English National Ballet, Emerging Dancer 2019

[capybara]

18 hours ago, fromthebalcony said:

Ren and Julia were great, but the pas in Flames requires very little. I thought Julia was polished and very comfortable. Ren let out a huge sigh of relief after the pas, and I think it showed how nervous he was for that portion. They then danced their solo portions superbly. I do think Ren could have used more time rehearsing. 

 

Ren? You seem very familiar with these dancers for someone watching from afar!

[capybara]

11 minutes ago, LinMM said:

If the people's choice is for ANY dancer other than a Principal it would seem strange to vote for a hardly known dancer who has ONLY  danced in the Corps de ballet at that point than for one who,has had some solo parts or won a competition ( or two) so has been brought to ones attention that way! 

 

I wouldn't want to take anything away from Rhys Antoni Yeomans, not least because of his absolute commitment on stage. He was also stunning in the new Forsythe piece last summer. But that was the 2017/18 season rather than the current one.

However, between 2000 and 2016, the winners of the People's Choice Award were dancers who had had major, featured roles - think Yonah Acosta, Cesar Corrales, Laurretta Summerscales. Since 2017 the outcomes have been 'unexpected'.

[LinMM]

I was more referring to Georgia Bould really.....as she was comparatively unknown when winning the People's Choice award etc 

Rhys is well known from winning another competition as is Shale Wagman for example. 

It would be more likely that someone who is more known to the public generally would win this award than someone dancing in the Corps de ballet!! 

I was more than happy for Rhys to win this award the other night ....the People's Choice award .....although from the competition angle on that particular night I didn't like his dancing as much as others ( though he has a very engaging personality and looks as if he is enjoying himself which is always good in my books!) 

The three best on the night.... for me ......from the competition angle that is.... ....were Shale Wagman, Rentaro Nakaaki and Julia Conway. 

 

 

[Ian Macmillan]

DanceTabs has just put up a review/report on the Competition by Graham Watts - and it ends by pointing out that a young chap called Muntagirov was in the 2011 competition, didn't win, and that fact seems not to have held him back.  Just a thought.

[fromthebalcony]

1 hour ago, capybara said:

 

Ren? You seem very familiar with these dancers for someone watching from afar!

Actually, I do know some of the dancers from ENB. I am familiar with both of those dancers because of their involvement with YAGP. Additionally, I am friends with one of Julia’s former coaches. 

[LinMM]

Doesn't seem to have held back Lauretta Summerscales either! 

[capybara]

IIRC the format was rather different way back in 2011. Vadim Muntagirov danced either  the Flames of Paris solo or the Diana and Acteon solo and, whichever it was. it was over very quickly. Laurretta Summerscales chose an Aurora solo which didn't play to her strengths. Shiori Kase, the deserving winner that year, danced an extract from Giselle which was suitably long and wonderfully expressive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 9, 2019 by capybara

[Jane S]

Flames of Paris. Also Albrecht's act 2 solo - they all did two solos and there were no pas de deux.

 

 

The dancers had chosen their own repertoire, which according to Wayne Eagling was an important part of the experience for the nominees, who learn to take responsiblity for what they do rather than waiting for someone to tell them.

 

(I know all this stuff because I wrote a piece about it for ballet.co!)

[Bluebird]

I think i’ve found your report, Jane:

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20110307171554/http://www.ballet.co.uk/dcforum/happening/8016.html

Edited May 10, 2019 by Bluebird

[Jane S]

Thank you - it's always nice to see bits of ballet.co resurfacing!

[Sabine0308]

Is it actually good for the company to have such a competition among themselves? Doesn't it put lot of stress and unnessessary rivalry in the company's soul? Like, dancers who are members since years have to compete with "newbies", to proov their value for the company? Maybe electing emerging dancers and have them present their skills WITHOUT a competition would be a nicer solution. I don't know if such a company competition exists elsewhere. I know that dancers are competitive anyway in their daily job so why put more stress on it. Just some thoughts...

[bangorballetboy]

59 minutes ago, Sabine0308 said:

Is it actually good for the company to have such a competition among themselves? Doesn't it put lot of stress and unnessessary rivalry in the company's soul? Like, dancers who are members since years have to compete with "newbies", to proov their value for the company? Maybe electing emerging dancers and have them present their skills WITHOUT a competition would be a nicer solution. I don't know if such a company competition exists elsewhere. I know that dancers are competitive anyway in their daily job so why put more stress on it. Just some thoughts...

 

From where I see it, all the dancers seem to love the competition (almost all the whooping you hear at the competition is from the dancers who aren’t competing), the finalists are selected by company members, rather than management, and senior dancers give freely of their time to coach and mentor the finalists. It appears to be really good for company morale.

[MAX]

Yes I am sure it is good for company morale, we can definitely feel a positive energy !

 

That said I must mention I was a bit disappointed by those pas de deux, they were ok/good but not what I was expecting from those dancers. As if, sometimes,  the choice of what they were dancing was too ambitious for them. But it is maybe how one can progress !

 

Even McCormick and Velicu were very nervous,  with a major problem in the adagio. But how talented they are !

[Sophoife]

Australian Ballet has a similar award, the Telstra Ballet Dancer Award. Nominees used to be announced early in the year but now quite late, they have to prepare a written presentation, and they're assessed on the artistic quality of their work, the strength of a written submission, their personal development, and future potential. There's also a People's Choice award for which only the nominees for the main award are eligible. The main award is worth $20,000.

 

Winners have been 

2018 Jade Wood (current Senior Artist)

2017 Valerie Tereshchenko (current Senior Artist)

2016 Callum Linnane (current Soloist)

2015 Benedicte Bemet (current Senior Artist)

2014 Dimity Azoury (current Senior Artist)

2013 Christopher Rodgers-Wilson (current Soloist)

2012 Amy Harris (current Principal)

2011 Chengwu Guo (current Principal)

2010 Ty King-Wall (current Principal) and Dana Stephensen (current Senior Artist)

2009 Stephanie Williams (ABT corps)

2008 Kevin Jackson (current Principal)

2007 Daniel Gaudiello (former Principal)

2006 Gina Brescianini (former Senior Artist)

2005 Lana Jones (former Principal)

2004 Amber Scott (current Principal)

2003 Matthew Lawrence (former Principal, then BRB, then Qld Ballet)

 

People's Choice winners have included Harris (three times), Scott, Williams, Guo, and Luke Ingham (current Principal SFB).

Edited May 11, 2019 by Sophoife