First of all, many thanks to all of you who took the time to enter our Poll of the Year - it was particularly good to see some unfamiliar names!
Some of the results were extremely predicatble, others came as a surprise; and from the remarks you added under 'Special Mentions' and 'Eye Openers', some consistent themes emerge. The individual entries are avilable if you want to see. There were some problems deciding exactly what some of the categories meant, particularly in the definitions of 'revival' and 'new production' - we'll have to make that a bit clearer next year.
First of all, the results by category:
| Best Production overall |
Kirov's 'Giselle' |
| Best New Production |
David Bintley's 'Edward ll' for BRB |
| Best Revival |
RB's 'La Bayadère' |
| Best Staging |
a tie between the ENB's 'Nutcracker' and the Kirov's 'Firebird' |
| Best Company |
a tie between the RB and the Kirov |
| Best Male Dancer |
Zelensky, followed by Mukhamedov |
| Best Female Dancer |
a tie between Asylmuratova and Yoshida, followed by a 3-way tie between Durante, Guillem and Bussell |
| Best Partnership |
Durante/Mukhamedov followed by Bussell/Zelensky |
| Worst Production |
Tetley's 'Amores' for the RB |
| Worst Casting |
the votes here were so widely spread that it seems iniquitous to name the poor dancer who 'won' |
Much the clearest victories were for Zelensky and for 'Amores' (if you can call that a victory). Mukhamedov not only won the 'best partnership' category with Durante, but was also nominated for his partnership with 3 other dancers - as well as coming second in the 'best male dancer' poll. Not to be written off yet, by a long way!
From the many comments which you added, these are the things which emerge most clearly:
- pleasure at Viviana Durante's return to the RB
- praise for Yoshida and her flowering as a true ballerina
- admiration for Hatley, Lopatkina and Benjamin
- sympathy for Josephine Jewkes
- forecasts of great things to come from Tamara Rojo, Kenta Kura and Jerry Douglas.
So thank you again for all the input. We promised a prize for the 'best' entry, and after much deliberation that goes to Alison Penfold. As you might have guessed Alison's prize is the stunning "Girl's Book of Ballet, 1953 edition!
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