The 49th edition of the Prix de Lausanne ballet competition online today

The 49th edition of the Prix de Lausanne international ballet competition starts today via video. This year, 78 young dancers (50 girls and 28 boys ) from 20 different countries will participate in the competition. The Finals will take place on Saturday, 6 February 2021, also via video. The whole competition week will be live-streamed on Arte Concert and prixdelausanne.org.

The young dancers will be watched and judged via video during the whole week. The jury, headed by Richard Wherlock, has gathered in Lausanne to follow the Video Edition, first through the participants' ballet class exercises and then in their classical and contemporary variations during the Selections and Finals (on Friday and Saturday).

The Prix de Lausanne offers a daily live stream giving the opportunity to observe each candidate despite the absence of a physical event. From Monday, 1 February to Saturday, 6 February, the competition will be live-streamed on Arte Concert and on the Prix de Lausanne's website. The Finals will take place on Saturday, 6 February at 14.00 CET.

As in previous years, the audience will be able to support the young dancer of its choice by donating through the online crowdfunding campaign and by voting for its preferred finalist. The total amount raised will be given to the Audience Favourite Prize Winner.

Kathryn Bradney, Artistic and Executive Director, said,

This year has taught my team and I the meaning of ‘reinventing' and I am so thrilled that we have succeeded in organizing this meeting between the jury, made up of extraordinary international ballet stars, choreographers and directors, here in Lausanne with our 78 international candidates through video and live streaming technology.  Our goals and mission are to connect these young talented dancers with our network of international partner schools and companies as a springboard for their future careers as professional dancers. I am also very happy to host our very first competition for young choreographers, the Young Creation Award.  This week promises to be very exciting!

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.