Some of Chinese contemporary dance's top talents have been recognized in the shortlisting of the finalists for the Rose International Dance Prize 2027, announced by Sadler's Wells theater in London, the United Kingdom's most prestigious contemporary dance venue.
The last week's announcement, made on International Dance Day (April 29), saw a panel of 14 nominators, drawn from seven global regions, cut a longlist of 42 contenders down to the final seven in two categories, the Rose Prize and the Bloom Prize.
The Rose is for pieces of a minimum duration of 55 minutes, and comes with a prize of 40 thousand pounds ($54,097), while the Bloom is for pieces between 30-50 minutes, for choreographers with a maximum 10 years of experience, and 15 thousand pounds goes to the winner.
A double bill by the TAO Dance Theater, entitled 13 & 14, which received its debut at Beijing's National Center for the Performing Arts in 2023, has been shortlisted for the Rose, while Wang Yeu-Kwn earned his second nomination for the Bloom prize for his piece Islands, staged with Taiwan-based company Shimmering Production.
All the shortlisted companies and performers will have an opportunity to stage their productions in London in the new year, either at the main Sadler's Wells venue in Islington, or Sadler's Wells East, in the Olympic Park in Stratford, before the winners are announced in early February. Tickets for these performances go on sale to the general public on May 12.
Tao's work was nominated for the prize by Faith Tan, director of programming at Singapore's Esplanade Theaters, who said the pieces "represent the company at the height of its creative innovation, marking their contribution to contemporary dance in both form and philosophy".
"I am grateful to every friend who has helped the company," said Tao. "Because of you, we are able to move forward. I also want to thank the Rose International Dance Prize for enabling this work to reach further."
Alistair Spalding, artistic director and co-chief executive of Sadler's Wells, said the variety of the artists shortlisted "once again demonstrates that groundbreaking work of the highest caliber is being produced in all corners of the world… each of the seven works, across the two categories, show pioneering artists pushing the artform forward in unexpected ways."
He went on to say that the opportunity for the performers to stage their works in London next year "opens a window on the global dance scene, sharing with audiences the very best in artistic innovation and expression."
Sadler's Wells has a history as a performance venue dating back to the early 18th century, but since World War II it has moved away from theater and opera to become synonymous with dance. Its current main performance space, built in 1998, includes bricks dating back to the Victorian era of the late 19th century, and in recent years, its stage has seen performers including the Acrobatic Swan Lake, created by the Xi'an Acrobatic Troupe, and the Wing Chun martial arts show.
