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Young British Dancer of the Year 2013


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A very enjoyable semi final,, which began with a long class at the beginning so we could have a good look at all the competitors prior to their solo.  There was some very good standard of dancing on display, and the fact that I guessed 14 of the 16 finalists tells me that the judges and I were on the same wavelength...which is often not the case :)

 

The judges were Marguerite Porter, Deirdre Eyden and Chairman Gary Avis.  The 16 finalists, in no particular order, are:

 

(all the male semi finalists were from the Royal Ballet School, so of course all the finalists are.  Females are also from the RBS unless otherwise indicated)

 

Isabel Lubach, Grace Blundell, Naomi Bottomer (English National Ballet School), Julia Roscoe, Estelle Bovay, Isabelle Brouwers (ENB School),Grace Horne, Chisato Katsura, Augustus Payne, Thomas Bradshaw, Henry Dowden, Scott McKenzie, Jerome Barnes, Barnaby Rook Bishop, William Beagley, Joseph Sissens.

 

Good luck to them all, and from what I've seen today, I look forward very much to the final next Saturday!

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A very enjoyable semi final,, which began with a long class at the beginning so we could have a good look at all the competitors prior to their solo.  There was some very good standard of dancing on display, and the fact that I guessed 14 of the 16 finalists tells me that the judges and I were on the same wavelength...which is often not the case :)

 

The judges were Marguerite Porter, Deirdre Eyden and Chairman Gary Avis.  The 16 finalists, in no particular order, are:

 

(all the male semi finalists were from the Royal Ballet School, so of course all the finalists are.  Females are also from the RBS unless otherwise indicated)

 

Isabel Lubach, Grace Blundell, Naomi Bottomer (English National Ballet School), Julia Roscoe, Estelle Bovay, Isabelle Brouwers (ENB School),Grace Horne, Chisato Katsura, Augustus Payne, Thomas Bradshaw, Henry Dowden, Scott McKenzie, Jerome Barnes, Barnaby Rook Bishop, William Beagley, Joseph Sissens.

 

Good luck to them all, and from what I've seen today, I look forward very much to the final next Saturday!

 

 

 

Although most of the finalists are from the Royal Ballet School, it's worth pointing out that the organisers of the competition appear to be trying to give more prominence to candidates from other schools.  The programme booklet has 7 photos of last year's finalists and 3 of these seven are from ENBS or the Central School of Ballet.

 

Before the finalists were announced  Freed of London gave "Encouragement Gifts" to 4 of the semi-finalists (RBS unless otherwise indicated): Claudia Nicholson, Fiona McGee, Saskia Gregson-Williams (Vanessa Palmer School) and Mica Bradbury.

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Thank you both for the updates.

Although RBS kindly hosts the competition, I think they seem to try very hard to make it clear that it isn't an RBS competition e.g. none of the judges are from the school and they get other schools to perform at the final etc.

I really hope that more people are encouraged to take part. Sad that there are never any Elmhurst entries even though I think they have or are performing?

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Anyone got the names of finalists/results to share please?

The finalists are listed in an earlier thread.

 

 http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/3119-young-british-dancer-of-the-year-2013/

 

Results from tonight (all RBS unless otherwise indicated):

 

1st prize Chisato Katsura

2nd prize Isabelle Brouwers (ENBS)

3rd prize Jerome Barnes

 

Special acknowledgement from the jury: Scott Mackenzie

 

Commendations: Joseph Sissons and William Beagley

 

Sibley Dowell Award for a promising student with potential: Barnaby Rook Bishop

 

The members of the jury were: Gary Avis, Deanne Bergsma, Deirdre Eyden, Christopher Hampson, Kevin O'Hare, David Nixon, Marguerite Porter, Tamara Rojo.  The Chairman of the jury was Aaron S Watkin.  Elena Glurjidze was the class teacher for the preliminary rounds and semi-finals and the Finalists received coaching from Mara Galeazzi and Johan Kobborg.

 

Edited to add that it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.  This year, for the first time, there was a "special emphasis on expressiveness in the second variation selected by the contestants" (quoted from the programme)  This made for a most interesting evening with a wider range of variations that we've had in the past.

Maybe an administrator could merge the two threads on this competition?

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Thanks Bluebird. I'm not surprised about the winner. I saw her in Phyllis Bedells which she won last year and she is truly destined for great things.

Can you tell us anything about the Elmhurst students that performed? Interesting when the school is known not to let any of their students enter the competition.

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Thanks Bluebird. I'm not surprised about the winner. I saw her in Phyllis Bedells which she won last year and she is truly destined for great things.

Can you tell us anything about the Elmhurst students that performed? Interesting when the school is known not to let any of their students enter the competition.

 

They were clearly enjoying themselves enormously and this communicated itself to the audience.  They danced a piece called 'The Sailors' with  music by Malcolm Arnold and choreography by Gloria Grigolato and Lee Robinson. When you ask me to tell you more about them, are you asking for their names? If so, here they are, as printed in the programme:

 

Paige Bestington, Gwenllian Davies, Padua Eaton, Sayaka Nagahiro, Lucinda Strachan

 

Drew Jackson, Brogan McKelvey, Joseph Ngwana-Aumeer, Dylan Price, Ebony Thomas

 

I don't, at the moment, have time to give details of the other school performances (Ballet Central and ENBS).  Maybe somebody else who was there could do so?

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The dancers from Elmhurst performed a piece called 'Sailors'....and very good they were, too!  The boys looked great - lovely, high, precise jumps, and it's so nice to see them all take off together and land together!  The girls were also lovely, and the whole cast were very well rehearsed.  They danced with character and really looked as if they were enjoying it.  A real treat to see these students;  I've never seen Elmhurst dancers before and now I'd like to see more!

 

Ballet Central danced a very contemporary piece called Signature 31/30, and I very much enjoyed it.  Again, a very good standard of dancing from all six of the students.

 

Finally, English National Ballet School danced an ensemble piece called Une Lecture de Danse.  A good showcase for the dancers, who all danced really well.  This was more of a classical style.  Three different schools, three different styles of dancing on display, with lots of good, talented future professionals on stage.  What a treat it was to see them all.

 

A very enjoyable evening overall, and I must say I wouldn't have liked to have been a judge.  I think they made the right choices;  I was very impressed with the three winners, but also with a few of the others as well.  Isabelle Brouwers, who came second, really moved me with her interpretation of Nikiya's variation.  She's only 17, but really managed to convey the emotion and tragedy of Nikiya's situation.  That is very hard to do taken out of context of the whole ballet.  She was beaming from ear to ear when she won second prize and looked absolutely thrilled.  I look forward to seeing more of her in the future. 

 

Many congratulations to all the dancers.

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They were clearly enjoying themselves enormously and this communicated itself to the audience. They danced a piece called 'The Sailors' with music by Malcolm Arnold and choreography by Gloria Grigolato and Lee Robinson. When you ask me to tell you more about them, are you asking for their names

Yes I just meant what performance did they do, how was it and what year group? I can see from the names that it was Year 11 and I think between you and Sim you have covered the rest. Thank you.

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Such a pity that the semis and finals are always in such tiny venues - (RBS for semis and Linbury for the finals).  So only a tiny proportion of those wishing to get seats are successful, and others have to juggle around tentative plans in case last minute seats become available. Looks as though the same will happen next year (see the ROH's schedule at http://www.roh.org.uk/news/201314-ballet-and-dance-season-announced, with the YBDY final in Linbury on 8th March). In the past I was told that the use of small halls was because of 'scheduling difficulties' with larger venues. But couldn't something be worked out?

 

NB: If anyone wasn't able to get to YBDY and would like to watch some of the same talented young dancers joined by others of a very high calibre, I have two spare tickets for the Phyllis Bedells Bursary competition at RAD tomorrow (Sunday) at 1 p.m. . See: http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/3227-phyllis-bedells-bursary-selling-2-tickets-sun-17th-march-1-pm/). Grateful if anyone knows of someone who can use these tickets - it would be a pity for them to go to waste).

 

Thanks,

Yaffa

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