English National Ballet’s Emerging Dancer competition will be held at Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall on Friday 29 May 2020.
Through this annual event, English National Ballet recognises the excellence of its artists. Selected by their peers, six of the company’s most promising dancers perform in front of an eminent panel of expert judges, before one receives the 2020 Emerging Dancer Award. “The competition already has a fine pedigree for spotting future soloist and principals.” [The Express]
The recipients of the People’s Choice Award, selected by members of the public, and the Corps de Ballet Award, acknowledging the work on and off-stage of a member of the Corps de Ballet, will also be revealed on the night.
Emerging Dancer is a key part of English National Ballet’s commitment to developing and nurturing talent within the Company and is generously supported by Graeme and Sue Sloan. Last year’s Emerging Dancer Award winner, Julia Conway has since been promoted to First Artist and has debuted in the roles of Stepsister Clementine in Christopher Wheeldon’s Cinderella, Clara/Sugar Plum Fairy in Nutcracker and Gulnare in Le Corsaire.
Tamara Rojo CBE, Artistic Director of English National Ballet said: “I’m incredibly proud to announce this year’s finalists for Emerging Dancer. Ivana, Carolyne, Angel, Victor, Emily and William each bring a great deal of charisma and artistry to every performance and I’m so happy for them to have been nominated by their colleagues and those who work with them every day as an acknowledgement of their hard work and commitment last season.
“Emerging Dancer is an annual event at ENB and is a fantastic opportunity for the finalists to further showcase their talent and creativity on stage in front of an audience that also includes friends, family and peers and for the Company to recognise young and upcoming talent within the ENB family.
“As each dancer will be coached by another more experienced dancer of the company it is also a great opportunity to develop our artist’s skills as mentors and teachers”
The 2020 finalists are:
Ivana Bueno
Bueno joined the Company after graduating from the Princess Grace Academy, Monaco, in 2018 following her training at Fomento Artístico Cordobés in her home country of Mexico. During her time at English National Ballet she has enjoyed dancing the Spanish dance in Wayne Eagling’s Nutcracker and the role of Balinese Princess in Christopher Wheeldon’s Cinderella.
Carolyne Galvao
Originally from Brazil where she trained at the Bale do Teatro Escola Basileu França, Galvao joined English National Ballet in 2018. Some of her career highlights so far include being a prize winner at the Prix de Lausanne 2018 and winning Silver Medal at the Jackson Ballet Competition 2018. Notable roles with the Company include the Chinese and Spanish dances in Wayne Eagling’s Nutcracker and Jewels in The Sleeping Beauty at ENB’s 70th Anniversary Gala.
Miguel Angel Maidana
Maidana began his dance training in his home country of Paraguay at Escuela de Danza Mainumby before moving to Argentina to study at Academia de Ballet de Moscù followed by Belgium to attend Brussels International Ballet School. He joined English National Ballet as an Artist of the Company in 2018 and notable roles in his time with the company have included Freddie and Spanish dance in Wayne Eagling’s Nutcracker, Birbanto in Le Corsaire and Playlist (Track 2) and Swansong as part of ENB’s 70th Anniversary Gala.
Carolyne Galvao and Miguel Angel Maidana. Photos by Karolina Kuras
Victor Prigent
French dancer Prigent trained in French Guiana, Paris, Chicago and San Francisco and danced with San Francisco Ballet and Atlanta Ballet for a season each before coming to the UK to join English National Ballet as Artist of the Company in 2017. Highlight roles of his time at ENB so far include Freddie and Chinese dance in Wayne Eagling’s Nutcracker, the Beggar Chief in Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon, Neapolitan in Derek Deane’s Swan Lake and Swansong and Playlist (Track 2) at ENB’s 70th Anniversary Gala.
Emily Suzuki
Suzuki has been an Artist of the Company since 2016 having trained in her native Japan at the Acri Horimoto Ballet Academy before moving to the UK to study at English National Ballet School. In 2017 and 2019 she danced the role of the Chosen One in Pina Bausch’s Le Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring).
Emily Suzuki and William Yamada. Photos by Karolina Kuras
William Yamada
Yamada has been in the Company since 2015. He originally trained with his mother followed by the Young Dancer’s Academy, London, and the Royal Ballet School. As part of English National Ballet’s 70th Anniversary Gala in January he debuted in Playlist (Track 2) by William Forsythe and he has also danced the role of Freddie in Wayne Eagling’s Nutcracker during his time in the Company.
The six dancers will be paired up and each partnership will perform a contemporary piece and a classical pas de deux.
As part of Dance Leaders of the Future, a dancer development programme ENB launched in November 2019 which offers the opportunity for an ENB dancer to develop skills and gain experience in leadership, First Soloist James Streeter will be producing this year’s event. James will work closely with members of ENB’s Artistic team and Lead Principal Jeffrey Cirio, who is going to be curating the contemporary pieces and working as intermediary between the dancers and the contemporary choreographers who will be brought in to work with the finalists.