42nd Prix de Lausanne set for January

In mid-November, the candidates for the 2014 Prix de Lausanne were announced. Now the jury, teachers, coaches and musicians have been announced as well. The 42nd international ballet competition is set for January 27-February 1, 2014 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

A total of 295 candidates (224 female and 71 male dancers), representing 35 different nationalities, applied for the Prix de Lausanne video selections that took place November 14-17. The assessing panel for this qualifying round of the competition was made up of the Prix’s artistic director and a group of dance experts, each of whom meets the criteria for membership in a Prix de Lausanne jury. After deliberation, the panel selected 71 young dancers for the competition.

The official list of candidates selected for the 2014 Prix de Lausanne shows 21 competitors hail from Japan, 14 from China, 10 from the United States and nine from Australia. The full list of selected candidates is available on the Prix de Lausanne website.

Two candidates were chosen at the preselection in Dresden, Germany — Sara Barbieri of Italy and Johannes Goldbach of Germany. In addition, four candidates were selected at the preselection in Argentina for Latin American candidates, which was organised by Danzamerica. They are Bianca Gomes Vilarinho Teixeira, Maria Clara Marinho Coelho, Vinicius Silva and Pedro Caricato de Carvalho Salles – all from Brazil.

The Prix de Lausanne also recently announced that Kay Mazzo, current co-chairman of the School of American Ballet and former Principal of the New York City Ballet, will preside over the 2014 Prix de Lausanne jury. The jury will include: Kathryn Bennetts, a stager of William Forsythe’s works and former artistic director of The Royal Ballet of Flanders in Belgium; Alessandra Ferri, international guest artist of Milan, Italy, and 1980 prize winner of Prix de Lausanne; Gigi Hyatt, Pedagogical Principal and Deputy Director of the School of the Hamburg Ballet in Germany; Marylin Rowe, Director of The Australian Ballet School in Melbourne, Australia; Julio Bocca, Director of the Ballet Nacional Sodre of Uruguay and former Principal of the American Ballet Theatre; Pedro Carneiro, Director of the National Conservatory Dance School in Lisbon, Portugal; Xu Gang, Ballet Master of the National Ballet of China and 1985 prize winner of the Prix de Lausanne; and Christopher Powney, Artistic Director of the National Ballet Academy in Amsterdam.

Coaches for classical variations include Monique Loudieres, past Etoile at National Paris Opera Ballet in France, and Patrick Armand, Associate Director of the San Francisco Ballet School and 1980 prize winner of the Prix de Lausanne. Coaches for contemporary variations include: Nancy Euverink, assistant to choreographer Jorma Elo and director of the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague in The Netherlands; Ayako Nakano, Principal of Ballett Basel in Switzerland and 1992 prize winner of the Prix de Lausanne; and Goyo Monterno, ballet director and choreographer of the Nuernberg State Ballet in Germany
and 1994 prize winner of the Prix de Lausanne.

For a listing of teachers, musicians and pianists, visit www.prixdelausanne.org. Tickets to watch the competition go on sale today, December 16.

Photo: A dancer competing in last year’s Prix de Lausanne. Photo by Gregory Batardon.