BBC Young Dancer is a televised national dance competition, broadcast on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

and

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

between 2015 and 2022. The competition, inspired by the success of the biennal BBC Young Musician of the Year, was designed for British amateur dancers of

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

and South Asian dance, all of whom must be aged between 16 and 20.

History

BBC Young Dancer was launched in October 2014 by

Director-General of the BBC The director-general of the British Broadcasting Corporation is chief executive and (from 1994) editor-in-chief of the BBC. The post-holder was formerly appointed by the Board of Governors of the BBC (for the period 1927 to 2007) and then the ...

, Tony Hall and was part of BBC Four's Year of Song and Dance. Cuban ballet dancer Carlos Acosta was the competition's ambassador. On 14 January 2015, ballet dancer and ''

Strictly Come Dancing ''Strictly Come Dancing'' (commonly referred to as ''Strictly'') is a British dance contest show in which celebrities partner with professional dancers to compete in mainly Ballroom dance, ballroom and Latin dance, Latin dance. Each couple is ...

'' judge

Darcey Bussell Dame Darcey Andrea Bussell (born Marnie Mercedes Darcey Pemberton Crittle; 27 April 1969) is a retired English ballet dancer, ballerina and a former judge on the BBC television dance contest ''Strictly Come Dancing''. Trained at the Arts Educ ...

was announced as co-presenter and dance expert for the Grand Final of the inaugural competition, which was aired live from

Sadler's Wells Theatre Sadler's Wells Theatre is a London performing arts venue, located in Rosebery Avenue, Islington. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site. Sadler's Wells grew out of a late 17th-century pleasure garden and was opened as a theatre buil ...

in May.

Zoe Ball Zoe Louise Ball (born 23 November 1970) is a British broadcaster and presenter. She was the first female host of the Radio 1 and Radio 2 breakfast shows for the BBC, and in 2024 was confirmed as the second-highest paid BBC presenter after G ...

and Clemency Burton-Hill were her co-hosts. There were different judges for each style. The category finals for each style were filmed at the Riverfront Arts Centre in Newport and later broadcast weekly on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

. Contemporary dancer Connor Scott won the inaugural competition on 9 May 2015. The grand final was judged by a panel of dance experts:

Matthew Bourne Sir Matthew Christopher Bourne (born 13 January 1960) is a British choreographer. His productions contain many classic cinema and popular culture references and draw thematic inspiration from musicals, film noir and popular culture. Popular ...

, Mavin Khoo, Wayne McGregor,

Tamara Rojo Tamara Rojo Order of the British Empire, CBE (born 17 May 1974) is a Spanish ballet dancer. She was the English National Ballet's artistic director and a lead principal dancer with the company between 2012 and 2022. She was previously a principa ...

, Kenrick Sandy and Alistair Spalding. The next competition was held in 2017, contemporary dancer Nafisah Baba was announced as the winner of the overall title on 22 April. The category finals were moved to

The Lowry Lowry is a theatre and gallery complex at Salford Quays, Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It is named after the early 20th-century painter L. S. Lowry, known for his paintings of industrial scenes in North West England. The complex opened ...

in Salford, however the grand final remained at Sadler's Wells Theatre. The televised grand final was hosted by Bussell,

Anita Rani Anita Rani Nazran (born 25 October 1977), better known as Anita Rani, is a British radio and television presenter. Early life Rani was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, and grew up in Heaton, West Yorkshire, Heaton and Odsal. Her parents were ...

and

Ore Oduba Ore Oduba (born 17 November 1985) is a British television and radio presenter who has also worked as an actor. From 2008 until 2013, he presented the CBBC news programme '' Newsround''. In 2018 he hosted the game show ''And They're Off!'' in a ...

; it was judged by

Kevin O'Hare Kevin Patrick O'Hare, CBE, (born 14 September 1965) is a British retired ballet dancer and current Director of The Royal Ballet. He succeeded Monica Mason in the role in 2012. Early life O’Hare was born in Kingston upon Hull to Northern Iris ...

, Jasmin Vardimon, Marc Brew,

Kate Prince Katherine Jane Prince (born 1974) is a British choreographer, and the founder and director of ZooNation.Kate Prince in ZooNation Dance Compan retrieved March 30, 2015 Early life Kate Prince was born in Southampton in 1974. Career In 2002, Pri ...

, Kenneth Tharp, and Nahid Siddiqui. The 2019 title, held on 18 May at

Birmingham Hippodrome The Birmingham Hippodrome is a theatre situated on Hurst Street in the Chinese Quarter of Birmingham, England. Although best known as the home stage of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, it also hosts a wide variety of other performances including v ...

, was won by street dancer Max Revell. The judges this year were McGregor, Shobana Jeyasingh, Emma Gladstone, Christopher Hampson, Junior Bosila Banya and Chitra Sundaram. The competition returned in 2022 with a new format open to all dance styles; the category finals in Salford were replaced by in-person auditions held in front of a professional panel of judges in

Shoreditch Shoreditch is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Hackney alongside neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets, which are also perceived as part of the area due to historic ecclesiastical links. Shoreditch lies just north ...

, London, with those successful in this round making it through to the final ten who attended a week-long dance residency at

Dartington Hall Dartington Hall in Dartington, near Totnes, Devon, England, is an historic house and country estate of dating from medieval times. The group of late 14th century buildings are Grade I listed; described in Pevsner's Buildings of England as ...

in Devon. Across the four-episode series, the finalists were put through their paces by leading choreographers to prepare new works for the grand final in London's Roundhouse where the winner was crowned. The grand final was judged by Prince, Arthur Pita, Subathra Subramaniam and Ryoichi Hirano.

Hosts

The following have hosted stages of the competition: *

(2015–2017, finals only) *

(2015 final) * Clemency Burton-Hill (2015 final) *

(2017–2019) *

(2017 final, 2019) *

Clara Amfo Clara Amfo is a British radio broadcaster, television presenter, podcast host and voice-over artist. She is known for presenting her shows on BBC Radio 1. Early life and education Born to Ghanaian parents. She has five siblings. Her father, w ...

(2022)

Winners

Past finalists

;Key

2015

2017

2019

2022

References

External links

* {{BBC programme, id=b07gbzxt British biennial events Dance competition television shows BBC Cymru Wales television shows British television specials Awards established in 2015 Awards disestablished in 2022 Young Dancer Early career awards 2015 establishments in the United Kingdom 2022 disestablishments in the United Kingdom BBC Two original programming BBC Four original programming