UK National Dance Awards 2025 shortlist announced

The Dance Section of the Critics’ Circle in the United Kingdom announced the short-listed nominations for the National Dance Awards 2025 on 10th April 2026.

The qualifying period for performances was between 1st January and 31st December 2025.

BEST MALE DANCE

• Harry Alexander

• Matthew Ball

• William Bracewell

• Gareth Haw

• Joseph Taylor

  
  

BEST FEMALE DANCER

• Rebecca Bassett-Graham

• Cordelia Braithwaite

• Lauren Cuthbertson

• Sangeun Lee

• Marianela Nuñez

  
  

STEF STEFANOU AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING COMPANY

• English National Ballet

• Lyon Opera Ballet

• National Ballet of Japan

• New Adventures

• The Royal Ballet

  
  

BEST MIDSCALE COMPANY

• balletLORENT

• Company Wayne McGregor

• National Dance Company Wales

• Phoenix Dance Theatre

• Scottish Dance Theatre

  
  

BEST INDEPENDENT COMPANY

• London City Ballet

• Russell Maliphant Dance Company

• Protein Dance

• Thick & Tight

• Yorke Dance Project

  
  

 BEST CLASSICAL CHOREOGRAPHY 

• Sophie Laplane for Mary, Queen of Scots

• Manuel Liñán for Muerta de Amor

• Cathy Marston for Against the Tide

• Mthuthuzeli November for Fools

• Alexei Ratmansky for Pictures at an Exhibition

  
  

BEST MODERN CHOREOGRAPHY

• Kyle Abraham for An Untitled Love

• Kim Brandstrup for Breaking Bach

• Crystal Pite/Simon McBurney for Figures in Extinction

• Russell Maliphant for In a Landscape

• Noé Soulier for In the Fall

  
  

EMERGING ARTIST AWARD

• Liam Francis (as choreographer)

• Kayla Mak (as dancer)

• Marco Masciari (as dancer)

• Georgia Tegou (as choreographer)

• Arthur Wille (as dancer)

  
  

OUTSTANDING FEMALE MODERN PERFORMANCE

• Rebecca Bassett-Graham in Deepstaria

• Cordelia Braithwaite as Victoria Page in The Red Shoes

• Ching-Ying Chien in Thikra

• María del Mar Suárez/La Chachi in Random Taranto

• Latoya Mokoena in the title role as Salomé

  
  

OUTSTANDING MALE MODERN PERFORMANCE

• Phillip Attmore as Jerry Travers in Top Hat

• Paris Fitzpatrick as Jimmy in Quadrophenia

• Conor Kerrigan as Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders

• Edward Watson as George in A Single Man

• Malachi Welch as Bob Cratchit in Ebony Scrooge

  
  

OUTSTANDING FEMALE CLASSICAL PERFORMANCE

• Sara Baras in Vuela

• Lauren Cuthbertson as Tatiana in Onegin

• Yu Kurihara in the title role as Cinderella

• Roseanna Leney in the title role as Mary, Queen of Scots

• Marianela Nuñez in Symphony in C

  
  

OUTSTANDING MALE CLASSICAL PERFORMANCE

• Matthew Ball in Against the Tide

• William Bracewell in Against the Tide

• Ryoichi Hirano in the title role as Onegin

• Harvey Littlefield as Younger Elizabeth in Mary, Queen of Scots

• Joseph Taylor as Rochester in Jane Eyre

  
  

OUTSTANDING CREATIVE CONTRIBUTION

• Jamiel Devernay-Laurence (Producer)

• Chloe Lamford (Set Design)

• Fabiana Piccioli (Lighting Design)

• Maria Seletskaja (Conductor)

• Vasko Vassiliev (Violinist)

  
  

The nominees for Best Dance Film and Best Short Dance Film will be announced in early May.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony on 15th June 2026 at The Coronet Theatre in London.

The ceremony will also play host to the De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement for which there are no prior nominations.

Updated on 17 June 2026 to clarify the year.