Dutch ballerina Floor Eimers, soloist with Dutch National Ballet, is the winner of the Alexandra Radius Prize 2021. The jury calls Floor Eimers “an extremely gifted dancer with enormous physical strength, striking technical talent and a distinctive stage personality”. And “also beyond the dance stage (…) a true ambassador for Dutch dance.”
Eimers received the prize from Alexandra Radius during the premiere of Dutch National Ballet’s Mata Hari on Thursday 14 October 2021 in Dutch National Opera & Ballet in Amsterdam.
The Alexandra Radius Prize consists of a sum of € 3000 and a work of art by the artist and illustrator Humprhey Bennett. The prize was awarded for the 32nd time this year.
From the jury report:
“(…) over the years she developed into an extremely gifted dancer with enormous physical strength, remarkable technical talent and a distinctive stage personality.
(Floor) sparkled (…) in one of the technically most challenging variations from Marius Petipa’s Paquita, in an adaptation by Rachel Beaujean, and in William Forsythe’s virtuoso choreographic jewel Pas/Parts. During the livestreams that the Dutch National Ballet presented during the second lockdown, Floor gave an impressive, powerful and at the same time extremely sexy performance of the female role in Hans van Manen’s iconic duet Sarcasmen and, together with her dance partner Edo Wijnen, she was also able to add an extra dimension to his duet Déjà vu with her beautiful performance.
Outside the stage, Floor is also a true ambassador for Dutch dance. She is tireless in giving interviews about her work, is a member of the Committee of Recommendation of the Stichting Kunst in Beweging (Foundation Art in Motion), was recently appointed to the board of the Dansersfonds ’79 Foundation and is one of the founders/managing directors of the Dans Talenten Fonds (Dance Talent Foundation), which enables children and young people from underprivileged families to study at the Dutch National Ballet Academy.
Floor Eimers – short biography
Floor Eimers (Nijmegen) trained as a dancer with the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. In 2012, she joined Dutch National Ballet as an adspirant, where she went through the ranks of élève, corps de ballet and coryphée, becoming a grand sujet in 2017. In 2019, Floor made her debut in the dual role of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake. At the start of season 2019-2020 Floor was promoted to the rank of soloist.
In 2011, Floor won the Dutch TV competition ‘De avond van de jonge danser’, following which she took part in the Eurovision Young Dancers competition, coming in sixth place. In 2012, she reached the semi-finals of the prestigious Prix de Lausanne, and in 2015 she received the Incentive Award from Stichting Dansersfonds ’79. The authoritative British magazine Dance Europe mentioned Floor in 2020 and 2021 in its annual Critics’ Choice, in the category ‘Outstanding performance by a female dancer’.
Photo header: Floor Eimers with her award.
Photographer: Michel Schnater
