Two triumphs for the Bolshoi Ballet as a result of its English 2006 season

25.01.2007

The Bolshoi Theatre Ballet Company is voted best foreign dance company to have toured in Great Britain in the past season. While its artistic director, Alexei Ratmansky, outdid two English choreographers, to win the Critics' Circle National Dance Award for best choreography (classical). The award giving ceremony took place today at London's Sadler's Wells Theatre.

The Bolshoi Ballet Company received two nominations for the prestigious, annual English 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. The Bolshoi Ballet Company won the award for Best Foreign Dance Company to have performed in Britain in the past season (its fellow competitors included the National Ballet of Cuba and the Argentinian Tango por Dos Company). Alexei Ratmansky carried off the Best Choreography (Classical) prize for The Bright Stream, presented in London this summer. His competitors in the finals were Alastair Marriott leading Royal Ballet character dancer (for the one-act ballet Tanglewood, to the music of Ned Rorem’s Violin Concerto, at the Royal Ballet) and Will Tuckett, guest leading Royal Ballet character dancer (for The Canterville Ghost, to music by Martin Ward, at English National Ballet).

PRESS RELEASE
BOLSHOI BALLET WINS TWO AWARDS FOR ITS 2006 LONDON SEASON AT THE CRITICS’ CIRCLE NATIONAL DANCE AWARDS
Russia's Bolshoi Ballet was triumphant at the 2006 Critics' Circle National Dance Awards, held this week at London's Sadler's Wells Theatre.

The company's Artistic Director, Alexei Ratmansky, hotfoot from Moscow, accepted not one, but two awards which reflect 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 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 announced that the Bolshoi Ballet would return to the UK in July/August 2007 for a three-week season at the London Coliseum, and that repertoire would include repeat performances of The Bright Stream, as well as a number of brand new Bolshoi productions.

PRESS CONTACT:
Faith Wilson Arts Publicity
Tel: 0207 403 8240 m: 0794 113 7453
faith@faithwilson.demon.co.uk

NOTE TO EDITORS:
More details of The Bolshoi Ballet’s season at The London Coliseum (July 30 - August 18, 2007) promoted by Victor Hochhauser, will be announced very soon.

Press contact: Faith Wilson Arts Publicity (details as above).