WAYNE MCGREGOR CBE

[JMcN]

Choreographer Wayne McGregor has been awarded the CBE in the New Years Honours List.

Congratulations on his award.

Here is the list in full:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/honours-list/8231975/New-Year-Honours-List-2011-in-full.html

[Amy Reusch]

For those of us on the other side of the pond, these awards can be confusing... even with the aid of Wikipedia.... is he being awarded for gallantry? Is it a medal and being presented to the Queen but what else? Do I understand he still won't be Sir Wayne McGregor? Do they give them a show like our Kennedy Center Honors?

[JMcN]

The honours are confusing this side of the Pond too!! No he won't be a knight. Wayne's award is for "services to dance".

Award recipients usually receive their awards from the Queen at Buckingham Palace. These ceremonies are not open to the public and are held at various times during the year.

These days, individuals are nominated for the honours. If the nomination is successful, then the individual is notified in advance and could, in theory, turn down the award. They are prestigious and a recognition of the individual's efforts in their nominated field but they do not have any other value.

Here is the official government website about honours: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/UKgovernment/Honoursawardsandmedals/TheUKHonourssystem/index.htm

[bart]

Thanks, JMcN. It was nice to see David Suchet and Annie Lenox in the photo section. Congratulations to Wayne McGregor, CBE.

I gather that these awards are divided into a number of "Orders." MacGregor's (and Suchet's) are included in the Order of the British Empire, Civil.

The CBE is QUITE a category, including people involved in embryology, mountaineering, and -- my all-time favorite -- the former chairman of something called the "National Waiting Times Centre Board." (It sounds to me like something out of Lewis Carroll, but it appears to be connected to the National Health Service.)

One step higher In this order is the DBE. There too I found a few names that Ballet Alert members will know: the biographer, Lady Antonia Fraser the biographer; the opera singer, Felicity Palmer; and the actress Harriet Walter.

[GeorgeB fan]

I've always wanted to ask a question. Maybe someone could answer it here.

Lynn Seymour is perhaps the greatest dramatic prima ballerina of her generation and of course in many ways she's solely linked to The Royal Ballet. Now I know she's Canadian but isn't Canada regarded as a Commonwealth of Great Britian or something to that effect? The question I'm asking is why haven't Seymour been made a Dame of the British Empire? It just seems odd to me that she haven't been awarded that honor...if she's eligible that is. Thanks.

[JMcN]

One can only assume that Lynn Seymour has either not been nominated or, perhaps, has turned down an honour.