Lynn Seymour Award for Expressive Dance 2017

Congratulations to Kele Roberson, winner of 2017 Lynn Seymour Award for Expressive Dance.

The Award took place on Monday 13 November and was open to the 2nd Year students, who were invited to perform a solo of their choosing, prepared on their own and without any coaching.

When explaining why he chose his performance piece, Kele said ‘I immediately thought of Vater when choosing a piece to present as it demonstrates a ceaseless exploration of identity and search for belonging. The choreography of this piece is very different from my comfortable way of moving, so it required a lot of personal exploration on how I would communicate its message to the audience.’

The event was judged by Dame Monica Mason and Kevin O’Hare, former and current Directors of The Royal Ballet. Mr O’Hare called this his ‘favourite competition of the year’ and he and Dame Monica gave individual feedback to each of the students as well as asking them questions about how they came to choose their piece.

The winners are…

1st place – Kele Roberson with Vater (Mark Caserta)

2nd place – Ellie Young with Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan (Frederick Ashton)

3rd place – Liam Boswell with The Jacket (Viktor Plotnikov)

Well deserved mentions go to…

Sarah Keaveney

Madison Bailey

Tobias de Gromoboy

Emily Bray

Victoria Norris

The Award was established by the late Nina Finburgh in honour of Lynn Seymour, one of our most celebrated dramatic ballerinas. The award started in 2000 at White Lodge and then moved to Upper School in 2002 and used to be judged by Lynn Seymour herself. Nina Finburgh generously left a gift in her will to ensure the Lynn Seymour Award for Expressive Dance continues.