The winners of this year's Critics' Circle National Dance awards were announced today at the Place theatre – a list of 13, whittled down from more than 200 nominated performances. With 60 voting members, all with different tastes and viewing schedules, some of the initial variety – and surprise – of those original nominations may have been lost. Yet there are still intriguing names among the final cut.
In the outstanding male performance ( modern) category, there was very strong support for local dancers such as Nathan Goodman and Liam Riddick (both from Richard Alston Dance Company, based at the Place) and Christopher Marney (New Adventures) yet it was Paul White, the astonishing soloist in Meryl Tankard's The Oracle, who held the imagination of critics, despite the tiny number of performances he actually danced in the UK.
Historically, the best male dancer (open to all forms of dance) has tended to go to a classical performer – ballet on the whole facilitates more flamboyant displays of virtuosity and acting. This year, however, it's Dane Hurst from Rambert who beat off stellar competition from Edward Watson, Vadim Muntagirov and Sergei Polunin, to become one of the very few dancers from a modern company to win this category in the history of the awards.
There are few more dramatic and virtuoso stars in ballet today than Natalia Osipova – yet while the Russian ballerina wins her best female dancer award for performances with the St Petersburg company the Mikhailovsky Ballet, and has been nominated in previous years for her performances with the Bolshoi, there is an extra frisson to her win this time around, given that her recent signing to the Royal Ballet has, for the time being, made her one of our own.
Here's the list of winners – let us know what you think
Best modern choreography – Russell Maliphant for Fallen by BalletBoyz: The Talent
Best classical choreography – Christopher Wheeldon for Aeternum by the Royal Ballet
Outstanding female performance (in a single classical work) – Yuan Yuan Tan for RAkU/San Francisco Ballet
Outstanding male performance (in a single classical work) – Nicolas Le Riche for Le Jeune Homme et la Mort/English National Ballet
Outstanding female performance (in a single modern work) – Julie Cunningham for New Works 2012/Michael Clark Company
Outstanding male performance (in a single modern work) – Paul White for The Oracle/Meryl Tankard
Jane Attenborough Dance UK industry award – Amanda Chinn, general manager of Scottish Dance Theatre
Best independent company – BalletBoyz: The Talent
Outstanding company – Mikhailovsky Ballet
Best male dancer – Dane Hurst/Rambert Dance Company
Best female dancer – Natalia Osipova/Mikhailovsky Ballet
De Valois awards for outstanding achievement – Leanne Benjamin and Matthew Bourne
