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Home , Alessandra Ferri, English National Ballet, Francesca Velicu, Johan Kobborg, Julio Bocca, Nina Ananiashvili

English National Emerging Dancer LIVE Coliseum Monday 11 June 2018 Performance at 7.30pm Tickets: £12 - £35 Box office: 020 7845 9300 and www.ballet.org.uk/emerging

On Monday 11 June 2018, ’s Emerging Dancer competition, hosted by the actor and dancer Will Kemp, will be live streamed from the London Coliseum via Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Emerging Dancer LIVE follows the success of last year’s live stream which achieved over 80,000 views worldwide.

English National Ballet – Emerging Dancer – © Laurent Liotardo – post production by Nik Pate

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 2018 Emerging Dancer Award.

The recipients of the People's Choice Award, selected by members of the public, and the Award, acknowledging the work on and off-stage of a member of the Corps de Ballet, will also be revealed.

Joining CBE, Artistic Director of English National Ballet, on the judging panel this year are former and former director of the National Ballet of Uruguay, ; principal dancer at , Lauren

Cuthbertson; former artistic director of Romanian National Ballet and former Royal Ballet principal dancer, ; and leading multidisciplinary artist and director of Kerry Nicholls Dance, Kerry Nicholls.

The finalists will perform a , followed by a solo. This year will see Precious Adams and Fernando Carratalá Coloma performing Petipa’s Harlequinade pas de deux; and Daniel McCormick perform a pas de deux from English National Ballet’s ; and Connie Vowles and Giorgio Garrett perform a pas de deux from Bournonville’s William Tell.

Precious Adams will then perform A Point of Collapse, a new solo with choreography and music composition by Mthuthuzeli November, Junior Artist of Ballet Black; Francesca Velicu will perform Toccata, a new work choreographed by Royal Ballet of Flanders Principal and former English National Ballet First Artist, Nancy Osbaldeston and set to Paul Constantinescu’s Suite for Piano played by Mihaela Ursuleasa; and Connie Vowles will perform Be all / End all, a new piece by Royal Ballet Young Choreographer, Charlotte Edmonds to music from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana.

Fernando Carratalá Coloma will go on to perform The last call, new choreography by Victor Ullate , Mariano Cardano set to Alexander Balanescu’s Aria; Giorgio Garrett will perform Fraudulent Smile by choreographer Ross Freddie Ray set to Kazimierez recorded by Nigel Kennedy and the Kroke Band; and Daniel McCormick will perform a solo from Leatherwing Bat by American dancer and choreographer Trey McIntyre set to Boa Constrictor and Leatherwing Bat by folk group Peter Paul and Mary. The finalists are being coached for their performances by their peers in the Company. Pedro Lapetra and Junor Souza are working on Le Corsaire with Francesca Velicu and Daniel McCormick; Fernanda Oliveira and Barry Drummond are helping Connie Vowles and Giorgio Garrett prepare for William Tell; and Crystal Costa and Fernando Bufalá are rehearsing Harlequinade with Precious Adams and Fernando Carratalá Coloma. Additional coaching is also being given by Joseph Caley, Maria José Sales and Shevelle Dynott.

Also on the night, last year’s joint Emerging Dancer Award winners, Aitor Arrieta and Rina Kanehara will perform the pas de deux from Act III of The Sleeping Beauty, whilst the winner of the 2017 People’s Choice Award, Bould, will perform an extract from .

Casting, repertoire, panel and host are subject to change. Please see www.ballet.org.uk for up-to-date details.

For further information, interview requests and images please contact Alice Gibson, Senior Press Officer at [email protected] or call 020 7590 2932.

For further information about English National Ballet and to book tickets visit www.ballet.org.uk Please note performance details are subject to change.

Notes to editors:

The judging panel for Emerging Dancer 2018:

Julio Bocca One of the most outstanding Argentine dancers of all time, born Bocca trained at the Institute Superior of Art at the Teatro Colón. He danced with American Ballet Theatre for 20 years as well as Ballet of Camera of the Teatro Colón; Teresa Carreño Foundation, Venezuela; Teatro Municipal, Río de Janeiro; and Ballet Estable of the Teatro Colón. His

Guest artist appearances with leading companies included English National Ballet, The Royal Ballet, Teatro alla Scala, the Bolshoi, and the Paris Opéra. His partners included , Nina Ananiashvili, Tamara Rojo, Viviana Durante, Natalia Makarova amongst many others. His retirement from the stage was held in Buenos Aires in 2007 to an audience of over 300,000 spectators. He has received countless awards including the Benois Prize, the Gold Medal awarded by The Kennedy Center and the title of the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters from the government of France. Appointed International Cultural Representative of the Teatro Colón and directed the National Ballet Sodre of Uruguay, Artistic Director 2010 – 2017.

Lauren Cuthbertson English dancer Lauren Cuthbertson is a Principal of The Royal Ballet. She studied with The as a junior associate and at White Lodge and the Upper School, and graduated into the Company in 2002. She was promoted to in 2003, First Soloist in 2006 and Principal in 2008, becoming the youngest female Principal in the Company. Cuthbertson was born in Devon and started dancing at the age of three. Her roles with the Company have included Juliet, Manon, Aurora (The Sleeping Beauty), and Odette/Odile (). Christopher Wheeldon created the title role of his Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland on Cuthbertson, describing her ‘unique ability to make her dramatic persona on stage natural, honest, fresh and to the point’. Cuthbertson’s other role creations include Hermione (Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale) and in Wayne McGregor’s Tetractys. In 2007 Cuthbertson won an Arts and Culture Women of the Future Award. Other awards include silver medal at the Varna Competition in 2006 and the 2004 Critics’ Circle Award for Outstanding Female Performance (Classical). Devoted to inspiring the next generation of dancers, she is an active patron of both National Youth Ballet and London Children’s Ballet.

Johan Kobborg Johan Kobborg was born in Copenhagen 1972 and trained at the Funen Ballet Academy and the Royal Danish Ballet School before enjoying a distinguished career as a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet, the Royal Ballet and as a guest with most major companies around the world. From December 2013 until April 2016 Johan was Artistic Director of the Romanian National Ballet. He has distinguished himself as a choreographer with leading companies including The Royal Ballet, , Royal Danish Ballet, Zurich Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, , Lithuanian National Ballet and . In 1993 Johan won the gold medal at the Competition in Canada. The following year he won the Grand Prix at the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, U.S.A. and the Grand Prix at the International Nureyev Ballet Competition in Hungary. In 1996 he was nominated for the Benois de la Danse for his role as James in La Sylphide. He has won the Dance Critics Circle award for best male dancer and has received many Danish ballet Grants and Awards. In 2006, he was nominated for two Olivier Awards in London: one for his Royal Ballet production of La Sylphide and another for his performance in Fleming Flindt’s The Lesson.

Kerry Nicholls Kerry has taught, choreographed, mentored, performed and consulted extensively for numerous dance companies and institutions worldwide. She was appointed Co-Director of Creative Learning for Studio Wayne McGregor in 2007 and was the Artistic Advisor for English National Ballet School in 2008. Currently, Kerry is an external assessor and Contemporary Module Leader for the Degree programme at The Royal Ballet School. She is a regular choreographic mentor and career consultant for the , English National Ballet, One Dance UK, Rambert and . Kerry is the Patron of Constella Opera Ballet, a Dance Ambassador for PIPA (Parents and Carers in Performing Arts) and annual Guest Artist at The Juilliard School. Kerry is director and owner of Kerry

Nicholls Dance and embodies the values and spirit of the brand which launched in autumn 2012.