On 7 June 2015, two of Sadler’s Wells’ Associate Artists and its Associate Company celebrated winning prestigious awards at two separate ceremonies.

In London, English National Ballet collected the Dance award at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards 2015 for Lest We Forget, including choreographies by Liam Scarlett and Sadler’s Wells’ Associate Artists Akram Khan and Russell Maliphant. The company will bring the successful production to Sadler’s Wells in September.

The Award for Outstanding Achievement was bestowed on dancer Sylvie Guillem for her 35-year career, which has seen her shine in both classical ballets and modern works and, in the process, redefine what a female dancer can be.

In New York, Christopher Wheeldon received the award for best choreography for An American in Paris at the 2015 Tony Awards. The musical also won the awards for Scenic design, Lighting design and Orchestrations.

A few days earlier, on 1 June, Wheeldon had shared the Best Choreographer gong at the Astaire Awards with Joshua Bergasse of On the Town. At the same ceremony, Akram Khan won the Best Choreographer in a Feature Film category for Desert Dancer.

This award bonanza follows the success of Sylvie Guillem and Crystal Pite at the 2015 Laurence Olivier Awards in April – where Guillem was honoured with a special award and Pite won the Outstanding Achievement in Dance award for her choreography in A Picture of You Falling (as part of production The Associates), The Tempest Replica and Polaris (as part of Thomas Adès : See the Music, Hear the Dance) at Sadler’s Wells.

Congratulations to all artists on these much-deserved honours!

Image: English National Ballet performing Akram Khan’s Dust, part of Lest We Forget. Photography by ASH