Shortlist unveiled for dance’s answer to the Turner prize

Four choreographers are in the running for the inaugural £40,000 Rose international dance prize, which hopes to do for contemporary dance what the Turner prize did for contemporary art in raising its profile. “That’s the aim,” said Alistair Spalding, artistic director of Sadler’s Wells, which is running the competition. “I think it’s certainly possible. There is a growing audience for dance and I think it’s time to have something of the same sort of stature to celebrate it.”

The shortlisted works are: An Untitled Love by American choreographer Kyle Abraham; Encantado by Brazilian choreographer Lia Rodrigues; Larsen C by Greek choreographer Christos Papadopoulos; and Carcaça by Portuguese choreographer Marco da Silva Ferreira.

A second award, the Bloom prize, will give £15,000 to an emerging choreographer and has a shortlist of three: Sepia by Stav Struz Boutrous (Georgia); Beings by Wang Yeu-Kwn (Taiwan); and Maldonne by Leïla Ka (France). No British choreographers made it to either of the shortlists, which were whittled down from 42 works nominated by a global network of dance producers, presenters and festival directors. But they will have a chance in the future as it will be a biennial competition, funded by an anonymous donor who chose the name Rose.

Spalding explained the choice to make the competition international: “Because that’s who we are at Sadler’s Wells. We’ve got a role as an international producer of dance as well as a presenter – we’re one of the only venues in the world that does 365 days a year of dance on our scale – so we don’t feel it’s right to limit our borders to the UK. This is going to be a statement for the world.”

Eligible works had to be over 50 minutes long and have premiered between October 2021 and February 2023. “It’s like a survey of where the art form is right now, and what was happening over those two years,” said Spalding, “with nods to Covid, nods to the climate crisis, to identity, all the issues that are now reflected in the world.”

Papadopoulos’s Larsen C takes its name from the vast Antarctic ice shelf which fractured in 2017, with dancers moving glacially like the ice itself. Veteran choreographer Rodrigues, whose company and school are based in Rio’s Maré favela, often makes socially engaged work, with Encantado inspired by notions of enchantment. Ferreira’s Carcaça joyfully blends hip-hop and club culture with European folk dance, while Abraham’s An Untitled Love – the only piece previously seen in the UK – is a slice of African American life, set at a house party to a soundtrack of R&B singer D’Angelo.

“I was delighted when I saw the shortlist,” said Spalding, who wasn’t involved in the decision making. “They’re very different works, stylistically and content-wise. That’s the beauty of it. Dance is a global language, but you still speak your own language through it.”

The seven finalists will present their work at Sadler’s Wells across two weeks beginning on 29 January 2025. A jury will decide the winners, announced on 10 February 2025, with the award itself designed by stage designer Es Devlin.