Awards

Vote for us to win the FEDORA Prize

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We are pleased to announce our membership of the new FEDORA Platform, a collection of 18 other European organisations committed to showcasing innovative ballet and opera projects.

As a platform member we are lucky enough to have access to funds provided by the European Commission’s Creative Europe fund. This year we have been shortlisted for the FEDORA – VAN CLEEF & ARPELS Prize for Ballet for our new commission, William Forsythe’s A Quiet Evening of Dance.

In order to make sure this commission is considered for funding by the jury, we need your help! Please follow the link below to vote.

VOTE FOR US!

Thank you.

Image: Sadler’s Wells Artistic Director and Chief Executive Alistair Spalding announces our membership of the FEDORA Platform

SADLER’S WELLS NOMINATED FOR PRODUCER OF THE YEAR AWARD

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We are delighted to be nominated as Producer of the Year in The Stage Awards 2018.

Since becoming a producing house in 2005, Sadler’s Wells has helped bring to life over 150 shows, presented at our home in London and all over the world.

“In another strong year, Sadler’s Wells has worked closely with innovative artists on pieces that push the boundaries of contemporary dance,” reads the judges’ citation. “Since 2016, it has co-commissioned and co-produced 16 new dance works, many of which had audiences and critics in raptures.”

Among the co-productions we presented on our stage from October 2016 to November 2017, the period considered for the awards, are:

  • TAO Dance Theater – 6 & 8
  • Dance Umbrella – Unknown Pleasures
  • Crystal Pite – Bettrofenheit
  • Jasmine Vardimon – Pinocchio
  • Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui – Fractus V
  • Rambert – The Creation
  • English National Ballet – Akram Khan’s Giselle
  • Hetain Patel – American Man
  • Michael Keegan Dolan – Swan Lake/ Loch na hEala
  • Wayne McGregor – Tree of Codes 
  • Wayne McGregor – Autobiography 
  • Acosta Danza – Debut
  • BalletBoyz – Fourteen Days
  • Alexander Whitley – 8 Minutes

You can read the award shortlist in full here.

Sadler’s Wells has been shortlisted in the Producer of the Year category alongside Hull City of Culture and commercial producer Michael Harrison.

Alistair Spalding, Sadler’s Wells’ Artistic Director and Chief Executive, said: “As an international dance house, we are committed to investing in the creative journey of the talented artists we are privileged to work with, and to supporting them in bringing their ideas to the stage. It is great to see this work acknowledged and to be nominated for the Producer of the Year award.”

Alistair Smith, editor of The Stage and chair of the judging panel said: “I’m delighted The Stage Awards once again celebrate the achievements of theatres from across the UK, many of which aren’t recognised at other ceremonies. This year’s shortlist highlights the theatrical talent among organisations of all sizes, right across the UK.”

The Stage Awards, in association with Integro Insurance Brokers Ltd, are decided by The Stage’s senior editorial team, following extensive consultation with leading figures in the theatre industry and a public nomination process.

The winners will be announced on Friday 26 Jan 2018 at a ceremony at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

Fingers crossed!

 

Image: Michael Keegan Dolan’s Swan Lake/ Loch na hEala. Photo: Colm Hogan

National Dance Awards nominations are announced

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Nominees have been announced for the Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards 2017 and we are delighted that a number of artists and companies we present and support are among them.

Our Associate Artists Akram Khan and Crystal Pite have received nominations in the Best Classical Choreographer category. Akram is recognised for his choreography of Giselle for our Associate Company English National Ballet, a Sadler’s Wells co-production. Crystal has been nominated for two works: Emergence, which we presented as part of a double bill by Scottish Ballet in June, and Flight Pattern, presented at the Royal Opera House in March.

Matthew Bourne and Michael Keegan-Dolan, also Sadler’s Wells Associate Artists, are up for the Best Modern Choreography Award. Matthew has been nominated for The Red Shoes, which had its world premiere at Sadler’s Wells in December 2016, while Michael Keegan-Dolan has been recognised for Swan Lake/Loch na hEala, which we presented in November 2016 and will return to our stage later this month.

We are thrilled to see that Botis Seva has been nominated in the Emerging Artist category. Botis presented a Wild Card evening in our Lilian Baylis Studio in 2015 and also took part in Open Art Surgery and Back To The Lab, Breakin’ Convention’s artistic development programmes. Composer Vincenzo Lamagna is also nominated for the same honour, for his music for Akram Khan’s Giselle.

Dancer Ashley Shaw, of our Resident Company New Adventures, is among the Outstanding Female Performance (modern) nominees for her performance as Vicky Page in The Red Shoes, while Syrian-born, France-based dancer and choreographer Mithkal Alzghair has been nominated for Outstanding Male Performance (modern) for Displacement, which we presented in the Lilian Baylis Studio in July, as part of the Shubbak festival.

In the Outstanding Female Performance (classical) category, nominees include English National Ballet’s Alina Cojocaru for her leading role in Giselle and Scottish Ballet’s Bethany Kingsley-Garner, for her performance in Emergence. The Award for Outstanding Male Performance (classical) sees English National Ballet’s James Streeter nominated for his role as Albrecht in Giselle, Scottish Ballet’s Christopher Harrison for his performance in MC 14/22 (Ceci est mon corps), presented here in summer alongside Emergence, and Israel Galván  for his performance in FLA.CO.MEN, which he performed at Sadler’s Wells’ Flamenco Festival in February 2017. Eva Yerbabuena, who also performed her show Apariencias at the Flamenco Festival, is nominated for the Grishko Award for Best Female Dancer and the Outstanding Female Performance (classical) award.

Birmingham-based Rosie Kay Dance Company, whose sold-out run of 5 SOLDIERS: The Body is The Frontline we presented at Yeomanry House in September, is up for Best Independent Company.

The full nominations’ list is available here. Winners will be announced on 19 February 2018, when two other honours will be bestowed: the De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement and the One Dance UK Industry Award.

Many congratulations to all on their well-deserved nominations and best of luck!

Image: Laurent Liotardo 

Wayne McGregor awarded Honorary Science Fellowship

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Sadler’s Wells’ Associate Artist Wayne McGregor has been awarded an honorary fellowship by the British Science Association for his dedication to engaging and inspiring people with science.  He joins an illustrious rank of honorary fellows, including Professor Brian Cox and Sir David Attenborough.

Wayne’s work has long been at the forefront of dance innovation, exploring the possibilities of the human body and movement through our cognitive and scientific processes. He has worked closely with researchers to create work informed by cognitive science and social anthropology, and even devised a choreographic thinking tool, Mind and Movement, now used in schools and other educational environments.

His long-standing interest in scientific research is reflected in his choreographic works, which are often at the cutting edge of scientific and technological advancements. Atomos, performed at Sadler’s Wells in 2013, probes the idea of choreography growing from the form of an atom, exploring the movement and manipulation of the body with wearable technology mapping the dancer’s biometrics and reflecting their own emotional algorithms. His upcoming production Autobiography, premiering at Sadler’s Wells in October, is similarly ambitious, a deeply personal work stemming from world-leading geneticists sequencing Wayne’s genetic material, and thereby re-processing and exploring nature’s code through dance.

Many congratulations to Wayne on this important recognition!

Image credit: Nick Mead

Tal Rosner receives KOI Award nomination

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Congratulations to Tal Rosner, who has been nominated for a Knight of Illumination (KOI) Award for his projection design work on 8 Minutes, a new production by Sadler’s Wells’ New Wave Associate Alexander Whitley.

Jerusalem-born, London-based Rosner is a Bafta-winning moving image and video artist. His work spans orchestral music, theatre and dance, including creating the video design and animation for The Most Incredible Thing at Sadler’s Wells back in 2012.

8 Minutes, created by Whitley in collaboration with Rosner and composer Daniel Wohl, draws inspiration from the images and data of solar science research to explore the spectacular forces at work in the universe. Rosner’s visual installation evokes the breathtaking scale of space through scientific footage and original artwork, contributing to create the striking, immersive environment of dance, music and film the production was acclaimed for following its world premiere in June.

Rosner is nominated for The Hawthorn Theatre Award for Projection Design, which honours outstanding examples of lighting design, video, graphic display and projection design.

The (KOI) Awards ceremony will take place at the Eventim Apollo on 17 September.

Images: 8 Minutes by Alexander Whitley Company. Photo: Johan Persson

Sadler’s Wells staff win Apprenticeship Awards

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Two Sadler’s Wells staff members picked up awards at a ceremony celebrating the role of local young people and employers in delivering the legacy of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

HR Manager Lesley Owusu and our former Community and Engagement intern Jade Leatham were honoured at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Apprenticeship Awards, held at Here East on 5 July.

Lesley won the Making it Happen Partnership of the Year Award for her work in offering high-quality, accessible employment and education opportunities to young people from the communities that surround the park in east London. Jade received the Best Intern Award for her work as Community Engagement Intern at Sadler’s Wells.

Jade was selected for the internship after taking part in the Creative Opportunity Programme and spent six months at Sadler’s Wells helping to engage local schools and communities in dance. You can read more about her experience with us here. She is now permanently employed as International Examinations Administrator at the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.

Many congratulations to both!

 

Image: Sadler’s Wells’ HR Manager Lesley Owusu (L) and former Community Engagement Intern Jade Leatham (R).

Works for me: A foot in the door

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Winner of the 2016/17 Apprenticeship Award for the Best Work Placement/Intern Jade Leatham, tells us how participating in LLDC’s Creative and Cultural Opportunity Week, helped her land a role at Sadler’s Wells as Community Engagement Intern.

“I’m from Walthamstow and went to De Montfort University in Leicester to study a degree in arts and festival management.

Dance has always been my driving force. When I left uni I picked up bits of work and I was getting interviews but just couldn’t get a full-time role. Then I came across the Creative and Cultural Opportunity Week and managed to get a place. It started at Sadler’s Wells and then moved to places like Whitechapel Gallery, Stratford Circus and Here East.

There was amazing moral support and really focused on everyone’s individual needs. A lot of us needed that – it was really insightful to have mentors to help you figure out what to do next. It was good to talk to people in similar situations. You create a network just by being there.

The hardest thing about the arts is getting a foot in the door. The workshop week led to my internship at Sadler’s Wells for a six-month community engagement role. My role involved going into local communities and schools and introducing them to dance in different ways. It was impossible not to enjoy it.

After my internship I’ve now secured a role as an international examinations administrator at the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing. The internship gave me the confidence I needed to push myself to the next level. Lots of people are capable of doing the jobs that are out there – you just need to prove you can actually do it.

I’m really passionate about getting people engaged in dance and I want to get my enthusiasm across. In the long-term I want to use all my skills and set up my own thing, although I’m not sure what that will be yet.”

Click here to find out more about the next Creative Opportunity Programme.

Nitin Sawhney receives Lifetime Achievement Ivor Novello award

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Sadler’s Wells’ Associate Artist Nitin Sawhney picked up the lifetime achievement honour at the Ivor Novello awards earlier this month. The British musician, producer and composer was presented with the award, which is bestowed in recognition of exceptional creative talent, by actor and director Andy Serkis at the event on 18 May.

Speaking to Music Week magazine, Sawhney explained what the accolade means to him: “The Ivor Novello Awards are the awards that I respect the most, because it’s from composers and songwriters. I know how the board works, and they are all very accomplished and seasoned musicians and writes. From that point of view, it’s an incredible accolade. I’m very proud to get it.”

Sawhney may have received a lifetime achievement award, but he is definitely not one to rest on his laurels. Among the projects he is currently working on, he is co-devising a brand new dance production with dancer and choreographers Honji Wang and Sébastien Ramirez (Wang Ramirez). The production, which is being made to Sawhney’s acclaimed 2015 album Dystopian Dream, will premiere at Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg in September 2017 and receive its UK premiere at Sadler’s Wells in autumn 2018.

 

Image: Nitin Sawhney with his Lifetime Achievement award and its presenter Andy Serkis at the 62nd Ivor Novello Awards (2017). Photo: Mark Allan

Our associate artists and companies win four Oliviers

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The winners of this year’s Olivier Awards were announced at the Royal Albert Hall on 9 April and we are thrilled that Sadler’s Wells’ associate artists and companies won four awards.

Our Associate Artist Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young received the Best New Dance Production award for Betroffenheit. Our Associate Company English National Ballet won Outstanding Achievement in Dance for expanding the variety of their repertoire with our Associate Artist Akram Khan’s Giselle and triple bill She Said at Sadler’s Wells. Our Associate Artist Matthew Bourne received the Best Theatre Choreographer award, while his latest production The Red Shoes, performed by our Resident Company New Adventures, won in the Best Entertainment and Family category.

Many congratulations to all!

 

Image: Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young’s Betroffenheit. Photo: Wendy D Photography

New Adventures wins International gong at The Stage Awards

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Sadler’s Wells’ Resident Company New Adventures won the International award at The Stage Awards 2017. Winners were announced at a ceremony at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane last Friday.

The award recognised the company’s international touring and audience engagement activities, which in 2016 included a mammoth tour of New Adventures’ Sleeping Beauty in Asia, with audiences of over 70,000.

Many congratulations to Sir Matthew Bourne, Robert Noble and all the dancers and company members! We look forward to seeing New Adventures back on our main stage in April with Matthew Bourne’s Early Adventures.