Who were the most outstanding dancers of 2019? What was the most outstanding performance?
We have asked our critics to answer these questions and more for our annual CRITICS’ SURVEY, published in the Feb/March Dance Australia.
At the end of lastl year we invited Dance Australia’s own team of critics plus a number of guest critics from around the country to make their nominations in various categories, such as Most Significant Event, Most Outstanding Choreography and Dancer to Watch. Their answers might surprise you!
See a sneak preview of Melbourne critic Lee Christofis below and make sure to buy the Feb/Mar issue for the complete survey (details below). OUT SOON!
Most outstanding dancer
International ballet star Natalia Osipova invested every ounce of her artistic soul in Tankard’s famous 1988 drama, Two Feet (Adelaide Festival), and made it compellingly and uniquely her own. Exceptionally talented Ryan Pearson danced one of the most electrifying roles in Kylian’s 1983 classic Stamping Ground (Bangarra Dance Theatre) as if he alone was born to dance it. Ella Havelka, also in Stamping Ground, revealed the strength and charisma we value in so many Australian Indigenous women dancers. Senior artist Benedicte Bemet was alternately charming and deliciously crazy as the heroine Sylvia in Stanton Welch’s eponymous ballet (created on Houston Ballet, co-produced with TAB), almost outshining principal Ako Kondo’s dazzling Australian premiere performance.
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Pictured top: Ryan Pearson. Photo: Daniel Boud.