Press Release: English National Ballet’s Emerging Dancer Update - it is being paused until 2024

[Jan McNulty]

English National Ballet’s Emerging Dancer Update (it is being paused until 2024)

 

English National Ballet today announces its Emerging Dancer competition will be paused until 2024. 

 

The decision has been made after careful review to ensure Artistic Director Designate, Aaron S. Watkin, and the wider Artistic team can fully support the programme and maximise its impact in the context of our wider programming. 

 

Alongside this, due to increased financial constraints, the Board of Trustees and Executive team have taken the decision to focus financial resources towards supporting new work in the 2023/24 financial year.

 

Artistic Director Designate, Aaron S. Watkin, said: “Providing opportunities for talent development is a key part of my vision for English National Ballet and so it is very important to me that I am closely involved with programmes such as Emerging Dancer. With the Company’s busy programme of activity, we have decided to pause next year’s Emerging Dancer until I am in post full-time. I am very much looking forward to celebrating the artistry and dedication of ENB’s dancers through Emerging Dancer in 2024.”

 

Next year will see English National Ballet honour a recipient of the People’s Choice Award, voted for by audience members across the season, and the Corps de Ballet Award, which acknowledges the work both on and off stage of an Artist of the Company, with further details to be announced in the New Year. 

 

Notes to Editors

 

English National Ballet is a National Portfolio Organisation supported by Arts Council England. Ballymore is Principal Building Partner of English National Ballet.

 

About English National Ballet 

 

English National Ballet has a long and distinguished history. Founded in 1950 as London Festival Ballet by the great English dancers Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin, it has been at the forefront of ballet’s growth and evolution ever since.

 

English National Ballet brings world class ballet to the widest possible audience through performances across the UK and on eminent international stages; its distinguished orchestra, English National Ballet Philharmonic; its digital platforms Ballet on Demand and BalletActive; being a UK leader in creative learning and engagement practice, building innovative partnerships to deliver flagship programmes such as Dance for Parkinson’s; and through talent development initiatives including Ballet Futures which looks to create a more diverse and inclusive future for the artform.

 

English National Ballet continues to add ground-breaking new works to its repertoire whilst celebrating the tradition of great classical ballet, gaining acclaim for artistic excellence and creativity. 2019 saw the Company enter a new chapter in its history with a move to a purpose-built state-of-the-art home in east London, allowing a renewed commitment to creativity, ambition, and connection to more people, near and far, than ever before. 

 

[LinMM]

Sounds like a good idea to me. 
 

I am surprised though that  I haven’t heard anything about this from ENB as yet as a current Friend. 

Edited December 14, 2022 by LinMM

[San Perregrino]

2 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

Alongside this, due to increased financial constraints, the Board of Trustees and Executive team have taken the decision to focus financial resources towards supporting new work in the 2023/24 financial year.

 

i wonder what this will bring forth

[bridiem]

2 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

Alongside this, due to increased financial constraints, the Board of Trustees and Executive team have taken the decision to focus financial resources towards supporting new work in the 2023/24 financial year.

 

This is thrown in like an afterthought in a press release about something else entirely. I personally couldn't care less about the Emerging Dancer award, but I do care about the company's repertoire and artistic focus. What does this actually mean in practice? Why was it not the subject of its own press release, or the main subject of this press release? Very odd.

[FionaM]

I take it as a quick cost cutting exercise by the new management team.   Maybe the new AD has his own ideas for something to encourage emerging dancers, which can’t be implemented until he is fully on board.  

[Henry]

To be honest, I am disappointed.  It was interesting to have some focus on the dancers in the company apart from just the principals.  My understanding was that the less experienced dancers enjoyed being coached in a more challenging role.  It seemed to produce a well attended performance (so good box office receipts?) with relatively low overheads.  Didn't you enjoy deciding who you thought should win - and not just the Director's choices?  

[blackdove]

Very disappointing decision 

[capybara]

Emerging Dancer (conceived initially during Wayne Eagling’s Directorship) has also been a means whereby more senior dancers coach their younger peers and for the company member learning about management etc (James Streeter followed by Isabelle Brouwers) to lead a significant initiative organisationally.

A win/win (which also attracted sponsorship) gone  in the blink of an eye. Regrettable.

[Blossom]

This is a terrible shame for dancers and the audience. Emerging Dancer provided the opportunity to get to know the young dancers in the company who might otherwise be anonymous faces.  I do understand the rationale but this is one of the highlights of the ENB calendar for me as  supporter. As @FionaE said, it would have been nice to have hear this first!

 

The comment re: new works suggests to me that Aaron S. Watkin may have some initial thoughts on what might be needed. I wonder if he has been attending any performances as yet or digging into the existing repertoire to see if there's anything which he particularly wants to upgrade (personally, there is one production i feel was a little rushed when initially produced which has never been tweaked).

[LinMM]

This is only a pause for one year though. 
It doesn’t say it’s being abandoned altogether! 
Or do some people think this is what will somehow inevitably happen? 

[capybara]

41 minutes ago, Blossom said:

This is a terrible shame for dancers and the audience. Emerging Dancer provided the opportunity to get to know the young dancers in the company who might otherwise be anonymous faces.  I do understand the rationale but this is one of the highlights of the ENB calendar for me as  supporter. As @FionaE said, it would have been nice to have hear this first!

 

The comment re: new works suggests to me that Aaron S. Watkin may have some initial thoughts on what might be needed. I wonder if he has been attending any performances as yet or digging into the existing repertoire to see if there's anything which he particularly wants to upgrade (personally, there is one production i feel was a little rushed when initially produced which has never been tweaked).

 

Aaron has reportedly been at the City Island HQ quite a bit and attending several performances.

 

[Blossom]

7 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

Aaron has reportedly been at the City Island HQ quite a bit and attending several performances.

 

Good to hear!!

[Emeralds]

Disappointed  to hear this as the Emerging Dancer event had so many positives for the dancers, colleagues who got involved in different ways eg mentoring, choreography, presenting, etc, and for the audience. I thought it really made a huge impact when it was streamed and it was wonderful for audiences to see the dancers in different works not currently part of the repertoire. Eg even more than a year after the event, the performances by Conway & Arrieta, Kase & McCormick, Bueno and Prigent (of Grand Pas Classique, Flames of Paris, La Sylphide respectively) at their Emerging Dancer streamed gala continue to draw attention and are reposted, shared and discussed frequently.

 

Does it really use up a lot of money? I would have thought that not requiring sets and corps de ballet, and being able to use existing costumes (perhaps with a few added embellishments here and there) meant the costs are quite low. And if held on a convenient day (ie not Sunday night) and time it can draw a large audience in terms of box office receipts. If streamed internationally or recorded for YouTube, it also presents significant sponsorship opportunities and great visibility for the sponsors with repeat viewing.

 

We now come to expect ED to highlight up and coming talent and it feels like a whole year is lost if one cohort misses the opportunity. That year that Shiori Kase won, other participants included Vadim Muntagirov, Ksenia Ovsyanick and Laurretta Summerscales, who are now of course principals in various companies and stars, like Kase herself.

[LinMM]

That must have been some year with Kase Muntagirov Ovsyanick and Summerscales!! Unfortunately missed this one! 
The year Corrales won it at the Palladium believe it or not I didn’t vote for him even though absolutely loved his performances that night!
I voted for Isabella Brouwers as at the time had been around in the Company for longer and always enjoyed watching her in class so wanted to give her a boost. It was pretty obvious Cesar was going to go on to do great things! 
But a point I’d like to make is that even though these competitions do highlight some of the younger dancers talents and I personally always enjoy seeing them in the end only a few seem to really benefit from it of those who take part. There’s no guarantee of any promotion within the Company necessarily. 
There could just as easily be a yearly showcase for emerging dancers as such rather than it being in competition form? 
I was thinking the latter might be less costly but still give the young dancers some exposure but perhaps it’s the other way around? 

Im really trying to say rather than abandon altogether next year could there be another way of showing off the younger dancers talents if it was less costly? But have no idea of the ‘business side’ of this. 




 

[capybara]

@LinMM The competition and the public vote have been two separate things although, in some years, the same dancer has won both.

There is much to be said for having an evening where dancers who are Artists or First Artists have an opportunity to show how talented they are, but it doesn’t have to be competitive.

I would dispense with the public vote.

[LinMM]

Yes I agree there is something a bit naff about people voting for their favourite dancer in that more formal way! Perhaps there could just be an audience vote at the Competition itself though! Though have no idea how you would organise it on the night!! 
I’ve just been looking at the Company Dancers and so many I don’t know now!  So quite a bit of reading to do! Am glad to see Rebecca Blenkinsop has been promoted to First Artist in 2022.