The Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance is an annual award presented by the Society of London Theatre in recognition of the "world-class status of London theatre." The awards were established as the Society of West End Theatre Awards in 1976, and renamed in 1984 in honour of English actor and director Laurence Olivier.
This award was first presented in 1977, as Outstanding Achievement of the Year in Ballet, then was retitled to Outstanding Individual Performance of the Year in a New Dance Production in 1983, before settling on the current title in 1986. With the exception of 1983–1985, when the criteria focused only on an individual dancer, this award`s criteria covers the breadth of a commingled group of specialties, including: dancers, choreographers, designers (individual or combination of costume, visual, set, lightingin dance, as opposed to the individual Olivier awards for designer categories, which also exist), and artistic directors.
Winners and nominees
1970s Year Nominee Category Production 1977 London Festival Ballet Dance company Romeo and Juliet Maurice Béjart Choreographer/director Ballet of the 20th Century The Royal Ballet Dance company The Sleeping Beauty Rudolf Nureyev Dancer/director Nureyev and Friends 1978 Robert Cohan Artistic director London Contemporary Dance Theatre Christopher Bruce Choreographer Ballet Rambert Siobhan Davies Dancer Harmonica Breakdown Lynn Seymour Dancer A Month in the Country 1979 Peter Schaufuss Choreographer La Sylphide Kenneth MacMillan Choreographer Playground Ballet Rambert Dance company The Tempest
1980s Year Nominee Category Production 1980 The Royal Ballet Dance company Gloria Ballet of the 20th Century Dance company Gaîté Parisienne London Festival Ballet Dance company Sphinx The Royal Ballet Dance company Rhapsody 1981 Stuttgart Ballet Dance company Forgotten Land London Contemporary Dance Theatre Dance company Death and the Maiden The Royal Ballet Dance company Dances of Albion Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet Dance company Night Moves 1982 Ballet de l'Opéra National de Paris Dance company Le songe d'une nuit d'été Ballet Rambert Dance company Ghost Dances The Royal Ballet Dance company Illuminations The Royal Ballet Dance company L'Invitation Au Voyage 1983 Alessandra Ferri Dancer, The Royal Ballet Valley of Shadows Patrick Armand Dancer, Ballet Théâtre Français Songs of a Wayfarer Natalia Makarova Dancer, The Royal Opera The Nightingale Koen Onzia Dancer, London Festival Ballet The Seasons 1984 David Bintley Dancer, Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet Petrushka Wayne Eagling Dancer, The Royal Ballet Different Drummer Patricia Ruanne Dancer, London Festival Ballet Onegin 1985 Yoko Morishita Dancer, Matsuyama Ballet Company Giselle Stephen Jefferies Dancer, The Royal Ballet The Sons of Horus Roland Price Dancer, Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet The Sleeping Beauty Bryony Brind Dancer, The Royal Ballet Young Apollo 1986 Ballet Rambert Dance company 60th Anniversary Season Bolshoi Ballet Dance company Performances at the London Coliseum Michael Clark Dancer Individual Impact and Contribution Irek Mukhamedov Dancer Bolshoi Ballet Jerome Robbins Choreographer Range of Work Jorge Salavisa Artistic director The Ballet Gulbenkian 1987 Trisha Brown Dancer/choreographer Season at Sadler's Wells Theatre London Contemporary Dance Theatre Dance company Season at Sadler's Wells Theatre Richard Alston Choreographer Pulcinella and Dutiful Ducks Merce Cunningham Company Dance company Season at Sadler's Wells Theatre Ichikawa Ennosuke III Kabuki performer The Thousand Cherries of Yoshitsune 1988 Kirov Ballet Dance company Season in London London Festival Ballet with special mention to Christopher Bruce for his choreography and Koen Onzia for his performances Dance company Swansong and Cruel Garden Cumbre Flamenca Dance company Season at Sadler's Wells Theatre Hayden Griffin Designer Still Life at the Penguin Café London Contemporary Dance Theatre Dance company Arden Court and Shift Second Stride Dance company Weighing the Heart 1989/90 London Contemporary Dance Theatre Dance company Kim Brandstrup's Orfeo Nina Ananiashvili and Irek Mukhamedov Dancers Bolshoi Ballet David Bintley Choreographer Hobson's Choice Siobhan Davies Choreographer Embarque The Royal Ballet Dance company The Prince of the Pagodas Paul Taylor Dance Company Dance company Season at Sadler's Wells Theatre
1990s Year Nominee Category Production 1991 Twyla Tharp and Jennifer Tipton Choreographer and lighting designer In the Upper Room Siobhan Davies and Dancers Choreographer and dancers Season at Sadler's Wells Theatre Darcey Bussell Dancer Winter Dreams and Stravinsky Violin Concerto Kenneth MacMillan Choreographer Winter Dreams Mark Morris Choreographer Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes The Phoenix Dance Company Dance company Season at Sadler's Wells Theatre 1992 William Forsythe and The Royal Ballet Choreographer and performance In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated Adventures in Motion Pictures most promising small dance company to present a West End season Dance company Season at the Royal Court Theatre Stephen Jefferies Dancer Cyrano Philippe Genty Director and concept Driftings Graham Lustig and Henk Schut Choreographer and designer Inscape Northern Ballet Theatre Dance company Romeo and Juliet 1993 Siobhan Davies Choreographer Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues David Bintley Choreographer Tombeaux Lez Brotherston Scenery and costume designer Northern Ballet Theatre's Season at the Royalty Theatre Joseph Cipolla Dancer The Green Table 1994 London Contemporary Dance Theatre Dance company Season at Sadler's Wells Darcey Bussell Dancer Ballet Imperial and La Ronde Sylvie Guillem Dancer Herman Schmerman Marion Tait Dancer Romeo and Juliet 1995 Peter Mumford Lighting designer Fearful Symmetries and The Glass Blew In Thomas Edur Dancer The Sleeping Beauty John MacFarlane Designer The Nutcracker Nuria Moreno Dancer Cinderella 1996 Siobhan Davies Choreographer The Art of Touch Deborah Bull Dancer Steptext Sylvie Guillem Dancer Episodes Marion Tait Dancer Pillar of Fire 1997 Rambert Dance Company Dance company Season at the London Coliseum Sue Blane Designer Alice in Wonderland Viviana Durante Dancer Anastasia and ...Now Langourous, Now Wild... Thomas Edur Dancer Alice in Wonderland and Giselle 1998 Lez Brotherston Set design and costume Cinderella Altynai Asylmuratova Dancer Swan Lake Mark Morris Choreographer L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato 1999 William Forsythe and Ballett Frankfurt Choreographer/artistic director and dance company Season at Sadler's Wells Trisha Brown Choreographer L'Orfeo Bill T. Jones and company Choreographer/dancer and dancers We Set Out Early...Visibility Was Poor Twyla Tharp and company Choreographer/dancer and dancers Season at the Barbican Theatre
2000s Year Nominee Category Production 2000 Jirí Kylián Choreographer/director NDT I's season at Sadler's Wells Nina Ananiashvili Dancer Don Quixote Pina Bausch and company Concept and production Viktor David Bintley and creative team Choreographer, designers, music Edward II 2001 Deborah Colker Choreographer Mix Matthew Bourne Concept and dramatisation The Car Man Robert Parker Dancer Shakespeare Suite Michael Revie Dancer Mozartina 2002 Mark Morris Choreographer/director Mark Morris Dance Group's season at Sadler's Wells Ushio Amagatsu Concept, direction, choreography and performance Hibiki Dana Caspersen Dancer Artifact and Eidos:Telos William Forsythe Choreographer Artifact and Eidos:Telos 2003 Robyn Orlin Choreographer Daddy, I've Seen This Piece Six Times and I Still Don't Know Why They're Hurting Each Other Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch Dance company Kontakthof Chiaki Nagao Dancer Madame Butterfly Christopher Wheeldon Choreographer Tryst and Polyphonia 2004 Thomas Edur and Agnes Oaks Dancers 2 Human Carlos Acosta Dancer and choreographer Tocororo - A Cuban Tale Javier de Frutos Choreographer Elsa Canasta Rambert Dance Company Dance company Season at Sadler's Wells 2005 San Francisco Ballet Dance company Season at Sadler's Wells Julien Macdonald Costume designer Shimmer The Royal Ballet Dance company Sylvia Rambert Dance Company Dance company Season at Sadler's Wells 2006 Pina Bausch Choreographer Nelken and Palermo, Palermo Ballet Nacional de Cuba Corps de ballet (dancers) specifically Season at Sadler's Wells Johan Kobborg Dancer and director The Lesson and La Sylphide Russell Maliphant Choreographer/dancer PUSH 2007 Carlos Acosta Dancer and producer Season at Sadler's Wells Steven McRae Dancer Homage to the Queen and Chroma Marianela Núñez Dancer DGV, The Sleeping Beauty, Acosta season at Sadler's Wells Wayne McGregor Choreographer Chroma 2008 The Royal Ballet Dance company Jewels Savion Glover Dancer Live for London Jonathan Goddard Dancer Performances with Richard Alston Dance Company Wendy Whelan Dancer Fool's Paradise 2009 Royal Ballet of Flanders Dance company Impressing the Czar The Royal Ballet Dance company Infra Savion Glover, Marshall Davis, Jr. and Maurice Chestnut Dancers Bare Soundz
2010s Year Nominee Category Production 2010 Rambert Dance Company Dance company Outstanding Year of New Work Colin Dunne Dancer Out of Time Michael Hulls Lighting designer Two:Four:Ten, Afterlight, Ex Machina and Eonnagata 2011 Antony Gormley Visual designer Babel (Words) John MacFarlane Designer Asphodel Meadows Yoshie Sunahata (Kodo) Drummer Gnosis 2012 Edward Watson Dancer The Metamorphosis The Design Team Set, costume, lighting, visual projections Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Tommy Franzen Dancer Some Like It Hip Hop Sylvie Guillem Dancer 6000 Miles Away 2013 Marianela Núñez Dancer Aeternum, Diana and Acteon and Viscera ILL-Abilities Dance company Breakin' Convention Lez Brotherston Set and costume designer The Sleeping Beauty 2014 Michael Hulls Lighting designer Body of work including Ballet Boyz: The Talent Mark Morris Dancer and choreographer Season at Sadler's Wells Arthur Pita Choreographer Ballet Black: A Dream Within a Midsummer Night's Dream Clemmie Sveaas Dancer Witch-Hunt 2015 Crystal Pite Choreographer A Picture of You Falling, The Tempest Replica and Polaris Rocío Molina Dancer Bosque Ardora The Elders Project Dance group Elixir Festival Christopher Wheeldon Choreographer The Winter's Tale 2016 Alessandra Ferri Dancer Chéri and Woolf Works Javier de Frutos Choreographer Anatomy of a Passing Cloud Sasha Waltz Choreographer Sacre 2017 English National Ballet Dance company Akram Khan's Giselle and She Said Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Dance company Season at Sadler's Wells Luke Ahmet Dancer The Creation2018Francesca VelicuDancerPina Bausch's Le Sacre Du PrintempsRocío MolinaDancerFallen from Heaven (Caída del Cielo)Zenaida YanowskyDancerLiam Scarlett's Symphonic Dances2019Akram KhanDancerXenosJohn MacFarlaneDesignerSwan LakeDimitris PapaioannouChoreographerThe Great Tamer
2020s Year Nominee Category Production2020Sara BarasChoreographer and DancerBallet Flamenco SobrasAnne Teresa De Keersmaeker DancerMitten wir im Leben sind/Bach6Cellosuiten Gisèle Vienne ChoreographerCrowd and Dance Umbrella 2021 Not presented due to extended closing of theatre productions during COVID-19 pandemic2022Arielle SmithChoreographerJolly Folly in ReunionAcosta Danza Dance companyDe Punta A Cabo in 100% CubanNDT2 Dancers DancersNDT2 Tour Edward Watson Dancer Wayne McGregor's The Dante Project2023Dickson MbiChoreographerEnowateManuel LiñánChoreographer¡VIVA!Raquel Meseguer ZafeDramaturgRuination by Lost DogCatrina NisbettDancerFamily Honour by Spoken Movement2024Isabela CoracyDancerNINA: By Whatever Means, part of :Ballet Black:Pioneers|- |Jonzi D |Artistic Director |Breakin' Convention 2023 International Festival of Hip Hop Dance Theatre |- |Rhiannon Faith |Concept |Lay Down Your Burdens |- ! rowspan="4" |2025 |- style="background:#B0C4DE"