The winners of the 2025 National Dance Awards were announced today at a ceremony at the Coronet Theatre, hosted by broadcaster and journalist Samira Ahmed, marking the 26th anniversary of the awards (#NDA26)
The awards – voted upon by the 60 dance critics who are members of the Critics’ Circle – are for performances seen in the United Kingdom between 1st January and 31st December 2025.
Three awards were taken back to Scotland with Scottish Dance Theatre celebrating its 40th anniversary by winning the Best Mid-Scale Company Award for the first time and Scottish Ballet’s Mary, Queen of Scots was triumphant with wins for its choreographer, Sophie Laplane, and for Roseanna Leney’s performance in the title role.
The Ambassador of Japan to the UK, Hiroshi Suzuki, presented the Stef Stefanou Award for Outstanding Company to Miyako Yoshida, artistic director of the National Ballet of Japan, for the company’s tour to the Royal Opera House in August 2025. As an added achievement for Japanese ballet, the Royal Ballet’s Ryoichi Hirano received the Outstanding Male Classical Performance Award for his portrayal of the title role in Onegin.
The premier award, the De Valois Award for Outstanding Achievement, was presented by leading dance critic, Sarah Crompton, to Russell Maliphant, marking an extraordinary career as one of the UK’s leading contemporary choreographers and performers.
In addition to Hirano’s success, The Royal Ballet took home both Awards for Best Dancer, with William Bracewell and Lauren Cuthbertson the winners. For both dancers, it was their third National Dance Award. La Fée Électricité, featuring another Royal Ballet dancer, Viola Pantuso dancing in the streets of Paris, won the award for Best Short Film. Wayne McGregor’s immersive film experience, On the Other Earth, won the award for Best Dance Film.
The nascent London City Ballet won the Best Independent Company Award for the second successive year. Kim Brandstrup won his second Best Modern Choreography Award, for Breaking Bach, having won in 2016 for Transfigured Night.
Having built a career as a dancer, Liam Francis took home his first NDA but as a choreographer, in the Emerging Artist category; and English National Ballet’s music director, Maria Seletskaja, won the Award for Outstanding Creative Contribution.
The two awards for Modern Performance went to Cordelia Braithwaite for her performance as Victoria Page in Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes and Paris Fitzpatrick for his role as Jimmy in Quadrophenia; his second NDA, having also won in 2023.
The full list of winners is:
DE VALOIS AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
Russell Maliphant
DANCING TIMES AWARD FOR BEST MALE DANCER
William Bracewell
BEST FEMALE DANCER
Lauren Cuthbertson
STEF STEFANOU AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING COMPANY
National Ballet of Japan
BEST MID-SCALE COMPANY
Scottish Dance Theatre
BEST INDEPENDENT COMPANY
London City Ballet
BEST CLASSICAL CHOREOGRAPHY
Sophie Laplane for Mary, Queen of Scots
BEST MODERN CHOREOGRAPHY
Kim Brandstrup for Breaking Bach
EMERGING ARTIST AWARD
Liam Francis
OUTSTANDING FEMALE MODERN PERFORMANCE
Cordelia Braithwaite in The Red Shoes
OUTSTANDING MALE MODERN PERFORMANCE
Paris Fitzpatrick in Quadrophenia
OUTSTANDING FEMALE CLASSICAL PERFORMANCE
Roseanna Leney in Mary, Queen of Scots
OUTSTANDING MALE CLASSICAL PERFORMANCE
Ryoichi Hirano in Onegin
OUTSTANDING CREATIVE CONTRIBUTION
Maria Seletskaja
BEST DANCE FILM
On The Other Earth
BEST SHORT DANCE FILM
La Fée Électricité
The winners came from a list of 75 nominations covering every dance genre and the nominees came from a record list of 379 recommendations (up from 365 in 2024) from the dance critics.
The Critics’ Circle is delighted to thank our award sponsors: Stef Stefanou, Marquee TV, Harlequin Floors, International Arts and Cultural Projects Ltd, Level Law, Lee McLernon, The Ballet Association, London Ballet Circle, Celeste Fenichel, Fern Potter and Danza and Danza International
Announcing the awards, the chair of the National Dance Awards, Graham Watts, said, “What a wonderful year for dance in the UK! All the recommendations were good enough to be nominated; and every nominee would have been a deserving winner. It is especially pleasing to see deserved recognition for Scottish Ballet and Scottish Dance Theatre, and for the National Ballet of Japan with its first tour to the UK bringing it recognition as the Outstanding Company in 2025.”