Britain’s Botis Seva has won the Ballett Gesellschaft Hannover eV competition. 2016 marked the event’s 30th edition, with entrants from across the world taking part.
Seva won both the jury prize and the audience award for his piece 60 Sec. Rooted in hip hop, Seva and his company Far From the Norm take an active role in education and outreach projects, working with institutions like Sadler’s Wells.
He wins €6,000 for his first place finish, as well as a three-week scholarship to study at Australian Dance Theatre in Adelaide.
Second prize and €3,000 was awarded to Poland’s Maciej Kuzminski for his work Dominique, while third place and €2,000 went to Zibo Geng of China for 00:01.
Over 160 choreographers applied to take part, with 19 selected for the competition and then just nine for the final itself. ‘Choosing the finalists was very difficult because the level of the choreography was very high,’ said competition artistic director Ed Wubbe.
Other winners included Paul Hess of Germany, who took home the production award, and David Llari of France who won the critics prize.