Bolshoi Ballet London Season for 2006 wins two awards at the National Dance Awards

25 January 2007

Russia's Bolshoi Ballet was triumphant at the 2006 Critics' Circle National Dance Awards, held on 25 January 2007 at London's Sadler's Wells Theatre.

The company's Artistic Director, Alexei Ratmansky , hotfoot from Moscow, accepted not one but two awards reflecting the huge success of last year's Bolshoi Ballet season at the Royal Opera House, promoted by Victor Hochhauser.

The Bolshoi Ballet won the award for the Best Foreign Company, for its three-week season of performances at the Royal Opera House. The other nominations in the category were the National Ballet of Cuba and Tango Por Dos. The Award was sponsored by Artsworld Presentations.

Alexei Ratmansky also won the award for Best Classical Choreography for his rollicking full-length ballet The Bright Stream, the tale of life and loves on a Soviet collective farm. Set to an early Shostakovich score, the ballet was hailed by British critics 'the best new ballet to come out of Russia in years ' after its UK Premiere in London last summer.

The other nominations in the category were Alastair Marriott's Tanglewood for The Royal Ballet and William Tuckett's The Canterville Ghost for English National Ballet.

Accepting the awards, Mr. Ratmansky acknowledged the importance of balancing the company's historical repertoire — the great classical ballets of the 19th century and the no less significant works of the Soviet period — with the need create new works.

He also paid tribute to dancers in the company - names now familiar to London audiences, such as Svetlana Zakharova, Sergei Filin, Svetlana Lunkina and last year's sensational new discovery, 19 year-old Natalia Osipova - who made last year's season such a success.

He also announced the return of the Bolshoi Ballet to the UK in July and August 2007 for a three-week season at the London Coliseum, with a repertoirethat would include repeat performances of The Bright Stream , as well as a number of brand new Bolshoi productions.

Critics' Circle National Dance Awards

The National Dance Awards patron is the famous English ballerina and former Royal Ballet prima ballerina, Dame Beryl Grey DBE.

The Critics' Circle unites about three hundred, mainly English, critics who regularly write on the art of dance. The awards come in four categories: drama, music, cinema and dance. The dance award (classical and modern) was founded in 2001.