Winners of the 2026 LBC Gainsbury Award
The panel of experts make their recommendations
Winners of the 2026 LBC Gainsbury Award
Winners of our 2026 Gainsbury Award, the third held since its inauguration, were announced at our AGM in March. Our President, Dame Monica Mason, again led the panel of experts and was joined by Matthew Ball (Principal dancer with the Royal Ballet who is himself an emerging choreographer), Stina Quagebeur (ENB’s Associate Choreographer) and Jamiel Devernay-Laurence (acclaimed creative arts producer, choreographer and entrepreneur). After much discussion and deliberation, the panel drew up a short list of nine entries and made their final recommendations to the board of Trustees.
It was decided to divide the £10,000 fund equally between the three eventual winners: London City Ballet, George Liang and Aleth Berenice Heger-Hedley.
• London City Ballet, directed by Christopher Marney, was awarded £3,333 to support the second year of their artist development programme with emerging choreographer, Tasha Chu. Under the mentorship of John Neumier, she will further develop her first work, Soon, which was created for LCB’s debut season at the Linbury Theatre in 2025. It will be performed at the Salisbury International Arts Festival in June and with other commissioned works in LCB’s autumn season at the Joyce Theater in New York.
Christopher Marney says: “This project combines emerging with experienced choreographic talent. As celebrated choreographer John Neumeier breathes new life into his work, a new voice in dance-making, Tasha Chu, comes alive whilst creating anew in a shared, inspiring space. This LBC Gainsbury Award is absolutely wonderful news and really impactful to us as a small company. We are all very touched.” (Photo: ASH)
• George Liang, a coryphée with Northern Ballet, was awarded £3,333 for his work The Great Race of the Zodiac a ballet inspired by the Chinese zodiac myth, where twelve animals race to claim their place in the zodiac, each celebrated for their unique spirit and strength. Commissioned by Robert Parker, Artistic Director at Elmhurst, it is to be performed in collaboration with the students as part of the School’s Summer Showcase in June.
George says: “As an emerging choreographer, I’m incredibly grateful to receive support from the LBC Gainsbury Award for my new work The Great Race of the Zodiac. Inspired by a beloved Chinese myth, it has been very special to build this zodiac world with the entire Lower School students of Elmhurst Ballet School. With LBC’s support, I’m able to commission a new original score by London based composer Archie John and collaborate with UK puppetry theatre company Grandly Strange Puppet Theatre, bringing shadow puppetry onto the stage. Shadow puppetry is slowly disappearing from the arts, and it means so much to share a tradition I grew up with in Taiwan while giving these young dancers the chance to experience it firsthand.” (Photo: Emily Nuttall)
• Aleth Berenice Hedger-Hedley was awarded £3,333 to develop her work Peripheral Perception, a 20-minute dance piece that challenges viewers to engage with rhythm, silence, colour, music, and movement. Set to Alexander Scriabin’s Preludes for Piano, the work explores how humans perceive, process, and interpret information, particularly the often-overlooked details that shape individual experience. This will be her first mid-length live work and will be performed as an immersive theatre experience in London.
Berenice says: "I am honoured to receive the LBC Gainsbury Award and am deeply grateful for this generous support. This award will have a significant impact on the completion of the work and will play an important role in the continued development of my choreographic career. Thank you!” (Photo: Jack Thomson)
Our heartfelt thanks go to all those who supported this Award and we offer our congratulations not just to the winners but to all those who took part.
LBC Members can look forward to observing the choreographic process, or a rehearsal, of the three winning entries.
