Prix de Lausanne 2017 prize winners – with photos

A large audience attended the Prix de Lausanne finals both at Théâtre de Beaulieu and online. Eight young dancers have been awarded a scholarship allowing them to enter one of the 68 partner schools and companies of the competition. Promising dancers from all over the world competed to arrive in the final 20, and the names were announced yesterday.

Prix de Lausanne 2017 prize winners

410 – Michele Esposito – 17 years old – Italy

1. La Bayadère
2. Nijinsky

306 – Marina Fernandes da Costa Duarte – 17 years old – Brazil

1. Don Quixote
2. Préludes CV

415 – Taisuke Nakao – 17 years old – Japan

1. Swan Lake
2. Vaslaw

201 – Koyo Yamamoto – 15 years old – Japan

1. La Fille mal gardée
2. Yondering

102 – Lauren Hunter – 15 years old – United-States

1. Le Corsaire
2. Bach Suite II

423 – Stanislaw Wegrzyn – 18 years old – Poland

1. Giselle
2. Vaslaw

120 – Diana Georgia Ionescu – 16 years old – Romania

1. Paquita
2. Nocturnes

406 – Sunu Lim – 17 years old – South Korea

1. Giselle
2. Wrong Note Rag

Contemporary Dance Prize

410 – Michele Esposito – 17 years old – Italy

For his interpretation of Nijinsky.

Audience Favourite

306 – Marina Fernandes da Costa Duarte – 17 years old – Brazil

1. Don Quixote
2. Préludes CV

The Rudolf Nureyev Foundation Artistic Award

205 – Denilson Almeida – 16 years old – Brazil

1. Coppelia
2. Vaslaw

Best Swiss Candidate Prize

410 – Michele Esposito – 17 years old – Italy

1. La Bayadère
2. Nijinsky

During the pause while the jury reached their decision, the audience enjoyed an original creation of John Neumeier called John’s dream performed by the National Youth Ballet of Germany. They also saw the Grand Pas de deux choreographed by Christian Spuck and performed by Lauren Cuthbertson, Principal Dancer of The Royal Ballet, and Alexander Jones, Soloist of the Ballett Zürich. Prix de Lausanne partners with both these companies.

During the week of the competition our daily live-streamed sessions have been watched more than 500,000 times by viewers online (on ARTE Concert, our website and Facebook).

Gramilano Editor

Graham Spicer, aka ‘Gramilano’, is a writer, director and photographer based in Milan. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy. His articles have appeared in various publications from Woman’s Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the Danza in Italia column for Dancing Times magazine. Graham was the historical advisor on Codice Carla, the 2023 documentary on Italian ballerina Carla Fracci.

Graham also works as a dance photographer, and his photos have appeared in many books, theatre programmes, and magazines, including Dancing Times, Dance Spirit and Ballet2000, as well as all the major Italian newspapers.

He is a member of the Dance Section of The Critics’ Circle.