Benois de la Danse winners 2017 – Pite, Pagliero, Riccetto, Haydée, Rodkin, Marchand

Last night, on the Bolshoi's Historical Stage, the recipients of the Benois de la Danse prizes for 2017 were announced.

Crystal Pite won the prize for Best Choreographer for The Seasons' Canon, commissioned by the Paris Opera Ballet.

Of the six nominated ballerinas, Ludmila Pagliero was awarded for her performance in Jerome Robbins' Other Dances at the POB, and Maria Riccetto for her Tatiana in Onegin for the Ballet Nacional SODRE in Uruguay.

Two Best Dancers were announced this year: Hugo Marchand as Romeo in Rudolf Nureyev's Romeo and Juliet for the POB and Denis Rodkin as Solor in La Bayadère for the Bolshoi Ballet.

The jury consisted of Svetlana Zakharova, Sue Jin Kang, Julie Kent, Julio Bocca, Manuel Legris, Brigitte Lefèvre, Jorma Elo, and Juri Grigorovich as the President of the jury.

There was also a Lifetime Achievement award which was presented to Marcia Haydée.

Tonight a Charity Gala will conclude the Benois de la Danse 2017.

Various of the winners have answered the Gramilano Questionnaire. Read more about them here:

Marcia Haydée answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers' Edition

Ludmila Pagliero answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers' Edition

Maria Riccetto answers the Gramilano Questionnaire… Dancers' Edition

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Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.