledging her exceptional work on and off-stage over the last year, while Georgia Bould was awarded the People’s Choice Award, as voted for by members of the public. 

 

Now in its eighth year, Emerging Dancer allows English National Ballet to recognise the excellence of its artists. Tamara Rojo CBE, Artistic Director of English National Ballet was joined on the judging panel by Laura Connor, Dmitri Gruzdyev, Marguerite Porter MBE, Alfreda Thorogood, and Graham Watts OBE.

 

Tamara Rojo CBE, Artistic Director of English National Ballet said: “Emerging Dancer is one of my favourite evenings in the season. I am so pleased that we have this opportunity to celebrate the young dancers of English National Ballet. Having this platform allows us to continue our commitment to nurture the stars of the future, and develop them artistically. 

“I am incredibly proud and absolutely thrilled with all the performances, the standard this year was so high that making a decision was very difficult. Rina and Aitor are two very charismatic and extremely gifted dancers who both have great careers ahead of them.” 

 

The other finalists this year were Isabelle Brouwers, Madison Keesler, Guilherme Menezes and Emilio Pavan.  

Previous winners of the Emerging Dancer Award include Yonah Acosta (2012), who is now a Principal of English National Ballet, Shiori Kase (2011), and Junor Souza (2014), who have since been promoted to First Soloist, Alison Mcwhinney (2014) who went on to be promoted to Soloist, Jinhao Zhang (2015) who was promoted to First Artist, and last year’s winner Cesar Corrales who has since been promoted to First Soloist. Cesar has gone on to perform several principal roles including Ali in Le Corsaire for which he was presented the award for Outstanding Male Performance at the 2017 Critics Circle National Dance Awards.

 

The Emerging Dancer competition is generously supported by Sue and Graeme Sloan. 

The Corps de Ballet Award is generously supported by Roger Handley. 

Ends 

 

For further information about English National Ballet and to book tickets visit www.ballet.org.uk. Please note performance details are subject to change. 

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